Greetings,
I am, today, a very
blessed person. I am reminded that each day is a gift from above,
and I can allow myself to make each hour of my life either a
blessing or a curse for myself and the others around me. I am
totally astounded at the wonderful people that surround me through
my work with ASAP..... and I learn from all of them in one way
or another!
I get up each morning
and look out my bedroom window, taking a head count of Haiaku,
Precious KC, Asha, Bob Cook, and Arne. I saunter out to the
kitchen for coffee, and am blessed enough to peer out that window
and into the eyes of my own horses who are standing in the far
reaches of their pasture where the sun hits first! Down below
in the lower arena I do another head count for the horses waiting
for adoption, and sigh a breath of relief that all are present
and accounted for and I can go about my day at peace.
My eighth graders
are reading a book by John Steinbeck called "The Red Pony"
right now, and in one of the chapters Billy reminds himself
of this after the red pony dies: "And Billy knew he ws
thinking of the red pony, Gabilan, and of how it died of strangles.
Billy knew he had been infallible before that, and now he was
capable of failure. The knowledge made Billy much less sure
of himself than he had been." That passage struck me hard
- as each day that goes by with the horses in our care without
incident, accident, or illness is such a gift. It makes me realize
how greatly I depend on my Maker and Creator for each breath
I take, and that it is only through His grace that we do as
well as we do with the animals when we do it. If you can continue
to pray for ASAP and for the people who serve it in any way,
for wisdom and understanding and protection. I know many of
you do that already, and thank you so much......
The Iowa Horse Fair
was AWESOME. Of course, tears, tears, and more tears of pride
as my small children, Rachel and Zachary, demonstrated with
the Iowa Harness Horsemen's Association once again. Red, white
and blue, and a 75 pound boy on Janimal in the coliseum with
his 34 pound, five year old sister rode COMPLETELY ALONE on
Randy was enough to send people smiling. Rachel was so self-confident
this year, and she took those reins and Randy listened - simply
obedient and passive and wonderful. JANIMAL had an apprehensive
rider, Zachary, who is seven and is always thinking about things
and worries too much (maybe like his mom?), but Janimal knew
it and was a perfect gentleman. He got so excited when the race
bikes came in and wanted to just jog off with them a couple
of times, but mom was there to gently pull him back to keep
Zach's anxiety at bay. After a time I was able to fade away
to allow the horses and kids to ride alone. It was beautiful.
The Iowa Harness Horsemen had Nick Roland driving, and also
Brenda's 15 year old daughter driving Hustle, a trotter. I will
have pictures of this event shortly (have to run to Walmart
and get film made into CD digital photos) but you will be able
to see pictures from the equine photographer as soon as they
become available. My thanks, again, to Mary Lou Lawless and
all of IaHHA for allowing us to join together to promote harness
racing and harness racing's own charity! We also were invited
to a round pen demonstration and presentation put on by IaHHA
and I was allowed to talk about ASAP with the public. What an
awesome privilege!
We made it home in
time for Easter... and on Monday Terry took off for Springfield
to pick up Sarajevo, a five year old gelding, and Cape Cruiser
- wow - what gorgeous animals that Erv Miller, Don Coleman,
and Bill Wright, as well as the Carters and Ken Sharpe and Scott
Lester donated!!!! To think that Sarajevo cost almost $15,000
as a yearling, and now here she is at the ASAP farm as a sound
3 year old trotting filly!!!! Unbelievable!!!
We would like to
announce the addition of Bill Wright to our honorary board.
This is another extreme blessing for ASAP - a harness horse
owner, businessman, and IHHA board member and a man of integrity
beyond imagination!
I could go on and
on - will write more after the Midwest Horse Fair - with pictures!
Come and see Big League Bandit, TJ Wolf, One Bad Bob, Three
Lucky Charms, R Pucker Up, Margie's Bunny, and more as they
demonstrate at Madison this weekend. We will have a raffle and
I will be there to greet everyone on Saturday and Sunday for
sure!
Love,
Susan
