The Blind Horse Whisperer

Special Time With Scarlette

2013-09-27T14:07:00.002-07:00

Now that both my little girls are in school, when I go out to feed the horses in the morning, there is no longer a rush to get back in the house, I can spend as much time out there as I want.   I always feel closer to God when I'm with the horses, it's very special time.

After feeding, checking water tanks, and checking over a few of the horses, I was standing out in the paddock by the barn where I saw Scarlette standing nearby.   Scarlette is a special horse, she was not treated very well in her younger days, at the farm where she was born and raised, she was feared, handled roughly, etc.   I was the only one who showed her kindness and we had an immediate connection to each other, that was so powerful, we were just drawn to each other, all those years ago.

When she arrived on my farm, in the fall of 2004, we had not seen each other in almost 12 years, but we picked right up where we had left off.

In the almost 9 years since she arrived, our relationship has gotten even closer.   She is, no doubt, one of the smartest horses I have ever been around and worked with.   I talk to her in plain english, as if I am talking to a person, and I swear she understands.   This morning was no different, but it was so special.

Scarlette rarely approaches even me, when she is loose in the pasture, but this morning, I asked her if I could check her over and she stood still as I approached, instead of turning and walking away.   I ran my hands across her neck, over her topline, over her ribcage, across her flanks, and rump, checking her body condition.   Now that she is 22 years old, I am trying to watch her weight carefully as I can, along with the other 2 senior horses on the farm.   I recently changed to a new grain and am watching for changes to tell me if I have made a good choice.

After checking Scarlette's body condition, she stood close to me and I gently touched her face and discovered some seeds of some sort on her face and I carefully picked them off of her fur.   There had to be near 50 of them, it was a lot.   She stood letting me do this and then when I was done, she shifted her weight and I thought she was going to walk off, but she moved and seemed to be asking me to scratch her neck and shoulder on her right side.   After a few minutes, she backed up 2 steps and repositioned herself so I could do her left side.   I never moved, I let her do all the moving.

As we spent this time together, I started talking about our history together and if you have read the story of our time together at Longwood Farm, you will know of the Angel experience we had together.   For some reason I asked Scarlette, "Do you remember the Angel?"

At that very moment, she stepped back again, raised up her head, ears pricked, and then she gently put her nose to my face and continued to gently sniff my chin.   You will know the significance of this if you've read that story or if I have told it to you.   I will put the link to it at the end of this post, but if you have not read it, I was touched by an Angel feather on my chin, to protect me from Scarlette's knee hitting my face, when she threw me off one morning, when something scared her.   No one can tell me otherwise, that it was definitely an Angel experience. Scarlette never threw me again, from that day on, she always let me calm her down.

Scarlette and I continued our peaceful and loving conversation and rubbing session for almost a half an hour.   It was of her own free will to spend this time with me and it was, by far, the longest time she has ever spent with me, of her own free will.

As I scratched her itches, from time to time she seemed to tell me "Thank you!", she'd wrap her neck around me, put her head on my shoulder, and sniffed my face a few more times.   Most of these things are not her normal behavior, as she is not the most affectionate horse, but I have noticed that she seems to be becoming one, in her older years and maybe as she realizes she's here to stay and at peace.

I told her of her son, Marcus, and how proud we are all of him.   We always tell her about his races right after we get home, but I just decided to talk more about it.   I even told her that if he continues to do well that maybe we could breed Glory, her daughter, next year, and she could see her grandbaby running around the fields in the next year and a half. She seemed to like that and pricked up her ears and even looked over towards Glory, at that moment.   As I said, this mare is smart and understands what i'm saying to her.

This morning was definitely a very special time with my beloved Scarlette.   She is now retired from breeding and will live out her life with me and I look forward to many more special times with her.   What a blessing from God she is to me.

You can read the blog entry "Red Devilette's Yearling Story" at:

http://theblindhorsewhisperer.blogspot.com/2011/05/red-devilettes-yearling-story.html

Praise God for the Geese on the Track

2013-09-26T14:43:00.000-07:00

It truly is amazing how God works and what His plans are.   Sometimes there is a really good reason for Him to say "No" or "Not now" to a request, prayer, wish, etc.

For those who know me or have read my previous blog posts, you know of the love of horse racing I have had since I was a child, that I have been involved in the sport, off and on, for over 20 years, and that I am currently racing in a partnership the gelding, Marq Your Bible aka "Marcus", who I bred and raised and am now the Managing Partner of his racing partnership that allows us to race him, to help me fulfill a dream.   You know this road has not been easy, it has been very tough, but I have stayed the course, because I truly believe with all my heart that this path is the one God wants me on.

Marcus had a very tough year last year, his first year racing, and his best finish in a race, came in his first start, which was a 6th place finish.

It just seemed like we had bad luck and some other things went on that I won't go into, as they don't really have to do with the reason for my writing this.

We made a trainer change in February of 2013, moving Marcus to Karen Dennehy Godsey at Eagle Point Farm.   She worked with Marcus to build his confidence, get him back into condition, and to evaluate his potential.    It did not take long before I was being told, "I can win with this horse!" by Karen.   She said that he had some talent, but it was still unclear how much.

As the spring progressed, he got stronger and stronger and we were pointing him towards a return to the races at Colonial Downs.   Everyone involved with him was getting excited and hopeful that we were now on the right path with Marcus and that the bad luck was behind us.

He was entered to race that first Sunday afternoon at Colonial Downs.   He looked great, he was ready to run!   Karen thought we had a really good chance in the race.

As the horses raced down the backstretch he started to pass horses on the outside when suddenly we heard the announcer call out that there were geese on the track and Karen said that she thought he'd run through them.   After the geese, which had slowed him down, of course, he did try to pick up his pace a bit, but then got in a big traffic jam and had to check hard and so lost all that momentum and ended up 8th.

We went inside and sat down at a table and Karen came and found us after she had talked to the jockey.   The jockey said that Marcus, indeed, had ran through the flock of geese, and had killed at least 2 of them, maybe more.   He said it was one of the scariest moments he'd experienced.

Karen commented, "If this horse has any luck at all, it's bad luck."

So, we regroup and enter him to race again on June 21st, which happened to be my brother's Birthday and my Dad and his wife, would be in town, so we all agreed to meet at the track.   My Dad, his wife, my brother, his wife, my Mom, my husband, our 2 little girls, and I were all there to cheer on Marcus, who now had another jockey, an up and coming apprentice named Chelsey Keiser.

Several horses were scratched and as post time approached, we watched the odds in shock, as Marcus was bet down to the 8-5 favorite.   A horse that had never finished better than 6th, was the favorite?   Granted, his new jockey and his trainer were having a great meet at Colonial, but it was still surprising to all of us.

Chelsey was told to just get Marcus in a good position for the first turn, let him relax in the back of the pack, where he could settle, since he always breaks slow, and let him slowly start to pick through the field and pass horses.    Chelsey rode him perfectly, following these instructions to a T.   As they came out of the final turn onto the homestretch, she had him sitting in 5th, when suddenly the horse infront of them tripped and lost it's rider.   That jockey fell off right infront of Marcus, so Chelsey had to check him hard and turn him to avoid the fallen rider.

People who have seen the video still remark, "How on earth did he not step on that jockey?"   My only answer to give is, "The geese! God put the geese in that race before this one, because He knew a jockey would fall infront of Marcus and Marcus would need to know how to avoid something in his path, while going at top speed. God used the geese to save that jockey's life."   It's that plain and simple and I praise God now for those geese.

We all thought it was over, but not Marcus, who after passing the fallen rider, and getting his course straightened, set dead aim on the horses infront of him and he accellorated with an explosive move, split between two horses, and was suddenly in the lead as they raced towards the finish line.   He continued in the lead and eventually won by 3 lengths!

I immediately dropped to my knees, crying and praising God, thanking Him for what He had just allowed Marcus to do.   I had everyone petting me on my back and hugging me

It was an amazing experience, one I will never forget and it was my first win as an owner.   God's timing is so perfect, His plans are amazing, on how He can place obstacles in a path, that are meant to teach, not just us, but a horse, so that a life could be saved.

Marcus continues to do well, he has raced 4 more times since his win, and now has a 2nd, two 3rds, and a 4th, which was in his most recent start on September 23rd at Delaware Park.

Whenever I visit him, he nuzzles me, sniffs me, and is just a total sweetheart. I was there from the beginning as he was trying to come into this world, upside down, and I had to help him and his mother, so they could both survive that tricky situation.   I will always have this horse in my life and pray he is never claimed from us, because he means so much to me and the lessons God has taught me through this horse, his mother, etc are just amazing to me and I owe it to Marcus to care for him for the rest of his life.    He will continue to race until he says it's time to move on to something else.   I actually pray, that after his racing days, that I can use him as my own pleasure horse around the farm.   It will happen, God willing!

Praise God for those geese and the lessons He teaches us all!

Part One: God Provides the Right Dog at the Right Time

2013-03-31T17:18:00.001-07:00

Dextra, my 4th Seeing Eye Dog, and I are approaching our 2nd anniversary on April 4th and I thought it appropriate if I wrote about my Seeing Eye Dogs and how God told me about them before I even met them.   So, here is Part One, focusing on my first two guides.

I applied to The Seeing Eye in late winter of 1994 and was accepted later that spring. I am not exactly sure at what point I started getting the feeling that I would get a German Shepherd, but I know it was well before I arrived, in mid July, to The Seeing Eye's Morristown, NJ campus.

After talking to my instructor and going on several Juno Walks, where the trainer gauges how fast we walk, how much pull we need from the dog, how quickly we react to sudden movements, and more I anxiously awaited the moment when I would meet my very first Seeing Eye Dog.

After lunch, on a Sunday afternoon, I was called down to the Women's lounge, where I was sat down on a sofa and then introduced to Ginger, a female German Shepherd.

I was ecstatic, to say the least. I had that feeling I was getting a German Shepherd for so long and here I was given one. God's intuition or message to me had been correct.   Every time I said "Ginger Forward!" out loud to her, in my head I was adding, "to freedom!"   It was freedom from the use of the cane and freedom from having to depend on people, at times, even though I was quite independent, I felt this would only add to increasing my desired independence level.

Things went very well, but looking back, in hindsight, there wer some early warning signs. During class Ginger and I were playing and she pinned me to the floor and would not let me up for a few seconds and later she and another female German Shepherd seemed to develop a dislike for each other. Though they never fought, they did growl a little bit at each other. Both things were brought to trainers attention, but it was thought to just be play or stress related and isolated incidences. The rest of our month of training was smooth and we left The Seeing Eye a wonderful new working team, ready to take on the world, well, maybe just my college life.

Things continued to go well for about a month, after starting back to college, when suddenly little things started to happen that showed me I may have an issue.   She started attaching herself to my friends, more than she should have, started to try to dominate me, and eventually she got very protective and then dog aggressive.

After about 6 months or so of trying to resolve the issues, talking on the phone with trainers from The Seeing Eye, it was decided I needed to be visited by a trainer to evaluate the situation.   In late March 1995, I was visited by a trainer and after two days of evaluation it was decided that Ginger was just not suitable as a Seeing Eye Dog. The trainer said it was almost like she'd had a dog nervous breakdown or something. Her guide work was impeccable, but the behavioral problems just could not be ignored.

I decided to work her through the end of the spring semester, with some new training techniques the trainer taught me, instead of going back to the cane, while I tried to find Ginger a retirement home.

I was given a class date of mid May 1995 and though I had tried, I had been unable to find Ginger a retirement home, so I had a hard choice to make. I could keep her and return to The Seeing Eye with her, give her over on Saturday morning, for them to find a home, and receive my new dog a little over 24 hours later or return her 2 weeks before my class date, to have some time to grieve her loss and prepare myself for my next dog.   I chose the latter. I knew I would not be emotionally able to hand her over and take a new dog within 24 hours, I just don't work that way. I was so attached to Ginger, despite all her issues, it was killing me to give her up, but I was in college and had no where to keep her.

Waiting those two weeks to return to The Seeing Eye, after sending Ginger back, was almost unbearable. I prayed a lot and cried a lot, pleading with God to heal my broken heart.

I arrived at The Seeing Eye, that mid May Saturday morning and my new instructor met me.   We talked and I went on a Juno Walk with him. That night I prayed more, knowing I'd meet my new dog after lunch on Sunday.

Sunday morning came and it meant a Juno Walk in the town of Morristown. I went out first, of my group, and then climbed back to the parked van, as I awaited the others in my group to get their Juno Walks done.   I closed my eyes and prayed, yet again. "Please God, heal my broken heart. Let my new dog be special and help me." It was at that moment a peace poured over me, a peace like I had not known before, and I saw sitting in front of me a male black Lab.   I opened my eyes, looked up out the van window into the sky, smiled, and praised God.   I did not stress anymore the next few hours, as I awaited my new dog, because I was sure that God had just shown him to me.

I was in the same room I had been in the year before, when I got Ginger, so when I was called to get my new dog, I was called to the same place, the Women's Lounge.   As I turned the corner into the room, with my limited vision, I saw sitting across the room a big black Lab. My eyes did not waiver from this dog, as I sat on the sofa and heard "Your new dog's name is Zach." I do not really remember much else that my instructor told me that afternoon, all I remember is when he brought Zach to me, I got down on the floor and Zach climbed into my lap and licked my face.

I took him back to my room, for some bonding time. I spent most of it on the floor, with Zach in my lap.

God had sent me a clear message, that He was with me and He had the perfect dog for me, just waiting. At the time, I did not know just how perfect or how God had really worked.   But I started to fairly quickly.

Usually dogs take a few days to really start to trust, love, and transfer all their affections over to their new handler from their trainers. But by Monday morning, actually sometime during the night, I knew Zach was mine and I was his.   When I slept that first night, he did not want me turning my back on him. If I turned over in my sleep, I was suddenly woke up with a big bassy bark! I'd turn over and he'd be sitting there on his tie down, staring right at me. I would pet him and drift off to sleep again. This happened several times during the night.

Late Monday, I could hear long time trainers commenting as Zach and I went by, "He's already found his master. I've never seen one transition that fast." And other comments of the like. The trainers all knew what I had been through and how hard it had been on me to give up Ginger and they were thrilled for me that Zach had bonded so quickly to me.

We are not usually told how old our dogs are or any other details of their past until we have had them about 2 weeks. There are many reasons for this, so someone isn't disapointed if they get an older dog, if the dog isn't the height they wanted, or so on, it kind of helps prevent prejudgement.

Well, when it was my turn to find out Zach's details, everything truly fell into place about how perfect God's timing is and how he has to sometimes get creative when humans mess things up.

You see, Ginger's birthday was November 3, 1992, and Zach's birthday was, September 1, 1992.   Yes, he was 2 months older than Ginger, even though I was there almost a year later.

What had happened?   Well, he was in training at the same time Ginger was, when it was discovered that the Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA) gene was in the Labradors that The Seeing Eye bred, raised, and trained to be guide dogs.   They did not know how to track the gene, yet, but were working with Cornell University to find out. But until then, they had to have each Labrador get their eyes checked to see if they had any signs of this disease, that would leave the dogs eventually going blind.   When Zach was taken to be examined, the test results were inconclusive. So the vet said he'd need to be rechecked in 6 months. So, he was sent back to his puppy raisers, but instead of it being 6 months, it was 9 months, because there was such a large number of dogs to be seen. I worked Ginger for 10 months.

Upon his 2nd examination, there was no change in his eyes, so he was cleared to go back into training.

What does all this really mean? Well, if Zach had not been taken out of training the first time, I most likely would not have ever gotten him or maybe I would have gotten him the first time, only God knows that answer.

But because he was taken out of training and he was my "perfect match", I had to get Ginger first, so that I could get Zach, who God had truly intended for me.   God worked out this timing perfectly. Maybe I had to have Ginger first, to appreciate Zach even more. I see so many ways this could be viewed, but no matter which way I look at it, it is all God and His timing.

Zach worked for me for 7 wonderful years. I graduated college with him guiding me across the stage. I lived in Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas, and of course, Virginia, my home state, with him. He guided me through busy airports, college campuses, busy city streets, and so much more.

Zach, indeed, helped my heart heal, was an amazing guide dog, and had such a gentle and caring soul. I'd have total strangers approach me in stores and say, "May I bring my child over to meet your dog? They were attacked and are now afraid of dogs."   This happened on at least 3 occasions that I can recall.   Each time I'd agree and move to the side of an aisle, out of the way, put Zach at sit and await the child to approach. As Zach would see the child coming, without fail, he'd lay down, roll onto his side and I could tell he was looking at the child, as if to say, "I will not hurt you. It's ok." These kids were all under the age of 4 years old, one was maybe 18 months. Zach just laid there and let them touch him, not moving a muscle, and when he felt they were ok, he'd gently lick their little hands.   Parents thanked me profusely for their help and I always just smiled and said it was no problem.

Zach also helped an adult woman over come her fear of dogs. She saw him almost daily for 2 years, coming into the office where I worked on the college campus to use the copy machine. She started out giving him a wide birth, from where he was safely tucked under my chair, but eventually realized he wasn't going to move, so started walking a more straight line. When I was close to graduation, she realized she wasn't going to see him very much more and finally got up the courage to pet him and I let her feed him a treat, which was a big break through for her. She thanked me and said that Zach had taught her that not all dogs were going to attack her.

Another time, I was sitting in the office, with Zach sitting under my chair when this woman sat down next to me. We started talking and suddenly Zach, very uncharacteristically got up without being told, turned around and put his head in this lady's lap. She broke into tears and confided in me that she had just been diagnosed with uterine cancer.

It's stories like the above, and many more, that are why Zach was so special, not just to me, but to just about everyone who met him. His first trainer at The Seeing Eye still fondly recalls him, telling me once, "Zach is just one of those dogs you don't forget, you know he's special from the moment you meet him."

Even when in training with Dextra, in 2011, almost 18 years after he'd trained Zach, he still recalled him fondly to me.

It was hard when Zach decided he wanted to retire, but he deserved it, and I retired him at the age of 9 1/2 years old.   He went on to live to be almost 15 years old, continueing to touch the lives of people he met, even in his old age and retirement. I did get to keep him and a wish of mine was fullfilled, when he lived long enough to meet my first born daughter, who still remembers him, even though she was only 22 months old when he passed away.

I owe Zach so very much and there is so much more to our story than I can tell in one blog posting. But this focus was how God is in control, God's timing is perfect, even when we don't understand at first, it will eventually be revealed.

Rella's Story: Mylute's Dam's Full Sister

2013-02-07T07:46:00.000-08:00

I will admit, I have put off telling this story, the pain of it is still pretty fresh, despite it being almost 5 years since it happened. But with the news that one of Rella's nephews, Mylute, is possibly a Kentucky Derby contender for this year, maybe it is time Rella's story be told.

In the spring of 2008 my husband and I decided that we might take on another broodmare for our small farm. I discovered a nice prospect in Club Hopper, who not only fit what we were looking for, but was in desperate need of a new home. I did not know how desperate the situation was, however, at the time I was considering buying her.   All I knew was she was pretty much on a farm that was her last chance before a slaughter auction.

Club Hopper had raced and won, not a lot, but she was a winner. Several of her full siblings were stakes winners and stakes placed, making her catalog page very nice and making her an ideal broodmare prospect for a small farm, like ours, Perfect Peace Farm.

A lady living near me was heading up to PA and offered to pick Club Hopper up on her way back home from a trail ride. Club Hopper was in MD.

When the trailer pulled up infront of our farm that Sunday morning, my neighbor got out and told me, "You rescued this mare and it was all I could do not to put another horse on my trailer, to get it out of that hell hole."

She went on to describe rotting round bales, no grass, just mud, muck, and horses looking at her with pleeding eyes, "Get me out of here, please!"   But she knew her husband would not allow it, so she sadly had to leave with only Club Hopper.

We unloaded Club Hopper from the trailer and were appauled at her physical condition. The picture I had seen had shown her as thin, but she had dropped a lot of weight from that picture, supposedly dated just 2 weeks prior.

I had a quarantine stall all set up for her, deeply beded in shavings and it had a small half acre paddock off of it, where she could go out. I had my other horses out in the field, so they would not share a fenceline.

Club Hopper was so beautiful, despite her appearance, you could sense the beauty in her, her soul shown through her outward appearance. My oldest daughter was 3, at the time, and "Cinderella" was her favorite movie, but she could not say "Cinderella", she just said "Rella".   It was a name that really seemed to fit the situation and the poor sweet mare was given a new name.

I had rescued in the past, but this was by far the worst case I had ever dealt with myself. I knew to start feeding very small amounts, just a handful of grain a few times a day, at first, limit her turnout with the grass, which she was not used to, etc.

Monday morning, I called my vet and told them the situation, they sent a vet out the next day. I also called my farrier, as her hooves were in desperate need of trimming, so that was also taken care of quickly.

When she first arrived, the vets estimated her body score condition at maybe a 2 to 2.5.   She was in bad shape.

We devised a vaccination and deworming schedule, and discussed my plan to rehabilitate Rella.

I don't remember if it was Thursday or Friday of that first week, but it was one of those days, when I was out checking on her, on my many trips to the barn, each day, when I noticed her hind legs swelling up huge.   I called the vet and one was sent out immediately.

At first they just thought it was a skin infection, so antibiotics were started and I was to start hosing her legs and also wrapping them, to help keep them clean.

Early the next week, probably Monday, I went out about lunch time to check on her and found her down in the stall. I could not get her up. She just laid there.

Another emergency call to the vet and vet was sent out, she was still down an hour later, when he arrived. He gave her a shot of something, being 5 years ago, I forget all the details, but I think Banamine.     We waited a few minutes and then he helped me get Rella to her feet.

She was obviously weakening and not improving. He suggested I start her on electrolytes and slightly up the grain I was currently feeding.   I had been feeding her about 6 times a day, maybe a cup and a half, by that point, at each feeding. Went to 2 cups.

At this point, she started to go down multiple times a day. Most of the time I could get her up on my own, but vet had to be called to help me out at least 2 to 3 times a week. Needless to say vet bills were starting to mount up very quickly.

Despite heavy bedding in her stall, she was developing sores from laying down on a skeleton with no muscle mass or body fat. So it was decided by the vets to limit stall time, despite her still needing to adjust to grass, they thought being outside was much better for her, at this point.

She was then allowed in my paddock that we call our Pond Paddock, so I could see her better from the house. Well, so could people driving by. I had several people stop to tell me she was down, several even thought she was dead, a few times. Each time I thanked them and told them her story, as I rushed out to the paddock to check on her, hoping she was not actually dead.

One day she was not doing well and I called the vet, but he was out on other emergencies so it was going to be awhile.   My husband was home from work that day and we decided going out to dinner would be a nice break for me.   So decided we'd go after the vet left.

The vet got later and later, as not only did he get other emergency calls, but the weather turned nasty, that May afternoon.   We were under a tornado watch and then a warning.

Then the skies cleared and the vet showed up, by that time it was dinner time and getting late.

He assessed Rella and gave her some more shots and then left.

I think it was well after 6 PM by then and my husband had not watched the news, despite the warning from me that we had possibly had a tornado near us, while he was napping.

So we head out and as we get near Suffolk, VA, obviously power is out and traffic is terrible. We've had the radio on and there has been nothing about a tornado, nothing about traffic, they just keep playing music.

We got stuck in a traffic jam for hours.   Luckily, I had some snacks with us for my 3 year old to eat. We were not able to get to the restaurant that we wanted to go to, instead we were directed away from Suffolk and had to head to Smithfield. We finally got dinner at a drive through around 9:30 PM and headed home.

That night at home, we realized what had happened when we watched the local news.   A tornado had gone through Suffolk and right next to the restaurant we had wanted to go to.

If we had not had Rella and had not been waiting for the vet to help her that day, there is a good chance we would have been right in the path of that tornado.

We credit Rella with keeping us safe that day and possibly saving our lives.

For 5 weeks we watched Rella struggle to improve, but she only weakened. Pictures taken made her look like she was improving, but what could not be seen in the pictures, was that her new belly was not actually weight gain, but fluid leaking into her abdominal cavity.

Rella touched so many people, a dear friend, Tera, sent her fly leg bandages, but I had to stop using them, when Rella's legs starting to swell so much, that all 4 legs were having issues with the velcro straps and her legs started to look like telephone poles and the bandages would just slide down over her hooves and I was worried about her tripping.

Saturday, May 31, 2008 my husband went out at 6 AM to check on Rella, because he could not see her from the house. He ran into the bedroom and said, "I think Rella is dead."

I lept up and dressed as quickly as I could, racing out to where he said she was. As I approached there was no movement, but when I spoke her name, a gentle soft nicker could be heard. My husband exclaimed in shock, "She's alive! She didn't move when I was just out here."

Rella struggled, thrashing her legs, but could not even raise her poor head. It was immediately realized she was nearing the end of her struggle.

We called the vet to come to put her down, called my Mom to stay with our daughter, so she would not have to see it, and started to find someone to help us bury Rella.   Then I went and got a bucket of feed and sat on the ground next to Rella, tipping the bucket so she could have her breakfast.

I sang quietly to her. I had been singing to her since the first day she arrived. She loved hymns and would stand quietly listening to me as I sang and groomed her or tended to her sores or other wounds.   So, I felt I should sing that morning, as we awaited one of the vets to arrive.

It was one of the younger vets, who had probably been the one to come out the most to see her, so he knew exactly what was going on and the situation.

He assessed her and agreed, she was just way to weak and since she could not even lift her head, putting her down was the most humane thing we could do for her, the last act of love we could give her.

Rella was apparently ready to go, as she was gone before even a full dose was given to her.

After she died, the vet opened her mouth, something he had done many times before, but this time was different. She had holes and ulcers all over her tongue and the lining of her mouth. He said he would have liked to do an autopsy, but had another emergency to go to, but he was suspecting from all we could see and her ever weakening condition, that her intestines were full of holes and her mouth was just the last place to get them.   He said that the damage that had been done by the feedlot owner was so severe that even if we had known and given her ulcer meds, she still probably would not have made it.

Knowing that I am a strong Christian, as he was packing up his truck to go to the next farm, he turned to me and said, "Lisa, you notched a good one in your Bible with this horse."

To this day, I rarely can go to Rella's grave, the time I spent with her trying desperately to save her life after the severe neglect, starvation, and abuse, that she suffered it hurts so much that I could not save her.   I do try hard to realize that at least Rella knew true love and kindness her last 5 weeks on this Earth.   She had a purpose, saving us from the tornado and for that I will be forever grateful to her.

God sent us this poor angel in need of love and I know she experienced "perfect peace" while she was here. I wish she could have stayed longer, but it was just not meant to be.

So, this year, as the Triple Crown Prep races go forward help me in cheering on Mylute,, who is racing in Louisiana, and watch with a tear in your eye knowing what his mother's full sister went through and maybe, just maybe, Mylute will win the Kentucky Derby in honor of his poor aunt Club Hopper aka "Rella".   Maybe her story will be heard, finally, about how horrible some people treat horses and better laws need to be passed so these criminals can never treat another horse like Rella was treated before I rescued her.

With tears in my eyes, flowing down my cheeks, I conclude this post and wish to Mylute, please race safe and strong and help tell your aunt's story.

Race Those Horses!

2013-02-05T08:44:00.001-08:00

I know I have not posted to my blog in quite some time, being a busy mother of 2 girls and managing our farm and racing partnership, along with other obligations seems to eat into my free time to write.   But, after the 3 year old races this past Saturday and hearing the winner's connections comments, I can not keep my silence, as this is a big issue I see and I just have to write about it.

If I get some facts wrong, I'm sorry, feel free to correct me, as with limited time I am unable to do the research I'd really like to do in this matter.

What is my issue? Well, honestly, not racing racehorses and coddling them before the Kentucky Derby and then expecting them to be able to handle 3 races in 5 weeks, when you've never asked them to do anything close to that before.

I don't know why this recent trend seems to be so popular. I think it is several things, some of which is people thinking the horse is worth so much as a stallion prospect that they are afraid to race it, supposedly saving it for only the "big" races.

We did not see this trend even `15 years ago, definitely didn't see it 20 years ago and more, this seems to be a more recent phenomena.

One of the now favored for this year's Kentucky Derby, based on his recent win in the Withers, may only make 1 more start before the Kentucky Derby.   That would be 2 races in a 3 month period.   Somehow that seems, to the connections, to be too much for the horse if they race him more.   I don't get it, I'm sorry, does he have a soundness problem?   If so, I might understand, but if he's sound, for goodness sakes race him!   you know he can get hurt just as easily in the morning as in a race, right? If that is your fear.

Years ago trainers used to not breeze horses in the morning so much, saving them for races, nowadays they breeze more than they race.   Breezing them does serve it's purpose, getting a horse into shape after a layoff or tightening them up after a few week break between races, before the next race, etc.   They used to not use them to keep a horse in shape, long gallops and two minute licks were used between races to keep conditioning and then they raced them more frequently.

This sport of horse racing complains about losing fans and I have news for you all, if you don't race horses, and people don't see them racing, it's hard to get fans to follow them, especially new fans.

Years ago the top horses used to race 8 to 10 times a year, recently, a lot of top horses maybe race 6 times a year, maybe 7, if we are lucky.   It used to be common to see horses with races spaced 2 to 3 weeks apart for a several month stretch, given a short break in summer, at some point, not taken out of training, but training backed off a little, and then brought back to race with races spaced 2 to 3 weeks apart, again, in the late summer and fall.   These days most top horses may race once a month, some trainers even spacing races out 5 to 6 weeks apart.

Breeders should also be apauled at this trend, because you can not tell if a horse is truly sound with that light of a schedule. If we want to breed sound horses that can race more and have less of chance of breaking down, we must race the top level horses more, so we know who is truly worthy of being bred to.

Is it really no surprise that a stallion that only raced 6 times or so sires brilliance in his offspring, but they are also done racing after only 6 races?   Is that really what we want this breed to come to?

What happened to breeding horses and racing them so they make 20 or more starts in a 2 year period?   If they raced that much and were retired at the end of their 3 year old year, I would not have so much of a problem with retiring a 3 year old, but look at how many of last year's top 3 year olds are at stud this year, most of which had non-career ending issues and injuries, but connections decided there was more money in breeding, so they were retired, most with under 10 lifetime starts. This is the next generation we need to think of, we can't keep doing this.

Now, I will caveat this, accidents do happen, injuries happen, I've experienced it as a breeder and owner and I am not saying that a horse that retires with an injury should not be bred, but other factors need to be taken into consideration.   Then unsound mares should not be bred to that stallion, especially if there is a conformation flaw present in each and they are similar in nature, it could make the issue worse.

I remember falling in love with Sunday Silence and watching him race in California several times before he headed to the Kentucky Derby, it had to be at least 3 races, the spring of his 3 year old year and the last one was probably just 3 weeks before the Kentucky Derby, the Santa Anita Derby. That race is now 4 or 5 weeks before the Kentucky Derby.

People have this idea these days that a fresh horse going into the Kentucky Derby is a good thing, but history does not show this or prove this.   Look at all the Triple Crown Winners, the ones in the 1970's raced 2 to 3 weeks before the Kentucky Derby, and the ones from even further back sometimes raced a week or less before the Kentucky Derby.

I believe there are more factors involved with why horses are being coddled and lightly raced than what I can express in this post. I've mentioned value of the stallion prospect as the main one, but I do believe there are more issues here.   But if this sport is to survive, bring in new fans, you must race these horses, especially if they are sound and if possible, let's see them race at 4 years old!

I do think another issue is purses for the biggest races have increased so much that people don't have to race their horse to earn money, they just need that big win or placing and that takes the place of what 2 to 3 races or more, used to bring them in earnings.

Yes, I do believe a lot of drugs have also affected the state of the breed, as well, but that is for another day.

Myself and other fans, some of us fans are also involved in the sport so do know a bit of what we are talking about, want to see these horse race and know that this is a good thing, and will only help the sport bring in more fans and also breed and produce better horses for the future.   Race those horses, please!

Trust in the Lord

2012-09-19T09:00:00.001-07:00

Perfect Peace Farm gets it's name from Isaiah 26:3, which is as follows:

"Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee; because he trusteth in Thee."

I also feel God has included Isaiah 26:4 in verses He is directing at me.

"Trust in the Lord, for the Lord Jehovah will give you everlasting strength"

Sometimes it may be hard to fully trust, but it is at those down times that trusting is most important. It is the faith that I lean on, the "trust" and belief that everything will turn out alright, no matter how deep that valley may seem, how hard the struggles are, He gives me the strength I need.

I believe in naming my horses names that have some kind of religious meaning, even if in only a small way, but every single one that I have named has had a religious theme. It is my small way of witnessing my belief. It sometimes helps open conversation about God and what He has done for me, my family, and my animals, those gifts He has bestowed upon me.

This life with horses has not always been easy, people telling me to quit and find something else, that maybe God wants me on another path, maybe God didn't want me to have a certain horse because of some roadblocks put up at different times, but I see what God has intended, maybe not at certain moments, but when I look back, I see reasons for them all. There are a few I don't know, yet, but those are lessons God is currently teaching me and I will eventually learn the lesson I am to learn from God.

People will say things about how much money they have cost me and my family, how much heart ache, and more and these things do hurt me, but they do not see the reasons as clearly, they do not see the purpose, maybe it is because it is my path, my purpose, and not theirs, that they do not see and why they question so much.

My whole life I have felt God leading me to horses and no, it has not always been easy, but God never said it would be easy to walk the path He has laid out for us, we just must trust Him that we are doing what he wants and that He will give us the strength we need and what we need, when we need it.

Each horse I have named may plant some seed in someone that might get them asking questions about God, it may lead them down the path of salvation and that could lead more people down that same path. It could be someone I never meet, someone reading a racing program who sees the horse's name, someone at a show who hears the horses name called out, who knows, but God knows.

As Marq Your Bible has recovered from his rough July, it has not been easy on any of us that are involved with him, being patient and waiting for him to get better, but I trust God that it was just another lesson in patience and that He will reward us for learning our patience lesson. No, I do not expect a champion, maybe not even a stakes winner, sure that would be nice and i know all things are possible with God's help, so it is possible, but I know not to expect it. I pray God allows Marq Your Bible, who we affectionately call Marcus, to race to the full ability and talents God has granted him and that he keep him safe, and please God, no more thunderstorms on race days.

So, I will continue to trust God and like a quote I just heard last week:

"When God closes a door, I will praise Him in the hallway."

Because, I know he will eventually open another door or re-open the one that was closed, when He says it is a better time.

Road Trip, Day 4: Assateague Island

2012-08-08T06:50:00.002-07:00

We got up and got ready, packing up, as we would be leaving the hotel and heading home, after spending a day on Assateague Island.

We headed over and had breakfast at the little restaurant near the hotel.   The same couple that had been singing and playing their guitars, the day before, was out on the porch doing it again.   After we ate, we sat and listened for a little bit and then I struck up a conversation with them.   When they found out I sang, they encouraged me to sing for them, so despite my stage fright issues, I started to sing "Amazing Grace" for them.   My Mom chimed in, over to my right, while she watched my girls.

The couple complimented us and we talked a little bit more, before we had to get back to our room to finish packing and check out.

After the car was loaded and we had checked out of the hotel, we headed to a local t-shirt store and I got two new horse t-shirts with Chincoteague Ponies on them, my favorite being a light blue with a white pony running in the water, with a wave coming up behind it. My girls each got a shirt and my oldest picked out one for her Daddy, who couldn't come with us on the trip.

After we were done shopping, we drove across the bridge to Assateague Island and we stopped at the entrance to the island and there was a sign that said no dogs were allowed, even in cars, on the island. We told the ranger I had a Seeing Eye Dog and she, of course, said that was fine, but was happy I had told them, so she could radio the other personnel to let them know a Seeing Eye Dog was coming onto the island.

We then stopped for a short time at the visitors center. I wish we could have spent more time there, but we wanted to get to the beach.

As we drove across the island, we saw a lot of cars stopped up ahead of us and as we started to slowly pass them, we saw what they were looking at.   Over to our right, in a large meadow, was a herd of ponies!   My Mom stopped the car and rolled down the windows, so we could all get a good look at the ponies.   My oldest counted 13, which included two foals.   There were lots of different colors and patterns, mostly pintos of various colors.

We watched for about 10 minutes, Mom took some pictures, and then we headed back on our way to the beach, on the eastern side of the island.

We found a parking spot near the bath house and changed into our bathing suits.   We then grabbed what we would need for a few hours on the beach and headed out to find a good spot.

The wind was really blowing and we were having trouble with our unbrella, so some nice ladies came over and helped us.   Once it was securely in place, we laid out a few towels and a blanket, got our covers and sandals off and headed down to the water's edge.

At first I just kept Dextra on her regular short leather leash, but eventually I switched to her flexi leash and she had a blast playing in the water, like she always does, being a Labrador.

My oldest played near me, holding my hand as we stood in the waves and Dextra ran around us.

My youngest was a bit intemidated by the waves and didn't really want to go in the water.   My Mom tried a few times, but she really didn't want to do it.

After awhile, Dextra needed a break, so my Mom took her up for some water and to rest in the shade of the unbrella.   Dextra laid there on the blanket, with no one holding her, in a perfect down and rest for a very long time.   Someone was always with her, of course, it was just that she is so good we don't always have to hold onto her leash, if we are trying to do something else.   She is a wonderful dog and so well behaved, a perfect example of what a Seeing Eye Dog should be.

I had both my girls down by the water and my oldest wanted to go in, but my youngest still was not wanting to.   I picked up my youngest and started talking about how fun the waves were and she eventually let me carry her out a little bit, where my oldest could have some fun in the waves and when a few big ones hit my legs and splashed her feet, which were dangling down near my knees, she started to realize it was fun.

So, I took us back a bit and I sat down on the beach, in a spot where waves only occasionally reached us.   I started with having her sit on my knees, then she sat on my lap and eventually was willing to stand infront of me, as I stayed sitting.

My oldest sat next to me, sometimes laying in the sand, so the water would come up around her, so she could splash in it, when the waves came up.   Both girls had a wonderful time and I was so proud of my youngest daughter for overcoming her fears and playing in the waves.

We let them play for several hours in the sand and in the water, before we decided it was time to pack up and start heading home.    We changed in the bath house, but unfortunately, the line for the showers was too long, so we could not wash the sand off of us, we just had to do the best we could dusting it off.   That was pretty hard, as the sand on the island is very soft and seemed to be more sticky than other places I've been.   My oldest had laid all over in the sand, so she had it everwhere, even up in her long wavy hair.

We loaded up and stopped at McDonald's for dinner, as we started our car ride back home.

We drove several hours south, down the eastern shore of Virginia and then crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel right before dusk.   I think it was the first time I have actually been on it, so it was pretty nice to see all the water. I was told there were ships in sight, but I could not see them, they were too far away for my limited eyesight.

We arrived home around 10 PM and my husband and I got the girls changed into their pajamas, dusting more sand off of them and got them into bed.

It had been a long day, fun filled, and one to remember.   It had been a wonderful 4 day journey, starting with Mount Vernon and ending with the beach of Assateague Island.   I hope I can go back to Assateague Island again soon, it was so beautiful and I want to see those ponies, again, too, of course.   if you are a horse person and have not been, you must go.   If you like nature or just going to the beach, you must go to Assateague Island for some great fun!

Marcus' Second Race

2012-07-30T08:25:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, July 28, 2012 we had Marcus in the 9th race at Colonial Downs. It was a true miracle that he was there, at all, after what he had been through on July 20th (see "Colonial Downs Doesn't Like Me").   Lot's of prayers had been sent up to God on Marcus' behalf from a lot of people and God had listened, as Marcus was 100% sound.

Prayers for weather, calmness, and more had also been sent up to God.   As the 9th race approached a storm approached the area.   This was Marcus 4th trip to Colonial Downs in 4 weeks, and the 3rd time a storm would hit the track or near the track.   The first time Marcus came to the track to race, a tornado bounced around the track facility and this has left Marcus afraid of thunderstorms.

As Marcus headed over to the paddock for his race, the lightning could be seen to the north and east, so we hoped it was passing by us, but it was close enough that Marcus was well aware of the storm.

Luckily, our wonderful trainer had gotten special permission to have the pony horse brought into the paddock with Marcus to help him during saddling.   The calm Paint Horse helped Marcus maintain his composure, so he could get saddled and the jockey could get onboard.   He was obviously a bit nervous, but the Paint Horse really helped.   I continued to pray for him to be calm and not get upset about the storm.

Once out on the track, Marcus appeared totally fine, during the post parade and warm up.

At the gate, several horses gave the starters a major workout, including the horse right before Marcus was to go in.   Marcus was the last horse to load, so he waited his turn, very quietly and patiently.   Once that horse was in, Marcus walked in like a pro and the gates flew open.

He was in post position 12, so when they got to the first turn, he was out wide, due to his post position and there being no where for the jockey to steer him over, just yet.   Marcus maintained 7th around the first turn, in the field of 12.

Once onto the backstretch, Marcus' jockey was able to move him over to the rail, where Marcus was moing very comfortably and moved up to 6th, which he held the remainder of the backstretch and onto the final turn.

As the horses came onto the homestretch, Marcus' ordeal of the past week caught up with him and he began to tire.   He faded to 11th, at the wire, but only was 16 lengths behind the winner, so the field was not that spread out.   In the whole scheme of things, he did not get totally destroyed in the race, as I've seen horses lose by a lot more, that have been through a lot less.

We are all very proud of Marcus, from his trainer and her husband, to all the partners.   I praise God that Marcus got a good experience this time and hopefully will carry this good experience to the next race, which will be at a different track, since Colonial Downs meet is now over.

I also praise God that Marcus has come out of his race sound, with no issues.   The jockey said he was moving well and the only effects he noticed was the tiredness at the end, which is very understandable.

Marcus will be given some time to fully recooperate and he will tell us when he ready to race, again, whether that be 2 weeks or 30 days, we'll give him what he needs.   He is a special horse to us all and we will take care of him as best we can.

Miracle for Marq Your Bible

2012-07-25T07:54:00.000-07:00

An honest to goodness miracle has happened and I will proclaim it to anyone who will listen.

If you have been following the events of the last 5 days on my blog, you will know of what happened to Marq Your Bible on Friday night at Colonial Downs. But just in case you are new to my blog and this amazing story, I will share some of what happened here.

Shortly after arriving at the paddock at Colonial Downs on Friday night, to be saddled for the 6th race, Marcus (Marq Your Bible) who was about to run in only his 2nd race, appeared to get startled by a nearby storm, with lots of cloud to ground lightning.   Three weeks before that night, he had been preparing for his first race, on the way to the paddock, when a tornado was sighted nearby.   So, it is understandable that he'd still be a bit sensitive to storms.

When he startled, he got away from his handler and raced out onto the racetrack.   Two outriders totally ignored the fact that a loose horse was there and kept on doing what they were doing, smoking, talking, etc.   Marcus made it to the barn area, where eye witness accounts have him crashing through a gate, then galloping over 1/2 mile down an asphalt road, then onto a gravel path, and when he spotted a way back onto the racetrack, he crashed through a chain link fence.   It was at this point, that someone got on the radio to the two outriders and told them to go get the loose horse.

They caught him on the backstretch, but instead of taking him to the barn area for a vet to look at, they ponied him all the way back to the paddock, where when he arrived, the trainer found he had a broken lead shank, so they would not be able to hold onto him properly, her fears were met when he easily got away from them again.   This time the outriders acted more quickly and caught Marcus, but again he was brought to the paddock, where he had to wait while the race was being run.

Back at the barn, a vet checked him over and only found two scratches and he appeared to be sound.   The trainer and I talked and I was to get a phone call or email Saturday evening with an update, as I knew injuries can show up a bit later.

Saturday, came and went and I heard nothing, but just kept hoping no news was good news.   On Sunday morning, the messages during Sunday School and during the service, by our new Pastor, spoke to me.   I am a Believer in God and talk to Him in prayer, maybe not as often as I should, but I felt God telling me to pray, as the sermon was talking about prayer.   God led me to pray a certain way during the service and then afterwards, when I was back at home.

I prayed for Marcus to be okay, to be sound, to not be hurt, I prayed for a calmness to sweep over Marcus and for him not to be that scared ever again.   I also prayed that his handlers would instinctively know what to do to calm him, like I was able to do with Marcus' mother, Red Devilette (Scarlette), when I was training her when she was a yearling and 2 year old.   I prayed that God would allow Marcus to be His champion, not a champion in the worldly sense, but God's Champion, meaning that his name, Marq Your Bible, might help plant seeds in people's hearts, that would open up and grow into these people accepting Christ and hence those seeds are to be seeds for Salvation. Only God knows how he will use Marcus to be those seeds, but I had faith.

Sunday night I got an email from the trainer, she had called my cell phone on Saturday, but for some reason the network never gave me my voice mail. She told me on Sunday night that Marcus was quite sore, so she had gotten an equine massage therapist to come out and give him a massage, which had already started to help.   She was concerned he had bucked his shins and wanted to have him x-rayed Monday morning to make sure there were no fractures.

Sunday night, I prayed again, for a miracle, for Marcus to no longer be sore, for him to have no fractures, no bucked shins, and again for Marcus to be God's champion.

I got a short email Monday morning, from the trainer, which basically said she was holding off one more day on the x-rays of Marcus legs, to Tuesday afternoon, when the vet always comes to her farm, because "Marcus is fine this morning."

I immediately started to praise God and knew He was working on a miracle.   I continued to pray off and on Monday and then Tuesday.

Tuesday evening, I got an unbelievable email message from my trainer.   Marcus' x-rays were totally clean, no signs of any kind of injury. Not only that, but the vet felt he was improving so much that there was a chance he could race as soon as Saturday.   There happens to be a race for Saturday at Colonial Downs, so my trainer will enter him in this race.   She will monitor Marcus daily and if there is any concern in the least, he will not race, but if he continues to progress at the rate he is, he should be totally fine, could even be totally fine today (Wednesday).   We will not risk him in the race if he is not 100%, but there is a good chance he will be more than fine.

God is amazing!   In days we've gone from some of racing's lows to just in awe of God's wonder and love for a horse who He knows we love dearly.

I will probably never know why Friday's incident happened, but maybe it did to provide another miracle, something that will help people start to believe in God and His son, Jesus.   I know that God has granted a miracle, because all that Marcus did he should have a lot more than just some minor soreness and two small scratches.   God had Angels watching over Marcus, protecting him during his fearful run.

As a Christian, I know that some do not agree with horse racing, mainly due to the gambling aspect of the sport.   But God is in all things and He works through many ways to reach people.   I have felt Him leading me down the path into horse racing since 1985, when I saw Spend A Buck win the Kentucky Derby. It would be wrong of me to run from God's calling, like Jonah ran. This path has not been easy, this path with horses, the racing ones and non-racing ones, but I feel God led each of those horses into my life for a variety of reasons and those lessons were for me to learn, not others, and others just may not see those reasons, which is fine, but I pray they trust that God had his reasons and they should not question.

I've in fits of despair even questioned myself, why this path has been so hard, but God brings me right back to the understanding that this is where He wants me and what He wants me doing, no matter how difficult.   There are reasons I may not even see or know about, people I've touched that I don't know about, but God knows and it is His plan and I will follow the path He has laid out for me, no matter what others may think in my family, my church, or elsewhere.   From my Sunday School class, this past Sunday, we watched a video, and the message hit home with me, I strive to hear, when I get to Heaven, God say to me, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."   This is all that matters.   God's opinion of me is the only one that should really matter, as it is what matters at the end.

Please do not Distract Guide Dogs

2012-07-24T14:42:00.002-07:00

On Monday morning, my youngest daughter had a doctor's appointment. It is a building we go in a few times a year, so I know the layout and Dextra, my Seeing Eye Dog, has been there about 3 times, before.

On Monday morning, we were all walking down the sidewalk, I just happened to be following my husband, though I could have easily led, but just happened this way.   I was holding the hand of my 6 year old daughter and my husband had our 2 year old's hand.

As we approached the building I could hear the work truck idling in the area just outside the main door.

Dextra was doing a great job, not only guiding me safely, but trying to keep from running my daughter into things, as well.   As we made the right handed turn to head into the building, through the two sets of sliding doors, she calculated the turn so my oldest would not run into the door, giving her plenty of room on my right.   Dextra is awesome at judging clearances to my right and though not trained to keep my children from bumping into things, which sometimes does happen, more times than not, she easily keeps them from hitting things, as she loves my kids and takes her job seriously and seems to know that they sometimes forget to look where they are going, despite me telling them, "Dextra's job is to guide me, not you, so you do need to watch where we are going, so you won't hit things."   I tell them to duck behind me, if something looks too close.

As we get through the second set of sliding doors, the elevator is about 30 feet or so infront of me, but Dextra suddenly pushes me to the right. I know to follow my dog, so I trusted her and went with her.   After about 10 feet, she suddenly jumps sideways into me, as if totally startled and caught off guard. And at the same time, I hear my husband start to call out, "Sir, don't touch the dog!" Dextra looked sideways again, and my husband said, before I could, "Sir, I said don't touch the dog! It's working!"

Dextra swings me in a big arc around something and back to the elevators where my husband is waiting for us.

We enter the elevator and I then ask what had happened.   My husband explains that there were two men working on replacing lightbulbs in the lobby and they had a fork lift of some kind in there.   One guy was on the ground and the other up on the lift, which was up above my head.

My husband said he could see Dextra concentrating very hard on how to negotiate this situation, judging where the man on the ground was, the vehicle, the lift above me, etc.   And the man on the ground had been making arm motions, frantically, flailing his arms, but Dextra had ignored him, obviously not knowing what those arm motions meant.

Suddenly, this man realized I had a dog and went from those big flailing fast arm movements to instantly reaching out towards my Dextra's head, startling her, as she was not expecting him to try and touch her and he was acting odd, to her, so he was someone to be avoided.

No one should ever try to pet a working dog, who is trying to guide their handler safely, because any little distraction can cause injury to the person or even the dog.

I was lucky Dextra's jumping sideways into me did not knock me off balance, which could have meant I would have stepped on my 6 year old's foot or accidentally knocked her down. My 6 year old or I could have been run into a wall, a piece of equipment, or something else that could have hurt one or both of us.   It would not have been Dextra's fault, it would have been this man's fault and he would have found himself liable.   It is against the law to distract a working guide dog, because of how dangerous it can be if you do so.

I was lucky this time, that nothing happened, but thought I'd share this story to help educate about the dangers that could happen if you distract a guide dog who is working, especially in a tricky situation.

But even if the person is walking down an uncrowded and level sidewalk with no obstacles, you should never try to pet, talk to, make eye contact, or do anything else that might distract that guide dog.   It is a matter of safety and if anything happens, you are liable and breaking the law.

Always ask first, before acknowledging a working dog, most people with guide dogs and other service dogs are very friendly and willing to talk about their dog, but do not take it personally if you are not allowed to pet the dog, there are many good reasons and they can vary from handler to dog.   But the main reason being, that if the dog gets too people friendly and starts seeking out pets from people while it is working, this is also a major safety issue, so though most of us will be happy to talk to you about our dogs, we still may not allow petting, it is a matter of safety and could even be life or death, if traffic is involved.

So, if you take anything from this blog post, please do not distract any service dog while it is working. While a person's hand is on that harness, even if they are standing still at a corner, that dog is working.   Always ask first and talk to the handler.

God Says "Pray for Marcus"

2012-07-22T15:54:00.000-07:00

I have prayed for most of my life, as I became a Christian and a true believer in Jesus at a very early age. True, prayer time and it's importance seems to vary at times, but I am trying hard to be a even more prayerful person.

I felt God leading me to horses shortly after I was saved and a few years later, I felt the draw to horse racing. I knew then I would take part in the sport, at first wanting to be a jockey, but getting too tall and being already super thin, I was still considered too heavy at 118 pounds. My lack of eyesight wasn't really the issue, so I then learned how to be an exercise rider and then started yearlings that were heading to the track.   This is when I met Red Devilette, who I now own and call Scarlette, back in September of 1992.   Can it be almost 20 years ago? Wow, time has flown.

I prayed a lot when working around Scarlette and the other horses at Longwood Form in Maryland and Scarlette and I developed a special relationship, which you can read about in an early post to my blog.

God has given me gifts and sometimes I just know what to do to help calm a horse down that is upset or scared. God showed me several things to do with Scarlette, all those years ago.

I have prayed for all my horses, including Marcus, Scarlette's youngest, who is now a 3 year old gelding and in race training.   I pray every night for him to be safe, stay sound, and not suffer any injury similar to his half sister, Glory.   I pray God help him be a nice race horse and race to his potential, showing the talent God has bestowed upon him.

So, before this past Friday's race attempt, I was praying, but it was just not meant to be. I will never know why Marcus wasn't supposed to race Friday night and why things unfolded the way they did, read my blog post "Colonial Downs Doesn't Like Me" for the details.   As it was happening, I prayed for Marcus to be safe, silently, and I've prayed ever since.   I saw him afterwards at the barn and he had 2 scratches and seemed fine, but I have not received an update, as of yet, from the trainer, so I continue to pray that he is alright and that no news is meaning good news.

This morning at church, I kept feeling God was trying to tell me something.   During Sunday School, where we watched a video and were told and reminded not to worry so much about what others think of us, it is what God thinks of us that is the most important thing. We strive to want to hear, when we get to Heaven, God say to us, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."   We should not worry so much and stop trying to please everyone.   We also need to stop trying to conform and realize, "I am an original masterpiece, made by God."   Flaws and all, He loves us the way we are.

So, my heart opened further, I was ready to hear the sermon, by our new pastor, and it really hit home. As I said, I do try to pray, I probably pray more than I realize and think, just don't keep track of how many times a day I do, but I know I can do better and do more.   Then God spoke to me, "Pray for Marcus!"   Yes, I have been, but this time I knew what God meant.

"Dear God, I pray for Marcus. Not only that you keep him safe and sound and free from injury, but that when he is scared, you will teach those handling him what he needs to calm down. Have those handling him instinctively do what Marcus needs from them. Amen."

I prayed longer than that on this, during service, several times in fact.   But that is the main point of my prayer.

So, we came home, I ate lunch and I had a slight headache, so I went to lay down for a little bit. Instead of allowing myself to drift straight off to sleep, I made the decision to pray, yet again, for Marcus.

So, I started the prayer above, again.

"Dear God, Please help Marcus, keep him safe and sound and free from injury. Please do not let him be hurt from this past Friday's incident. Please Lord, teach those around him what needs to be done to help calm him, when he is afraid or nervous. Lord, like you taught me to circle two fingers on Scarlette's neck, when I rode her, to calm her down. Lord, like you taught me to gently tap my fingertips on Bunny's forehead to get her attention back on me and not what was making her nervous or afraid. Lord, what can they do to help Marcus.   Lord, if you could tell me, maybe they could do something like..."

And then a word popped into my head, "Sing!"   It said.

"Lord, was that you? Do they need to sing to Marcus?"

"Sing!" I heard it again.

"OK, Lord, I hear. I will tell them and glorify you. I will praise You.   Lord, I know you can do miracles, Marcus could be a champion, not in the worldly sense, but for You.   Lord, make Marcus Your champion.   Let people hear the name Marq Your Bible and know.   Let it be a way to open doors to help me tell people about You and what You have done for me and others. You are in control and I know Marcus will be as goood as You want him to be and You alone will dictate how well he does in the worldly sense. Yes, Lord, I want him to be a successful racehorse, but You determine that level of success. Please continue to keep him safe, You know I love him and consider him a gift from You.   Amen."

So, because I feel led by God to do so, I am sharing all this on my blog.   And I will also try to get out to see Marcus before his next race, because I feel God telling me to directly pray over Marcus, lay my hands on him, and pray, and maybe God will lead me to sing to Marcus.

If you are a believer in God and the power of prayer and that God will answer prayer, I ask you to please pray with me that God protect Marcus and teach those handling him, from his trainer, to riders, grooms, etc what needs to be done and when to help Marcus and if it truly is to sing, that they will just start singing and not know why, but those of us who believe, will know exactly why they are singing to Marcus.   But if there is something else they can do, that God will lead them to do so instinctively, as well.

Some might think it silly to pray for a horse, but those who have known the love of a horse or any other animal, will know why I ask this.   Especially, if you have seen God work through animals, like I have that you will understand and join me in Prayers for Marcus.

Colonial Downs Doesn't Like Me

2012-07-20T21:25:00.000-07:00

Should have known it was going to be a bad evening when it took the waitress over an hour to bring me my dinner and those of my 2 children's on the 4th floor of Colonial Downs.   My husband and one of the partners that was with us, got theirs very quickly, but the stupid waitress actually thought she had brought all our meals, even came to the table twice to refill drinks, and obviously couldn't count plantes to people.   Then blamed it on the kitchen staff.   At least we got our meal for free, but still had to pay for drinks.

We went down to the paddock and, of course, a storm was brewing, some lightning in the distance and a little sprinkling, but they were not holding off races, as lightning was far enough away.

Well, Marq Your Bible aka Marcus gets brought up to the paddock to have his lip lifted and I'm not sure exactly what happened, but he reared, his handler went down and off Marcus ran.

The outriders just sat there as if "Oh, there goes a horse. Hmmm..."   None of them went after Marcus and shouting crowd members got jeers back from the outriders. They did absolutely nothing until someone got on the radio and said something like, "Hey, you better get to the backstretch and catch that loose horse."

I thought their job was to go after a loose horse as soon as it was running off, what on earth is wrong with these people?   If they had gone after him, things may have turned out a bit different.

So, they finally go get him, and instead of taking him to the receiving barn, on the backstretch, where they catch him, no, they bring him back to the paddock with a broken lead shank!    So, yep, another flash of lightning and he rears and gets away a second time, because the handler had no shank to hold onto.

Crowd comments, "Wow, that's a fast horse."   Doesn't make me feel much better, even though it is a compliment.

He's caught a second time and, yep, brought back again, to the paddock, where he stayed until after the race.   Friends and partners I was with reassured me he was walking sound and didn't look too sweaty or like anything was wrong.   So, i did breathe a little sigh of relief, but when the race was over and the horse he beat in his last start was 2nd, my heart sank, again.   Man, we could have done really well in this race.

Fast forward to the barn, where I meet up with my trainer, and am told all Marcus has are two small scratches, cooled out in less than 20 minutes, despite all the running he did.

And then she proceeds to tellme how lucky we truly were, as a vet saw what he did on the backstretch and it could have been really bad.

Apparently, Marcus ran by other people who did nothing, as he ran off the backstretch into the barn area, he crashed through a gate and then through a chain link fence, to get back onto the track, and that is when the outriders caught him.   Vet said no one tried to catch him, just a people standing around dumbly just watching.

I mean, wouldn't you want someone to help if that was your horse?

I remember being on the backstretch in the early 1990's, and people helped each other.   They helped when horses got loose, helped with problem loaders into horse trailers, and so on.   What on earth is going on at Colonial Downs where no one wants to help someone who really needs it?

I'm really disheartened right now.   And just praying the report from the trainer, tomorrow evening is that he is fine.   I know injuries can show up later and I'm praying hard he has nothing but those two little scraches.

So, now, most likely he is on a Paddock List and will have to school at a track on a race day and get cleared before he can enter to run again.

Only thing I can think of is the storm had him spooked. Three weeks ago when he was being brought over for his first race, a tornado danced around the parking lot and then the infield.   They just barely got him back to the barn area, where he spent the bulk of the storm in the receiving barn, but he isn't stabled there, when he ships in, so it was not "his" barn and other horses were acting up.

As we drove through the barn area tonight, we saw other horses acting up with the approaching storm, so we know it was not just Marcus who was possibly haveing a flash back to the tornado.

But, man, what could have been, with the horse he beat finishing 2nd.   I hope this means something and hope he can prove it in a few weeks.

But I'm really starting to think Colonial Downs doesn't like me, especially when you also consider his half sister broke down there almost exactly 2 years ago (July 17, 2010).

When will things go right?   I hope one day I can look back on this night and laugh or tell it as a tale of what happened on Marcus' road to success. But for now, all I want to do is go have a nice cry.

Oh, yeah, today was our 10th wedding anniversary, so it put a damper on the celebration, for sure.

Please pray for Marcus and that he is okay after his solo tour around Colonial Downs.

Day 3 of Road Trip: Chincoteague Pony Center and Visiting Baron

2012-07-17T14:12:00.001-07:00

We had a busy Wednesday. We were pretty tired from our late arrival at the hotel on Chincoteague Island, so slept in a little bit.   Luckily, the hotel had a small restaurant across the parking lot where we were able to grab a little breakfast.

After a filling breakfast we got into my Mom's car and headed towards the Chincoteague Pony Center to visit with some of the ponies and meet up with Laura, who now owns Baron (horse pictured in main blog photo with me).   Laura works at the Center and her mother and her had graciously invited us over to their house for a informal cookout after Laura got off work, so I could visit with Baron, who I had not seen in almost 3 years.

At the Chincoteague Pony Center, Laura introduced us to most of the ponies, including several descendents of the famous Misty of Chincoteague.      We met a gorgeous palomino named Sunfire that was a great great grandson of Misty and he found Dextra very interesting, sniffing noses with her through the fence.

Both of my girls got to ride another one of those Misty relatives, a chestnut mare named Sunny.

My oldest went first, as she has had a few riding lessons and I thought it would be a good idea for my youngest to watch her big sister and that might make her want to ride more, as she can be a bit more timid about things, at times.

After 3 times around the small ring, my oldest got off and my youngest couldn't wait to get her turn.   The two boys working the pony ride helped her get on and while one led the pony the other held onto my daughter's left foot and ankle. The whole time she was riding she kept a huge smile on her face and I was very happy to see this.

While Laura finished up her morning duties we went into the gift shop and my girls got to pick out a few things. We got several small model horses, that are kid safe, and several horse books.

After Laura was finished and ready to head home, we got into my Mom's car and followed her the 25 minute drive back into Maryland where she lives.   Her mother met us at the car and was so sweet.

They took me straight out to see Baron. Laura went to get him, as he was a little ways away from the fence and when he got to me, he took in a long deep sniff and looked like he was thinking.   He then turne his head to Laura and I smiled as he was telling me he remembered me, but that Laura was now his person.   I was so happy to see him so happy, loved, and spoiled.

My girls played in the yard making friends with the Labradors that lived on the farm, while Laura's mother grilled hot dogs and chicken.

We decided to eat inside and had a lovely late lunch, talking and enjoying the wonderful food.   I am so grateful to Laura and her mother for inviting my Mom, my girls, and I over for lunch and to let me see Baron, what extraordinarily nice people.   You don't run across people like them very often these days.

After we ate, we sat on their porch and talked a little more, before I went to say bye to Baron and then we felt we had taken up enough of Laura and her mother's kind time and headed back to Chincoteague Island.

We decided to go for a little swim in the hotel pool and enjoyed about an hour out there.   My Mom and I took turns holding each of my daughters, but my youngest wanted to stay with me, the most. The temperature started to drop so we got out and went back to the room to get ready for dinner.

We found a nice Crab Shack on the island and had a late dinner. I got snow crab legs, which always take forever to eat, but oh so worth it!   Everyone was patient and let me finish and enjoy my dinner.   Luckily the restaurant had a nice outdoor area where we sat and then after my Mom and girls were done, they could get up and play a little, while I finished.

It was another late night, but it had been a full day of fun with horses and friends!

Day 2 of Road trip: Baltimore Acquarium

2012-07-16T13:04:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday morning we woke up around 7:30 and got everything ready to go, before we headed down stairs to the restaurant in the hotel, for breakfast.   My Mom had woke up earlier and had asked if she could take Dextra out for a short walk, for me, so I let her, so I could stay with the girls, especially since Mom was dressed and I wasn't, just yet. This was the first time my Mom had done this and Dextra was wonderful for my Mom.   I rarely have others take my guide dogs out for me, but sometimes it just makes sense and is sometimes necessary, so it is good for her to learn to relieve herself with someone else holding the leash, than myself. Dextra can be a bit stubborn about relieving, at times, so I thought this was good practice for her.

After a nice breakfast of pancakes and bacon, we loaded up my Mom's car and headed several blocks away to the Baltimore Acquarium, where we had a 10:30 AM entrance time slotted for us, already.

We found local parking and walked two blocks to the acquarium, Dextra enjoying city work, traffic not bothering her in the least, as we crossed roads with ease.   She seems to come to life in cities and really enjoys the extra challenge.

We got our tickets and headed into the acquarium where we were met with a huge crowd of people.   It was all quite confusing for all of us, at times, but we all remained composed and managed to stay together.   I did hold the hand of my youngest sometimes, but mostly had my oldest daughter's hand, that way if people cut infront of Dextra and she lost track of my Mom, who she was trying to follow, most of the time, my oldest daughter could help me and Dextra relocate my Mom.   Sometimes Dextra and I took the lead, to let her work the crowd and take my oldest daughter to the exhibits, while my Mom followed us with my youngest daughter. Again, Dextra loved the challenge of working the crowds.

First we went to the dolphins. We sat watching a short training session and my daughters both totally fell in love with the dolphins, which were also my favorite, as well.   Dextra was very interested in the noises the dolphins made, but remained laying down, like the professional Seeing Eye Dog she is.

We then went down some stairs and watched the dolphins swimming below the water line, sometimes swimming right by the windows. It was really neat and my girls squealed with excitement.   A little later they did a more formal show and we watched as they introduced all the dolphins and had them do a few of their trained behaviors.   The dolphins really seemed to love working with the trainers.

i was impressed that things had changed since the last time I was there over 12 years ago. Now they do not seem to do a set show, they do short training sessions and most of the behaviors the dolphins were asked to do had more to do with playing and getting them into positions that they may need to get into for examination by vet or trainer, to check them over for health reasons. I think the dolphins seemed much happier.   We went back later, at the end of the day, and saw them a third time and saw a third different interaction session, so no more of the same thing over and over again, which I think is great.

After the dolphins, we saw a lot of different things, from rays, sharks, turtles, frogs, a few birds, like the Puffin, which was a major favorite of my oldest daughter, and so much more.

We spent almost 5 hours in the acquarium, some of it was spent trying to figure things out, as the map was very confusing.   Even staff members admitted to the new map being confusing. We took elevators a lot, because they had escalators, and though a lot of guide dog users use these with no problems, I prefer not to, unless I absolutely have to and my Mom agreed we would not risk it.   Different elevators took you different places, which added to the confusion.   Luckily, the staff was always helpful.

Part of the confusion was how they have floors labeled. They have a basement, a ground floor, which you would think would be the 1st floor, but it is not, the floor above ground floor is called Level 1, which really made things confusing, until we figured this out.   I've never been in a building that had floors labeled like this, it's very odd to me.

We ate in their main restaurant, but were not impressed with the level of the food quality for the price, which was extremely expensive. If we go again, we'll eat right before we go in and then eat again after we leave, to avoid that issue.

After our third trip to the dolphins we went into gift shops and my Mom got the girls some nice items, including t-shirts, necklaces, stuffed animals, etc.

We left the acquarium around 3 or so and were back in the car, heading to our next destination, by 4 PM.    We were going to drive down to Chincoteague Island, where we'd spend the next two days.

On the trip, down from Baltimore, we had to cross the big bridge near Annapolis, MD, over the Chesapeake Bay.   My Mom has some fear of heights, but she did a great job getting us over the bridge.

A heavy downpour met us on the other side, but luckily didn't last too long.

We stopped at McDonalds for dinner and then headed on our way.

While passing through Deleware, going through a small town, suddenly my youngest, who will be 3 in September, called out, "Dairy Queen!"   My Mom looked around and couldn't see it, but my oldest then spotted it up the road aways and on the opposite side than we were on.   So, of course, we had to stop.   I took Dextra out to stretch her legs and relieve herself, we all got out to do the same and then we went through the drive through and all of us got ice cream.

Mom continued the long drive down to Chincoteague, where we finally arrived at the hotel around 9:30 PM.   Exhausted we all got out of the car, unloaded what was needed and got into the room to settle down for the night.

Another fun filled day passed at the Baltimore Acquarium, new animals seen for the first time, and Dextra getting to strut her stuff in the city.

Day 1 of Road Trip: Mount Vernon Tour

2012-07-15T17:58:00.000-07:00

On Monday, July 9, my Mom arrived around 8:30 AM to pick my girls, Dextra my Seeing Eye Dog, and I up for a few days of travelling.   We were going to head up to Mount Vernon to take a tour, later that afternoon.

We got the car loaded up and headed on our way.    It was supposed to take about 3 hours, but ended up taking a little over 4.   We arrived at Mount Vernon a little after 1 PM and headed into the museum and got some lunch.

After we were refreshed from the drive we headed out of the museum and out towards the main house. We walked the dirt road towards the house, where they had us stop to wait in line. The person in charge of tour sizes, of course, immediately saw Dextra and the usual question flowed from her mouth, "Is that a service dog?"   With my polite response affirming that Dextra was indeed a Seeing Eye Dog, this woman immediately got on the radio to inform the interpreters along the tour route that a guide dog was coming.   Is this really necessary? I mean, she's in harness and if the first person let her through, wouldn't they think the appropriate questions were asked and all was okay? Do they really have to tell everyone a guide dog is coming?   Just seems funny to me.

Dextra, was, of course, her stellar self, well behaved, following the group as we made our way through the main house.

First we actually went into the servant's house, where guests of George Washington would have their servants stay.   Then we made our way into the main house, first into the huge dining room, with it's huge windows at the end looking out onto the green grass and the Patomac River.   Unfortunately, it was dark in all the rooms, so I couldn't see much detail, with my limited sight, so I just listened to what was described and asked a few questions.

After the large dining hall, we went to the front porch, then to the foryer, which had 4 rooms off of it, two parlors, a smaller dining room for the family, and a small guest bedroom. Hanging in the foryer was a key to the Bastile prison in France, given to Washington as a gift.

From the foryer, we headed upstairs, where the main hall had 4 more bedrooms off of it. We could not go up to the 3rd floor, which had 3 more bedrooms.   In one of the 2nd floor bedrooms was an original cradle given for the birth of a grandchild of Martha.

George had a master bedroom added, at one point, and it was at the opposite end of the building from the dining hall, on the 2nd floor. I could peek in the room and see a bed in white, which they said was the original bed and the one Washington died in.

We then headed down a very narrow and steep private back staircase, which Dextra worked perfectly, being super cautious as we made our way down it.   We then went into Washington's study, where he kept over 900 books. He had a chair that you could lay in and peddle and as you peddled it moved a fan that would help cool you off. That was neat, I had not heard of such an invention. There was also a chair in the room that was the chair Washington sat in when he was President.

We then headed outside and to the kitchen, which was quite the large building. After that we were on our own, for the most part.   We went back around to the front of the house and sat on the grass looking out at the river and over to Maryland.

From there we headed to look at the rest of the outbuildings.   These included the wash house, bath house, smoke house, carriage houses, barns, etc.

We then walked down the hill to the old crypt and then to the newer crypt, where Washington was moved in 1831 and buried with quite a few family members.

We continued down the hill and my youngest still didn't want to ride in the stroller, luckily it was an unbrella one, so I held her hand, while my Mom carried the stroller and held the hand of my oldest daughter.   I was also carrying a heavy backpack, with drinks, snacks, diapers, etc. We had to make it down a lot of steps to make it down to the warf, where they luckily had a water fountain. We all got a drink, including Dextra.

There was a pioneer village left to see, as part of the outside touring areas, but we decided it was hot and getting late, so we would head back to the museum.   Luckily, they had a shuttle bus to take you back up the hill, so we got on one.

Once inside the museum, again, we walked around a little bit, before finding the hands on childrens room, which both my girls totally loved. There was a huge dollhouse of Mount Vernon that both spent a long time playing with, especially my oldest. My youngest played tea party with the tea set, for a little bit and also enjoyed pushing the buttons on the interactive wall, where animal noises would come out when she pushed buttons on each animal.

Dextra took that opportunity to take a nap, while the girls played and my Mom went to look in the gift shop.

Mom returned and wanted the girls to look at some things in the gift shop to decide what they wanted, so we headed over there.   The girls picked out a t-shirt that had a horse infront of Mount Vernon on it, each getting the same one.   The shirts came with a cute stuffed horse. They also got a few childrens books and a coloring book.

My oldest learned about George Washington this past year in school and says that he is one of her heroes. What a smart 6 year old she is!

As we were paying for items, suddenly a dog from behind the counter started to go nuts. Sounded like a small dog and it sounded quite mean as it spotted Dextra.   So, I quickly got out of the gift shop, to avoid any confrontation between the dogs.   Dextra has already been attacked once, while in harness and I was not looking for a repeat.   Not sure what this dog was doing in the store, if it is a service dog, as well or one in training, but it was a small dog of some kind and with it's nasty sounding attitude towards other dogs, if it is a service dog or one in training, it doesn't sound like it really should be doing that job.

After we were done in the gift shop we headed towards the exit and somehow that same dog got near us, yet again.   We quickly made our way out of the building and away from the growling and barking dog, Dextra doing her job beautifully, ignoring the hurling insults the other dog must have been throwing at her.

We got back to the car and prepared for the next leg of our journey, heading towards Baltimore, where we had a hotel reservation for that night, so we could get an early start to the Baltimore Acquarium the next day.

We arrived in Baltimore around 7:30 and got to the room to freshen up a little, before heading downstairs to eat. Luckily, the hotel had a restaurant that we could get dinner in, so we didn't have to walk or drive anywhere.

We finally got to bed a little after 10, much later than my girl's usual bedtime, but it was a vacation and they had experienced a full and fun day.

Marcus is now a "True" Racehorse!

2012-07-08T16:57:00.000-07:00

On July 7, 2012 Marq Your Bible aka "Marcus" marked a major milestone in his life, by competing in his first race. He was in the 10th race at Colonial Downs, a 5 furlong race on the turf for Maiden's, with a Claiming price of $25,000.

It was super hot, again, but this time no sign of any storms, thank goodness. Reports are that last week there really was a tornado at Colonial Downs that was spotted crossing the far parking lot, jumped the grandstand, where a good sized crowd was hiding, and touched down in the infield, before jumping the barn area.   Colonial Downs, all the people, and all the horses, were very lucky last week, for sure.

With Marcus race being the 10th, it meant a very late night, as the post time was 10:54 PM, but it also meant cooler temperatures for his race, though the humidity was still very high.

Right before the 7th race, I was surprised by a lady I had only previously known via emails and Facebook. Mary contacted me a few years ago after acquiring Perfect Pet aka "Hope", a filly a bred and then sold, who happens to be Marcus' full sister.

Hope raced 20 times, won once, and had 10 seconds, including a second in a stakes race, with earnings of around $60,000. Mary now rides Hope all over trails, up and down mountains, through rivers, takes her swimming, and more.   She says she loves it when people find out Hope is a pure Thoroughbred who raced successfully, because she is so calm.

Mary wanted to help cheer Marcus on in his first race and drove almost 2 hours to get there.

Mary and I sat and talked and I really enjoyed her company. She helped the time pass so much more quickly for me, as the waiting was really hard.

I had earlier tried to pass the time by picking a few horses in earlier races and I did pick one winner, which was nice, Queen of the Disco.

After the 9th race we all headed over to the Paddock to await Marcus arrival.   He walked in calmly and nothing seemed to bother him one bit.    Even when a nearby horse flipped out and started kicking the walls of the saddling stall he was in, creating a lot of noise, Marcus did not seem bothered one bit.

Ryan Fogelsonger was Marcus jockey and came out and got a leg up with no problems.   A few more laps around the Paddock and out to the track he went where he was led by a beautiful Paint horse.

Again, Marcus was as calm as he could be, trying to look at the crowd, despite his blinkers.   he remained well behaved during the warm-up and then it was time to go in the gate. The horse led into the gate right before Marcus acted up and flipped over, prompting a delay to the start of the race, as the other horses had to be backed out of the gate and the fallen horse gotten up.   That horse was scratched at the gate, to make sure he was okay, they did not want to race him.   So, they had to wait to get that horse away from the others and then the field started the loading process all over again.

This time all went well and Marcus had a slight awkward start, but the horse next to him had broke sideways which may have caused this, as the report does say the horse interfered with the horse on the other side of it, as well.

Our trainer, Diana McClure had told us before the race that Marcus had recently been changing his attitude and that before they thought he was going to be a sprinter, like his full sister, but in the last few weeks, he had been showing signs of rating and then finishing stronger the longer his gallops and breezes had been getting, so she told us that the race may actually be too short for him, but only the race would tell us, so we watched in anticipation.

He was 6th at the top of the stretch, but as they neared the wire, he did seem to be picking up speed and he did close the gap between him and the 5th place horse, by several lengths, but still ended up 6th, but that last kick showed us he did have something, but he needed a longer race.

After they crossed the finish line, Marcus was just getting going, into top speed, and quickly passed the slowing horses, passing all of them quickly. It did take Ryan some time to slow Marcus down and his report back to Diana echoed what Diana had started to suspect the last few weeks, Marcus needs a longer race.

So, now we will look for a race at about a mile to try him at next time.

We'll see how he comes out of this race and that will depend on how quickly he is put back in a race.

he cooled out very quickly and seemed fine after the race, so if all is well, there is a chance he could run again next weekend, but that will be up to Diana to decide. We will be happy whatever she decides, whether it is next week or we wait two weeks, we'll let Marcus tell Diana when the next race will be.

We are very happy with his performance, last night, he did beat 2 horses, including the overwhelming favorite.   Diana had him truly fit, which he showed several times and finally with the quick cooling out.

So, with his first race under him, Marcus is now officially a true racehorse!

No Race for Marcus: Tornado Instead!

2012-07-01T12:04:00.000-07:00

We were at Colonial Downs last night for Marcus first race, he was in race 5. As they were saddling the horses for the 4th race, I noticed how dark the sky looked to the west and I started to hear thunder. I immediately started to worry, because I knew that they would delay races and even possibly cancel them, due to storms, but I hoped maybe they could get one more race in, before it hit, depending on how fast the storm was moving.

After the 4th race was run, they started to bring the horses over from the barn, the long walk around the clubhouse turn, but the sky was getting darker and darker and the thunder louder and louder and then my husband noticed that about half the people bringing horses over had turned around and were heading back to the barns.   Just then a track employee came over to us and told us we needed to go inside, because there was a tornado warning and a severe storm on it's way.

My husband pushed our 2 daughters in the stroller, we have a sit and stand, which provides a seat for an older child, along with the spot for the younger. It made things so much easier. I told Dextra, my Seeing Eye Dog to follow him and she kept me super close as we made our way back into the grandstand.

At first we stood about 40 to 50 feet from the doors. My husband noticed that some of the horses were actually in the paddock, so he ran out quickly to see if our Marcus was one of them.   While he was out there, Dave Rodmon, the track announcer, made an announcement that a tornado had been spotted in the area and they were asking everyone to seek shelter on the first floor and well away from windows and doors.

My husband quickly returned, reported that Marcus was not one of the horses in the paddock, thank goodness, and that some people were pointing to something in the sky, so he ran back to us.   We moved our location to near the bathrooms, which put us well away from any windows or doors.   Despite this, we could easily hear the wind, rain, and thunder.   This had to be one of the most intense storms I have ever been in.

I pulled out my cell phone, as my Mom doesn't live too far from Colonial Downs, about a half hour, and she had the news on and indeed, a tornado had been spotted near us.

I called the other partners that own different percentages in Marcus to let them know what was going on.   At this time, I did not know if races would be cancelled or not, but told them it was a high possibility.

The storm raged on and on and the power went out at the track. Emergency power kicked on and someone started to make announcements with a bull horn, but never came close enough to us for us to hear him. My husband called out this fact, as loudly as he could, but did not get the guy's attention.

I was on the phone off and on with my Mom and a good friend of mine, who is one of the partners on Marcus.

The announcement was finally made that the races were cancelled due to the severity of the storm. So we waited a little longer and when there was a break in the storm, people started to head out to their cars and we did, as well.

I kept trying to reach our trainer, Diana McClure, but her cell wasn't working, so I figured a cell tower must have been damaged or something.

As we raced to our car, Dextra picked up a wonderful trot and seemed to sense the urgency of the situation.   As we crossed a road a car turned down it and started speeding towards us, but luckily slowed at the last second, but Dextra was on her toes and was watching it closely, making a curved line across the street to avoid it.   Then as we were on a long straight away of sidewalk, we all started to walk faster, again and then my husband had to stop quickly, due to someone infront of him and Dextra came to an immediate stop, keeping me from bumping into him.   There were no lights in the parking area, just some headlights and the amazing display of lightening to the south.

We got everyone and everything into the car and decided to go to the barn area to check on Diana and Marcus. It wsa almost 9:45, an hour past when Marcus race was supposed to have run.   We arrived at the barn area, just in time to see them load Marcus onto the trailer, Gordon got out and I stayed in the car with the kids, and he was back in 2 minutes, so we all could get on the road.

We headed towards my Mom's house, which was on our way home, anyway. Another bad storm was hitting her area, but by the time we got there, it had passed.   She had power and we went in for a few minutes for a pitstop and a nice cold soda. Thanks Mom!

As we were there, they had on their NOAH weather radio and I listened as they mentioned a severe storm warning about to go over our farm. It was about 10:30 and the storm was to hit our area at 10:35.

So, we feared what we might find when we got home, as we had left the horses out, due to extreme heat and the weather forcast had not called for all these storms.   When I had last checked, it was calling for only a 30% chance of isolated storms.   Well, we hit the jackpot of storms.

We drove the remaining hour home and pulled into the driveway around 11:45.   Took us a little longer, due to occasional heavy rain, stem on roads, and lots and lots of lightening.

As we unloaded the car, I told my husband it sounded like the thunder was getting closer. So, while I got the kids into bed, he went to the computer to check on the weather to see if he should bring the horses into the barn.

Computer was not cooperating, so when I came into the den, I said I'd turn the TV on. He doubted they'd be talking about the weather at midnight, but he was wrong, it was such a severe situation that they were talking about it non-stop.   So, he rushed out and brought our horses into the barn and checked them, all appeared fine. Thank goodness.

That storm passed fairly quickly, but we got another one about 4:30 and another severe one around 7 AM.

My husband went out around 8:30 to let the horses out and survey any damage.   We do have a few trees down, but luckily not in pastures or on fences, just in our woods and beside the fence, so we got lucky.

Had an email from Diana this morning and they made it home safely. Marcus is fine, along with the other horse that raced in the 4th race, that she had, who finished 4th.    She is going to spend part of her day taking water to neighbors with horses, who are without power. She is a great woman!

So, Marcus's first race will have to wait for another day.

Marcus is Racing!

2012-06-29T17:57:00.001-07:00

I know I have not posted to my blog in several months. Life has been pretty busy and a few challenges along the way. I'll be honest, I have not felt very motivated to write, until now.   My heart is swelling as the excitement of the long awaited reality approaches.   Marcus, my dear gelding, is making his first start as a race horse on Saturday evening at Colonial Downs.

it seems like, yesterday, when he was born, and I was struggling to save his life and the life of his mother, Scarlette (Red Devilette).   Marcus was trying to enter this world upside down, a position a horse just can not be safely born in.   I was 5 months pregnant with my youngest daughter and already having a complicated pregnancy.   I was on the phone with the vet, as soon as I realized there was a problem, but he was 1 1/2 hours away, so it would be up to me to deliver the foal.

I had my husband hold Scarlette, keeping her standing while I worked on trying to move the foal, who's head was wedged tightly against his mother's pelvis.   I did what I could, until I had to sit down.   Every 10 to 15 minutes, a cycle was repeated, the vet would call to check on the situation and even ask me how I was holding up, as he knew about my difficult pregnancy, then he'd offer encouragement and advice, I'd get off the phone and go back to work on the foal's position, until I had to sit down in exhaustion, all over again, until that phone rang a few minutes later.   This repeated over and over, and I lost count of how many times it did. During the time I would sit down or be on the phone with the vet, my husband would encourage Scarlette to walk and try to keep her from laying down.

Finally, I was able to unwedge the foal's head, but I was terrified I'd blinded him, because the only thing I could grab to move his head, was hooking a finger into his eye socket.   But it worked and his head was free. Finally I got his hooves pointing more to 2 o'clock, instead of 12 o'clock. When I told the vet this, he was excited, "Wonderful, just get the foal's feet pointing to 3 o'clock and let the mare lay down. She can deliver a sideways foal."

So, i worked a bit more and got him turned a bit more. I told Gordon and we let Scarlette lay down in the foaling stall. Gordon came to assist me at Scarlette's rear and we each took ahold of a leg and began to pull with Scarlette's next contraction. As we gently pulled on the foal, it began to turn more and more into a normal position and by the time his hips came out, he was in the correct position.

We got the foal all the way out and I reached down to check what we had and it was a colt! A glorious colt! Gorgeous dark bay with a big white star and 4 white socks.

I grabbed a towel and started wiping him dry and sat down in the straw beside him, utterly exhausted.    Vet arrived 20 minutes later, me still sitting the stall with this huge colt beside me, starting to try to figure out those wonderful long legs of his.

It is a night I will never forget for the rest of my life. He was so perfect and I had not injured his eye, some how, miraculously, it was totally fine.

Marcus was always sweet and gentle and remained that way until he left our farm for training when he was 18 months old. Every time I visit him, I am greeted with him sniffing my face and gently nuzzling me.   Does he remember?   Does he know what I did to save his life and the life of his mother?   Part of me likes to think he does.

And now, my glorious colt, now a gelding and 3 years old, who we allowed to grow and not rush too fast, is finally ready to make his racing debut!

Not only am I visually impaired, but we have taken on several racing partners to help this dream become a reality and of the 6 other partners, 3 of them are also blind.   All 4 of us use guide dogs from The Seeing Eye, Inc.

One partner plans to give any money she gets from Marcus racing directly to The Seeing Eye, Inc.   First earnings will go back to his expenses, so anything past that will be donated, she owns 4%.   I also plan to donate money from his earnings to The Seeing Eye, Inc. So, he will not only be racing to fulfill my dream of owning a race horse that I bred and raised, fulfilling the dreams of several others to own a race horse, but he will also be racing, in part, for The Seeing Eye, Inc. and it's continuing to provide the most wonderful guide dogs for those dreaming of more independence than their cane provided.

Please pray for a safe race, it will be super hot tomorrow. Continue to pray he always comes back from all his races safely, sound, and healthy. I do not pray for wins, but just the above and that he might earn enough to pay his bills and give us a little extra.

The dream is about to become a reality!

Fleeting Shadow: The Importance of Listening

2012-02-22T08:04:00.000-08:00

Shortly after I got married and moved to my new farm with my husband, in the summer of 2002, I got involved with volunteering at the local therapeutic riding center.   Since I am legally blind, I couldn't be a horse leader, but I could be a side walker.   I enjoyed working with the little kids and saw how well the instructor worked with them.

The instructor and I started talking one day and she realized that I rode and asked if I wanted to start riding with her.   I agreed and so started riding a few months later at the center.   Quickly, she saw something in my riding ability and got excited.   She started talking about the state show the following October and preparing me to be good enough for the Para-Olympics in dressage. I think she saw visions of me helping put her little center's name on the map, so to speak.

Now, from the lessons Bunny had taught me, a few years before, riding was now something I considered a bonus or a perk to horses, it was no longer my main reason for loving them.   Yes, I loved to ride, but I also had learned that I loved working with mares and foals and I was really good at it.   I tried to explain all this to the instructor and at first, I thought she understood what I was saying.

I will admit that I got excited about the possibilities of having an amateur riding career and riding at the Para-Olympic level or even trying to get there.   But, still, it was not a huge goal for me, though I thought it would be fun to try to see how far I could get.

I had a Thoroughbred gelding, Baron, who I had bred, who was now in training and I was excited about riding him in shows, in the future.   But my riding instructor, who had never laid eyes on him declaired him "not the right horse for me."    She kept calling me a green rider, though I had been riding for 15 years, graduated college with an Equine Science Degree, which had included professional riding instruction from a highly respected instructor in the country, and a lot more other riding and training experience. I was no green rider, that's for sure.

I soon realized, what it was all about, she didn't want to wait on a green horse to be slowly brought along properly for me to ride, she wanted me to progress fast through the show ranks and a green horse, to her, would not allow this. So, before even seing Baron, she had developed a major dislike for him.   Even when I'd report to her on my visits to the trainer's farm and let her know how my rides went, she would not seem interested or have something negative to say.

I tried to explain to her that I had waited my whole life to get to ride my own horse in a show, instead of school horses, but she would not listen.

Since I was getting more involved in breeding, I always kept my eyes out for a good broodmare prospect and one day I found one. To my delight, not only did she fit my pony breeding program, but she had been trained in dressage and was Half Hanoverian, one of the breeds known for being good at dressage.

Margaux was affectinately known as "Shadow" and she arrived at Perfect Peace Farm in August 2003.   I immediately started to work on building a bond with my new mare and started riding her about a week or so after she arrived.   The upcoming state therapeutic riding show was in early October and I was hoping I could ride my new mare in the show.

From the get go, Shadow did not measure up to my riding instructor's benchmark, just like Baron wasn't, even though she still had not seen him.   I worked hard on my bonding with Shadow and we were making great progress.   She could be a little high strung, but I was learning how to calm her down and contain it.   I was then given the layout of the two dressage tests I'd be taking at the show and started working on them at home, with Shadow, and in lessons with a small Quarter Horse mare, that the instructor was borrowing.   I much preferred Shadow, she was more responsive, especially to leg aids and my gentle hand movements.   It was so wonderful to ride her, we were becoming a great team.

As the show weekend approached, I finally got my riding instructor to agree to let me take Shadow, but she kept complaining that Shadow was "passive agressive" and other things.   I could tell that the two of them did not get along.

When we arrived at the Lexington Horse Center for the Virginia State Therapeutic Riding Show Shadow was in flaming heat that Friday afternoon.   I wanted to take Shadow out and walk her, but my riding instructor disagreed and Shadow was put in her stall and kept there.

Shadow was used to being kept out all the time, except for bad weather, so this was not fair to my mare.

On Saturday morning I asked again if I could take Shadow out and maybe lunge her, to let her blow off some steam, but my riding instructor disagreed, again, and said that she thought the more Shadow was worked the more hyper she got, but this was actually opposite of the truth, but she refused to listen to me.

So, with no warm up whatsoever I tacked Shadow up and we headed to the ring for our first test, the Dressage Suitability Test.

Luckily, Shadow was being good, but I could tell that there was a powder keg under me, but she was so good and listened so well.

We entered the ring, turned to the left, had to weave around 3 cones, my riding instructor was allowed to call out obstacles to me via a headset I was wearing and she could tell me the letters of the arena.   We worked it out where she would tell me I was three strides from something, but that is all she was allowed to tell me.    We weaved those cones flawlessly, returned to the rail, to the end of the arena, and at the mid point of the short end we had to do a 20 meter walking circle, which we also did flawlessly.   Returning to the rail as I started down the next long side of the arena, I picked up a sitting trot and Shadow was so gorgeous and smooth at it and when I called for a halt from the sitting trot, at the letter we were supposed to and the only thing we did wrong was she halted ever so slightly crooked.   We then waited the 5 seconds and walked out of the ring.

To my delight we won that class with a huge high score of 80!

We turned so many heads. I was getting one compliment after another on Shadow and so was my instructor.   All the people there were from other therapeutic riding centers and when they found out Shadow was my private horse they were even more impressed and complimentary.   They said she was gorgeous, a superb mover, and so on.

I was really getting excited about my next test, later that afternoon, but as I exited the ring, i again tried to tell my riding instructor that Shadow needed to be lunged, but, yet again, she wouldn't let me.

In between my two dressage classes was a fun class and I went in it and Shadow was starting to get worked up.   Unfortunately, the class was not judged, I had no idea, it wouldn't be, otherwise I wouldn't have done it.   Again, as I exited the ring, I asked if Shadow could now be lunged, as she was getting anxious.   And, as usual, my riding instructor said no.   I was starting to get a bit upset about this and telling my husband that I thought Shadow really needed to blow off some steam and I was afraid of what might happen if we didn't let her.

Well, a little while later it was time for my final class, my true dressage test.   As I sat on Shadow waiting our turn, my riding instructor stood at Shadow's head and Shadow was shifting her weight all over, not wanting to stand still.   My riding instructor started to make comments and I said, "I think she needs to be lunged or I need to take her to the outdoor ring to let her trot some of this off."

"No! She'll just get more worked up." Was the response.

About 5 minutes later, Shadow was really about to explode and my riding instructor finally realized what I had under me.   But instead of letting me go quickly lunge or ride in the outdoor ring for a few minutes, she just scratched us from the class.   I was so upset and disapointed.

As we walked away from the indoor ring, then my riding instructor agreed to let me take Shadow down to the outdoor ring.   I started to ride her in a big circle and my riding instructor got afraid and had me dismount and lead Shadow back to the barn.

I was so upset, after this, that I couldn't take Shadow for a walk, but I untacked her and gave the lead to my husband and told him that I didn't care what my riding instructor thought, he was going to take Shadow for a walk and let her hand graze if he could find her some grass.

The day had started out so promising and ended in such disapointment.   I told my instructor that if we'd lunged Shadow she would have been fine, but she still adamantly disagreed.    She claimed I didn't know Shadow well enough.   But all I could think was, "And you know her better?"   I mean, Shadow was at my farm, I'd dealt with her every single day since she had arrived and my riding instructor had only seen her a handful of times.   Plus, I had several very long conversations with Shadow's previous owner on how to handle her, what she did when at shows, etc, but my instructor just didn't seem to care what I thought or had to say.

I was starting to get the feeling from my riding instructor that just because she was my riding instructor she knew more than I did on everything.   She had earlier told me I shouldn't breed Bunny or some of my other mares, that there just couldn't possibly be a market for their foals. Boy, was she ever wrong!

I also don't know if it was my blindness that made her think she knew more or it somehow gave her the right to say these things.   I really hate it when people treat me like I'm stupid, just because I can't see very well, and that is really how I was starting to feel about this relationship.

I also think it is people that are older thinking they know more than someone younger, just because of age.   I have learned a lot from people younger than myself and I refuse to believe this.   Yes, there is a lot to be learned from people older than myself, too, but for them to treat younger people as if they know nothing, it is just not right.

So, we returned home and a few days later Baron was brought home from the trainers.   I was so excited to have him home. I had gone to ride him at the trainer's farm, several times, and he was wonderful for me, a dream horse.   So, now I had two horses I could ride, at home.

I gave Shadow a few days to blow off some steam in the field, before I attempted to get back on her, as I just knew she was ticked off about what happened and she wouldn't know that it wasn't my fault.

Well, I was riding her in my small paddock and I could feel she was getting a little worked up, then Baron trotted around the corner of the barn and came over to the fence line, so he could get a look from his adjacent paddock. Shadow took that as enough stimulation to go into a bucking fit.   I had called for Gordon to come help me get off, but he was too far away and so I didn't move quick enough to get off, myself, and off across the paddock bucking as hard as she could, Shadow took me.   I kicked my feet out of the stirrups and then tried to push myself clear, as she was not going to stop.   I did a flip in the air and landed hard on the back of my shoulders.

At first, I felt okay, but the soreness came later.   To this day, I do not blame Shadow for this incident.   She was ticked off about the show experience and I don't blame her.   It was the only time I ever felt her buck and only time I ever came off her.

A few days after that I had my riding lesson and I had to beg for the lady to come to my farm. I told her that I have two horses to ride and I want to ride them.   Plus, I told her she needed to meet Baron and I said I'd ride him in the lesson, so she could get a look at him and really see what he was made of and how nice he really was.

From the moment she walked into the barn, she was obviously not happy about me wanting a lesson on one of my own horses.   She stood outside of the barn and smoked a cigarette, while I tacked Baron up.   Then I led him out to the small paddock where I rode.

As I went to mount him, instead of helping me, she just stood on his opposite side and when I swung my right leg over his back he took two steps forward.   Did she try to help me stop him? Of course not.   Because my back hurt from the fall off of Shadow, I was not able to move fast enough, like I normally would have been able to do, easily, so instead of landing in the saddle, I landed just behind it.   Still, there was no help from the riding instructor.   Baron kept walking, once he felt me in the wrong spot, I think he was a little shocked, but being a good boy, he did not buck.   I slid off of him and landing on my right hip and right elbow.   Baron then looked behind him to make sure I was clear and trotted off a few feet, before turning and stopping to see if I was okay.

Now, my riding instructor immediatley starts telling me, "I told you so." and such and I just wanted her to be quiet.

Just like with Shadow, I do not blame Baron at all for this incident. He was only 4 years old, had about 4 months of training under saddle and I was very sore and stiff from my fall off of Shadow.   Had I not been, I know I would have been able to mount properly.   Yes, my riding instructor was aware I was sore, which is why I was surprised she didn't help me when he started to take a step or two.

My back was even more sore from that fall and so, I reluctantly agreed to go ride one of her lesson horses the next week.   Well, she decided to have me do some stretches and during one of those I felt this sharp excruciating pain in my back, so bad, that I had to dismount.

After I recovered and took the horse back to the barn, untacked her, groomed her, etc my riding instructor and I started to talk.    Again, I tried to tell her that I'd waited for a long time to get to ride my own horses and not lesson horses and that I thought my two would take me further than what she had in the barn.   She agreed, to that little part, but wasn't willing to wait for Baron to finish training, wasn't willing to deal with Shadow's temperment, and just kept claiming someone would give her a horse that was suitable, if I was good enough.   It was really obvious she had her own agenda and was trying to use my talent as a blind rider to promote her riding center, it didn't matter to her what I wanted.

I then reminded her that my main focus was breeding, riding came second.   She honestly turned to me and said, "No, your marriage should come first."   I had no response to that.   I mean, we had been talking horses, right?   There was nothing wrong with my marriage and of course it came before horses, but that is not what we were talking about.   She then started trashing my breeding practices, again, and I left, and never returned.

I have only ridden a few times since I stopped riding with this instructor in October 2003.   Do I miss it?   Yes, but there are so many more important things in my life than riding, horse related and non-horse related.   So, my riding career has taken a major backseat.

Yes, I wonder what might have been, how far I could have gone, and it saddens me that this woman just refused to listen to a fellow adult, with a fully functioning brain, and treat me as a normal person who did know what I was talking about when it came to my own horses and what I wanted to do with my horses and my riding career.

She continues to work and have a therapeutic riding center and I commend her work with the children, she is wonderful with them, but just wasn't with an adult.

Maybe one day I'll start riding again and find an instructor willing to work more with me and listen to my goals, my wants, where I want to go with my riding and how I want to get there, and they can help me do what it is I'm wanting to do and work with me, not against me.

Dextra's Denied Access Adventure at Pizza Hut

2012-02-12T15:53:00.000-08:00

On February 11, 2012, I was denied access at the Pizza Hut in Suffolk, VA, because of my Seeing Eye Dog, Dextra, a female yellow Labrador Retriever.

My family and I entered the Pizza Hut and I was immediately told that my dog was not welcome and I'd have to leave.   We tried to calmly explain to them that she was allowed and the hostess argued for a few minutes, before saying she'd go talk to her manager.

My kids got upset, so Gordon, my husband, took them out, while I tried to educate the hostess and manager.    I called to them, several times, that my dog was allowed and what they were doing was against the law. When I heard no reply, I warned them that the police could be called on them for doing this.   Still no response, so I stepped outside and stood on the
sidewalk, while I called the police.   I actually called 911, and the operator
told me that all she had to do was tell the officer that a lady with a Seeing
Eye Dog was being denied access and he said "I'm on my way!"

While waiting outside for the officer, The hostess poked her head out of the
door and I was first told I had to show paperwork proving she was a guide
dog, no I don't, Asking to see any kind of paperwork proving that a dog is a guide dog is actually also against the law.   The only question they are legally allowed to ask is "What is the dog used for?"   My dog wears an official Seeing Eye, Inc. harness and is extremely well behaved, along with being very clean. There was nothing my dog or I did to warrant this treatment, in fact, the whole time I was standing outside with her, she sat calmly beside me, never getting up, even as people passed by us.

A few more minutes passed and then she poked her head out of the door again and I was told I could come in, but they'd make
me sit near the door, in case people were afraid of my dog. Told them that
was also descrimination. Never once did the manager come to talk to me, during all of this exchange. I was just told that they had called the regional manager, by the hostess.

Then the Officer showed up and I told him what had happened and he was
quite upset and went in to inform them of the laws they were breaking. Shortly
after, the Regional Manager showed up, she was very nice, when she stopped to talk to me for a few seconds, before she headed inside to talked to her employees and the Officer.

A few minutes later the Officer and Regional Manager came back outside and told me that it was straightened out and we had an offer of a free lunch.

We did decide to go ahead and go in and show them how Dextra behaved. The Regional Manager made the manager wait on our table, personally, and the Regional Manager came over and made sure we were doing alright, after we had ordered. She told us she had gone over the laws, state and federal, with her employees and would be sure that the other employees were better educated in the future.   We thanked her for this as I believe education is so key in this and avoiding situations like this.   If the public was better educated people with service dogs wouldn't get harrassed as much as we do.

One of the odd things is, I've been here several times before with my guides and this is the first time I've had an issue, at this particular Pizza Hut.   I've had minor issues at another one in another nearby town, but was never denied access, it was more the other customers making rude comments.

I wasn't about to let these people get away with descrimination.   This is
the first time I've actually called the police, though I have filed
complaints and done some other actions to this kind of thing before, but it was
definitely my first time involving a police officer and I was happy to have one
that was apparently aware of the laws and wasn't going to let me be
descrminated against. I've actually heard of cases where other guide dog users have called the police for being denied access and have the police officers side with the establishment.   Guide dogs are not a new thing and there are laws in every state and at the federal level protecting our rights to take them with us where ever we go.   It is amazing how much education still needs to be done.

I've lived in this area for almost 10 years and I still get asked, on a regular basis about my dog being in a store, restaurant, etc, jus tlike this Pizza Hut, places I go on a regular basis, and it is very annoying.   About 3 years ago, I did have to call our local Wal-Mart and talk to a manager about the harrassment I was getting from the employees every time I went in the store.   I told him I was getting really tired of it, as I was a very regular customer.   It must have worked, because now when I go in there, I rarely get asked about my Seeing Eye Dog, anymore.

Education, Education, Education!

So, thought I'd share with you all Dextra's Denied Access Adventure, doing my part for educating the public!

Christmas, Marcus, and Licensing Farriers

2012-01-18T07:09:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I have not posted on my blog in over a month.   With December's festivities, meaning Christmas activities, things got pretty hectic and busy around here.   I've finally gotten the tree down, Christmas decorations put away, etc.   So, that part of the busy schedule is done, but my girls, horses, and dogs continue to keep me on my toes.

We had a wonderful Christmas visiting with family nearby, staying at home Christmas Day, and then visiting family in northern Virginia the week after Christmas.

During our visit to northern Virginia we got to visit our racehorse, Marq Your Bible aka "Marcus".   He was still on his short break from training and looked awesome.   He has grown a lot and looks so mature, from that colt that used to run around our fields.

As of January 8th, he is back in training. He is jogging and will start galloping shortly.   We are still hoping for a first start in late March, but we will not push him too fast, as a long career is what we really want, so we won't risk soundness by rushing too fast.   This is why we've waited this long, as he will be 3 years old in April.

Some Thoroughbreds are ready to race at 2 years old and if he had been ready, we would have, but it just wasn't in his best interest to do so. His dam has several offspring that raced at 2 years old and did well, so it was worth sending him into training.   Listening to him told us to wait.   His full sister, for instance, raced 10 times at 2 with a win and several second places, including in a stakes race at Colonial Downs.

We are very excited that Marcus is back in training and everything is looking perfect, so far.

The first week of the New year brought a bit of stress to us, as one of our mares came up lame and we noticed other problems in several others.   After a close inspection, I discovered issues with three of our six mares hooves.   I called my vet and he called another farrier for me and recommended us to each other.   The farrier wasn't taking on new clients, at this time, but I live near him and my vet so highly recommended me as a good horse person that the farrier agreed to come take a look at the two worst cases.

The new farrier confirmed my suspicions, that the other farrier had made some mistakes and the two worst cases were in major need of help.   He worked on both of them and is coming back in a few days to recheck those two and check all my horses, to make sure we aren't missing something else with any of the others.   I do know there is a minor issue with one other, but it is very minor compared to the issues with the other two.

I was talking to my new farrier and we were talking about the difference between being a farrier in the US versus most other countries, mainly European ones.   In Europe, he told me that you have to go to school for 3 years to be a farrier, then you have to apprentice under a licensed farrier for a few more years, before you can become a licensed farrier, yourself.    He is for licensing of farriers in the US, where anyone can pick up farrier tools and say they know how to do it.   There is no way to know how much training your farrier truly has had, you pretty much have to take him at his word.

In Europe, if a farrier injures a horse they can be fined, and in some cases even sent to jail.   it is taken very seriously.

No, I'm not saying my old farrier needs to go to jail or anything of the sort, he meant well.   I am talking in whole, because I have had so many farrier issues over the years that it is just not fair to the horses or owners to have to deal with untrained people saying they are trained, deal with people who just show up whenever they feel like it, never mind that you might have plans or other things to do, or farriers who just stop showing up.   I have been here for almost 10 years and I have been through nine farriers, this new one is my 10th.   I have had some work for me for 2 and 3 years, before the problems started with them not showing up, and a few others got irresponsible or were mean to my horses or were not good with young horses, and so on, so that is why they didn't last long, but the main issue has been the no show problem.   It seems widespread, not just in my area, but this area, especially has been the worst I've been in.

Farriers in this area get anywhere from $25 to $35 to trim a horse's feet and it is more if there needs to be shoes put on or there are other issues.   So, for my barn of 6, they can bring in $150 to $210 every 8 weeks for 2 hours, at most, worth of work.   I know that some of the no show farriers that I have had issues with have also done the same to barns that had so many horses that the farrier was supposed to show up there every week!

I don't understand why these people are not more responsible and have a better work ethic.   I heard one would blow off clients to go hunting or fishing and not call clients to tell them he wasn't coming.    I mean, ok, if you want to fish, I have a pond right here on my farm you can fish in after you are done and I even told him he could do that.

My new farrier said that, unfortunately, licensing probably won't happen in the US, because most of the farriers out there wouldn't be able to pass the licensing exams and they are part of a lobby that is quite strong, but he said he is part of a group that is for it and keeps trying.

One of the horses that was messed up by the old farrier is doing well, the other is still lame, but is improving.   Their hooves were trimmed off balanced which caused different issues for each of them, because of their own pre-existing conditions with their hooves and legs.

I am encouraged by their improvements in the last two weeks, so I am hopeful that no permanent damage has been done, but only time will tell, as these things take awhile to correct.

I will end for now and get off my soapbox about licensing of farriers in the US and I will try to write more frequently on my blog, now that things are hopefully calming down for a bit.

Have a great 2012!

Thankful Day After Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T11:26:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving we headed up to visit my in-laws in northern Virginia. Along with visiting family we had plans to visit our 2 year old gelding, Marq Your Bible aka "Marcus", who we own in partnership with my mother-in-law and 5 others. He is taking a short break, as he has grown so much that we decided it was in his best interest to give him a breather so he'd be all ready for a 3 year old campaign, with our first big goal of a first start in March and then head him to Colonial Downs this June and July, for the VA-bred races, hoping he will be stakes quality.

Our trainer, Diana McClure, is a wonderful woman and not only loves the horses she works with, but also loves children and helping them develop their love of horses.   So, whenever we can make it out to her farm, she offers my two daughters a ride on her pony horse, Brownie, who is quite famous in his own right, for being the lead pony for Big Brown before his Preakness win, among other things.

So, on the day after Thanksgiving, we went to Diana's farm and both my girls got to ride Brownie and Diana also graciously gave pony rides to my two nephews, one of which had never been on a horse.

All the children really enjoyed their rides and my oldest even got to ride twice, because she loves Brownie so much that she talks about him all the time and even brought him some carrots this time.   Diana is showing her how to get into a jockey position, which she also did in July, at our last visit, and a picture of that has gotten a lot of attention on Facebook and on Diana's website.

After our visit with Brownie, we headed over to a friend of Diana's farm to see Marcus.   Diana thought her friend's farm would be a better place for a short break, than her own, because of a nice hill in the pasture and he could be left turned out a lot more, with a few buddies.

When Marcus came up to the fence and realized who was here to visit he was crazing our attention.   I climbed the fence and groomed him a little bit.   He is not what most people would think of when they think of a horse who has been in race training.   He's so sweet, I groomed him while he was totally loose in his pasture, no halter, no lead rope, nothing, he just stood there relishing the attention that I bestowed upon him.

A few times, after I was done grooming, he wandered off, but always came right back for more attention.   The picture above is of Marcus coming over to me and giving me a good sniff and kiss.   He did this all on his own, I did not encourage him to put his nose to my face.   I know he remembers me.   I was there helping him come into this world, a difficult birth and he is lucky to be alive and healthy after such a hard time coming into this world.   I guess he and I will always have a special connection because of that tricky situation.

After he sniffed me over really good he wandered off, but came right back and I was standing by the fence talking to Diana and he came up and put his head over my right shoulder and just stood there with his gorgeous head on my shoulder listening to me talk and letting me rub on him some more.   He is so sweet and such a special boy, I can't wait for him to start racing.

After our visit we went back to my in-laws for a late lunch, tried to get our youngest daughter to take a nap, but she was just too excited, so later in the afternoon we headed out for a walk, as our oldest wanted to go see the stream, she had seen on a walk, the day before, with some other family members.   It was my husband, my two daughters, and I alone, this time.   I had my Seeing Eye Dog Dextra harnessed up and I was following behind my husband as we went down the very steep hill behind my in-law's house.   Our oldest daughter led the way and my husband helped our youngest.   After a little while, we realized it was getting dark very quickly, so we turned around to head back to the house, but our oldest daughter was getting a bit upset that she wasn't going to get to see the stream again.   My husband got me to the bottom of the steep hill, where the path led through the thick woods up to my in-law's house and I took my youngest daughters hand and started back to the house as my husband took our oldest a shortcut to the stream.   I couldn't see hardly anything through the thick woods, I just said, "Dextra, forward! Let's go back to the house."   And Dextra slowly made her way up the steep incline guiding me and my 2 year old daughter around the thick underbrush, bush branches, etc staying on what felt like the correct path, the several hundered feet up to the clearing where the house stands.   When she got us safely to the front sidewalk I dropped the harness and gave her a huge hug, petted her vigorously, and just told her how proud of her I was and what a super star Seeing Eye Dog she is!

These dogs are not trained to go hiking like that, but many guide dog users do go hiking, we just have to do it slowly and use the training they have to expand on it to train them about trails.   So, she isn't in the first to do this, but it was her first time doing it and she was amazing!

Dextra and I have only been together since April and she is only 2 1/2 years old, but she is proving to be so awesome and I can not praise her enough or thank The Seeing Eye enough for partnering her with me.   I look forward to a lot more adventures with this truly amazing young yellow Labrador from The Seeing Eye.

And, yes, my 2 year old was also adding her praises to Dextra, too.   It was so dark by the time I made it back to the house that all I could see was the outline of the house against the fading light.   I went inside and had my father-in-law turn on the flood lights, so that my husband and oldest daughter could find their way back to the house, which they did about 20 minutes later.

So, the day after Thanksgiving gave me a lot to be thankful for.   I am thankful for my sweet family, my awesome Seeing Eye dog, my horses, and my wodnerful trainer, Diana McClure.

Marq Your Bible to race, in part, for The Seeing Eye, Inc

2011-10-25T16:48:00.000-07:00

It is amazing how God works and the inspirations that come from His faithfulness.

Already, there are three partners in our racehorse that are graduates of The Seeing Eye, myself, included.   On Sunday, I received an unexpected call from yet another Seeing Eye graduate who wishes to join the partnership.

She has informed me that any of her earnings, past what will go directly back into the partnership, will be donated to The Seeing Eye, in her name.   This has inspired me to do the same with part of my majority interest in him.

I currently own 42% of Marq Your Bible aka "Marcus" and I now wish to also donate at least 2% of my earnings, past what goes back directly to the partnership, to The Seeing Eye.   I have been inspired by this new member and also by the faithfulness God has shown me and I am feeling led to do this.

So, now, Marcus will not only be owned by 4 graduates of The Seeing Eye and 2 other women, who are not blind, but he will be racing for the wonderful organization that we all love, that has provided 4 of us with amazing dog guides, The Seeing Eye Inc of Morristown, NJ.

Marcus will be taking a short break to do some more growing.   He has nothing wrong, but has been growing so much lately, that we just feel it is in his best interest to let him grow.   He will start his vacation next week and be brought back into training Jan. 1st, with a hopeful first race to be around the middle of March.

Become a fan of this wonderful horse that is now going to be racing for such an extraordinarily great cause

You can find his fan page on Facebook and also the farm fan page, Perfect Peace Farm, where you will receive updated news on what he is up to and see pictures of this totally gorgeous boy.

Marcus' fan page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Marq-Your-Bible/193529944025899?ref=ts

Perfect Peace Farm fan page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Perfect-Peace-Farm-LLC/173890696024170

Go Marcus, Go!
-----

A little background on me and my connection to The Seeing Eye.

I am currently working with my 4th Seeing Eye Dog, Dextra, a 2 year old female yellow Labrador Retriever, who I received in April 2011.

I received my first Seeing Eye Dog, Ginger, a female German Shepherd, in July 1994.   I have been blessed by this organization and the 4 great dogs I have been given.   I received my 2nd guide, Zach, in May 1995, a male black Labrador Retriever, and my 3rd, Nalley, a male Golden Retriever, in April 2002.   Nalley is still with me, at the age of 11, enjoying retirement.

These dogs have guided me at college, through graduation, on various horse farms and other jobs, down the aisle at a friend's wedding, been my ring bearer at my own wedding, guided me on the train trip we took for our Honeymoon to Saratoga Springs for the horse races, at several other race tracks, including to Churchill Downs for the Breeder's Cup in 2006, been with me when I sing solos at church, when I'm in choir, and countless other things, where they help me maintain independence.   I am forever grateful to The Seeing Eye for their dedication to breeding top quality dogs, training the best guides for those seeking a dog guide, and the support they give students while in class and graduates after we return home with our dogs.   It is a wonderful organization that I am pleased to be a part of and hope and pray that I can give back to, in part, with some of the earnings of this racehorse.   I will be combining my love of dogs and horses all in one, it doesn't get much better than that!

A Full Circle

2011-10-20T09:15:00.000-07:00

When I was 7 years old I went to Camp Holiday Trails, for the first time.   It was a camp for disabled and sick children.   The issues ranged from other kids being blind, like myself, to children with Cystic Fibrosis, Diabetes, various forms of cancer, etc.

I had recently seen a show on TV called "Adventures of Black Beauty", loosely based on the novel, "Black Beauty".   I had fallen in love with horses from the first time I saw him running across a green field on the television screen, at my Grandparents house.   To this very day, I can still picture it in my mind.

When I arrived at camp, I was delighted to discover that they offered horseback riding to the campers.   i couldn't wait for my very first ride on a horse, which didn't come for a few days.   When it finally was my turn to go down to the stables, I walked down the row of stalls and petted each horse and stopped when I arrived at the stall of a beautiful black horse with a small white star.   I couldn't believe it, I was looking at horse that was the spitting image of "Black Beauty".

A few minutes later the riding instructor gave out horse assignments and I was overwhelmed to find out that I was about to ride Smokey, the black Quarter Horse gelding, that I was staring at.   he was only a 2 year old, but was quiet enough to be used by this program.

His owner tacked him up, as he was privately owned, and not owned by the camp, like the rest of the horses. She told me a little about him and before I knew it I was following them to the small riding ring and after I got a helmet, I was put onto his back.

The riding ring had a blue stone type footing around the outside, making a nice sized oval, and to the inside of that was a grassy area with one tree, to provide shade to those kids who were waiting their turn to ride.

I rode Smokey for at least 10 minutes, when he suddenly stopped and stretched out his hind legs.   The riding instructor called for me to be taken off of him, as they didn't want me on him, if he needed to use the bathroom, since it was my first time on a horse and he was still young.

Just to be safe, he was taken back to the barn and untacked and that was the end of my first ride.

The next week, I went back down to the riding stable and this time I was assigned Sir Edwards, a little grey Welsh Pony, who was the spitting image of Merrylegs, from the "Black Beauty" novel.

It was really hot, so all the horses and ponies were tacked up and we were all put on one and with each of us having at least one leader, holding the horse or pony, we went for a trail ride down the country road, that led up the mountain to the camp, where the cabins were, so there was hardly any traffic, in fact, I think only one truck went by the whole time we rode.

I loved that little pony, he was so awesome! He was at least 28 years old, I think, at that time.

I returned to Camp Holiday trails for the next two years and each year I got to ride Sir Edwards, but Smokey had left the program.   I rode several others, along with Sir Edwards, but I always got at least one ride on him.

After I was 9, I stopped going to camp, not sure why that happened, but I missed it.

When I was 18, I was offered the opportunity to return to Camp Holiday Trails for the week long camp for blind children, as a teen worker. I arrived on Saturday afternoon, with the other camp counsellors and teen workers, which there were about 10 to 12 of us.   The teen workers were to stay in the infirmary complex on cots.

As we drove onto the country road that led to the camp, I was delighted to see horses still in the pasture and hoped they still offered riding.   I knew I would not be riding, as I was a worker, but I was hoping to get to help with the horses, at least a little bit.

I was given permission to go down to the stables on Monday morning, with the campers and see if they could use my help.   I was again, delighted to see the riding instructor, who had been there when I was a child, was still there and she actually remember me.

Because of my horse experience, she gratefully accepted my help and I was assigned a little Shetland Pony named Princess, to groom, tack up, and help children with, when they rode her.

She was a cute little pony, a bay and white pinto, about 12 hands, at most, and reportedly 33 years old.

I asked about Sir Edwards, and was told that he lived to be 36 years old and had died only a few years before.

After I tacked up Princess, I led her to the very same riding ring and waited in line for the instructor to get the kids mounted, one at a time. There were a lot of children, so two kids would take turns on each horse or pony.

The first kid I was given to help with Princess, was not only blind, but only had one arm. I think he could see a little bit.   He was so excited to ride Princess and truly enjoyed his time on her.

After his time was up, he was helped off and I went to get the next child.   As I approached, with Princess, I could hear that the little boy was upset and afraid.   They were trying to get him on another pony, but he totally refused, so I was called over, as Princess was the smallest in the group and they thought he might be less afraif of her.

I stopped Princess in the shade of the tree and listened for a few minutes, as they continued to try to coax this little boy, who was totally blind, to even come close enough to touch Princess, but he refused.   I asked someone else to hold Princess for me and I walked over to him.   I introduced myself and then told him that I was blind, too, only with some vision, but not very much.   I told him that I loved horses and that Princess was very gentle and would not hurt him.

I am not sure what it was, exactly, that I told him, that made him trust me, but before i knew it, I had his hand and we were walking towards Princess.   I introduced him to her, at her head, then we trailed her neck, back, and to her tail, so he could get an idea of how big she was and what she felt like.

After a few minutes of getting to feel Princess, he decided it was okay to get on her, but insisted that I be there with him.   I told him that I would lead Princess for him and all he had to do was enjoy the ride.

As we headed out to the rail, after his stirruprs were adjusted, I glanced over my shoulder and noticed he was hunched over and his head was down. I knew it was from nerves.   I started to talk to him some more about Princess and he talked back with me, but he stayed hunched.   Then I had an idea.   I moved to a place where I could stop Princess, safely, and not be in the way of others.   I held onto the reins and then stood next to him.   I told him, "I want you to not focus on being nervous, but start to feel her moving under you. See if you can tell when she is moving each of her legs."   I explained to him that at a walk, a horse moves each foot at a different time, to make a 4 beat rythm.   He agreed to try and so I started to walk Princess, again.   I kept talking to him and asking him to feel for her legs to move and then I realized his voice sounded different.   I again, glanced over my shoulder and was amazed to see him sitting straight up in the saddle, his face turned upwards, and even with my limited eyesight, I could see the biggest smile on that little boys face.

It felt so wonderful to help him. A joy filled me.   As we continued to walk around the ring his confidence built.   There was a pole on the ground and I asked him if he would like me to lead Princess over it, to see if he could tell when she was going over it. He agreed to this and knew exactly when her leg moved differently to raise up higher, to step over the pole.   he was so excited, I could tell it in his voice, that he was truly enjoying his first experience on a pony.

I was amazed at how things had come full circle. I had been given my first horse experience at this camp, in that very ring, and now here I was helping a little blind boy have his and overcome his fears, to experience something totally new and different.

The limitations put on blind children, by some, cause them to be nervous about trying new things, but some of us are lucky and are not told, "You can't do that." or "You shouldn't do that." with the only reason being our blindness.   Yes, I've heard these things, but not from those who matter and had influence on me and my development as a strong person. Some call me brave, courageous, and other descriptive words, because of what I have done in my life, despite my disability, but I just see it as I am doing what comes naturally to me.   God gave me a gift with horses and I am using it and God allowed me to help a blind child and to experience the joy that came with it.

Foals in the Pasture

2011-10-13T08:59:00.000-07:00

In the spring of 2004, we were expecting two foals. Messenger of Light aka "leia" was in foal to Waquoit, due in late March and Street Dasher aka "Bunny" was in foal to Land's End the Colonel's Fox, due in late May.   Leia's foal would be apurebred Thoroughbred, hopefully destined for the race track and Bunny, an Anglo-Arabian, was carrying a foal by a Welsh Pony, hopefully destined for the top as a hunter pony.

As Leia's due date approached, I kept a close watch on her. I set up the camera in the foaling stall, ran the cables to the house, so that I could watch her from the comfort of my den.   I knew she was getting close and started to stay up at night, sleeping in a recliner that was next to the small TV that I had hooked up to the camera.   Finally, I knew she was definitely close, probably within 24 hours.   I watched her all night, barely getting any sleep.   My husband got up about 7 or so and I told him that I thought she was close, but I desperately needed some sleep.    He promised to keep a watch on Leia for me.   He even offered to clean her stall.   So, i told him that when he cleaned her stall that he could let her out, but she would need to come back in as soon as he was done.

So, I laid down about 8 AM and slept for several hours. I knew he would come to get me if Leia went into labor.   When i woke up, I went to the den and saw him sitting in his recliner and there was no Leia on the TV screen. He told me he had decided to keep Leia out a little longer and would go out to bring her back inside in a few minutes.   I said, "OK, but don't wait too long."   I was starving, so I went to get something to eat.

I sat down and started to eat and I asked if he could look out the window to check on Leia, because of my vision, I can't see that far.   So, he got up and looked out the kitchen window and suddenly started yelling, "Red Alert! Leia's having her foal!"

I lept up, leaving my food on the table, threw on my barn boots, grabbed the foaling bag kit and raced out the door, with him behind me.   I raced to the paddock and found Leia down and a foal laying a few feet away.   Leia had luckily laid down where a round bale had been, so it was one of the cleaner spots in the paddock.   As I assessed the situation, Gordon rushed to get Bunny and another mare, Shadow, out of the paddock.    Bunny didn't want to leave her friend, but reluctantly left when Gordon opened up the gate leading to the large back field.

Gordon then came back to help me.   The foal was up on it's chest and Leia was working on delivering the placenta.   I checked the foal quickly and discovered that it was a filly and she was large and appeared healthy.   Leia stood up and delivered the placenta.    Gordon and I then picked up the filly and moved them to the foaling stall.

I dried the filly off and we put betadine on her umbilical stump.   She was quickly to her feet and looking for her mother's milk.   As with Luke, Leia was an excellent mother and we decided to call the long legged dark bay filly, Princess.   She had a few white hairs, so we guessed she would be turning grey, just like her sire, Waquoit.

I was a little upset with Gordon for not putting Leia back in the stall, after cleaning it, like I had asked, but since everything turned out alright, I got over it quickly, as he learned his lesson.

A few weeks later, Leia and Princess left for Leia to go be bred to Zillionair, a rare colored cremello Thoroughbred.

Bunny was not due until late May, but as April turned into May, I started to think that there was a chance she would carry this foal shorter than the last two.   She had carried Tell A Tale for 361 days and Belle for 350 days.   On day 332, I checked her in themorning and she had a decent size udder and I talked to her and said, "Tonight you start staying inside for me to watch you."

After breakfast, I turned her out in the back field with Shadow and Belle.   Belle loved being back with her mother.   Belle was almost 15 months old and was so beautiful.

That afternoon Gordon and I sat down to watch the Black Eyed Suson Stakes from Pimlico and enjoyed the race.   After the race, I was preparing to head out to feed the horses and bring Bunny in for the night.   Gordon went into the kitchen to put something away and the next thing I heard was him yelling, "Red Alert! I think Bunny's had her foal!"

I lept up so fast and almost ran into the back door, I couldn't believe it.   I shoved my boots on and ran as fast I could to the back field.   They were in the far back, but were slowly making their way towards me.   As they got closer, I saw Bunny and Belle walking side by side and Shadow was circling them at about a 30 to 40 foot distance.   Inbetween Bunny and Belle I saw an extra head and got them to stop and Bunny, trusting me, let me get inbetween her and Belle to see the new foal.

It was still soaking wet, but since it was up, it was obviously strong. But we were still quite some distance from the barn, so I scooped up the foal into my arms and started carrying it.   Gordon finally made it out to us and offered to help, but I was doing okay.   I just told him to open gates and stall doors, on the way and to make sure that Belle and Shadow didn't follow Bunny and I.

Bunny and Belle kept right with me as I carried the foal, who weighed around 60 pounds.   As we exited the back field, heading into the paddock to the right of the barn, Gordon was able to get Belle to back off enough to shut the gate.   This made Belle very upset, she wanted to be with her mother and the foal.

Once we got into the foaling stall, I set the foal down and checked it over, "Another filly!" I called out, with excitement.   She was so cute, had a huge star on her face, a white snip on her nose, and 3 white pasterns.   But, like Princess, we could tell that it looked like she would be turning grey, as Bunny was grey.

It took some effort, but the filly eventually nursed and was totally healthy, despite the early foaling date and surprise of being born in the pasture.   Because she was born about the time that the Black Eyed Susan was being run, we decided to call her Suzy.

When Suzy was strong enough, I reunited her with her big sister, Belle and Bunny was perfectly content for Belle to help out with Suzy's care.   It was so sweet to watch the three of them interacting.   I had heard of this kind of behavior in wild horses, where a mare's older daughter helped with a younger sibling, but it was the first time I had truly witnessed it first hand.   A lot of times people don't allow this kind of interaction amongst their herd, for fear of the older sibling hurting the younger one, but Belle was so gentle and loving, she'd do nothing to hurt Suzy.

Leia and Princess returned, when Leia was confirmed pregnant to Zillionair and shortly after that Bunny was confirmed in foal to Farnley Belshazzar, who had been the sire of Tell A Tale, born in 1999.

I registered Princess as Quoit Blessed and she was eventually sold to a client, as a racing prospect, when she was a yearling.   She was given a chance to race, but due to some bad training, running her the wrong distances, and some bad luck, which caused a tendon injury, she never won, 4th being her best finish.   Princess is now the dam of two beautiful Jazil fillies.   I look forward to them racing.   They were born in 2010 and 2011, so I still have to wait a bit longer to see them race.

Suzy was registered as a Half Welsh Pony as Perfect Peace What a Blessing, sometimes seen with no space between "what a" to make it "whata".   I sent her to be trained by Sarah Warmack at Hilltop Farm VA, when she was 3 years old.   Sarah did a wonderful job with Suzy and started her show career.   Despite the starting of the decline in horse sales, we were able to get close to our asking price for Suzy, as she was so nice.   Suzy is a super nice mover and is always winning her hack classes and winning or getting top ribbons in her over fences classes as a Hunter Pony.   She was sold when she was 4 years to Kristin Mangum.   Suzy competes up and down the East Coast at A Circuit level shows, winning ribbons at HITS, Warrenton, Culpeper, Deep Run, Upperville, etc.   We could not be prouder of her success and look forward to hearing even more of her success as she continues to mature and develop.