Dogs as a diagnostic tool for cancer?

I've just discovered the perfect reason to own a dog! All dog lovers out there: rejoice! If dogs could sniff out cancer from urine samples with a reasonably high statistical accuracy, as is indicated in this article, what more miracles can these furry creatures bring to our miserable existences?

Of course, I cannot imagine some paranoid human owning a trained-in-sniffing dog just for the purpose of identifying any self-threatening disease...

I want my shetland sheepdog :(

Goat Anatomy quiz

As I was surfing idly early morning to escape from the reality of studying for my microbiology test, I came across this goat anatomy quiz. Try it, you might find that you'll have learnt something new today if at least one anatomy term sticks in your memory. I'm ashamed to say that I couldn't get all right.

Stressed... for the time being

I never thought I would admit being stressed out over something as minor as a string of tests, but as I flipped through the pages of my Animal Nutrition reader just now and just simply could not find the pages on Vitamin B12, I started to panic. It's better now, because I just found it while waiting for these "create new post" page to load! It's ridiculous. I always try to keep my sanity by telling myself that I've been through worse... and emerged unscathed even though I've studied less.

When I looked through the questions that came out in the past year Nutrition test, I thought to myself, that I would be a very knowledgable, happy and satisfied girl by the time I'm done with studying all these vitamins and minerals. Provided that I'm able to answer all those questions off the top of my head. There's simply too much information to absorb at one go! Not to mention the essay that I had wanted to tackle before starting my test revision is UN-DOABLE. What kind of lecturer would give an essay question on "Histopathology: Witchcraft or sensitive diagnostic technique? " Ok, so now I do realise that the witchcraft part of the question is not meant to be taken seriously at all, but I cannot start an essay having scattered, meaningless material to begin with. Sigh.

Think I shall attempt to go and make myself comfortable at the library with no choice but to study the material placed in front of me. Would anyone be kind enough to lock me in a bare room with nothing but the essentials so that I cannot leave on impulse?

This is the lovely woman Jane. As Lydia says, she has the beauty and grace of that of a willow tree.

That's me on Chiko. He's way too small for me to ride, but I got on him all in good fun and because Dane said I wouldn't squash him to death.

Isn't the sky beautiful? The photo would have been more perfect had it only been the horse in the picture

That's me hoof-picking. It's no joke when you think about the strain placed on the lower back every day.

Brushing Laddie on my last day

This is Katie, my favourite horse. Notice her trademarks - a cut tail, and a roman nose which made her look as though she's Chinese.

Finally some response from Milly.

Milly, the dog, bo-chap me

Mirravale Riding School - Day 6

Second last day here, and am I looking forward to going home in Perth, even if it's only a rented home. I guess it's knowing that there is a personal space for you out there, where u can do anything u want without fearing of being judged by anybody but yourself. I'm happy that I ended up doing my "farm attachment" with Lydia, for I thoroughly enjoyed all the talks we shared when we were merely sitting around and feeling bored.

I love the horses and the ponies, but I think I will never be able to support one on my own. I'm quite happy that I do not desire having a horse of my own, unlike so many kids who are learning to ride. There is this girl around the age of 12, who works here in order to save up to buy her own horse. That is an admirable dream, but one that I guess I will never understand since I have not been placing horse-riding as one of my favourite major activies of my life ever since I was a kid, unlike them. To me, a city-dweller, going to all that trouble just to place a further burden on yourself is impractical. Can I still be considered a true animal lover? It's different from having cats and dogs, I think. These small animals can live under the same roof, but a horse can't. One has to drive miles to see your horse in some stable far away, only to enjoy at most a 2 hour ride together. Is it worth it? And why do I continue to assess worthiness simply by the returns I can get out of things? Why does my mentality have to revolve around practicality, when it can choose to believe in passion instead?

Horses are smart creatures. They are said to be able to sense fear in humans around them. If you allow them to bully you once, they pick it up quickly and will continue to push you around. Over the past week, I think I have more or less learnt to behave more assertively around them, and have lost my fear of being kicked by horses. After all those stories that I have heard from workers at Mirravale, there is no big fuss to be made over injuries that arise due to handling horses, as long as they aren't serious. I now understand that falling off a horse does not always mean broken bones, head concussions or paralysis. It can even be said that injuries are likely to be common, but what matters most is that you pick yourself up again and laugh the matter off. Horse people always have stories to share among themselves, and some of that include tales of being kicked by a certain horse or falling off because the horse suddenly reared. But to them, it is all part and parcel of working in this line, and despite the risks, they love what they do.

Lydia managed to capture a picture of Finbar peeing. I admit that I was partly responsible for talking her into it. I guess, we as humans are "sick" at times. Why we are fascinated by the way other animal species pee continues to baffle me.

Picture taken with Terri before we said our farewell to her. She's a good sport, and is always very encouraging even when we make all sorts of mistakes.

Terri doing up the stirrups on a chesnut horse.

More on Apollo. I know no other way of hugging a horse I like other than this. ;P

This, in contrast, is Apollo, a dark bay standardbred.

More on Laddie and me, but don't I look silly with a "curry pok" on top of my head? I had to resort to using Lydia's pins to stop my hair from falling all around my face.

This is Laddie, one of the smallest ponies around the place. Has got quite a sweet nature.

Mirravale Riding School - Day 5

I guess I'm just not fated to have a hot shower at this place. The water crisis is finally resolved, so after a long day of work, we were prepared to enjoy a hot shower at last. But what awaited me was half a hot and half a chillingly cold shower. Apparently the gas ran out while I was having my shower.

I had a wierd dream last night, which was not surprising, considering how many times both me and Lydia wake up in the middle of the night since we got here. I dreamt that I was to choose between Brad Pitt (the bad guy in my dream) and Tom Cruise(the good guy, only, in the dream he was under the name of Mark), who were fighting for my attention. Then, the dream turned to the topic of my guinea pigs, who started multiplying like crazy for no apparent reason. And then there was this computer program attached that predicted they will continue to reproduce 500 babies if unstopped.

Lydia was calling home and her bf outside our room as usual, when she suddenly came in tonight and asked me to hurry outside to look at the stars. What an amazing view. Within two minutes, we witnessed two shooting stars. It's a pity that I know nuts about astronomy. I'm sure I could have a thousand-fold appreciation for the night's beauty if so.

Jane's horse riding lesson in progress.

"Snoods", or however they are spelled. I mentioned earlier that there were to be placed around the muzzles of the horses to prevent them from eating on their trail rides. After we wash these, we hang them up to dry before their next use.

Jane's house

In the lovely house resides a lovely person.

Helmet Room - fits all shapes and sizes, regardless of the contents inside (or the lack of it)

Tack Room - on the left are the saddles, and to the right are the bridles.

Mirravale Riding School - Day 4

Lydia and I went on our second trail ride today. We have advanced to riding to horses this time! Lydia rode on Apollo, while I got George. When Jane asked me to get on George I think I must have given her an incredulous look. I felt like asking her "Really? U are asking me to ride on this horse otherwise known as the badtempered crazy horse? sheesh!" But somehow I didn't say anything and just did as I was told. I felt that I wasn't in a position to make any demands. My motto right then was that I'll go along with whatever that's available. True enough, he went berserk occasionally and certainly wasn't the meek type of horse that would go trudging behind the other horses in single file. George kicked the horse behind me and the rider behind me gave me a dirty look. As if I could help it! Because Lydia was in front of me riding Apollo, who kept waiting for a bit before going into a trot, George tried very hard to keep up and started racing off at high speeds. Because he's so tall, I felt like I was on higher ground than everyone else, and I was also the one who keeps getting my head bashed into some of the taller overlying branches. It was terribly undignifying to constantly crash into trees while wobbling around on the horse back.

Water supply is back, but there is still no hot water. Things get a little miserable when you're not used to the dirt and grime on yourself, and yet knowing that there is no way of cleaning yourself thoroughly.

Dane with Milly the kelpie

I think I should get a degree in picking up horse shit ;)

Thinking of food and acting stupid

Muah Chee in the making

Mirravale Riding School - Day 3

"Disaster" struck yesterday night, when we discovered there was no hot water. Possibly our little incident with the water trough could have triggered this water problem, but the real cause cannot be determined. Everyone seems affected by it, even Jane herself, who seems tired by the series of unfortunate events. Luckily for her, Jane's bf, Dane, arrived last night and he's going to be helping out here at the school for 2 whole weeks. (Btw, Jane and Dane. Is that cute or what?) Dane is also a Murdoch student but he's doing secondary teaching in the arts department.

Anyway, just when one thinks that the problem can't get any worse, today we realised that there is completely NO water at all. So today we would all have to get by without taking a shower, and tomorrow they would figure a way to fix the water shortage. We switched to using rain water for our water supply when attending to essential needs such as the cleaning of bridles and giving water to the horses.

Have I mentioned how I actually like clearing the horse shit from the saddling up shed? Usually either me or Lydia would push the wheelbarrow around, while the other one of us would use a rake to lift the piles of manure up and into the wheelbarrow. We both concluded that it reminds us of muah chee. That is exactly how it looks, coated with a thin layer of sand. I suppose we are amusing ourselves here for our own benefit, in order to maintain our sanity. Everyday the tasks and jobs are exactly the same, after disregarding the water crisis. I find it monotonous. It sounds sad if I said that we looked forward to dinner each night, but it's true, because dinner is the only thing that changes every day, so there's something to wonder about and anticipate. Jane would cook something different for us each night and we would sit around eating dinner and watching tv, not that there is ever anything gd on tv.

Jane has this silly dog called Milly, who is a kelpie true to its herding instincts. Crazily enough, whenever we bring a horse or two from the paddocks, it would block our paths as if to herd us back into the paddock. Thanks to Dane who suggested that we need to stop in our tracks and shoo Milly away in order to discourage her bad behaviour, I did exactly just that this morning, and Milly got so excited that he jumped up and nipped me in the thigh. I didn't take Dane's advice ever again after that.

Hoping that time would pass more quickly.

The pony paddock

Using a bathtub as a water trough... now that's what I call resourcefulness.

Horses all saddled up by the fence

Ponies ready for trail riding

From left to right: Sophie (the pony I rode on for my first trail ride at Mirravale), Tammy, Cassy (supposedly Little Miss Fatty), and Chiko (who got his name from being cheeky apparently)

Mirravale Riding School - Day 2

Given Mirravale's "ulu" location, I would not have expected the continuous stream of customers that arrive at the riding school. Perhaps that is only because it is the holidays for the Aussie kids right now. I must say that Mirravale's popularity way surpassed my expectations. This riding school caters to mainly trail rides in the Australian bush, since it is located next to a nature reserve. There are 5 rides available throughout the day, at 9am, 10.30am, 1.30pm, 3pm and 4.30 pm. Each ride is usually an hour long, but the last ride of the day, also known as the twilight ride, is an hour and a half long in duration. On some days, depending on demand, Jane would give lessons to kids at 9am as well.

Here at Mirravale, Lydia and I were expected to help the workers with their daily jobs, which include brushing, hoof-picking, saddling, de-saddling, placing and removing the bridles from the horses. At 7am, we were to feed the horses and ponies in their respective paddocks. It was not just a matter of putting hay in a stack in the middle of the paddock, but rather, it involves walking round the entire paddocks and placing each biscuit of hay in a different pile at distances apart, so that all the horses get their own pile of feed. Even horses have a hierarchy of dominance, and if the hay is laid out in a one stack, the less dominant horses would never get a chance to get to the food, and one cannot afford to have the skinny horses becoming even skinnier. And on top of the different piles of hay, we were to scatter bits of dried bread on top of the hay for extra nutrients.

After the morning feeding was done, Lydia and I were to have breakfast by ourselves, having been provided with the materials to make our own breakfast. At 8am, preparation of the 9am rides begin. According to the list of horses required for the first ride of the day, we went into the paddocks to bring in the respective horses and ponies. The difficult part of this routine wasn't to "catch" the horses, because they have already been used to the same routine every single day, but rather, to remember the different names of the horses! There were altogether 42 horses and ponies together, and there were only so many colours they can come in. Initially we could only depend on the other workers for identification of the right horses to bring in, but it can result in stressful situations, especially during times when everyone is just so busy doing their own tasks and they point off in a vague direction to which you can only hope you are getting the right message!

So, anyway, before the customers arrive, we have to bring in the horses, brush their coat, hoof-pick all that gung out of their feet, find the right saddle and bridle to put on the respective horses... there's a lot going on. When all that is done, Lydia and I would stand to one side and be ready to help whenever we can, while the other workers would go around assisting the customers onto their horses and instructing them on the necessary procedures. After everyone has set off on their trail rides, Lydia and I would pick up the horse shit around the place, get the horses in for the next ride, and begin the entire cycle of brushing, hoof-picking and saddling.

When all that is done, there is bread to be broken. Breaking bread is a skill not to be looked down upon! Jane gets a whole load of bread from the bakery in the nearby town every night, and we break the bread in the morning so that they dry up by evening time, and then we would bag the broken bread up in sacks to be fed to the horses in the morning. This is my favourite activity of the day because it's relaxing compared to the rest of the jobs.

Before long, the 9am trail ride customers would have returned and we have to make sure that each horse that is going out again for the next ride has a bucket of water placed in front of it so that there is no danger of any horse encountering dehydration. We have to take the bridles off every horse so that the kids can feed carrots, apples or bread to the horsies. If the horses are not going out again till much later, we would unsaddle them to give their backs a break, brush and hoof-pick them again, then put them out in the paddocks before washing their bridles and "snoods" (<-- net-like bags placed over their muzzle so that they will not be muching away on vegetation during their trail rides).

And so, this cycle would repeat 5 times throughout the day.

Jane told us that we could join in for a trail ride at 3pm, so we did. I rode a black pony named Sophie, while Lydia rode on a pony named Finbar. Off we went, with Terri in the lead, who is constantly checking back upon our progress. I had taken riding lessons last year, so trotting wasn't a problem for me and I thoroughly enjoyed myself whenever we went into a trot, but as for Lydia who last rode a horse when she was 9, she ended up bouncing up and down when the horses/ponies trotted, and she got a sore bum as a result. Actually, the view on the ride wasn't fantastic or anything, but there were kangaroos to be seen along the way, and I found it easy to go into a relaxed daze while ambling forward on a horse/pony. Almost therapeutic, if you're comfortable with horse-riding.

I must say, that initially, I was very afraid of hoof-picking the ponies and the horses. There was this one pony named Eddie who wouldn't stop kicking with his hind leg whenever I am working on his hind leg. My self-positioning wasn't great as well, and I ended up with sore legs trodden on by Eddie. Nothing serious though. And to make matters worse, I started recalling stories where horses turned around to nip people in the butt, and it didn't help that some of these ponies/horses do that... you'll be hoof-picking and suddenly there is a sensation of a muzzle probing around your rear end, and you start wondering if the animal is merely curious and smell-deprived, or that it is preparing itself to nip you should you not be careful.

Just to end on a funny (or rather, gross) note, horses have this tendency to fart when you have lifted either of its hindlegs. I have no idea why it does that, but it's true. Most of the time there is no accompanying sound, but occasionally there is that familiar farting sound that is both long and varying in pitch, which can crack everybody in the stable up. Lydia claims that their farts stink, but I haven't encountered any that would make me gag, so far.

Mirravale Riding School - Day 1

Lydia and I decided to do a farm attachment together at Mirravale Riding School, largely due to good reviews from Val and William, who did theirs just last summer. Setting off in Lydia's car, it took us approximately 4 hours to reach Mirravale, which is located near the town of Dunsborough down south of Perth. Jane Hayter, who is charge of running this school, is indeed a very nice lady. On first contact, you can immediately sense a certain sense of gentle beauty radiating from her mannerisms. We also met Terri, who is Jane's right handed helper. Terri, in contrast, is jovial and loud, and I guess it was her outward friendliness that helped me feel "at home" more quickly than usual.

And guess what? Within the first five minutes of our arrival, as Lydia and I were moving our belongings from the car to our allocated room, I bumped into a wooden gate with my pillow and the gate just collapsed. That really shocked me.. especially since it was a pillow, for goodness sake. Terri and Jane told me not to worry about it, that it must have been rusty at the hinges from the start, but still, I find it a little difficult to dismiss the fact that I broke something so quickly on my arrival.

Anyway, basically, there were few customers today so Terri told us to hop up the back of the ute while she drove into the paddocks to check upon and clean the water troughs. There were 2 troughs that we were to clean out. The three of us managed the first trough with little trouble, and as we arrived at the second, Terri suddenly spotted some customers waiting, and took off after telling us to do exactly what we did for the first trough. Problem is, the second water trough is of a different mechanism, and we were baffled as to how to cut off the water supply so that we could bail all the water out and clean the insides of the trough. So, while we were trying to figure it out, Lydia stuck her hand into the murky water to grab hold of the water pump just like what Terri seemed to have done previously on the first... and out came part of the pump with her hand with seemingly little effort on Lydia's part. We both stared at the object in her hand, and panicked, because we didn't know if we had broken the pump, or simply removed a detachable part of the mechanism. So while Lydia tried desperately to stick something back into where she thought she had pulled it out from, I was bailing water out of the trough as fast as I could. We must have made a pretty comical sight, only that there weren't anyone to witness it (the horses, maybe?) Eventually, when it seemed like we were getting nowhere, Lydia ran off to get Terri, who returned hurriedly to our side, only to confirm our worst fears that the water pump was broken. Lydia ran off once more to get Jane, while Terri and I continued scooping water out, but Terri couldn't figure a way out to stop the water from gushing into the trough. Jane finally arrived and calmly told us to simply turn off a tap by the side of the trough. So much for all that hype and distress, but it doesn't change the fact that we broke their pump. Jane and Terri were extremely nice about the matter though.

Morale of the story is: never leave your vet students unattended on their first day. Be prepared to have parts of your property destroyed.

We need courage

"Courage doesn't always roar. Courage can be the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow".

-unknown

I don't know who it was who came up with this quote, but I simply love it! Maybe because, it struck a chord in me, somehow.