~THANK YOU~

[coconut]

Let the praises begin....

I'll start off with the obvious ones ;D

BONNIE - You're a ROCK STAR in everything you do. No one sees how much stress and planning goes into this on your end but it couldn't have gone so well without all that you did! I'm sure it's hard to be disconnected from what's going on up there in your "Rapunzel Tower" there but on the ground you had a LOT of very happy participants. We're already seeing comments about how fabulous it was and what a momentous event in so many of our lives...to celebrate our horses along side the rescues. I hope you know that in all the little things that meant so much to each individual you are a hero for making it all happen!

ALLISON - I know how much you put into this and even after all that hard work beforehand, you remained flexible enough to be the fill-in SAFE Horse support and rider! Amazing!!!

KIM - I love how you stepped up and helped secure this great facility for us. The stalls were a god-send and the locale was awesome. It takes a special person to look at something and say, "HEY! I can help!!" and step up to whatever you saw that needed to be done from posters, to press, to working your business (and having us over on Friday nite....YUM!!!!!) Here's a little Shout Out for AMICI EATERY....REALLY REALLY REALLY good food if you're in the Graham area! All that AND you got your horse ready for show...and a WIN

JAIME - You are like Timex...takes a licking but keeps on ticking!! Many folks didn't know that in the crucial last few hours, you became horribly ill. Yet ALL the horses got coordinated and made it, thanks to you! Let's not forget your handling/riding skills to show them off too ...and in an ongoing THANKS, your life dedication to this rescue makes it all possible.

JENNY, CRYSTAL & LAURIE - Who all support SAFE from AFAR and travel in to be such a huge part of it is just fantastic!

Jenny, I heard from the outside of the window...that everything went well...that had to be because you kept the office running right!
Crystal, the Trails were fun and we are so fortunate to have you there to make it happen!
Laurie, I never even got to purchase any raffle tickets but Les said the selection was wonderful and enjoyed hanging out with you again

LYNN - The vendor fair was very cool and I was bummed that I didn't get to spend much time over there but I hope it got some exposure for the vendors. Your killer Ribbon Diva Skills are pretty spectacular too!

LIZ - You really get into your job!!! Nice roll out of the way in Cal Polls!!! and you thought you were going to get to 'rest' by sitting on the ground! I can't wait to see your photos when they get up on your site. I'd like to point out that Liz does an amazing job of organizing the photos by participant number which means sorting through all of them to create kind of an account for each participant which is a HUGE undertaking so be patient...it's worth the wait for her vision of YOU...you'll be impressed!

POOP TROOP: You gals were such a huge help and I did my best to class up your less-than-classy assignment....you picked up poop and LOOKED FABULOUS ;D

LESLIE - THANK you for supporting our show and for your kind smile in the show ring....even when things didn't go exactly as planned (like Coconut blazing her own trail in English W/T after having a Mini Horse Spook fest!!)

to the rest of you Gazillion Volunteers! By stepping up to do whatever was needed to make this run was truly appreciated!!

And a special note to say thanks to Rebecca & Caiti who stayed back at Jaime's on Saturday to take care of the home-horses so that the rest of us and so many SAFE Horses could attend the show!! Way to go

...and I couldn't possibly remember all that everyone did...so here's your turn.....

[schwung]

Thank you Jet!! Let's not forget a special THANK YOU for you!! I can't even begin to list all the things that you did - from making the beautiful neck sashes for the horses and the fabulous High Point garland, to making sure the horses here were taken care of, to the fabulous Poop Troop attire...there is so much you do for SAFE and we are SO grateful for all your help!!!

I also want to throw out special thanks to our SAFE horses volunteer crew!!! We had a lot of last minute craziness in the end, with changes in haulers and riders and handlers on top of me being what felt like deathly ill the day before the show, and I don't know WHAT I would have done without the help of all of you!

Steve and Lindsey - for their help on Friday morning with chores and loading up the heavy items like bales of hay and the wheelbarrow!

Betsy - for her help on Friday with getting Sinatra bathed and help loading everything up including the horses!

Kyle - who came down all this week to help get Cedar ready for the show, helped pack and get horses ready at my place on Friday, then drove to Seattle to turn in her homework, skipped class and drove all the way back to Graham Friday night to help some more before driving back to Seattle and back to Graham again first thing in the morning. She did a fabulous job riding Cedar and handling the at times unruly Sinatra and brought home quite a few ribbons for both horses! And on top of it all, by the afternoon she started coming down with my stomach flu (which I feel awful about) but still helped out until we were able to cover her place with Cedar. Thank you Kyle!

Sarah - Who also put in a lot of prep time with Annie and did a beautiful job riding and handling her in the show! She was always cheerful and willing to help in any way possible!

Allison - who willingly gave up her post as morning Show Announcer to help with the SAFE horses when I lost a rider for Lexi and then again stepped up to ride Cedar in the Parade of Rescues when Kyle went home sick. Thank you for being so flexible!!

Amy - Amy was an absolute Godsend! If you aren't familiar with Amy, she was Whisper's foster and she happily stepped up to help haul when I lost one of my haulers at the last minute. Not only that, but she camped with us Friday night, spent the entire day handling, grooming, and doing whatever was needed, and then when we found out that Benny had to come back to us last night as well due to unforeseen changes in Juliane's life, she willingly offered to foster him for us! I know she didn't plan on such a long adventure (she didn't get home until about 11pm!) and I am so grateful for her help and taking the time away from her family to help SAFE!

Katy - Katy made an extra effort to help clean up some of the halters we had so the horses looked nice, and then made herself available in whatever possible capacity we could use her in - from cleaning stalls and feeding/watering, to being a fill-in handler for Dory, to whatever else we needed, all with a smile!

Shayla - I hadn't met Shayla before but she jumped right in and was always right there willing to help with whatever was needed!

Kathleen - you were Fabulous!! I know you went to a lot of trouble even with some last minute scrambling when your truck broke down to get the horses here and back for us. You ended up having to do a lot of hauling and unloading on your own and you were always cheerful and helpful! Thank you so much!!

Juliane - what can I say? To see Benny going so well under saddle (our first SAFE horse we've had from birth to riding age) brought tears to my eyes every time I looked at him. You have done such a fabulous job with him, thank you SO MUCH for getting him started for us, for bringing him to the show and giving everyone a chance to see how special this little horse is.

Geri - Thank you for being so willing to jump in an offer to help with hauling which allowed us to bring yet one more horse to the show! And thank you for bringing Petey, who made EVERYONE smile.

Mike - you were a trooper as always! He even put up with being snapped at by me after my frustration dealing with the very rambunctious Rhythm got the best of me. I'm sorry sweetie!! You stepped right up and filled in wherever you could help and were a great gate keeper so I hear!

I know I missed quite a few people, so if I did, I apologize as I am still so tired today I can barely think straight...but thank you all!!!!

[Whitewolf821]

I am going to add a second to all of the above thank you's and kudos. Then I'm going to add two of my own that stand out to me.

Craig & Wendy: You guys ROCK! Craig you gave up most of your day to hang around and wrangle goats with me among so many other jobs. Then when I went to go tally all the scores and figure out our winners for the trails course, I glanced out the window and you two had cleaned everything up before I was even done! You two just rock beyond words.

Also, Wendy, I hear you rocked as ring stewardess. I wasn't up close, but from what I could see, it looked like Leslie really appreciated your help!

[cardicorgi]

I echo all of the above, and want to especially acknowledge everyone from the office's perspective...

I want to repeat a HUGE thank-you to Bonnie - she is the grand puppet-master of the show and does an enormous amount of behind-the-scenes coordination for weeks before the show, and during the show she not only is announcing she is also doing data entry and dealing with constant questions...

Random trivia: did you know she did not get a break whatsoever or even get to eat? (this will be fixed next year!)

A big thanks to Julie P., who was in the office with me; she is a consummate professional AND is also fun to be around - what a combo! She helped create order out of my typical chaos, and took vagaries in great stride.

A big thanks to Cat for rolling with the gaming punches and doing ring steward duties WITH microphone - thank you for being graceful about that! Thank you to Wendy for your excellent work as ring steward too!

A big thanks to LynnM, the ribbon diva - who was in constant motion all day long and constantly cheerful.

Thank you also to Kurt for great gate-duties, and also to Mike for pitching in as gate-man when Kurt and Laurie had to leave.

[mymercedes]

I also wanted to thank everyone listed above. Bonnie, your voice as you announce is very calming and you do an excellent job! Lynn, it was awesome to ge greeted by your smiling face coming out of the arena! It really made a difference. Everyone working together made this show such a great success. I was in awe of how smoothly it went!

It's so great to hear the comments about how much of a confidence builder the show was to so many. It gave many of us a new fondness and appreciation for our horses and such a feeling of accomplishment and pride!

[lynnm]

I thank you for all your kind words

I need to add my thanks to this as well. So many did so much to make this such a HUMONGOUS SUCCESS ;D

First - I second all the thanks from before. You all were so awesome. This event is getting bigger every year and I think the way everyone pitches in is what is making it the success that it is.

Bonnie - thank you for asking me to round up vendors and for believing in me to actually pull it off. I do see a lot of room where I can improve things for next year. Also, a special thank you for having made my friend Shirley so happy in acknowledging the passing of her beloved Copper.

Kim - you were wonderful in setting the stage with this amazing venue (and we couldn't have asked for a better day - was that your doing? )

To all the vendors - you rock!!!! It was not an easy day but you gave us the opportunity to raise more funds for the horses. I can't thank you enough for your time and effort. Even the vendors who were unable to be with us at the show but gave of their wares and creative abilities - THANKS

To my special helper Shiloh and her husband Mike - I truly could not have gotten things set up (or packed up) without you and having you hold down the fort...this was huge for me not to have to worry about anything.

Brooke - your Nonies were such a hit!. Everyone wanted one. It is so wonderful to see such creativity.

Jet - you are my hero!

A very special thanks to Jen for keeping me from becoming a lobster.

And all the people associated with SAFE. This is a cause that is so dear to my heart. I am proud to be associated with such amazing and fine people. THANK YOU

OH Yes...And THANK YOU to all the riders and their horses for coming and participating in the show. It was incredible to watch and be a part of.

[coconut]

I was thinking about it today and I failed to mention BROOKE...the Nony Queen!!

Brooke came up with this plan to make all the Nonies, create a blog for them as well as a facebook page... offer them for an adoption fee and donate the funds raised to SAFE. Through this process she also promoted their attendance at the SAFE Benefit Horse Show ;D

The project took on a life of it's own practically and somehow she got to something like 60 Nonies that lived at her house pre-show.

25 Nonies were adopted at the show and even though only a handful made it to the Nony Parade at half time, they were a huge hit!

Furthermore, Brooke is a school teacher and is going to organize an after-school project called "Wild About Horses" where she'll help them build their own Nonies and teach them about Responsible Horse Ownership. I've suggested that they *adopt* one of the SAFE horses and track it's progress as part of that program.

So THANK YOU Brooke for thinking of ways to help out, promote the Horse Show, SAFE and stewardship towards all horses.

[coconut]

..and one more THANK YOU from me....

To the MAGNABILITIES Folks...

I don't know how many of you with horse duties got to go and check out the vendors but on the far end were the Magnabilities people and a beautiful display of their interchangeable magnetic pendant systems.

Among the 1,000+ available designs, Magnabilities custom made a whole line of SAFE horse inserts including our SAFE Logo and shots of most of the SAFE Horses. I sent their rep, Kari something like 18 different photos and told her who each horse was...not only did they make inserts of ALL the photos, they also added their names to the front...so Annie's lovely photo actually said "Annie" in the corner...and so on for all the horses I had photos for.

I realized when I got to the booth about 1:00ish that it probably was difficult for anyone with a horse to get over there to see how incredible their product is. I meant to get over to the booth to announce that they were only going to be able to stay until 2pm but by the time I got up there it was time to get the half time stuff going and when a break in the program came it was nearly 2pm and they were already packing up.

I thought these would be the perfect way to keep your favorite SAFE horse close to your heart even if you can't actually adopt one.

I was wearing my SAFE logo insert all day!!!

I hope that we'll be able to get the inserts up on the magnabilities web site but please feel free to check their other products out at www.magnabilities.com or contact me for more information on the SAFE inserts.

Thank you again to Magnabilities for going to the extra effort to make such a nice product in our honor

[lynnm]

How do we get the SAFE logo Mangnabilities? I was also unable to get over to their booth during the show. :-(

[coconut]

Aug 26, 2009 10:33:46 GMT -5 lynnm said:

How do we get the SAFE logo Mangnabilities? I was also unable to get over to their booth during the show. :-(

I'm communicating with them right now about how to best make them available...hopefully ON their Webpage will work out and we can cross market them I do love to see our SAFE Horses on other people's websites!

I heard that after our show they went on to the Seattle Gift show and had a TON of requests to put their product in stores all over the country so this is about to be HUGE for them in terms of energy ... but good for everyone...especially if we can get our SAFE horses on their website!!

I'll let you know as soon as we get the details ironed out.

[cardicorgi]

One more hearty thank you to Stephanie S. who first helped Bonnie in the announcer's booth for hours, and then kindly agreed to take down times during the gaming portion of the show; thank you so much, Stephanie!