Payton Maddy

Responsibilities

My primary responsibility during my internship was helping out with classes. This included getting horses in from the pasture, fed, and groomed before classes. Then I helped assisting that the riders were safe during class times walking beside the rider while they complete activities or by leading the horse. I also helped with keeping volunteer records, keep track or and organize registration forms for different sessions, and other office duties.

Accomplishments

My greatest accomplishment during my internship was building relationships with the different riders and seeing how our interactions impacted different people.

Learning experience

One of the greatest lessons I learned from my experience is to be patient and learn how to improvise. When working with different riders they reacted differently to the activities during classes and as sidewalkers or leaders I would have to quickly think of alternatives that would keep the horses and riders happy and calm.

What advice would you give?

Advice that I have for future students is to keep their options open. I never thought my love for animals and helping people would be something that I would enjoy or explore as a career option. After completing this internship I'm glad that I didn't turn away this opportunity because it wasn't what I saw myself doing in the future.