Yippee!
I'm done I'm done I'm done!!! 
Actually, I meant that I'm done with my animal handling practical exam, which I have been dreading all semester! phew! Am I happy or what? Even though there's the written paper tomorrow afternoon I finally feel a huge sense of relief... I didn't know that I had been THAT worried till it was over. So relieved that I almost left my notes behind after my last shift.
Such a memorable day, I must certainly etch it into memory, hehe. Not that I thought I did exceptionally well, but I know that I did all that I could to have prepared for it. Theory wise, all good, but I certainly wasn't prepared for the animals' unruly behavior!
Okay, the cattle wasn't that bad. I got this great docile Angus-Hereford cross who was very sweet. Other than the fact that it kept "pawing" with its right forelimb through the head bail which made me worried that it might kick, it didn't struggle much at all. I should have given her more pats, though I'm not sure that she would have appreciated it much. I was given this dirty old halter, and that got me confused as to how to put it on the head. I think I was just too nervous to begin with, never a good sign, but I can't help it! Went through all the necessary routine, got a few unexpected questions which I think I managed to answer, and then! the most embarassing thing happened... I was the last to leave, and I guess I was still nervous and perhaps, even run away, so when Eric Taylor told me that the exam was over and held out his hand, I shook his hand!!! ARGHhhh he only wanted to get back the equipment from me. That was simply mortifying. I just hope I had amused him enough for him to give me a good grade on the cows. After all it's not every day that you get someone to do something silly in front of you isn't it? I heard him telling someone else that there were people before me who were so nervous their hands were shaking as they tried to draw blood from the jugular vein. I'm very glad that I have not yet fallen into that category.
After the cattle came the pigs. My first task then was to rope snare a pig, with the help of Sam. After locating the pig I was assigned to, I thought it would be an easy task, after all, haven't we done the same routine all the time? But this pig #5 was CRAZY! It was really the worst pig I've ever come across... did the pig purposely give us a hard time knowing that we were having our exams?! Anyway that wasn't the best start to the exam, and I got really desperate and upset after the stupid pig slipped away again and again and even went through my legs twice. For a few minutes I really thought that snaring that damn pig was to be an impossible task. I hope Ross Buddle doesn't penalize me for taking such a long time to snare the pig! But eventually it was done and then Sam's pig was not as jumpy as mine, but it was still bad. After that we had to estimate the weights of Sam's pig and hurray I got mine within 2kg! That was actually the trickiest part of the pig exam because we were only given one chance and I found that my gut feeling was always wrong during practices. Luckily I didn't give up on it in the end.. hehe... I still trust my instincts after all. I guess that lucky estimation made up for the misbehaving pig after all. The last task for the pig was to restrain the grower pigs. I was slightly shocked by their sizes frankly.. i had thought they would give us smaller pigs. Times like this, it pays to have a bigger and not-so-slim arm... hehe. Under those stressful conditions, give me a pig of ANY size, I "die-die" also would struggle and do whatever that's needed. That's how badly I want to do well for this unit. I guess that is the same for everybody else.
Then came the horses. *big big sigh* Today was one of the worst attempts I ever made at catching a horse. Even though I was the second one to enter the pen and thus should have some advantage to choosing an obliging horse, somehow my luck ran out a little there and one by one I see the rest bringing their selected horses out... and I got terribly desperate. Perhaps the horses could sense that and for so long, they just kept turning away from me. Was it me, or was it just that they are in a bad mood? I guess by the time I finally was rescued by this horse that would stay still long enough for me to put its halter on, the rest had already completed half of their tasks. I was putting on the bull bit on the thoroughbred and she kept bringing her head higher and higher such that I couldn't reach... and then came one of the helpers who told me I was doing it wrong blah blah... and then showed me a way that wasn't how it was taught to us during our practices as well... I felt that she didn't give me a chance to defend myself before showing me HER way... anyway, it was a good horse in the end.
As for the sheep, Helen Chapman, the lecturer in charge of the sheep, didn't turn out to be as intimidating as I had thought her to be. It is high time that I lose my fear of teachers like her... there were so many before her, like Jennifer Tan in JC, Stella Lee in primary school... with whom I just become dumb when questioned. Anyway I had been worried that it was going to be like that, but nah, nothing happened. Tilting the sheep was more efficiently done than usual, and I guess that's because during the exam you KNOW you have to get something done and then you just go ahead and do it. Did all the other required routines without much of a problem and I drew blood within few seconds of insertion! Sooo happy. The only slightest trouble I had was in finding the sheep that matched the requirements I was given, from a mob of 10+ sheep. I think luck played a huge role again... I was beginning to think that I would never be able to find an unmulesed four tooth ewe with them running around all the time, when suddenly I just grabbed hold of one! And I was even going to let it go because I thought it was mulesed... luckily Kim told me in time that nope, it's really unmulsed. Tada! mission accomplished.
Yippee.. now I have to go study for the theory exam tomorrow. But it feels like the "worst" is over.
Actually, I meant that I'm done with my animal handling practical exam, which I have been dreading all semester! phew! Am I happy or what? Even though there's the written paper tomorrow afternoon I finally feel a huge sense of relief... I didn't know that I had been THAT worried till it was over. So relieved that I almost left my notes behind after my last shift.
Such a memorable day, I must certainly etch it into memory, hehe. Not that I thought I did exceptionally well, but I know that I did all that I could to have prepared for it. Theory wise, all good, but I certainly wasn't prepared for the animals' unruly behavior!
Okay, the cattle wasn't that bad. I got this great docile Angus-Hereford cross who was very sweet. Other than the fact that it kept "pawing" with its right forelimb through the head bail which made me worried that it might kick, it didn't struggle much at all. I should have given her more pats, though I'm not sure that she would have appreciated it much. I was given this dirty old halter, and that got me confused as to how to put it on the head. I think I was just too nervous to begin with, never a good sign, but I can't help it! Went through all the necessary routine, got a few unexpected questions which I think I managed to answer, and then! the most embarassing thing happened... I was the last to leave, and I guess I was still nervous and perhaps, even run away, so when Eric Taylor told me that the exam was over and held out his hand, I shook his hand!!! ARGHhhh he only wanted to get back the equipment from me. That was simply mortifying. I just hope I had amused him enough for him to give me a good grade on the cows. After all it's not every day that you get someone to do something silly in front of you isn't it? I heard him telling someone else that there were people before me who were so nervous their hands were shaking as they tried to draw blood from the jugular vein. I'm very glad that I have not yet fallen into that category.
After the cattle came the pigs. My first task then was to rope snare a pig, with the help of Sam. After locating the pig I was assigned to, I thought it would be an easy task, after all, haven't we done the same routine all the time? But this pig #5 was CRAZY! It was really the worst pig I've ever come across... did the pig purposely give us a hard time knowing that we were having our exams?! Anyway that wasn't the best start to the exam, and I got really desperate and upset after the stupid pig slipped away again and again and even went through my legs twice. For a few minutes I really thought that snaring that damn pig was to be an impossible task. I hope Ross Buddle doesn't penalize me for taking such a long time to snare the pig! But eventually it was done and then Sam's pig was not as jumpy as mine, but it was still bad. After that we had to estimate the weights of Sam's pig and hurray I got mine within 2kg! That was actually the trickiest part of the pig exam because we were only given one chance and I found that my gut feeling was always wrong during practices. Luckily I didn't give up on it in the end.. hehe... I still trust my instincts after all. I guess that lucky estimation made up for the misbehaving pig after all. The last task for the pig was to restrain the grower pigs. I was slightly shocked by their sizes frankly.. i had thought they would give us smaller pigs. Times like this, it pays to have a bigger and not-so-slim arm... hehe. Under those stressful conditions, give me a pig of ANY size, I "die-die" also would struggle and do whatever that's needed. That's how badly I want to do well for this unit. I guess that is the same for everybody else.
Then came the horses. *big big sigh* Today was one of the worst attempts I ever made at catching a horse. Even though I was the second one to enter the pen and thus should have some advantage to choosing an obliging horse, somehow my luck ran out a little there and one by one I see the rest bringing their selected horses out... and I got terribly desperate. Perhaps the horses could sense that and for so long, they just kept turning away from me. Was it me, or was it just that they are in a bad mood? I guess by the time I finally was rescued by this horse that would stay still long enough for me to put its halter on, the rest had already completed half of their tasks. I was putting on the bull bit on the thoroughbred and she kept bringing her head higher and higher such that I couldn't reach... and then came one of the helpers who told me I was doing it wrong blah blah... and then showed me a way that wasn't how it was taught to us during our practices as well... I felt that she didn't give me a chance to defend myself before showing me HER way... anyway, it was a good horse in the end.
As for the sheep, Helen Chapman, the lecturer in charge of the sheep, didn't turn out to be as intimidating as I had thought her to be. It is high time that I lose my fear of teachers like her... there were so many before her, like Jennifer Tan in JC, Stella Lee in primary school... with whom I just become dumb when questioned. Anyway I had been worried that it was going to be like that, but nah, nothing happened. Tilting the sheep was more efficiently done than usual, and I guess that's because during the exam you KNOW you have to get something done and then you just go ahead and do it. Did all the other required routines without much of a problem and I drew blood within few seconds of insertion! Sooo happy. The only slightest trouble I had was in finding the sheep that matched the requirements I was given, from a mob of 10+ sheep. I think luck played a huge role again... I was beginning to think that I would never be able to find an unmulesed four tooth ewe with them running around all the time, when suddenly I just grabbed hold of one! And I was even going to let it go because I thought it was mulesed... luckily Kim told me in time that nope, it's really unmulsed. Tada! mission accomplished.
Yippee.. now I have to go study for the theory exam tomorrow. But it feels like the "worst" is over.
posted by Min @ 2:33 PM
2 Comments:
At 6:05 PM,
NoKoSo said…
Congrats on a gd animal handling practical! Jia you for the rest of ur exams... =)
At 9:45 AM,
Xiaoqing said…
hello dearie! great to hear that almost everything is doine! :)) let me know when will you be back?? i have leave to clear, and was thinking i could take leave sometime when we can go hang out in the afternoons the way we did during the holidays last time! heehee then can go some other places as well, not just eat dinner :p
meanwhile, yes i'm planning to go to Australia sometime, we'll talk about those plans when u get back ya? email me! i posting a msg cuz i don't have yours in the office.
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