Year End Rewards & More

With 2013 coming to a close, it is always exciting for me to see all the charity checks roll in from Team members!  Even though throughout the year, some Team members will report in their earnings and donations to help us add to the tally, it is nice to get those checks and to be able to mail them to each charity!  We had approximately 50 checks mailed in this year, which isn't too bad I suppose.  I sometimes get discouraged with the amount of Team members we have, compared to the charity checks we receive, but I certainly realize that we will have Team members come and go as people are excited about something and then perhaps the novelty wears off over time.  I will certainly do my best to continue to make Dreaming of Three and TEAM DO3 an exciting and beneficial organization to be a part of as we grow in the future with discounts and fun things happening throughout the year!  For myself, just being able to give back with something I enjoy so much is good enough for me.  To know that all the hard work and effort put into it all has made such a difference in all that we have done, makes me smile every day, even when at times I feel like things aren't going as planned or that it is such an uphill battle, I can see we are making headway.

The winner of the Year End Rewards for 2013 are:

Grand Prize Winner:
Sinnsuous Firewater Breeding and more goodies:  Rhope Rasmussen/Christina Rasmussen

2nd Place:
Vicki Smith

3rd Place:
Jeanie Bowersock

Youth Winner:
Megan McCorkle

Here is the video (as I like them to see that I am truly drawing from the check copies that they sent in):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcqIWZMEQK0

Also, over the Thanksgiving break,I  busted out the Profile pages of the Team members for the new website.  Of course, as I went through each member, one by one, I also realized some I have not heard from since they joined, and unfortunately had to weed through them all.  We aren't a club where there is a membership fee.  We are on the "honor system" basically, whereas, you commit to join and donate at least $25 to your charity of choice by the end of the year and by November 15 before Year End Reward drawing.  We like to do it this way, as it is certainly more fun to add up your tally and donations throughout the year through your winnings or hours in the saddle by your pledges or however you have signed up to donate.  We will keep it this way of course.  However, if a member does not send in a charity check for one year, they will be put on probation.  For their second year without their $25 mandatory donation, they will be removed from the Team.  We do have tshirt sponsors, which we give each member a Team jersey with sign up.  It truly would amaze me that somebody would sign up, just for a free tshirt with a charity, that is mainly about giving back, and have no intention of giving back to the very charity they sign up to donate to, but I guess some just simply forget.  So, therefore, that is why we decided to give a little bit of wiggle room.  We just hope that people that join us in trying to make a difference, are honest and really want to commit to helping us make an impact in the equestrian World with what we are doing.  Whether it is by helping us cross post our tshirt sales during a time of disaster relief, or during a time we are taking a child fighting a life threatening disease to a rodeo, or tshirt packing, or our Ultimate X Showdown, there are so many ways to help in all the efforts of Dreaming of Three, physically and just by sharing posts that can truly help us in our mission!  Or of course, just by doing what you would normally do every weekend, competing on your horse or just by riding in general and logging hours as your pledge.

Now on to Pookie!  I had the chance to go and visit her this weekend!  She is a true sweetheart! I wish I could see her every day and spend time with her, but I know, spending time with Patrick King, and us doing this tv show, is ultimately spreading the word further about the OTTB's better than me just bringing her home and loving on her and letting her sit idle all winter, as I can't really ride through the winter months, and my horses get that long winter off.

It is amazing what Pat has done with Pookie with just a month off the track!  I cannot wait for the first episode to be finished for everybody to see what an amazing horse and what an amazing breed she is!  I do believe that Pat is even ready to start his own search to get one of his own too!

After Pat rode her around some, showing some of her new moves, he asked if my shoes had heels.  I hadn't really planned on riding, as we had just done some Christmas shopping, but I wasn't about to say no!  So I threw my leg over her and finally got to ride my very first OTTB!  She was so comfortable to ride.  Very responsive.  I even trotted her through the pattern!  So smooth!  I cannot wait for the future with her!  I know my son, Shane, is already hoping to call Pookie his own after he grows out of his current pony/horse, even though he wants to keep both!

We did get some video of that first trot through!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D33U2XzP2W0&feature=c4-overview&list=UUUX-jFKMluE29-mJDlSd-8w 

I do believe that our strategy is working though, as I have had several friends contact me looking for a prospect and have been helping to find an OTTB for them!  So slowly, but surely we are making progress!  With the X Project, showing people the steps needed to take an off the track Thoroughbred directly from the track to their next career, whether it be barrel racing, or simply a trail horse, this will be something that anybody can follow!  To make the every day horse owner comfortable with the Thoroughbred and to know that they are such an awesome breed of horse that can ultimately do anything you ask of them as long as you pick the proper confirmation for what job you are looking to do with them.  I am certainly not a professional barrel racer, I don't barrel race for a living (unfortunately), I come to an office and work 9-5 instead.  Therefore, I have many friends who actually train and barrel race for a living, just as I am sure most people who barrel race for a hobby do as well.  Or, if you show jump for a hobby, you have your handful of professionals you know as well.  These are the folks to help you in your choice when searching for that prospect.  Of course, make sure they are sound and that their confirmation is what you need, then you are ready to mold them into anything you desire, just like any other horse.  I keep hearing "crazy Thoroughbred", and once you see Pookie, she will change your mind!  I cannot wait!    She is certainly my perfect Poster Child and Covergirl no doubt and she loves the spotlight as well!

I do believe this project is certainly needed now more than ever.  I heard some sad news recently about one of the horses that I had on my list to go and take a look at to be the poster child for this project.  He looked a lot like Pookie, and was well suited for the job, however, the week that I was to go look at him, the others were being offered to me as a donation, and I felt with all that was needed to be spent to get this project up and running, I had to be smart about things for myself and my family and look at the ones being offered as a donation first.  The gelding I was to go look at, unfortunately, I heard was taken on a truck that was headed to Mexico for the slaughter house.  So close to being the Poster Child for this project, and yet he ended up with that fate instead.  I feel if we can continue to show that these horses can do anything, even in the Western disciplines, and of course with the other organizations such as the Retired Racehorse Training Project, and all the rescues out there showcases these beautiful horses, there will be less and less horses that are perfectly suited for wonderful futures headed to slaughter.  I am in the middle of the book, The Eighty Dollar Champion, the story about Snowman, and how he was on that very truck, headed to slaughter, and I think about how fortunate he was to be saved.

It was a risk I we took last year, putting on the Extreme Retired Racehorse Makeover Barrel Race, and we did catch a lot of heat in the industry and even in some publications over it, but I do believe we have turned that corner, and more and more folks are coming out of the woodwork telling us their story about their OTTB's success in the barrel racing arena's.  The new Thoroughbred Barrel Racing Association is underway as well!  So things are looking up, and we will continue to push forward, to help these beautiful, well bred horses, have a better future after their career on the track is over.