u/AccomplishedTest9240

So here's my situation. I'm 34, I work a desk job in logistics, and honestly I'm bored out of my mind. My wife's family runs a small horse boarding stable on weekends, and every time I go out there and watch the farrier come in to trim and shoe the horses, I get kind of fascinated by it. It's physical, it's a real skill, and apparently good farriers stay booked out for months.

The problem is I know basically nothing about how someone actually gets into this trade. I grew up in a city and the closest I've been to a horse is petting one at a fair. I don't know if there's some kind of apprenticeship system, if you need to go to a specific school first, or if you can just start by shadowing someone and picking it up hands on. I also don't know what the actual day to day looks like once you're doing it for money instead of just watching.

I'm not trying to quit my job tomorrow and do this full time, but I'd like to start learning properly, maybe on weekends, and see if it's something I could transition into over the next couple years. If anyone here has gone through something like this, or knows someone who has, I'd love to hear how you actually got your foot in the door. What did the first year of learning look like for you, and is there a right way to start or does it vary a lot depending on where you live?

Did a three day loop in the High Uintas last weekend, starting at the Highline Trailhead and ending up near Naturalist Basin. Total mileage came out to about 11 miles on day one, then a shorter 4 mile day just poking around lakes, then 9 miles back out on day three.

Day one was rough because the trail gains a lot of elevation right away and I was carrying way too much food for three days, classic beginner mistake I still make after years of doing this. Got to the lake I picked on the map around 6pm, tired, ready to just drop my pack and set up in peace.

There were already three llamas tied up near the flat spot I wanted.

Turns out an older couple runs llama supported treks in that area and their group had stopped at the exact same lake for the night. I did not even know llama trekking was a thing people did in Utah, I thought that was more of a Colorado or Wyoming activity. The llamas were honestly better behaved than most dogs I have camped near, just quietly grazing while their owners cooked dinner.

We ended up sharing the fire ring area, keeping a good distance apart, and they told me llamas can carry a surprising amount of gear which is why their camping setup looked like a small hotel compared to my one person tent and a stove I forgot to pack fuel for, so I ended up eating cold soaked rice for two nights.

Gear notes if anyone is planning this route: bring a real water filter, not just tablets, because a lot of the smaller tarns were pretty stagnant looking by late summer. Bear hang was still necessary even though it is not heavily forested near the basin.

Has anyone else run into a pack animal group like this on trail? Curious if this is common in certain regions or if I just got lucky with timing.

I'm on week four of the book right now, the reading deprivation week, and I'll be honest, I almost skipped it. I read something every single day, phone, book, cereal box, whatever. The idea of going a full week without any of that sounded impossible and also kind of pointless.

I did it anyway because I told my sister I would, and she's doing the book alongside me this time.

The first two days were rough. I kept picking up my phone out of habit and putting it back down when I remembered. I felt bored in this itchy uncomfortable way, like my brain wanted something to chew on and there was nothing there. By day three the itch calmed down a bit, and something weird started happening. I began noticing things around my apartment I'd been ignoring for months. A box of old cassette tapes from my dad that I never got rid of. A cheap keyboard I bought two years ago and never opened.

On day five I pulled the keyboard out just to have something to do with my hands, no book or podcast to distract me. I ended up sitting there for almost two hours just messing around with it, no plan, no lesson, just pressing keys and seeing what sounded nice next to what. I haven't touched an instrument since I quit piano lessons as a teenager, and I quit because I hated being told what to practice. Turns out I still like sound, I just hated the homework part of it.

By the end of the week I wasn't itching for my phone anymore, I was actually annoyed when I picked it back up on day eight. I've kept the keyboard out on my desk since then and I noodle around on it most evenings now, nothing serious, just enough to remember I used to like this before someone made it a chore.

I don't think the deprivation week did anything magic on its own. I think it just got everything else out of the way long enough for me to hear what I actually wanted to do.