Sundancer and TBFriends

[gratefulknits]

I know many of us read Joe of TBFriends' blog everyday, but what you may not all know is that one of "our own" was featured on the blog today! Sundancer, who rescued Beauty and Merryanna (now Gigondas) through CBER back in 2006 is the "Mrs. Cheryl Dean" whose grade school class has been recycling cans and bottles and sending the proceeds to Joe. Here's the blog in case you missed it:

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"Friday, May 9th... The morning journal today is dedicated to the following:

Destiny Vazavez
Alia Yah
Nahomy Vasquez
Christian Villafana
Emily
Sebastian
Henry
Jeremiah
Monica
Monesha Claggett
Robert Bazua
Angel Delgado
Kevin Leon
Livette
Olivia Vasquez
Lizabeth Andrade
Henry Toribio
Merieneiana Arriaga
Jesus
Iram
Mrs. Cheryl Dean - teacher at Valle del Sol Elementary School in Coachella, California. Her 3rd Grade Class.

Not much money in the town of Coachella. These kids have very little. Yet they collect cans and bottles, turn them in for cash, and then send the money to help horses in need. The kids write Cathy and I letters, complete with drawings of horses and barns.

And so today I dedicate my morning ramblings to the 3rd grade class in Coachella. Horses are universal. Your e-mails this week prove how horses are loved all over the world.

There is an attorney in San Francisco who wants to help Alissa with her advertising campaign. Free of charge. There is a newspaper person in Los Angeles who also wants to help. More than 400 e-mails for Alissa, who hopes for the abuse and deaths of race horses to stop.

One of my favorite letters came from Kristin. She is 14, and lives in Santa Rosa, California. Kristin gives me permission to share. This is part of what Kristin has to say: My dad is a tough guy, but when Eight Belles died he cried like a baby. He was embarrassed when my sister and I saw him crying. We went out to eat and no one talked about Eight Belles. It was really quiet. All of a sudden in the middle of dinner my dad says we should go around the table and tell how much we mean to each other. There was my mom and dad and my little sister and my brother. We all took turns telling how much we love each other. This would never have happened if Eight Belles was still alive. Our family never says this stuff. We know we love each other, we just never say it. When Eight Belles died she made something in my dad change. He got all mushy, and this was the best family dinner we ever had. I told them about your ranch, and we would like to come visit and maybe someday I can get my own horse. Or at least maybe I could hug one of your horses. I wish I had lots of money to help Alissa. I hope Eight Belles is chewing on green grass in heaven. Thanks for listening. Kristin.

To the 3rd Grade class in Coachella, California. We love your letters and your drawings. Thank you very much for recycling cans and bottles, and helping our horses. It is difficult to fully express what this means to my wife and I. We really appreciate your thoughts and efforts. Thank You.

Joe"

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Hats off to you, Sundancer/Cheryl, for everything you are doing for Joe, and for teaching your class about helping others. I'm so proud of you, and I hope your class knows how much we all appreciate what they are doing!

[sundancer]

You should see the "horse wall" in my classroom! I had to take down my reading stuff during the state testing, and I had a bare wall, so I put up some of Joe's blogs and pictures of the young people who adopted horses from Joe's. My class read the captions under the photos and started asking questions. Very pointed questions like, "Why is that horse so skinny?" and "What happened to these horses?" "What is a feedlot?" "Why do horses end up on feedlots?" and "Didn't two of YOUR horses come from feedlots?" Lots and lots of questions. So I thought, "Hmmm! We're starting testing soon and we have ALL THESE plastic bottles, why not recycle them and send Joe the proceeds and help him out a little bit more?" We each got about 150 plastic water bottles during the state tests x 6 grade levels, so that was a LOT of water bottles! I asked my class to start recycling them, asked other classes, and soon the whole thing mushroomed! I put out a bright green recycling bin outside my classroom and kids come by all day and throw in bottles! My own class brings in bags of bottles and cans every Monday morning and we recycle those. The kids wrote letters to Joe and asked him questions about his horses. Students from other classes now come in to see the "horse wall". It has been a very educational experience for ALL the children! They are dying to hear back from Joe (I understand he is sending us a package of 20 horse shoes, one for each student!) It has been a wonderful experience for the students. I was surprised and amazed by their generosity, hard work, and problem solving. Many of them now collect bottles from the playground at recess and ask their families to recycle! We usually earn about $20 - $25 a week and I send all the proceeds to Joe. So far, we have collected about $150.00 worth of cans and bottles! I think this will last another week since there still are a few classes that need to finish their testing, but I think the kids will still bring in bottles and cans from home. I am very proud of all of them! And, they have learned a LOT about horse rescue!

[gratefulknits]

HeHeHe! I see you are hard at work on corrupting young minds into the rescue addiction! Just tell the kids not to worry, they can quit any time they want, and they definitely won't escalate to hardcore rescue! After all, none of us has a problem, do we? I mean, I could quit whenever I want, and since I know I could quit, I don't need to quit, right? Isn't that how it works?

[sundancer]

No. I'm afraid it is a LIFELONG ADDICTION!!

[cybercat]

Awesome, you guys! We need to hear more of these type of things...it does my heart good!

[piopico]

Wow! I follow Joe's blog religiously but never knew the teacher was one of us!! THankyou Cheryl.

[NanciK]

Goooooooo Cheryl! I've so enjoyed reading about your classroom on TB Friends ... and we're all proud and grateful that you chose to teach the children about the important role humans have in the stewardship of our animals, especially horses.

[Admin]

Joe is awesome and YOU rock!
Thank you for teaching our children. Perhaps their generation will see a difference in the world. ;D

[Eileen M]

SD, my hats off to yah !

[drjinva]

Another mention today!

Thursday, May 22nd... Wind gusts to more than 40 miles an hour, and I keep losing the internet. Typing fast, maybe 12 words a minute, and many of the letters on my keyboard are worn away. I can never remember where M is. Holly in Vacaville lost a tree. Keith & Jennifer in Orangevale lost most of the roof to their barn. These winds are monsters. Abraham jumped his fence in Rio Linda, and a neighbor found him eating her shrubs. Abraham is 20 (at least) with arthritis. He has not jumped in 5 years. The winds make us all goofy. Yesterday I thought for sure I heard the ice cream truck. Kept watching the street, wondering where is he? Pony Boy and I were hoping for a drumstick.

Later today a gelding comes to us from Golden Gate Fields, and we must unload at the top of our driveway. The winds bring adventures, and always 3 wishes. I wish to get this race horse safe in his stall before he goes bonkers and flees for Bakersfield. I wish this driveway was not so long. I wish Dairy Queen was across the street. Always with a new race horse there is a settling in process. Hi, how ya doin? Just how wired are you? And where are the aches and pains? Over the weekend from a race track came Fit To March, a liver chestnut gelding. He is higher than the big moon. We have him in the round pen closest to our house. I must look out the window every 5 minutes to make sure he is still there. For some race horses it only takes a few hours to settle in. Others take a few months. Fit To March might take a few years. Just 3 years old, and he is convinced all the fillies want him. Fit To March living in la la land...

A big Thank You to the 3rd grade class in Coachella, California. Once again they recycled their cans and bottles, and sent us $30.00. We will use their money for grain. There is a sign outside the school asking for cans and bottles to help horses. These kids are amazing. One of the poorest communities in all of California. Yet they collect money to help horses in need. We are overwhelmed with their kindness to others.
A big Thank You to Webmaster Max Wilcox, who is hard at work on this website. Soon 2 new links will be up, showing you Past Adoptions and Where Are They Now. Photos are not currently loading, but this is a dial up problem. When the winds go away we will be open for business.

A big Thank You to Jennifer Wright with her broken wrist. Jennifer saved the life of a yearling pinto filly who scheduled to be euthanized. Not the happiest of stories. The owner was convinced the little filly is a demon. The filly has been badly neglected, so Jennifer made a deal. She gets the filly, and the owner gets a $300.00 shopping card to Wal Mart. Jennifer told the owner I will just give you cash, but the owner said no, it has to be in the form of a gift card. And I thought I had done some strange deals over the years. The little filly is now at a boarding stable, and Jennifer named her Princess. From now on she will be treated like a princess.

A big Thank You to Rachel Jeffers, who at an auction in Turlock saved the life of a beautiful quarter horse mare. A whopping $200.00. Last week Rachel gave the mare to a young girl in Brentwood, and there were tears all over the joint. You could have made a Hallmark commercial. Rachel does this often. She rescues nice riding horses at auctions, and then finds them good homes.

I must hurry and hit Enter because the internet keeps going away. Enjoy your hurricane Thursday, and be sure to hug your horses. Time to watch alfalfa soar through the air. Horses chasing their breakfast...

Joe

[kidznhorses]

This is way cool! Our very own Sundancer! Who would have known! Thanks so much Hope, for sharing this bit of information with us!!! When I read about the classroom on TBfriends, I thought what an incredibly neat project for young kids, teaching them so many different things. And that May 9 blog was incredibly heartwarming.

You're awesome Cheryl! Such an inspiration to those kids who have learned a life's lesson not normally found in the classroom, but one that will change their heart's forever.

[sundancer]

This group of kids is incredible! They have just opened up their hearts to the horses on Joe's website! I have a lot of photos from TB Friends on my wall now and they ask a LOT of questions about the horses and now they share what they know with other kids!

I'm going to absolutely BAWL when they leave the last day of school!!!! I already warned them I'm going to cry like a baby! They are a really neat group of kids (NOT like last year's group, whick left RUNNING like a locomotive out of my classroom and didn't even look back!)