This message is from: Sonja Miller <smmille...@ole.augie.edu> Yesterday was the 2nd annual Halloween celebration at Reinbows, Inc. ( www.reinbowsinc.org). The celebration consisted of a parade put on for the residents of the nursing home and assisted living facilites adjacent to our property. After the parade, the horses came back and stood on display in their tie stalls for two hours of open trick-or-treating at the barn. Last year we had about 100 people come up to the barn to see the horses and get candy. This year, with heavier advertising, we had an estimated 400 people show up in 3 hours. For a town of 4,500, it was an impressive turnout. In our advertisements, we asked that people bring donations for the local food shelf, and boy did they ever! We had an entire wheelbarrow full and overflowing by the end of the 2 hours.
As usual, the fjords were extremely well behaved, especially around the young children and the elderly. They were dressed to the nines in their Halloween costumes and got plenty of smiles, nose pats, and neck scratches. They stood politely for all of this...and it was not just standing and enduring. They would walk from resident to resident, reaching their necks out and dropping their heads down to the level of those in wheelchairs. Both the residents (even those that got their walkers slurped) and the fjords loved it. I really don't think there could be a more perfect breed for what we do. Trick-or-treating hours at the barn were set from 4-6 pm, but of course we had people showing up from 3:15 to 6:45. The horses stood in their stalls eating hay while kids in costume filed through to grab their treats and get their pictures taken with the horses. Because they had to skip their afternoon naps, the fjords were exhausted by about 6 pm and started to doze off. One of the mares fell asleep with her top lip smooshed against the manger. When we could finally get the gates at the bottom of the driveway closed without locking any trick-or-treaters in, we took off the horses' costumes, turned them out, and watched them all stand around in a stupor : ) It was a very successful and rewarding day. If you would like the see the costumes and smiles for yourself, here is a link to some of the pictures: http://s820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/ReinbowsInc/Halloween%202009/ The horses in the pictures are: BDF Kapprell (Kappy) as Robin Hood Kjor Liberty (Frihet) the Witch Fair Acres Alida the Clown Zjeena the Angel Nor-fin's Ulf the King Kate (non-fjord) the Skeleton Enjoy! Happy (belated) Halloween! Sony Miller Windom, MN Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw Classified Ads: http://tinyurl.com/5b5g2f
