Our "Mini" Accident

This last weekend on the ranch was perhaps the most exciting one yet, but for all the wrong reasons. Don't worry I'll get into that later on in the post. Our duties for the day were pretty simple: Clean out the stalls and bathe all the horses. The first part was pretty simple. When we arrived at the ranch, all the horses were already put out to pasture. All we had to do was clean out all their droppings from the stall and put down new floor shavings. After that, we had to go bring them in for their baths. This is where things got difficult. The two minis were in a pasture adjacent to the regular sized horse, and we decided to go wash the minis first. Since they're so small we usually wash both of them at the same time. So all of us went to go bring in the two of them. However, there was one problem, no one shut the gate. One of the first rules Mr. Ames taught us was always shut the gate behind you when you enter the pasture. We all forgot this one simple rule, thinking "The person behind us will shut the gate." Well, everyone thought that and no one ended up actually shutting the gate. When we went into the pastures the minis were already running around trying to avoid us. Then they saw that the gate was open and made a dash for it. Unfortunately, the main gate to the street wasn't closed either and the horses escaped onto the road. Mr. Ames wasn't on the ranch at the moment either so it was just up to the interns to get the horses back. VIjeeth and I tried running down the horses but realized even with their short legs and swollen stomachs they were still much faster than us. We were just hoping and praying that they didn't keep running out to the main road because there was no way any car would stop in time to not hit them. Eventually, they got distracted by some bigger horses and went to go "talk" with them. Seizing our opportunity Irene and Sarah (the other ranch hand) coaxed the minis back to the pasture with watermelon and disaster was avoided. Unfortunately for us, Mr. Ames did see us running down the street after the minis, however, he wasn't mad at all (thankfully). In the end, we were all just glad neither of the minis were hurt. 

We received a surprise later on in the week that Treasure, one of the minis, gave birth. She wasn't showing any telltale signs of impending birth when we were on the ranch. e could only conclude that all her running loosened her up to give birth!

Minis exploring their new stall

Minis grazing

Treasure with her foal

Look at how small the foal is!

Live Birth!

Hey, everyone!

In this post, I wanted to talk about the first birth on the ranch that I got to witness.

Vijeeth and I were doing our regularly scheduled night-watch duties. I got there a little earlier than usual at about 10 PM and he arrived at around 12:30. When we're on night-watch Mr. Ames usually sets up a live video feed on a laptop showing footage of the stables. We usually keep an eye on this while we do other things throughout the night. This night was no different. Things started getting weird shortly before 1 AM though. We noticed Mystic (the horse that was on high alert of giving birth) urinating an unusually large amount of times. This got our attention first but didn't raise any immediate red flags. Then suddenly when she turned around we saw a sack hanging out of her. At this moment we rushed to wake up Mr. Ames and his wife to tell them her water had broken. When we went out to the stables we could already see one of the foal's hooves sticking out within the amniotic membrane. We had to wait for more of the body to be sticking out before we could do any collection. As more of the body passed out Mr. Ames sliced open the amniotic membrane and vacuumed the amniotic fluid into a container. Then he had to make sure to collect the membrane as the foal's body came out. If he waited too long and the membrane fell to the floor, then the membrane would have been contaminated by the floor shavings and would be useless. However, the collection was a success and we were able to collect everything we needed cleanly and safely. One weird thing about this birth was that Mystic never laid down. Most mares prefer to give birth while laying on their side as it widens their birthing canal and makes passage of the foal easier. We stayed a while after the birth to watch the foals first steps, see it drink milk, stretch out the placenta, and wash the amnion. In the end, both mare and foal were healthy and that's what matters.

First sight of the foal

But wait. there's more!

Mother sees foal for the first time

Foal's first steps

Fully stretched out placenta.

Arizona Lumberjack?

Hey, everyone!
In this post, I wanted to talk about my experience being a lumberjack for a day. 
All the way in the back of the Ames Ranch is a massively overgrown mesquite tree. The tree is in a corner of the largest pasture and because of its size makes a portion of the pasture inaccessible to the horses. Our solution to this? Just cut down some of the tree. Easier said than done. For those of you unfamiliar with what a mesquite tree is, let me explain. They are native to the Southwestern United States and can grow up to 26 feet tall. Oh, and they also have thorns that are up to 3 inches long. Mr. Ames provided us with gloves which kind of helped except some of the thorns pierced right through them. Our foam bottom shoes also stood no match to the thorns. In the end, Vijeeth and I had to tough out the pain and just do our job. Mr. Ames went in with the chain saw, and we dragged the chopped up pieces and formed a pile. After a while of cutting, Mr. Ames finally was able to get to the heart of the tree, which is when he realized there were actually two separate trees growing from the same spot. It would have taken too long to chop down both trees completely, so he called an audible and decided to just trim both of them instead. The idea was to clear out most of the undergrowth, so the horses could come in and lay down in the shade from the tree during the sweltering summer months. Towards the end of our project, Mr. Ames even let me use the chainsaw! All in all, it was a painful day on the ranch, but getting to use the chainsaw and other tools was a pretty cool experience!

Thorns or Road Spikes?

Our enemy

The Heart of the Tree

The Pile

Getting Ready for the Minis!

Hey, everyone! Mr. Ames recently found out we would be getting miniature horses, which sounded pretty cool at first. Then we thought "Since the horses are gonna be so small, what's the chance they'll be able to fit through the bars in the stables?" We quickly realized this could be a major problem and got to work mini horse-proofing a stable. Being on a ranch Mr. Ames, of course, had plenty of unused wooden boards laying around. The plan was simple. Sand, paint, and install the boards on the inside of the stable so the minis can't escape. Easier said than done. One of the immediate challenges we faced was the sweltering Arizona sun. We had to prepare all of the boards outside of the shade of the stables, which meant we had to take turns prepping so none of us would get overly exhausted. The hardest part of the whole process was the actual installation of the boards. None of us had any experience using power tools, so it was new to all of us. Thankfully, Mr. Ames was extremely patient and showed us all how to properly and safely handle the tools. In the end, we were just hoping that the boards would properly serve their purpose and the minis would be happy with our work.

Making sure the boards are big enough

One of the tools we used to cut screws 

Using a table saw to halve the boards

Finished product!

We Won!

Hey everyone, in this post I wanted to touch on a little bit of the business side of Anicell. We recently competed in the Invest Southwest's Venture Madness tournament against other startup companies. Invest Southwest was originally founded in 1992 to help startups in the Southwestern United States by connecting willing investors with the bright minds behind the companies. This year's competition was held in the Valley Ho hotel in Scottsdale. The structure of the tournament itself is very similar to March Madness college basketball tournament (that's why it's called Venture Madness). The tournament pool originally consisted of 64 startups. This group is whittled down to just 16 companies after two online elimination rounds. Companies that advance were chosen by a selection panel because of their innovativeness. The final 16 square off in a live-demo contest where they pitch their company's idea to a panel of investors. We were all invited to watch as Mr. Ames, Anicell's president and CEO, gave a rundown to the panel on why they should invest in Anicell. In the end, we placed second and won $5000, and were all pretty overjoyed. One of the first things I asked Mr. Ames after congratulating him was "So, how much of that is for paying the unpaid interns?" The winning company was Clean Router. They specialize in making wifi routers that help make the internet safer for kids (a good idea in today's online world).

The check

The bracket with all 64 entrants