Making the Most of Mucking

It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it! This month’s featured volunteer takes pride in mucking stalls and bonding with our horses.

When asked to name the dirtiest job at the Ranch, you will find a unanimous answer: cleaning stalls! It takes a special person to take on this task with vim and vigor. Meet Holly Holford, mucker extraordinaire! “

Holly volunteered for one of our most important tasks, mucking.” shares Susan Peirce, President and co-founder of Red Bucket Equine Rescue. “Most volunteers shy away from such a laborious job, yet Holly is so dependable and reliable when it comes to hauling manure. She is very generous with her time, and her pleasant demeanor makes her a delight to be around. She is truly service oriented and has no drama or ego about her. Holly joined our group to make a difference, and every hour she spends cleaning stalls is a full 60 minutes of complete dedication to our horses.”

Holly joined Red Bucket last September after first visiting the Ranch to get a feel for the organization. “I researched a few horse rescues online and liked what I saw on Red Bucket’s website,” explains Holly. “Red Bucket looked organized, so I made a trip out there one Sunday afternoon to check out the place. It was very clean, and the horses looked well cared for. I spoke with Gemma Gishi, and she told me she had been volunteering there for four years. To me, that was a good sign of a place where volunteers were happy. I went home and signed up for the next orientation scheduled for September 28, 2013.”

With no horse experience to speak of, Holly started showing up at the Ranch with the intent to help out in any way possible. Jenon Mathis, Breezeway Coordinator, recalls first meeting a very green Holly. “I didn’t meet Holly until she started showing up on Sundays for stall cleaning. She has since become a regular and is very dependable. I have spent some time chatting with her, and I am always amazed at how cheerful she is while taking on the not so glamorous task of mucking out stalls. When she first began, she had a ‘hands off’ approach while in the stalls, but soon enough she began to understand more about our residents, and her level of comfort and confidence increased. It may take her a little longer to clean, but that is because she spends some serious personal time with each and every horse.”

Jenon continues to elaborate about the importance of Holly’s work. “So many times we hear that people would love to help, and they will do anything: clean brushes, muck stalls, clean tack. Holly actually does these chores! I don’t know if she really realizes how important her role is. Sundays are our tour days, and it is important that the Ranch, horses and stalls are clean and ready for visitors. I so appreciate her dedication and commitment to our horses and our cause. Holly has proven she is Red Bucket red through and through.”

Like many new volunteers, Holly was very nervous around horses. She had spent years fostering cats for a local rescue group and was quite intimidated by the sheer size of our gentle giants. “When I started volunteering at Red Bucket, I was very nervous about going into the stalls with the horses,” Holly recalls. “I didn’t know how to get them to move away from the gate let alone to work so close to them. I was not familiar with their body language at all. Slowly, through volunteering on a regular basis, I started to learn how to do my job without being too nervous or interrupting them too much in their space. I try to put myself in their shoes and work slowly and quietly around them. I must admit that I love it when they are curious about me or what I am doing and come over to me for a little visit. Red Bucket has inspired me to enroll in Horse Science classes at college. I hope to become more knowledgeable and useful to Red Bucket in a wider range of areas needed to help out with the horses.”

With her confidence came an adoration for a few of our equines. “I just love and adore Cover Girl and Leila who share a paddock together. They were the first horses to seek me out and seemed like they wanted to be near me. I was in heaven! Each week at least one of them approaches me while I am cleaning their paddock. They are so gentle and have such sweet personalities, and they both have really played a big part in helping me become comfortable around such large animals. I also like Kolcheck because he is just so big and awesome. I had never seen such a huge horse before I met him.”

Not only has Holly bonded with our horses, she has forged a great relationship with her mentor. In her words, “Jenon has been absolutely wonderful to work with and is such a great motivator that I cannot sing her praises loud enough! She is an amazing, generous human being who shows true leadership, remains calm, and is always willing to answer my endless questions. Jenon makes it a point to say hello to me each time I am there, and she updates me on new horses or those that are being adopted out. She personally thanks me for my hard work; her actions truly show how much she cares about the horses and the rescue. I am honored to be a part of this caring organization, and I am so thankful and grateful for people like Jenon and Susan. It fills my heart to see the many other volunteers that care and give of their time and love to help such an important and wonderful cause. My heart goes out to animals that have had a rough or sad past. Being new to horses, I would like to learn everything that I can about how to properly care for them and maybe one day have a horse of my own!”

We would like to thank Holly for her hard work, dedication, and willingness to tackle the toughest of all jobs!