Visit to Pennsylvania 1/26 - 1/28 2008

Saturday 1/26:
Strasburg, Pennsylvania:

I just got home this morning from a trip to Pennsylvania. The main purpose of my trip was to present a check for $3619.00 to Dr Dean Richardson at New Bolton Center for the UPENN Fund to Fight Laminitis. This was the money I earned selling the Barbaro America's Champion ornaments over the holidays.

We arrived in Strasburg Pennsylvania on Saturday, January 26th. We stayed at a very nice hotel called The Fulton Steamboat Inn. The hotel is a replica of an actual Louisianna Steamboat. Very lovely place. Since we drove through the night Paul stayed at the hotel and I called my Dad who lives in Strasburg. He came and picked me up and I spent the rest of the day visiting with him and his wife Kim, and my brother Daniel. Later Paul joined us after a few hours of sleeping and we had a wonderful dinner.

Sunday 1/27:
Fairhill Training Center, Elkton, Maryland:

Double Trouble Stable

On Sunday morning January 27th, (My birthday) We met two fellow Fans of Barbaro (FOB's) at Double Trouble Stables at Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton Maryland. This is the same training center where Barbaro was trained by Michael Matz who has his barn nearby. Tim Woolley is the main trainer at Double Trouble. He was so generous to allow us to visit with his horses. I don't get to be around them very often anymore so this was a real treat for me. I loved every minute of it!

Donna and Lyn visit these horses every Sunday and they bring carrots and treats. I didn't bring anything for the horses when I came because having never been there before I didn't know if it would be allowed. Donna was generous enough to share her carrots with me and introduced me to all of the horses. She and Lyn knew all of them and their names.
I could tell these horses were used to getting a lot of attention. All of them seemed very well loved.
Here is a photo of Donna and Lyn with one of their favorite horses named Da Doo Ron Ron!

Donna made sure she brought treats for all, even the barn cats got spoiled that day!

Paul is not particularly a horse lover. His main claim is that "Horses can smell fear and therefore they all want to kill me." Haha. Not so. I think this one was completely enamored with him. I turned around and saw the horse reaching as far out as he could trying to get Paul's attention. He on the other hand was trying to stay in the center of the barn with his hands in his pockets so that they couldn't "get him". I laughed so hard. Does this horse look like it is smelling his fear? Or just begging for a carrot?

Don't let Paul fool you. Every time he goes into a restaurant that offers peppermints he takes a few and keeps them in the car because he knows horses love them. He went to the car and brought back a whole handful of them for me!! Horses love peppermints just like sugar cubes and the peppermints are actually good for their digestive system. Here is a photo of me unwrapping a peppermint. You can see how they know that sound and they know exactly what is to come as soon as it is unwrapped! When giving them a treat you need to hold your hand flat. They don't always know the difference between your finger and a carrot.

We also met another FOB and a photographer out at Fair Hill named Jim Course. He was able to get permission for us to visit Graham Motion barn where we were able to meet the champion race horse Better Talk Now. We were greeted by his rider and trainer Fannella O'Flynn.
She introduced us to "Blackie" and also to a few other horses including a new star at the stable named Danzon. She has already won quite a few races and everyone is excited to see what she can do this season.

Later we chatted with Jim Course about the latest news in horse racing. He also took us out to see the training track where the horses are trained. By the time we got out there there were no horses working out but it was fun to see the track where Barbaro was trained and prepped for his Kentucky Derby win.

We left Fair Hill and Lyn, Donna, my husband, and I went into Kennett Square. We had a lovely lunch at a place called Newtons.

Back in Strasburg I celebrated my birthday at my Dad's and Kim had dinner all ready when we arrived. My favorite dish she makes called Chicken Cordon Bleu. She is also famous (at least to our family) for her amazing chocolate cake. It was such a nice surprise and the whole day was a wonderful way to spend my birthday!

Monday 1/28
Strasburg, PA

I got up pretty early on Monday morning and took my camera outside to take a few photos of the surrounding area. The hotel had an adorable pond on one side full of mallard ducks. They were so cute!

I think Mallards are one of the prettiest kinds of ducks. Both the males and females are beautiful yet completely different.



Strasburg of course is Amish Country and they were busy with their normal daily lives just like the rest of the citizens. I have a little problem with them, being a person who absolutely adores horses I have seen so many pulling those buggies who were terribly lame. I understand that to the Amish they are just a vehicle but the truth is that they are a living, breathing, feeling animal and they should not be used if they are in pain. I respect and appreciate the lifestyle of the Amish community and their craftmanship but I do have issues with how some of them their animals. Of course there are many people in the horse industry who misuse their horses (thinking about the big lick Tennessee Walkers among others). This horse with his proud gate and lively look to him was in fact bobbing his head each time he stepped on his right front hoof indicating that he too was not sound. You can't tell from the photograph but you can see his spirit! What a beautiful horse!

Before making our journey to New Bolton Center we stopped in at Kennett Florist. For eight months they were the liason between Barbaro's fans and Barbaro and his staff! Almost every day they made deliveries of Carrots, pears, peppermints and other goodies for Barbaro (shared with the other animals there) and Bagels, donuts, and other refreshments for the staff. The Fans of Barbaro wanted to pour out our love to everyone at New Bolton and it was Kennett Florist who made it happen for us.

Rachel was there that Monday morning and greeted me with a big hug. We had a great talk reminiscing about Barbaro and she told me how her son loved him as well. I presented her with two Christmas ornaments that were purchased for her and Alie by the Midwest Fans of Barbaro. Rachel often came onto the Alex Brown Racing website where the FOB's all meet to congregate and plan our efforts and she would tell us all about each delivery made to the hospital. She would give us any update she could about the "Big Boss Horse" (Barbaro) while he was a patient there. Whoever was writing from Kennett Florist would always end their updates with "We believe!" They still make deliveries all over the US for other people and horses on behalf of the Fans of Barbaro.