I want to take this time to sincerely thank the many people who contributed toward our trip to Springfield last weekend. Zach, Rachel, Taser Gun, Janimal, Peanut, Tina, Cookie and I made the trip solo without Craig, who stayed home to rest his back. We had so many people who stepped forward to help us financially:
Bonnie Fallkowski
Barb and Scott Edwards - Michigan
Christian Harness Horseman's Association - Pastor Weldon and Nancy Stockwell
John Groth
Andrea Terek
Bob and Kathy Walker - Taser Gun's former trainer!
Timothy Jones - photographer and reporter - did article on Taser Gun for usta web site
Jennie Dowden
more to come
I want you to know we were faithful stewards with the funds. We spent:
$109 x 2 for our stay at Drury Inn
$23, $20, and $26 for meals for two days (free breakfast at Drury!!)
$120 for diesel fuel to get us there
We stayed within budget and came home with funds left over - this will go to pay feed bills and past fuel bill at Kwik Trip Stores - we cannot thank you enough. We also hope to bank a little bit for our Iowa Horse Fair at the end of April. Thank you again and again - this is the biggest show of support we have ever had!!
Thanks to Illinois Standardbred Owners and Breeders Association for paying for the stalls. We had an article featured on www.ustrotting.com on March 9, done by Timothy Jones. If you can't access it by this time notify me and I'll email you the link to see. You can also see video of our demonstration on youtube - I am not sure if it is through ASAP or Michelle Daniels? I'll just try to get more pictures soon.
Tim Jones also gave me a disc with pictures on it that I will upload and send.
I also want to say I really got to know our wonderful foster family, the Daniels family, this past weekend. I cannot thank Michelle enough for her support over the past couple of years - how willing she has been to pick up horses at the track, foster them, retrain them, and love and care for them! Michelle and her daughter Christian and her relatives were precious, and Rachel and Christian got to ride together in the demo. Michelle had plans to bring Rhyma Rose and/or Double Stitch to the demo. When this didn't come together, Michelle was able to bring Barb's adopted horse, Lonely Dreamer (bred by Tim Wilson Farms and named by Dr. Diana Wilson after a Neil Young song years ago) to the demo. Dreamer was beautiful and very well behaved in and out of the ring for Christian. Janimal was his wonderful self for Rachel (they are magic together after all of these years), and Taser Gun was, well, he was Taser Gun!!!! LOL He got to be a bit of a handful during the demo on Sunday after hearing the call to the post music - he was ready to race! Each time I tried to smooch to him to trot a bit he kind of just got wild on me, but I hung on! When we put him in his stall he would put on a show by kicking and pawing and rearing straight up for a time. He still was a handsome, wonderful gelding who was "all that" for the crowd. Tears were shed, memories shared, and the deep look that those familiar to Taser gave him when they looked in his eyes was priceless. He has touched so many lives. A request was put in by the family to have Taser Gun stay at ASAP and be the ambassador for the program. It would mean a lot to both the former owners and trainers. I can see it, and I can feel it - the desire for him to be well cared for and loved. The former owner's daughter said that this was the best she had ever seen Taser look in his life. What a great testament to the care they get here at ASAP.
Anyway I will share a couple of pictures but also will write more later. Wanted to let you know that I received a call tonite on a 15 year old QH gelding who was scheduled to be euthenized tomorrow at 8:30 am. I begged the owner to give me a chance to round up supplies to save this horse. He has been at another location and has a tremendous case of lice. She can literally watch them crawl. He is also thin. I told her I know we can step up to help - it wouldn't cost much as long as he is not too compromised. She is willing to try to treat him if ASAP helps. I will know more tomorrow afternoon!
Blessings to all of you!!
Susan
