When I saw the article in our 7Days newspaper, I had no idea ranch work could be so elaborate. Reading about Carrie "the horse whisperer", who recently opened an American style ranch, based on the Parelli method - a natural horsemanship way of teaching people horse training based on the way horses relate and communicate in their natural world – hence the term “natural horsemanship.” Carrie believes (as Pat Parelli teaches) in the horse and its owner building a trusting and close relationship filled with commitment, love, play and training...including riding without bridle and relying on the legs and seat to guide the horse! She has been gifted several ex-polo and ex-endurance horses, as well as horses who just couldn't be kept by their owners for a variety of reasons.
In addition to the 'whisper' and training, the ranch also offers classes for kids who want to learn more about animals and what it feels to be around them. The Desert Ranch is home to 16 arabian horses and thoroughbreds; 5 camels, 11 goats, 3 dogs, undisclosed number of rabbits, 2 donkeys, 1 tortoise, 20 quails (+/- a few when the falcons need to be fed), 7 ducks and a bundle of local wild life on the 2.5 sq km dune filled area east of Dubai.
Thinking I could help out on the weekends and thereby earn the opportunity to ride out once in a while, I emailed Carrie and asked if they needed any volunteers to help muck out or do the odd chore. ODD is the key word here! Watch out for what you wish for.... On Saturday I was surrounded by 12 kids ages 6-10, who were conveniently dropped off by their expat parents, to participate in the Ghecko Club. My remit was to take half of them to the paddock and oversee them grooming the horses before their 30 min lesson. Afterwards, I got the other half and had to oversee them learning about the points of a horse (they had to name all the proper terms of anatomically correct parts) -- which led to little Ben claiming that "the horse was relaxed cuz it's wiener was hanging down low" ! Aaah, the honesty and straight forward communications of 7 year olds! yes, indeed it was relaxed...
The end of the Ghecko club was 30 minutes of designing a dog training area with all the various obstacles. We ended up with a lot of interesting drawings of tubes for dogs to climb thru, over, under, and special stairs up the dunes for extra bright dogs who can climb!
Next on the agenda was Dubai American Academy sending 50 of their 2nd graders to the ranch for Camel Orientation. Camels are as misunderstood as Charlie Sheen. Most people think camels are mean, agressive, smelly, dirty, spitting, kicking and biting creatures. But in fact, they are gentle, sweet giants who have been domesticated for approximately 3,500 years and have long been valued as pack animals, to serve beduins and tribes for transport, meat, milk and fur. They are well adapted to the desert life and it was my job to teach these kids about just how well, based on the 9 characteristics of their body. Not a problem...I listened to Carrie's 20 min lecture and now I'm an expert on the Middle Eastern / Arabian Dromedary "one hump" camel. Not to be confused with the Bactrian cousin which has two humps and originates in Mongolia.
Did you know that a camel has small very hairy ears, double rows of eye-lashes and nostrils that can close tight, to keep out the sand? The feet are large and round, to disperse the sand. Their lips are large, thick and leathery - putting Angelina Jolie's lips to shame, so they can eat prickly, thorny and hard desert grass and bushes. They can in fact move both legs on one side of the body at the same time, to enable them to cross sand dunes without sliding down. No other animal can do this!
They have a large chest plate of rough hard skin to support their front body weight when they lay down, as most of the weight is to the front. Their hump can store up to 80 pounds of fat (it does not store water, as many people wrongly believe) and camels never sweat, making them perfect for the 45-50C (120F) temps we endure in UAE in the summer.
Well there you have it! Most of the kids were much more interested in the camel turds visible around the paddock and I pointed out that it suited the various beetles living in the desert environment - a perfect ecological circle of life. The one slightly negative characteristic of a camel? It has a problem understanding personal space. So while we diligently viewed the 1.8 - 2.1 meter tall creatures, all 5 of them slowly wandered over to us, and INTO us, pushing their big heads into hair, face, back, neck of all the kids. Personally I found it absolutely spectacular, that a large animal can be so gentle when checking out a human!
It would not have been a successful day without camel milk tasting. We gathered all 50 kids around inside the madinat and served them a taste of the vitamin and mineral rich potion. The jury is still out....OK on it's own, but wouldn't recommend it in your coffee.
In addition to the 'whisper' and training, the ranch also offers classes for kids who want to learn more about animals and what it feels to be around them. The Desert Ranch is home to 16 arabian horses and thoroughbreds; 5 camels, 11 goats, 3 dogs, undisclosed number of rabbits, 2 donkeys, 1 tortoise, 20 quails (+/- a few when the falcons need to be fed), 7 ducks and a bundle of local wild life on the 2.5 sq km dune filled area east of Dubai.
Thinking I could help out on the weekends and thereby earn the opportunity to ride out once in a while, I emailed Carrie and asked if they needed any volunteers to help muck out or do the odd chore. ODD is the key word here! Watch out for what you wish for.... On Saturday I was surrounded by 12 kids ages 6-10, who were conveniently dropped off by their expat parents, to participate in the Ghecko Club. My remit was to take half of them to the paddock and oversee them grooming the horses before their 30 min lesson. Afterwards, I got the other half and had to oversee them learning about the points of a horse (they had to name all the proper terms of anatomically correct parts) -- which led to little Ben claiming that "the horse was relaxed cuz it's wiener was hanging down low" ! Aaah, the honesty and straight forward communications of 7 year olds! yes, indeed it was relaxed...
The end of the Ghecko club was 30 minutes of designing a dog training area with all the various obstacles. We ended up with a lot of interesting drawings of tubes for dogs to climb thru, over, under, and special stairs up the dunes for extra bright dogs who can climb!
Next on the agenda was Dubai American Academy sending 50 of their 2nd graders to the ranch for Camel Orientation. Camels are as misunderstood as Charlie Sheen. Most people think camels are mean, agressive, smelly, dirty, spitting, kicking and biting creatures. But in fact, they are gentle, sweet giants who have been domesticated for approximately 3,500 years and have long been valued as pack animals, to serve beduins and tribes for transport, meat, milk and fur. They are well adapted to the desert life and it was my job to teach these kids about just how well, based on the 9 characteristics of their body. Not a problem...I listened to Carrie's 20 min lecture and now I'm an expert on the Middle Eastern / Arabian Dromedary "one hump" camel. Not to be confused with the Bactrian cousin which has two humps and originates in Mongolia.
Did you know that a camel has small very hairy ears, double rows of eye-lashes and nostrils that can close tight, to keep out the sand? The feet are large and round, to disperse the sand. Their lips are large, thick and leathery - putting Angelina Jolie's lips to shame, so they can eat prickly, thorny and hard desert grass and bushes. They can in fact move both legs on one side of the body at the same time, to enable them to cross sand dunes without sliding down. No other animal can do this!
They have a large chest plate of rough hard skin to support their front body weight when they lay down, as most of the weight is to the front. Their hump can store up to 80 pounds of fat (it does not store water, as many people wrongly believe) and camels never sweat, making them perfect for the 45-50C (120F) temps we endure in UAE in the summer.
Well there you have it! Most of the kids were much more interested in the camel turds visible around the paddock and I pointed out that it suited the various beetles living in the desert environment - a perfect ecological circle of life. The one slightly negative characteristic of a camel? It has a problem understanding personal space. So while we diligently viewed the 1.8 - 2.1 meter tall creatures, all 5 of them slowly wandered over to us, and INTO us, pushing their big heads into hair, face, back, neck of all the kids. Personally I found it absolutely spectacular, that a large animal can be so gentle when checking out a human!
It would not have been a successful day without camel milk tasting. We gathered all 50 kids around inside the madinat and served them a taste of the vitamin and mineral rich potion. The jury is still out....OK on it's own, but wouldn't recommend it in your coffee.
No comments:
Post a Comment