Happy Tuesday Everyone!
I am still having fun thinking about my BARN 55 visitors last weekend. The weather has been very nice and I’ve been able to spend lots of quality time outside with all of my paddock buddies.
I also want to wish my dear friend, STEVE HASKIN, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! He is a fellow Aries and celebrated his special day yesterday! Cheers to you, STEVE! May you have a fabulous, healthy and happy year!
The photo above is TOO CUTE! Tim is holding MY CAKE! Earlier, I played with a cupcake for a moment to have a taste of frosting, but my REAL BIG CAKE was one made up of all of my favorite foods. Claudia Rubio helped put it together for me. She cut up big pieces of pears, apples and bananas and layered them on whole carrots with the green portion decorating the outside of the box. Then shredded carrots were shaped in a BIG Z on top! It was rather heavy to carry…so Tim helped out. It was absolutely delicious!
There was so much ‘Z CAKE’ that all of my barn friends were able to have a GENEROUS portion and help celebrate with ME. WE all agreed that it was not only a clever type of cake to create for ME…but extremely tasty too!
March Madness ended last night with the Championship Game. Kentucky made it to the Final Four and in itself that is a great accomplishment. Butler and UCONN played last night for the Championship with UCONN winning! Congratulations to them…and all of the teams who worked so hard during this tournament!
Now, our TOURNAMENT begins tomorrow. It is getting exciting! BRONZE #19 is really curious to see who her new owner will be! GOOD LUCK, Everyone!
With Love,
Hugs to All~
Z
Astrid
@ DJ – your card is so very sweet!! Zenny and her connections are all about paying it forward. I ‘dedicated’ my card for my best friend. Good luck to everyone! Whoever wins, will be very happy:)
@ re-Linda’s card – I just had an idea! If Dottie reads this (hopefully), she could use an empty card for Linda for the draw and if Linda makes it through she could re-send the card then…
@ To those of you sharing your horse stories, I thank you very much. I truly enjoy them!
Linda in NJ
Hi Zenny! What a beautiful birthday cake. That is the healthiest birthday cake I have ever seen. I bet it was quite tasty, too. All the pictures of your party have been wonderful. Thank you to Dottie and Mrs. Moss for sharing Zenny’s special day with all of us.
@Linda–I am so sorry your postcard was returned. It does take a lot of preparation and no doubt you were very disappointed. But all of us enjoyed reading your lovely thoughts of Zenny.
Christine Coleman
Hi Zenny! As usual you look wonderful! I thought you might be happy to know that I copied your “Z” cake recipe and I’m going to prepare several “Z” cakes for my horses and donkeys! See what wonderful things you are giving to other horses? Even those who are not Super Star race horses!! LOL I have a couple of retired racehorses though, but the majority of my horses are rescued horses, (many lame), and donkeys. I love you, Zenny! I’m so glad you share with all your friends in your barn!
(Thank you Dottie!)
Peggy
Dear Zenny, so glad you had a wonderful birthday. I have so enjoyed the pictures and your cake was just beautiful. So exciting the contest tomorrow. I wish the best of luck to everyone. Sweet, Sweet dreams and hugs and kisses sent your way. Love Ya Always, Peggy
Linda in NJ
@Astrid that is a great idea!!! @ Linda you should definitely call Barn 55 in the morning and mention that you sent your postcard but it was returned. Someone from Barn 55 could just copy and paste your paragraph from your post onto a postcard. I am sure they would not have a problem with that. This contest was meant to be fun. It was great fun just participating. All of us will be very happy for whoever wins. I hope a lot of fans participated in the contest and Team Z received a lot of cards from us. You know you could send more than just one card.
KIMBERLY
Yeah Z, I love the idea of that special cake. It looked delicious.. Everyone loves you soooo much. Can’t wait to see who wins the bronze Z..
Sharyn Priester
You couldn’t have had a more perfect cake!! Glad to hear your barn friends got to share – yummy!
Celeste
What a great photo of a wonderful birthday cake/treat for you, Zenyatta. Everyone who loves you and takes care of you is so creative and talented in making sure you are happy. I am glad there was plenty of cake to share with your barn buddies. My heart is full each time I visit your diary and read the words Dottie has shared with us, enjoy the photos here – well…thank you. Simply all I can think of to say as my heart is so full of Zenyatta. Thank you.
Denise
Voice of Zenyatta (VOZ) you are truly amazing & and you inspire us all! Thank you Dottie for all that you do for the fans ! Queen Z – We love you !! Enjoy your b-day cake !!
Savvy
Why Z you don’t look a day over 6. Girl, you still got it. Have a great year.
Janet
The cake looks yummy Zenny. I’ll be enjoying my birthday cake tomorrow. I’m an Aries too. Love you Miss Z.
Rita Stack
Great cake Z, so glad you had a great day.my niece has the same birthday as you and my mom and nephew are also Aries. I love you Z stay healthy and enjoy every day.
Joyce
Wow, that cake looks great for a big beautiful girl like you. Hope it was the best ever! Now, next year will take some planning to compare with your wonderful birthday at 7.
@Jan – yes it’s Houston.
DJ
Thank you for the nice comments..Dawn and Astrid. I too, enjoyed the delightful ‘horse stories’ today! They caused me to smile and wonder what if?…For unfortunately, just as horses are broken, hearts are often broken as well. My ‘horse story’ is a sad one, but I will share it as well. I grew up the youngest of five girls, and my parents bought two horses, Shasta, who looked like our “Z”, with a beautiful white star on his forehead and a little thoroughbred colt we named Becket who was just a year or so. My father and sisters would ride Shasta and have a great time together. He even did something special where they said “Shasta UP!” and he would rear up on his hind legs and Neigh while they were still on his back! Little Becket was not as yet broken. They were alot of work, but we would bring up the hay barrels, salt licks, and fill the bathtub with fresh water on the land that we bought for the coral miles away from our home. One day, when the horses were let out to graze amongst the beautiful rolling green hills on our newly bought property; some motorcyclists decided to have some ‘fun’ and chase the horses. The horses tried to jump back into their coral to get away and Shasta made it, but poor Becket…he couldn’t make the jump and cut his stomach open on the barbed wire and died. I do not know alot more, for my father was the one who happened upon this trauma the following day. This was in the early 70’s. They did not speak of it afterwards, but it was too expensive to just keep the one horse and a tremendous amount of work. I just knew that one day, everything changed in our lives and there were no more horses. I never experienced sitting on one, but I will always remember the joy on my father and sisters face as they rode Shasta and fed little Becket his apples and carrots from the palm of our hand. My father has always enjoyed horseracing, and took me to my first race many years ago. I never went again until I went to the Santa Anita Derby with my husband two years ago and since discovered our “Sweet Z”. Our lovely girl has given me a common interest and joy to be shared with my husband and father! We are hoping to fly him down to Santa Anita for his 77th birthday! Our Good Lord has taught me that sometimes our hearts do break in order to expand. Hugs to All and thanks for letting me write this for the first time. Horses ARE healing.
Dani
Zenny your cake is truly a masterpiece. How incredibly creative. It looks scrumptious too. I’m glad you were able to share it with your barn friends. Sometimes I feel a little sad to think that they may not have friends who come to visit them like you do.
.
I loved the photo of you with carrot greens coming out of your mouth. Only you could look both beautiful and silly at the same time. It was also nice to see a photo of some more of your LE friends….and of those mouth-watering cupcakes.
.
To the kindergarten class in NY – your card is just too cool. The work you put into it to make it so special is really amazing. And how wonderful that it is going to be part of the Barn 55 Zenyatta museum. Or is it more like a shrine? I guess both. Nonetheless, everything in there is priceless, including the stall itself. So that makes your birthday card priceless too.
.
Linda – thank you for sharing your postcard with us. I would send it again anyway. Even if it is too late for the contest, they are loving thoughts that I am sure both Dottie and John and the Mosses will appreciate when it is received and read. They may keep some of the cards. It would be a shame not to take the chance that yours might be one of those.
.
William – you have come to the right place. There are many nice people here who are understanding of life’s ups and downs and uncertainties. Me, I’m 55 and I am at the ‘if I could do it all over again’ stage. Some of us just take longer to find what it is we ‘want to be when we grow up’ or to find love or to just find contentment in our lives. And some of us may never really feel we’ve found any of these things. But like you said, Zenyatta has inspired you and you are not giving up and that’s half the battle in this crazy world. Most of us, probably all of us here see Zenyatta as you do. An inspiration. And she gives us all hope. I don’t know how. I just know that she changes the cloudy days in my life to sunny days. You will find a lot of wonderful support and caring in this community. I hope you stay and join in.
Holly Zemba
Your cake looks delicious I’m so glad you got to spend your birthday with all your friends from Barn 55.
kathy
I am way more exicted to find out if Dottie or Anne will get to read my little story of what YOU me to me than actually “winning”. Pretty crazy, huh?
Vicki B.
@DJ. That’s a heartbreaking story of Becket lost, your life changed forever, in an instant! It just reminds me of something I really wanted, as a child, that I could never have. Sorry, it’s just sad. But hopefully you and your father will be able to enjoy Santa Anita.
Shannon From Cool
You’re going to give the phrase “pigging out” a whole new meaning.
LOU IN TX
What a wonderful cake for our Queen Z!! So glad you had a great day and got to share your cake with your gal pals. We all love you soo much. Have a great week. Love you loads…Lou in TX
Tamyatta
What an awesome cake Z girl! I love you baby and I WANT THAT BRONZE !!!!!!
LOL
Trina Nagele
@DJ—Oh, what a sad story—my heart goes out to you and poor Becket, though this happened long ago. I’m glad that Zenyatta has helped you heal, even reaching back through the years to that broken-hearted girl inside you who still wonders “What if..?” It’s good that you can now share an interest with your husband and father (who I’m sure also wonders “What if..?” even though the subject was too difficult to discuss). And your card, which you shared earlier on today, was inspirational in its generosity and humorous to boot—-Zenny will love it!
@Elena Erdman—Our pets always leave us too soon, don’t they? And ragdoll kitties are known for being exceptionally sweet as well as beautiful, just as you described Suzzie (I see she had a double dose of the “Z Factor!”). I hope she had a long life with you—I’m sure it was a happy one, from the way you wrote. Try to stay close to Zenyatta and let her continue to lift your spirits after this loss.
Kathryn Cogswell
DJ ~ the time it seemed both your horses were swept away by a cruel, ignorant act left a void [even reading the above to this minute hurts]. Fortunately, it was somewhat filled later on. Saying nothing after reading your story can`t do it the justice it deserves, but having the feelings to say something doesn`t mean finding the words. A horse is such a big life, even little Becket`s. Please don`t have second thoughts you wrote this; just understand that, reading it, and hoping to presume any answer to it, seems inadequate to the loss, and the cost to you, at least for me. Still, I am so grateful you wrote; and that, at the end, you could say ‘sometimes our hearts do break in order to expand,’ to allow healing. Really, for me, it`s the best response imaginable.
Trina Nagele
@Kathy–Not crazy at all, just wonderful. That’s the spirit of Zenyatta–the joy of communicating our love to other understanding and receptive souls.
Abigail from Montreal
Sorry to write this twice everyone. But I wanted to be sure that William sees it, so I posted it on #219 as well as here.
@ William.
This is one of the most powerful pieces of writing that I have read in a very long time. It’s okay that you don’t know your path in life @ 35….so many great people (and horses!) only really come into their own later in life. It’s a myth that “bang!” at 18 or 21, you know what you want to do. It’s like a lot of myths society kind of invents for who-knows-what-reason. But don’t be fooled by all that guff! Go ahead — make your plans to see Zenyatta. You never really know where that might lead you, William. I mean, I answered a blog Steve Haskin wrote about Zenyatta and ended up starting my own horse racing blog. It’s something I’ve wanted to do my whole long life & never had the confidence to start, until Zenyatta, Dottie & John Shirreffs, Steve Haskin and all the wonderful people you meet on Zenny’s site came tumbling into my life.
So you just SHINE ON, William.
Jackie
Good Evening Queen “Z” Love the cake. Looks like a good option for those of us needing to lose a few pounds!
Looks as if you had a wonderful time sharing your day with your special friends and family. What could be better! A quote I love is “The Moment may be temporary, but the memory is forever”
Always cherish your good freinds and family
Hugs and Kisses
Jackie
Lynn ..... (nearby Hwd Park) California
Zenyatta, my love…
Doesn’t everyone have great storys to share here… :)
I love that I can come here and continue to see great photos of you too.
Thank You Z Team.
OraJean Stevenson
Dear Queen-Z & Team-Z,
Your cake looked very tastey and clever! Sounds like you had a great visit with your loved-ones…and they with you. Thanks for sharing the cute photo of Zenny with her CAKE.
Hope those severe storms, on Monday night, missed your area of Kentucky. Can hardly wait to hear the results of Round-#1 of the Z-Bronze Contest.
Take care. Hugs to all. Fondly, OraJean
Maria K.
Lovely picture. I bet you enjoyed that cake. I love you Queen Z. Hugs and Kisses from me!
Beth Hicks
@Regina, Thank You for the information and the website to find a Breyer-Zenyetta. Zenyetta, You look Beautiful as always.I hope you are enjoying them carrots and cake. You deserve the best of everything.May GOD be with you and keep you safe from harm. I Love You Zenyetta…GOD BLESS YOU…