Good Morning Everyone!
This photo is TOO CUTE! It’s my guy, Mike Smith, who helped us select the FINAL 4 for our ZENYATTA BRONZE CONTEST! Mike stopped by Dottie and John’s last night and held my reins in his hands…just like he did when we were racing. I think this definitely got him IN THE ZENYATTA MOOD to select our Final 4! This photo brings back great memories…for both Mike and I! We had lots of great times together!
The names of the FINAL 4 will be given…along with the thoughts each person expressed as to what I meant to he / she. Go to the bottom of this diary post and click the button next to the person whose entry you think deserves to win. Click the Vote button, and you’ll see the current results.
We will allow the voting to take place for one week. The winner will be announced next Wednesday, April 27th. John will look at the polls before he leaves for the barn that morning (5 o’clock in the morning, CA TIME) and the winner’s name will be posted.
The poll has been moved from the Facebook page to this website so that non-Facebook users may vote!
GOOD LUCK TO ALL 4 OF YOU!
ENTRY #1…..VICKI L. VINSON……APPLE VALLEY, CA I knew Zenyatta was “one” special horse the first time I saw her in person. She came over to me and stuck her nose right in front of my camera. That was before the ’08 Lady’s Secret. Little did I know that a year later she would become the best medicine in the world, in helping me through the worst time of my life. I’ll love you forever Zenyatta!
ENTRY #2…..VALERIE FRANKLIN….DAVISON, MI Zenny, you have made people believe in horse racing again. Our sport has suffered so much tragedy and in this time of economic disaster and with Barbaro and Eight Belles so fresh in our minds, you have given us a chance to escape and to dream. We love you more than you could ever quantify.
ENTRY #3…..GEORGIA HARPER…..BELLEVUE, WA My obsession began half way through your first year and such enthusiasm could not be ignored by my husband. After 49 years, my husband and I have become such good friends but are so busy with work and family we don’t always take time to actually think about one another. As a gift for our wedding anniversary last August, I received an email at work from my hubby with an itinerary attached for San Diego saying “Tickets for my queen to go see the Queen”. We not only had a wonderful day at Del Mar, never leaving the paddock and visiting with so many young people who had been there to see only you but we really enjoyed our time together. I’m not sure what we will do for our 50th this year, but I don’t think it will compete with the happiness we shared last year watching you come across the finish line and celebrating as best friends enjoying not just a horse race but watching the most magnificent thoroughbred ever. We miss you, we love you, and look forward to cheering on your foal.
ENTRY #4…..DAWN CONRAD…..CEDAREDGE, CO Dearest Zenyatta. “Why are you special to me?” Is it the stately stature of the Queen like carriage? Is it the glistening brown coat with the diamond dapples? Maybe it is the dance or those still moments with your head held high? Is it your intelligence and fathomless brown eyes? Was it your first run free or perhaps a camera-ride on the back of Pegasus? Is it posters in the stands, a warm crowd on a cold Kentucky night, the excitement you bought back to racing? Your place in its history and future, the Breeders Cup, 60 Minutes, Horse of the Year, Vox Populi Award? A Fred Stone portrait, Jamie Corum lithograph, Nina Kaiser bronze? The cheers I shouted the tears I shed? Certainly your beauty, power, grace, breathe taking speed, final kick, heart stopping finishes and 19/1. Absolutely your gut wrenching, never give up, try! It is all of this, yet more. It isn’t only who you are, but what you mean to each of us. With Team Z, you are Jerry and Ann’s pride and joy, John’s soul mate and patient masterpiece, Dottie’s muse and she your voice. Mike’s talent, guidance and prayers brought you home safe each race. At Barn 55, you had care from Mario, workouts with Steve, walks with Carmen, loving star struck visitors and kisses from all. At Lane’s End, paddock pals, peppermints, pears and precious motherhood. Your family embodies the word generosity and together you have been transformative. You give pure happiness to thousands. You are a horseman’s ideal, a child’s dream, a friend to charities, a moment of healing to someone ill, a smile in the face of sadness, a sweet memory to all those you meet and a wish of all those that you haven’t “including myself”. While totally unique, I see in you the memories of my youth: the Black Stallion, Flicka, Secretariat and my Cinder (a gift from a brother leaving for Vietman), live again. There were endless summer days of best friends, bareback rides, Breyer’s horses on the bedroom shelves and glorious Triple Crown winners. With you, I am that horse loving girl again. What fun! I have my own challenges in life, as everyone does. While I seek to remain positive there are those moments. You are there to lift my spirits and touch my soul. Your diary is a place of remarkable civility where information, support and all things Zenyatta are shared and celebrated. Facebook, over 70,000 and still counting! The experience has been once in a lifetime and continues to be a magical ride. In the end my love cannot be fully explained, it is simply heart felt and joyful. It is no mystery why the word “angel” is used to describe you, for you are a creation of God, a blessing to us all and a remarkable gift. For everything you are and everything you mean, Zenny, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are truly UNBELIEVEABLE! As always, sweet dreams. Hugs and kisses. XXXOOO
Wow! I hope you enjoyed reading these as much as I did! Dottie commented that she was literally in tears typing them for ME!
Vote for the ENTRY of YOUR CHOICE!
Blessings to All OF YOU who participated in this contest! I can’t THANK YOU ENOUGH for ALL OF THE LOVE AND KINDNESS you have shown ME!
With Love,
Hugs to ALL~
Z
Anna Wiley
I googled you a few weeks ago Zenny, and the first thing that came up was some news. I don’t want to believe it; I don’t know if it’s true…I haven’t been on this site for a while, and the news was a shock. Zenyatta, the article said you lost your baby. I cried when I read it. Zenny, I am so, so, sorry. I’m almost crying now, just thinking about it. This was a shock to me, and I have not been so sad for a long, long time. I am very, very sorry. :(
Kari Bussell
For Zenyatta~ Miracles~
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6z_AW7Cr58&feature=related
Anna Wiley
@ Dawn Conrad:
Your Zenyatta postcard was worded beautifully, and I almost cried when I read it.
@EVERY READER OF ZENYATTA’S DIARY: All of us have one thing in common, one thing that draws us together to read Zenyatta’s Diary, and write the comments we put down. This thing is simple: Pure LOVE for Zenyatta. Her life is a blessing for all of us. Zenyatta was the horse that really got me into horseracing. Thanks to her, I live in a whole new, fantastic world. I follow this diary as often as I can, because I want to know everything I can about the horse who opened my heart to all racehorses. All of us know about Zenyatta’s racing cureer. Most of us have experienced the thrill of watching her race, whether in person, on TV, or on YouTube. Now that she is no longer racing, all of us follow her new life eagerly, hearts and minds filled with well-wishing for the next stage of Zenyatta’s legacy. We all love her. We all want the best for her. We all feel the same. This is why I am adressing you today-we are always, all of us, bonded by love for one horse. Nothing will ever change this. So, in closing, I wish you a wonderful Easter, and joy in the rest of the year to come.
-Anna Wiley
Cathleen
Happy Easter Team Z! I hope the bunny was good to you dear Zenny. I especially hope you enjoyed your Easter eggs from the Tyler School Horse Club. They were precious! XOXXO
Kari Bussell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxmAcuzkp8w
Wow @ Anna beautifully put.In addition it for me was “one” of those magic Zenyatta moments as I was preparing to give link to this video I uploaded on Feb 15,2010. For anyone interested in watching this one please read what I wrote on the day I uploaded it.”One”~U2 W/ MJ Blidge.
Kari Bussell
sorry- I hit send early. I just found the irony that in the 37 and counting endless LOL- video tributes to Our Beloved Forever Queen Zenyatta this “One” begins with 2 photos of the Zenyatta statue….the irony of that…
Mary G
Happy Easter everyone! Z I hope you get to spend the day out in the paddock with your girlfriends. The sun actually came out here today…I had almost forgotten what it looked like! :) What could be better then a nice sunny day spent with family and friends…Blessings to all.
Cindy from LA
@Margaret
I agree with your post from two days ago. People
On this site decided who would win before the final
Four and it was decided to be number 4. I did not
Enter the contest for that reason. Hold your head high
And keep posting. I really enjoy your posts. We post for
Zenny and not ourselves.
Dear Zenny
Hope you had a great Easter Sunday with the girls.
Mud, carrots, pears and bananas for all !!!! Sweet Dreams
XXXXOOOO
Marilu V
Hi Zeny! Happy Easter to you and your dear friends at Lanes End. I hope you had better weather than predicted so you can enjoy the fresh air and beautiful sky!
Happy Easter to Dottie, John and Mr. & Mrs Moss. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend with family and friends.
Thanks again to Dottie and the entire Z family for the contest. I had fun making my postcard. My postcard was a beautiful picture of Zenyatta and me by Zenyatta’s favorite tree outside of Barn 55. I divided the back side of the picture to 2 parts just like a postcard and had on the left my long paragraph (typed font 10) and then the address on the right! I loved it. I never win but I joined because of my love for Zeny and my respect and admiration for her owners and entire team! God bless Zeny and her entire Z family! Hugs, Marilu
Jenna
Happy Easter everyone…and most especially Zenyatta! I miss seeing you.
Happy Easter, Dottie.
Take care.
DJ
Dear Amanda G.,
*Sensitive Alert
Your letter touched my heart deeply. Thank you for thinking of me. I too, took care of my mother, and my husbands’ father, he lived to 96. I now am taking care of my husbands’ mother who is 89. My own mothers’ passing was the most difficult as she was my best friend. She only lived to 72. My heart was broken for the last three years after her death, even though I was as prepared as I could be. As the youngest of her five girls, for some reason, we were the closest. I became her guardian, conservator and finally her mother. Yes, God writes these letters of Wisdom in our hearts with gentle reverence enabling us to traverse this rocky, messy, terrain, in the darkness of faith. But our “Blind Guide” is a faithful one, and we will not falter, for with love all things are possible. You speak the great message “Where there is no love, put love, and you will find love!” Do not let your heart be saddened that your marriage was not to be… for we suffer in marriage or out of marriage, but we all suffer. The question as you have already found it to be is, ‘Do we suffer well?’ My mother also passed away by my side as I read her favorite Psalm, 23: “The Lord is My Shepherd I shall not want.” By the time I read “And I will dwell in House of the Lord Forever..” she took her last breath and her Spirit was lifted up. I am grateful that I was given the difficult task that none of my other sisters desired. She always said that she knew what life was because she watched all five of us being born. Therefore, I wanted to be there for her at her moment of departure and stopped all external events in my life for five years as I cared for her. Life in all of it’s stages is so precious. Enough of my words, my gift in return are some thoughts from a favorite Saint and Doctor of Phenomenology. Edith Stein (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross)
“God is there in these moments of rest and can give us in a single instant exactly what we need. Then the rest of the day can take its course, under the same effort and strain, perhaps, but in peace. And when night comes, and you look back over the day and see how fragmentary everything has been, and how much you planned that has gone undone, and all the reasons you have to be embarrassed and ashamed; just take everything exactly as it is, put it in God’s hands and leave it with Him. Then you will be able to rest in Him — really rest–and start the next day as a new life.”
Blessings and Happy Easter!
Sue Fredrick
Happy Easter to you Z and your posse and all your lovely people. I left Kentucky today because of bad weather reports and Monday sounds even worse. Hope Lanes End keeps you and all the horses safe and sound.
@DAWN so glad you are back on the post and yes you must see the thoroughbred park statues they are indescribable. Also if you will be there a while, the thoroughbred training center is kind of neat too. I also hope if you go to Old Friends that you get the tour with Michael himself he does a fab job with great stories. And don’t miss a trip to Adena Springs farm it is only 4 yrs old and just sumptuous. They even have brick homes in a kind of village built for the grooms – WOW. I saw the Mosses Giacomo (he’s stunningly beautiful) and I got to feed him a peppermint.
ALSO THE OLD FRIENDS CALENDARS FOR 2011 ARE ON SALE NOW FOR $25.00. YOU CAN ORDER THEM ON THEIR WEBSITE, IT IS A DONATION.
Lisa g
Ms Zenyatta, Easter is almost over, I do hope yours was wonderful. I love you, Big Girl, I love you forever. Sweet Dreams…Lisa g
DJ
Dear Shema,
You are alone no longer. Thank you for sharing your vision of walking with our beloved Zenyatta without a halter…a joyful contemplation and peaceful repose.
Sharon Call
@ Anna, @Kari B. So beautiful and true. The video was so touching and the background music chosen, U2 and MJB, was so uplifting along with the images of Z, Mike, Ann Moss and that wonderfully patient buckskin pony leading her on the track. What a great way to bring my day to a close. Thank You!
tony and sue
@Dawn, it was so good to see a post from you today. To our beloved Zenny, looks like Louisville is being flooded with rain and strong storms. I hope you are safe and warm today. May all God’s blessings flow from the heavens to you and your wonderful team.
Thanks everyone for the wonderful vibe coming from this diary again…it really feels like “home”.
Mary Margaret from Georgia
A big Happy Easter to Zenyatta, all of her team, caretakers, and fans. Thank you to everyone for creating all the tributes to the Queen. They are so beautriful and uplifting. Zenyatta is so deserving of all her accolades. May All have a Blessed Easter. Love you Zenyatta.
Patti
Happy Easter, beauty queen. I tried to vote and I got an error…maybe I’m too late. I’m not nearly as fast as you! All of the final 4 are beautifully written and express my thoughts of you exactly. I will try again later tonight to vote. I’m sure you had a big day…take care Zenny. Nite, nite.
Shari Voltz
Dear Zenyatta Happy Easter special girl. I hope you stayed dry today and ate many good things. I agree with Dawn you can be our Easter Bunny. I think the children would love it :) Well beautiful one I must get ready for school. Have sweet dreams and I hope some sunshine tomorrow. Hugs and Kisses from Shari XXXOOO
@Thank you Dawn for the kind words. the children will be so excited tomorrow. Homeroom 215 will be ROCKING :)
Linda in NJ
@Dawn: Hi Dawn, I was also very happy to see a post from you today.
@Tony and Sue: Yes, I agree there is a wonderful vibe coming from this site again.
LauraJ
@Anna Wiley, yes, it is (or maybe was) true. Zenyatta was scanned in foal on day 28 but came up empty on day 35. Don’t be upset, though. It is very common for horses (and other mammals including humans) to lose pregnancies at such an early stage. It usually happens because the embryo is not developing properly. In other words, it happens for a good reason. In horses, the early embryo is simply resorbed by the body. Zenyatta would not have been aware of the pregnancy. At 28 days or so, the horse embryo is the size of a peanut, and is not firmly implanted. There is yet no placenta; the embryo is still living off its yolk.
–
The usual practice is to send the mare back to the stud as soon as she comes back into heat and it has been established that she has an egg ready. She has probably already gone back to Bernardini. Her connections seem to have decided to delay an announcement until a new pregnancy is firmly established, about 7 weeks after the rebreeding. No doubt we will be the first members of the public to know.
Elizabeth
@LauraJ: Yeah, I’m pretty sure (since we haven’t heard ANY news on that subject for a while, and they had said that they would breed her again soon), that they have probably bred her and are just waiting until it’s really off the ground, so to speak, to let us know this time. They don’t want to disappoint everyone again. That’s what my parents did after a miscarriage…they waited ’til 3 months to tell the other kids so we wouldn’t get all disappointed again! ;)
AJ from CA
Hi Z – Hope the Easter Bunny brought you some yummy goodies today and that you and your buddies are safely tucked away from the recent storms there.
@Sue Fredrick – thanks for mentioning Old Friends calendar..I do want to make a donation.
Kari B. – your utube link is really great! Z is so magnificent and always takes my breath away. Hope all on this site had wonderful and meaningful Easter Sunday.
Joyce
@Robbie I don’t know if you were ever really “gone” (I hope not) but at any rate it was wonderful to see your post. You mentioned some had not responded to your question about your posts. I, for one, have seen great ones and fully intended to respond, but working each day does not leave a lot of time, and there is always so much to do. Sorry, but I want you to know I have enjoyed them greatly.
I think that this is a wonderful place for ALL who love Zenyatta, and no one who TRULY feels that way, and shares our gratitude to Dottie and Team Z, should leave! Yes, opinions can vary, but I’m sure we can just agree to disagree, and go on to another post we truly enjoy.
Julia B
Happy Easter to all as we celebrate the death and resurection of our savior Jesus Christ! Luv 2 you Zenny!
Robbie Pfeufer Kahn
To Joyce: Good grief, I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. I did not mean that everyone on this site should express appreciation for my posts. What an arrogant statement that would be! You have nothing to apologize for at all.
I simply was referring to the fact that some people had spoken kindly and I wanted to thank them. I did not mean that anyone was remiss for not doing do!
This website is about Zenyatta and Team Z; this postcard business has put things a bit awry.
So thank you for your lovely words, even though it was not necessary to say them!
susan in tn
Hope everyone had a happy day! So many wonderful posts today. HAPPINESS:)
@ TONY AND SUE: I agree. You all write such nice messages!
@ TRINA: I share your joy!
@ JUDY BERUBE: Thanks!
@ VICKI B: Thanks for explaining better than I ever could!
@ LAURA J: You are so knowledgeable! Thanks for the info.
@ SUE FREDERICK: I’m hoping to visit OF in the not-too-distant future and appreciated your comments.
@ DANI: Agree!
@ DAWN: Glad to see you post- loved your description of Zenny as the Easter Bunny!
@ SHARI V: Your kids probably feel too old to be called “adorable” but they are ADORABLE!
@ KAREN MITCHELL: Don’t know if you’re still reading but miss your posts! My son works at one of UC- Berkley’s labs and I always notice your references to the area.
@ ZENNY: Happy horsey dreams, beautiful!
Kathy P.
@ Dawn: WOW!!!! Looks like the votes say that you did it. Your thoughts on the posts are so thoughtful ALL THE TIME. I hope you have the chance to fly out to CA to do a personal pick up. When you get there please give Dottie a BIG HUG for all of us as you seem to be carrying the sentiments of so many. This Easter I thank God for my family, friends, and those with beautiful hands that spread kind thoughts like YOU!
Astrid
Zenny, I hope you and your pals had a wonderful Sunday!
I wanted to share this special Easter-day video of Gifted (aka Dyna King, Barbaro’s brother) in case you haven’t seen it. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=94549935886#!/group.php?gid=94549935886&v=wall
What a transformation! Never underestimate what love and caring can do! (There is also a very cute video of him rolling in the sand). Heart of Tuscon and Old Friends and many other rescue organizations are always in dire need of funds. I wished we could help them all – every little bit counts!
“And I whispered to the horse, trust no man in whose eyes you don’t see yourself as an equal.” ~ Don Vincenzo Giobbe
Cindy from LA
Remember everyone Dottie has told a few
Fans that she has run into at Santa Anita that
Lanes End said they would let her know about
Z. They wanted her to have more privacy, to
Relax, without cameras and visitors, which is
The way it should be for her now.