A Visit to VT and Another Good Session

 Yesterday Mom and I headed up to the Virginia Tech campus for the day. This weekend was Hokie Focus, meaning the students who have already been accepted there for the fall were returning back for tours and presentations on the different branches of the curriculum. We got special permission to sit in on the Animal and Poultry Science presentation, and in it they addressed questions concerning the vet school and the animal science programs. I learned a lot about the different branches of the program, and we even got a virtual tour of the animal centers. They have separate buildings for sheep, poultry, pig, cattle, and a brand new equine facility as well. I was able to talk to the professors about the different classes offered, and I was glad to hear from many people that the approach to the equine training is not traditional. They are gentle with their horses, and even have a foal imprinting program.
Following the seminar we were directed over to the equine facility, in which they were holding a horse show in memory of Emily Hilscher. I was able to meet one of the Equine Science majors who was waiting for her class in the show, and she was really helpful in telling me about the classes and the riding team.
We then watched some of the horse show, and a lot of the horses looked very nice, calm, and obedient. It was a VERY nice facility, and all the people I met were really welcoming and helpful.
All in all I had a really great day at VT and I am definitely seriously considering the school for the fall of 2011.

On another note, a couple days ago I went out to play with the horses. I ended up putting Woody in the round pen to let him graze, as I played with Teddy both inside and outside the fence. Teddy did well, and I mainly worked on sending him over jumps, and getting him confident jumping small logs.
I then went to get Woody and I ended up playing lots of directing behind his withers. Mom and Charlotte were also in the pasture; they were riding around everywhere, and Woody was a little distracted. I insisted he stay focused on what we were doing and tried to really focus myself on specific tasks I wanted him to do. It took a long while for him to truly let go of Charlotte and Mom, but he eventually did, and because of that he was able to do a couple very nice turns both ways and stop really softly with me. I let him sit for a while and he had a big lick and chew and then yawned several times. I let him go and took the halter off and he followed me over to Mom and Charlotte. It was a fun day and all the horses made some good progress.
~Eden