1.

The best part of my senior project was feeling confident and comfortable enough to get
the ponies out and drive them on my own. I worked hard to get the team to a point where
they would come into the barn when the door opened, which they struggled with before.
The most difficult part was all the bumps and roadblocks along the way. We struggled
with one of the ponies getting sick, which left us not knowing if she would be able to be
in the parade. I did lots of administration of medicine and many vet visits. After all the
hard work, we were able to bring both ponies through the parade. A couple months later,
that same pony passed away. So now I am working with the Belgian draft horses to
hopefully get them to the same point the ponies were at.
2. I now know the harness parts and how they work. I also know how to properly drive a
team of horses. The last thing I learned was that there are many ups and downs to
owning horses, but it is all worth it.
3. The biggest aspect that stretched me the most would be not knowing if the horses were
going to be in the parade or not. I had worked really hard leading up to the week of the
parade, and when we noticed that a pony was sick, I was worried. I didn’t want all of my
hard work to not pay off. But I contacted my vet and she gave me medication and advice
on what to do. After hoping and trying, the pony was able to make it through.
4. This senior project has helped my confidence with horses grow a lot. I am now able to
get any of the horses in on my own without anyone else present. Another thing would be
that I grew in my ability to learn. During this time, I took in a lot of knowledge and
information in a short amount of time. I was able to remember that knowledge and I have
continued using it to this day.
5. Although this experience has not changed my future plans, I still hope and want to own
horses and livestock when I am on my own. They have been, and always will be, a big
part of my life.
6. If I had to do my project over again, I would probably change the team I used. I would
have chosen the Belgian draft horses so they would have had more experience.
7. My advice to next year’s seniors would be to get their senior project done over the
summer, because then you have fewer things to worry about when the end of the year
approaches.
8. If I was grading my senior project, I think it would be an A. I know to some people it
might seem like this project was not hard, but it was almost like training new horses
again. I give myself an A because, since the ponies had not been worked with in over 5
years, I had to tame them again. They did not like to come in the barn, and I was a new
driver to them, so I had to gain their trust. I also had to learn how to drive horses all over
again because the last time I drove them was 5 years ago with my grandpa. My last
reason would be that I was tested a lot throughout this experience, and I tried my
hardest to make sure I was able to accomplish what I said I was going to do.