"volunteering"

As per usual I showed up to volunteer at the stables this weekend. Sat was uneventful, picked out a lot of stalls, and watched the ferrier. I've never seen one work on a horse before, so that was really interesting. He had arms like trees. He'd have to have a strong back as well. Half the time the horse seems to decide this is a good time to nap on his back. I had invited the two girls that work there to come up Sat night as we had invited some people up for drinks on the deck. They said they might, but they were trying to go to a concert somewhere.

Sunday morning I show up and wait for 45 minutes before they show up. The photos I took below of the cat and the hills, etc, are what I did to pass the time. I was fairly fed up. Just as I was about to leave they pull in. Still wearing last nights clothes, bed head, and at least one seemed hung over. The hangover one promptly laid down on the couch while I hustled with the other one to quickly bring in, hay, groom and tack up 7-8 horses. For a 10 am trail ride. We got everything done, people show up, we go out on the ride. They hung over one says at least 3 things to me sharp and rude, basically like hurry it up. While we're on the ride I'm supposed to stay next to the 8th grader that is petrified, and scared of heights. She asks me if I can put her foot back in the stirrup for her. I yell ahead and ask if it's ok if I stop to do this - to which I get a "she's a big girl, she can do it herself"... then I hear mom says she has panic attacks. So I pull alongside and help. This happens again. the mom finally tells the lead girl about the attacks, to which she very sarcastically says it would've be nice to know prior to the ride. After the ride, and all the horses are back in, I said hey, I'm gonna take off. Here's where I get really pissed - no "hey thanks, really appreciate your help, blah, blah" Or even an "sorry you waited so long". I am not expecting praise by any means, but this is not the first time I've helped them out on a wknd morning when they're under the weather from partying the night before. If I hadn't helped, yes - they'd still get it done, but I made it a lot easier.

The girls are really nice usually, and I do like them a lot, but they suck at people skills. It also bothers me that they hold a bit of "power" of knowledge above me. I'm 10 years older than them, but because I'm 1) a volunteer and 2) less experienced I keep much quieter than usual. Bite my tongue a lot. All they do is bitch about not getting enough business, but then when they do, they show up looking like shit and do nothing but complain and be rude to the customers. I might not be as experienced with horses, but the age difference with dealing with people, I've got one up on them. But again, I don't say a word. I get to be around horses for free. This weekend was the first time I really wished though that I had one of my own so I didn't have to put up with all the other crap. Big plus is it's still volunteering, so I go when ever I want. I'm just happy I'm learning enough so I can take care of a horse on my own one day.