FW:

 

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This has been going around for several years now, but still a nice story.

>        
>
> GOD determines who walks into our lives each day ....but
> it's up  to You to decide who You let walk away,   or
> stay ,  or who You  refuse to let go.
>
>        
>
>                                 
>In September 1960, I woke up one morning with six hungry babies and just 75 cents in my pocket.
>Their father was gone.
>
>The boys ranged from three months to seven years; their sister was two.
>
>Their Dad had never been much more than a presence they feared.
>
>Whenever they heard his tires crunch on the gravel driveway they would scramble to hide under their beds.
>
>He did manage to leave $15 a week to buy groceries.
>
>Now that he had decided to leave, there would be no more beatings, but no food either.
>
>If there was a welfare system in effect in southern Indiana at that time, I certainly knew nothing about it.
>
>
>I scrubbed the kids until they looked brand new and then put on my best homemade dress, loaded them into the rusty old 51 Chevy and drove off to find a job.
>
>The seven of us went to every factory, store and restaurant in our small town.
>
>No luck.
>
>The kids stayed crammed into the car and tried to be quiet while I tried to convince who ever would listen that I was willing to learn or do anything. I had to have a job.
>
>Still no luck. The last place we went to, just a few miles out of town, was an old Root Beer Barrel drive-in that had been converted to a truck stop.
>
>It was called the Big Wheel.
>
>An old lady named Granny owned the place and she peeked out of the window from time to time at all those kids.
>
>She needed someone on the graveyard shift, 11 at night until seven in the morning.
>
>She paid 65 cents an hour, and I could start that night.
>
>I raced home and called the teenager down the street that baby-sat for people.
>
>I bargained with her to come and sleep on my sofa for a dollar a night.
>
>She could arrive with her pajamas on and the kids would already be asleep
>
>This seemed like a good arrangement to her, so we made a deal.
>
>That night when the little ones and I knelt to say our prayers, we all thanked God for finding Mommy a job.
> And so I started at the Big Wheel.
>
>When I got home in the mornings I woke the baby-sitter up and sent her home with one dollar of my tip money--fully half of what I averaged every night.
>
>As the weeks went by, heating bills added a strain to my meager wage.
>
>The tires on the old Chevy had the consistency of penny balloons and began to leak. I had to fill them with air on the way to work and gain every morning before I could go home.
>
>One bleak fall morning, I dragged myself to the car to go home and found four tires in the back seat.
> New tires!
>
>There was no note, no nothing, just those beautiful brand new tires.
>
>Had angels taken up residence in Indiana ? I wondered.
>
>I made a deal with the local service station.
>
>In exchange for his mounting the new tires, I would clean up his office.
>
>I remember it took me a lot longer to scrub his floor than it did for him to do the tires.
>
>I was now working six nights instead of five and it still wasn't enough.
>
>Christmas was coming and I knew there would be no money for toys for the kids.
>
>I found a can of red paint and started repairing and painting some old toys.
> Then I hid them in the basement so there would be something for Santa to deliver on Christmas morning.
>
>Clothes were a worry too. I was sewing patches on top of patches on the boys pants and soon they would be too far gone to repair.
>
>On Christmas Eve the usual customers were drinking coffee in the Big Wheel. There were the truckers, Les, Frank , and Jim , and a state trooper named Joe .
>
>A few musicians were hanging around after a gig at the Legion and were dropping nickels in the pinball  machine.
>
>The regulars all just sat around and talked through the wee hours of the morning and then left to get home before the sun came up.
>
>When it was time for me to go home at seven o'clock on Christmas morning, to my amazement, my old battered Chevy was filled full to the top with boxes of all shapes and sizes.
>I quickly opened the driver's side door, crawled inside and kneeled in the front facing the back seat.
>
>Reaching back, I pulled off the lid of the top box.
>
>Inside was whole case of little blue jeans, sizes 2-10!
>
>I looked inside another box: It was full of shirts to go with the jeans.
>
>Then I peeked inside some of the other boxes. There was candy and nuts and bananas and bags of groceries.
>There was an enormous ham for baking, and canned vegetables and potatoes.
>There was pudding and Jell-O and cookies, pie filling and flour. There was whole bag of laundry supplies and cleaning items.
>
>And there were five toy trucks and one beautiful little doll.
>
>As I drove back through empty streets as the sun slowly rose on the most amazing Christmas Day of my life, I was sobbing with gratitude.
>
>And I will never forget the joy on the faces of my little ones that precious morning.
>
>Yes, there were angels in Indiana that long-ago December. And they all hung out at the Big Wheel truck stop....
>
>THE POWER OF PRAYER. I believe that God only gives three answers to prayer:
>
>1. 'Yes!'
>2. 'Not yet.'
>3. 'I have something better in mind.'
>
>God still sits on the throne, the devil is a liar.
>
>You may be going through a tough time right now but God is getting ready to bless you in a way that you cannot imagine.
>
>My instructions were to pick four people that I wanted God to bless, and I picked you.
>
>Please pass this to at least four people you want to be blessed and a copy back to me.
>
>This prayer is powerful, and prayer is one of the best gifts we receive. There is no cost but a lot of
> rewards
>Let's continue to pray for one another. Here is the prayer:....
>
>Father, I ask You to bless my friends, relatives and email buddies reading this right now. Show them a new revelation of Your love and power.
>Amen.
>
>I know I picked more than four, so can you

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Magna Racetracks Announce Anti-Slaughter Policy

Magna Racetracks Announce Anti-Slaughter Policy
by: The Blood-Horse Staff
October 10 2008, Article # 12876 Magna Entertainment Corp. has formally adopted a company-wide policy promoting the humane treatment of racehorses, the company announced Oct. 10.

Under the policy, any trainer or owner stabling at an MEC facility who directly or indirectly participates in the transport of a horse from a MEC facility to either a slaughterhouse or an auction house engaged in selling horses for slaughter will be prohibited from having stalls at any MEC facility.

The policy also applies to any actions related to the transport of a horse from a MEC facility where the ultimate intended result is a horse's slaughter.

The following tracks are owned and/or operated by MEC and its subsidiaries:

Golden Gate Fields; Albany, Calif.
Gulfstream Park; Hallandale Beach, Fla.
Laurel Park; Laurel, Md.
Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie; Grand Prairie, Texas
The Meadows; Meadow Lands, Pa.
Pimlico; Baltimore, Md.
Portland Meadows; Portland, Ore.
Remington Park; Oklahoma City, Okla.
Santa Anita Park; Arcadia, Calif.
Thistledown; North Randall, Ohio
"MEC is extremely pleased to formally adopt a policy to further encourage the humane treatment of racehorses, Ron Charles, MEC chief operating officer and Santa Anita Park president, said in a statement. "We intend this to be one in a series of steps that will be taken in an effort to protect our equine athletes. Consistent with the long-standing vision of Frank Stronach and management at our racetracks, the policy signifies the company's strong intent to deal only with those trainers and owners who have the welfare of racehorses as their primary concern."

Said Stronach, MEC chairman and chief executive officer: "Since the inception of MEC, we have taken care to protect the health and safety of customers, workers, and equine athletes participating in activities at all of our facilities. The goal of the policy is to forewarn industry participants who participate in the slaughter of racehorses that they are not welcome at any of our facilities across the country. I hope other racetrack owners formally adopt similar policies."

Suffolk Downs racetrack in Boston enacted a zero-tolerance slaughter policy earlier this year."

How to sell your horse fast (Part 1)

What should you do if you find yourself with a horse you need to sell? Where should you advertise? Should you use the local classifieds? Look no further, as these questions and more are answered below. We will cover pricing, ad type, marketing, photos, and videos, as well as some do’s and don’ts for each section.

Pricing
This is the single most difficult aspect of horse sales. If the price is to high, nobody will contact you, and if your price is to low people will wonder what is wrong with your horse. The easiest way to determine the current market value of your horse (not appraised value, which can be different) is to look at your local market (within 20 miles) and view horses similar to yours and what they are priced at. Jot down a list of horses most like the one you have for sale, and add or subtract from the average price based on points that make your horse more or less marketable than the others. Make sure that you do this carefully, because a mistake here can cost you the sale!

Ad Type
Before we go into details as to where to place our ad, we have to have a well written description of our horse to start with. This should include the age, height, breed, sex, and in some cases the color of the horse. If you have room you’ll want to include any special disciplines the horse has learned, such as Dressage, and to what level the horse has been trained. Make a point to highlight anything special about your horse, like his calm demeanor, talent for sliding stops, or excellent show record. You should have three basic copies of your ad: one that is short, 15 words or less, one that is medium, under 100 words, and one that is a full description of your horse. This way you will be prepared with an ad suitable for your budget at each possible marketing outlet.

• DO remember to include your CONTACT INFORMATION. If a buyer can’t contact you, your horse will never sell.
• DO emphasize your horses good points, and don’t bring up the negative. Remember, the point of an advertisement is to get the potential buyer to contact you.
• DON’T write an ad from the horses point of view (ex. I’m a sweet horse who needs a new buddy…)

Marketing
Once you have a well written ad you can start posting your horse for sale. Here is a list of options to choose from:
• Tack shops/ Stables- turn your ad into a flyer and post it in your area. With this option you will get excellent local exposure.
• Newspapers- generally a higher class of people view these, so your marketing costs may only pay off if you are selling an expensive horse.
• Local Classifieds- generally less expensive than newspapers and often free to prospective buyers, but more expensive horses will be out of place.
• Equine magazines- expensive but they can be worthwhile if the magazines target audience is the same as yours.
• Internet- this is currently the most popular way for buyers to view horses for sale. There are many great web sites available, the most popular being Dreamhorse.com. These sites will get your horse excellent exposure for a minimal price, and often have inexpensive options for photo ads. Horses of all ages and price ranges can be found online.

In the next addition, see how your photo can make or break the sale before you ever get a phone call. Until next time, thanks and God bless!

Tying Up- Don't blame Alfalfa

Although there is still no concrete answer to the cause of tying up, many people are quick to point to alfalfa as a problem. True, an average horse is probably less likely to tie up if fed grass hay due to the lack of protein, but the average horse is stuck in a stall at least half of the time with little exercise and fed an otherwise high carb diet. I feel the real answer is to look at the whole picture before ruling out alfalfa for your horse. Most horses can benefit from alfalfa without tying up if they are properly managed.*

Take the following for example: an overweight couch potato one day decides to do something "healthy" and goes for a good run. Just gets up, runs until he can't run anymore, and goes back to resting on the couch. What do you think he's going to feel like tomorrow? He's going to be so sore he can't hardly get out of bed. He didn't stretch after he ran, he didn't take his lack of fitness into account, he was just too short sighted to see what would happen the next day. And he will probably be less likely to run in the future because he's learned that it hurts! Unfortunately this is usually what happens with our horses.

How many times do you pull your horse out and ride for just 15 minutes, making sure to stop when your he's just starting to sweat, and walk him out until he's completely cool? That's what you'd have to do if you wanted to build up his fitness slowly without causing any soreness. Now if he's stuck in a stall all day you've just added to your problem. Each horse is different, but unless your horse is in peak fitness and on open pasture, I'd be willing to bet that he's tying up for other reasons. If he's never tied up, here's what you need to do right now: get down on your knees, fold your hands together, and seriously thank God!

Now I agree that not every horse will tie up, but proper management can stack the odds in our favor. If you can keep your horse at pasture that's the best, with all day turnout being second. But if you have to keep your horse in a stall, then you or someone else needs to be carefully exercising him daily. A lot of people just switch their horses to grass hay so that they can bypass the need to be careful about their exercise requirements, but in the long run the horse will not be happy. Think of the couch potato after his long run- he's not going to want to do it again, and neither will your horse.

Some horses do have serious problems with tying up, but I've found that even the most serious cases can still be fed alfalfa and do very well if their nutrition is balanced* (low carb grains can help) and they are looked after carefully. With all of the benefits alfalfa can offer, such as high protein for energy, great taste, and high vitamin and mineral content (think less money on supplements), you'd be short changing your horse to feed grass if your he didn't absolutely need it.

In summary, each horse should be evaluated as an individual. They are athletes and their diet, exercise, and other requirements deserve consideration. If your horse ties up, look at all the factors, don't just blame alfalfa.


*A certain racehorse trainer at Emerald Downs found that not one of his horses tied up all season (including horses with chronic conditions) when fed a low carb grain called Re-leve. The horses were fed only alfalfa hay as well.

Up and running!

Please forgive the tardiness, but we finally have a blog up and running. You will soon find many helpful tips on how to transform your horse from rags to riches!

If you'd like to have new posts e-mailed to you directly, please go to http://equinemakeovers.blogspot.com/ and use the "subscribe" link at the right.

Thanks and God bless.

~April