This message is from: "Kevin and Verna Mattinson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
This was the best Christmas horse story EVER!!!! Thanks for sharing! It is a wonderful example of the Christmas spirit. Wow...what a gift to give someone!! Happy Holidays everyone, Verna Woodrow Fjords, Nova Scotia > This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Hi and Merry Christmas To All, > > This is long, but well WORTH the read. > > A few years ago a young girl by the name of Alison came to work in my barn. > She was fresh out of high school and had always been one of those horse crazy > little girls, but had never been able to have a horse of her own. Alison > absolutely LOVED cleaning stalls just so she could be around horses, especially > the Fjords. But, alas, her dad made her quit working here so she could get a > 'real' job. > > Several months ago Alison came by the barn and wanted to know if I had any > openings for stall cleaners. She 'needed' to be around our Fjords again. She > has her 'real' job, but she is still a 'horse crazy little girl'. I can > always use extra help in the barn so gave her the Sunday morning shift and she is > more dedicated to that job than even the post office - neither wind, nor rain, > etc. could keep her from her 'appointed rounds' - aka road apples!! > > When the Oregon Fjord club had their raffle this year for a Fjord filly > (drawing was on Dec. 15), I gave Alison my tickets to buy. Another lady from my > barn and I purchased some additional tickets for Alison as her Christmas > present, but, alas, Alison did not win. On the Sunday after the drawing Alison > mentioned that she had been to the Hestehaven website to see who had won the filly. > She also said that there was mention on that page of an additional > 'surprise' drawing - details later. She said that she still had a chance to win > something, maybe a brush or bucket or halter or something. > > At that point I had not been online for several days. Due to my full time > employee having the flu, I had been in the barn at the crack of dawn every day > and didn't have time to read emails or anything else! After 4 days of not > dumping junk mail ( bless AOL!!), I decided I had best do that. Once there, I > discovered an email from Catherine Lasessen saying that the Oregon Fjord club was > giving another foal as a surprise, that Alison's ticket had been drawn and > did I think she would accept a gelding???!!! OH LORD HAVE MERCY!!! I couldn't > get to Catherine fast enough - hoping that they hadn't given it to someone > else, since I had not replied. I told Catherine that Alison take ANYTHING in > Fjord hair. > > So, the scramble began - trying to put together the BIGGEST SANTA SURPRISE > EVER! > > I called Alison and begged her to clean stalls for me on Saturday as well as > her normal Sunday. I told her that I was absolutely bone weary and just > needed a day out of the barn. She said that she was going out of town to be with > her boyfriend's family and that they were not coming home until Sat. evening. > UH OH! I really didn't think that the folks in my barn would be 'up' for a > party on Christmas Eve morning at 6 AM - since that is when Alison comes to > work! > > Alison said that she wanted to help me out because I did so much for her and > that she would call her boyfriend and see if they could change their plans. I > told her not to do that, that it was Christmas and she should just go have a > good time - that I'd survive. I was thinking to myself - HMMM - what do I do > now? > > Long story short - she convinced her boyfriend to change their plans! > YIPPEE!! > > I told Alison to give herself a treat and sleep in on that Saturday morning, > that the other gal, Mary Johnson, who also works on Sat. mornings, doesn't get > here until 8 AM. Mary could do the feeding that morning and Alison did not > have to get here until 9 AM - PLEASE! > > The SCRAMBLE began. I started making phone calls to everyone in the barn to > see if they were able to come to the barn at 8:30 that Saturday morning??!! > Oh my, they would not miss it for the world!! Catherine & Rune delivered > Trygmann here on Thurs. Several of the folks came to see him and help get him spit > shined for Alison. Everyone's enthusiasm was at an all time high and plans > just kept getting better! Sue Grantham, Sue owns TRR Thomas, decided that we > should have a 'baby shower' for Alison and bought mylar balloons that said, > 'It's a Boy' and a gift card from a local tack store so that she could 'horsey' > shopping. Friday night we decorated the stall with bows and huge gift tags, > made by Mary, that said Merry Christmas to Alison from Santa and another one > that said Hello, my name is Trygmann and listed his sire and dam and his > birthdate. > > Sue said that she had been telling one of her co-workers all about our > surprise and the gal started crying. I told Sue to invite her and her hubby to join > us, since they have horses also. They are into Mustangs. > > I don't think any of us slept much that night before, we were all so excited. > My hope was that Alison would NOT show up early for work!! She was a good > girl and came at 9. By that time there were over 20 people here to celebrate > with her! I met her outside of the barn when she arrived. She said, 'WHAT IS > GOING ON?' I told her that everyone was ticked off at me for not planning the > normal barn party this year so they all had decided that they were going to > DO it. I told her, 'So much for me trying to stay out of the barn for one day' > - - kinda like I was miffed. Told her to come on into the office and have some > goodies before she started cleaning stalls. > > The plan was for me to say that I had to take care of something and that I'd > be right back. Then Sue would say that she wanted to show everyone something > in the tack room that she had bought. I dashed down to the stall and hid > inside with my camera so that I could get a picture of the expression on her face > when she read the gift tag, but alas, my camera focused on the wire on the > front of the stall door so that did not work well, BUT EVERYTHING else went as > planned. It took Alison a couple of minutes to notice the name tag and a couple > more minutes for it to SINK in. She just stood there, eyes wide and mouth > agape. ARE YOU SERIOUS was her first response. Everyone chimed in, 'YUP, MERRY > CHRISTMAS!' It couldn't have been any better. It isn't often that one can > pull off a great surprise like this one! > > I asked Alison later if she had piddled down both legs and she said, 'Yup, my > muck boots are both full!' > > Everyone had 'showered' her with gifts too. She got brushes, a tote, cowboy > magic, etc. One of the gals left during the party and took her camera to > Walmart, got pictures printed and came back with a 'baby book' picture album for > Alison to commemorate her BEST CHRISTMAS EVER. > > I am sure that Trygmann thought he must have died and went to H*ll with all > of the to- do, but he just took it all in stride - like a good Fjord. At one > point, the gal who has the Mustangs came to me and remarked about how well he > was handling it all. I am positive it was a total shock to her to see that > kind of response after dealing with Mustang mentality. Her next reply was that > she neeed to get her husband out of this barn before he got 'hooked'! I told > her it was probably already too late! LOL! > > Anyway, a huge thanx to the Oregon Fjord club - aka - Catherine and Rune for > making this the Bestest Christmas ever! > > Gayle Ware > Field of Dreams > Eugene, OR > www.fjordhorse.com The FjordHorse List archives can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw
