Zenyatta

Queen of Racing

Z's Diary

Diary Post #385

DEAR FRIENDS, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!


FROM ALL OF MY DEAR PALS AT BARN 55, WHO HAVE DONE SO MUCH FOR ME OVER THE YEARS…


MY FRIENDS AT MAYBERRY TRAINING CENTER WHERE I LEARNED MY VERY FIRST LESSONS….


MY JOHN, DOTTIE, AND THE ‘ADORABLE SOPHIE SHIRREFFS’….WHO ARE SUCH SPECIAL AND TREASURED FRIENDS WHO’VE SHARED SO MANY AMAZING EXPERIENCES WITH ME DURIING THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS,


MY LANE’S END PALS…WHO I ENJOY SPENDING MY DAYS WITH NOW…


AND MY BELOVED OWNERS WHO I CAN’T THANK ENOUGH FOR ALL THEY HAVE DONE FOR ME……

FROM OUR HOMES TO YOURS…..THANKSGIVING GREETINGS!

WE ALL WANT TO WISH EACH OF YOU A VERY HEALTHY, HAPPY, AND BLESSED THANKSGIVING!

PLEASE BE SAFE AND ENJOY EVERY MOMENT OF THIS VERY SPECIAL HOLIDAY!

WITH LOVE,
HUGS TO ALL~ (AND I SINCERELY MEAN THIS!)
Z


TOO CUTE! TASTY WANTED TO BE SURE WE ALSO SENT HER HOLIDAY WISHES TO YOU. I THINK SHE IS WHISPERING THEM IN SARAH’S EAR!

PHOTO CREDITS: Several people sent the above photos to Dottie. THANK YOU!

Reader Interactions

412 Comments

  1. / Reply

    Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving, beautiful girl. I know how well you are loved by everyone all over the world, but there is a very special place in Muskegon, MI where you are especially cherished. MY HEART!!! <3333

  2. / Reply

    Your beauty is endless and eternal darling Zenyatta. and so happy you have your dear friend Tasty. Love all the pics and gratitudes. you’re the best!

  4. / Reply

    Zenyatta, Happy Thanksgiving to you and all your team.
    All, we all come to this site because we love our Queen, Zenyatta, we have so much in common reading about Z. and loving her. HIGH HOOF to all. Have a great day with family and friends. Z.. kisses on your soft nose. XOXO

  5. / Reply

    Happy Thanksgiving to you, dear Zenyatta, and Tasty and to all your human family including your extended family who post here and love you. I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving.

  6. / Reply

    How nice to have this greeting from you on Thanksgiving Day. It’s a blessing to be acquainted with you and your connections and fans. Happy Thanksgiving to you and Tasty and everyone. LOL, Arlene

  7. / Reply

    Happy Thanksgiving to you, Zenyatta, and ALL your team. I am very grateful that we have you in your facebook and here. You are a wonderful inspiration and one of life’s blessings.

  9. / Reply

    Dear Great One,
    I’d like to wish you, Tasty and all your Lane’s End friends a very Happy Thanksgiving. I would also like to extend that wish to all your human connections, John, Dottie, Ann and Jerry, Mario, Carmen, Steve and all the other humans and horses at Barn 55. I wish a blessed and safe holiday for all of you and hope you all have precious times with your loved ones. Happy T-G to the dashing Bernie as well!
    Your humble J

  13. / Reply

    Zenyatta and Dottie – Thanks to you for thinking of all of us on this special day. We are all so grateful for living in the era of Z and her family and friends. This is such a special place for all of us to come and visit and share laughs and tears. I’m thinking it’s getting close to the the day we said goodbye to you in California at the special send-off and celebration. Almost a year now. Hard for me to believe. Your website and Dottie’s gracious gift of stories about you and all things relating to “your world” is such a treasure for all of us who love you. I can never thank all of you enough. I know that it helps us not miss you so much. You are here in pictures and stories that will remain in our hearts and minds forever. It was a busy day but I would not have missed checking in for anything. and today’s pictures…. Priceless. I love my dog beyond the moon, but that little Sophie is as you say, TOO CUTE…..
    Kisses on your nose and Tasty’s too!

  15. / Reply

    I also wanted to mention, the lady that writes the HORSEANDMAN BLOG that has been mentioned off and on on Z’s website, has a really sweet Thanksgiving message and photos of all her 4 legged pals. Pretty sweet, all of them. I enjoy reading her site too, thanks to Z’s website and whoever might have mentioned it months ago.

  18. / Reply

    As always, Z, the pictures are so welcome and appreciated! I’m so very grateful that you are safe and happy and your welfare is never in doubt. I’m grateful to all those who give generously of their time and money to help those horses that aren’t as fortunate as you. I’m grateful for my family, my life, my friends, and so much more. I’m truly blessed.
    –
    Oh, happy day!!! I got my Breeders Cup 2012 Calendar with YOUR PICTURE on the front, signed by YOUR MIKE, and your picture also on the first month of the new year!
    –
    Best wishes to YOUR JOHN as he will be very busy this weekend with SEVEN HORSES running Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Hollywood Park! Wow! And, YOUR MIKE is on FOUR of the 7! Woo-hoo! FIVE of the entries are owned by YOUR ANN & JERRY! Cloud Man will be running in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby, looking for his first stakes win. Here’s hoping for winning and safe trips! I’m hoping soon we will get to see your half-sister, Eblouissante! Can’t wait to see that girl!
    –
    Big hugs, Love you bunches, Ann Maree

  19. / Reply

    Dear Zenyatta, Thank you for the lovely Thanksgiving greetings! Love the photos and the sweet sentiments from you and all your family. I am extremely thankful for you and the entire Z family, including Tasty! All the very Best, Always!

  20. / Reply

    On a day where we all should be happy and joyful, many are grieving tonight as four racehorses broke down today, one in the feature race at Hollywood Park. May those marvelous athletes rest in peace and may their families find comfort. As horse racing is a close relationship, I never consider people like those “connections” but the horses are family, and that is what they should be remembered as.
    After reading about today’s tragedies, I am SO VERY grateful that you retired safe and sound Queen Z. I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to you. (Emotional wreck for a couple months)I am hoping that they ALL find peace in their own way, and let us be truely thankful for your and everyone we love and cherish and their good health. Some were not as lucky as we are today.

  21. / Reply

    Horse-Human Therapy
    Bay Harbor, Mich.|A horse is a horse, of course, of course-but only some can feel its aura.
    “Horses are masters at reading energy and body language,” said Erin Halloran, an equine holistic healer. “They mirror our energy back to us. Horses help us get to our heart space.”
    Heart space? I was skeptical.
    “Whatever drew you to this workshop, we want you to leave your lives for the day,” said Maryellen Werstine, an equine trainer and massage therapist, “Get in touch with your intuition.”
    Intuition?
    Equine Journey, offered by the Inn at Bay Harbor, is kind of a junior horse-whisperer training session-except you are supposed to explore your own feelings, not just the animal’s.
    You keep a journal. Release emotion. Repair your battered soul.
    And you don’t ride. You commune with horses. Whoa.
    Hotels and resorts have figured out how to maximize off-season business by offering specialty seminars and classes. You have your food weekends, wine weekends, mystery weekends and quilting weekends. But until now, I’d never heard of a horse-whisperer weekend.
    Unlike many hotel offerings, the $249 Equine Journey package includes an all-day seminar with lunch and a $40 credit, with lodging extra.
    “We want to be more than a place to have treatments. We have a lot of people really interested in a day like this,” said Camryn Handler, the Inn’s spa director, who launched Equine Journey a year ago.
    Some people drawn to Equine Journey are horse owners. Some have never touched a horse. In this group of eight women, horse experience ranged from a ton to none.
    It was a cool morning as we walked into the pasture where 10 horses were grazing. The sky and the lake were turquoise, offset by the burnt orange of the trees. We turned our backs on the herd, centering ourselves.
    Then we turned and walked forward, standing near, but not too near, the horses.
    The concept of Facilitated Equine Experiential Learning, or FEEL, is that horses have a massive energy field. Because they pick up on the slightest human emotions, their feedback can help calm people’s nerves.
    Meanwhile, students learn to read horses, too, from the swish of their tails to the twitch of their ears.
    The horses monitored us. I could hear them chewing the thick grass. Minutes passed. Then more minutes.
    I kept waiting for something to happen, then I realized this was it: being present in your own life, in a pasture near Petoskey.
    When we got to the afternoon main event, Active Round Pen – the equine equivalent of a ropes course – the facilitators were aware of everyone’s apprehension.
    One by one, participants were handed a stick with a rope attached. A horse was brought in to the pen, and the person had to try to get the horse to walk and trot while using non verbal cues and visualization.
    Some people could do it. Others let the 1000 pound animals take charge, so the horse was herding the human, not the other way around.
    Finally, my turn came. They brought in Ziggy, a gelding who whinnied loudly.
    “Shut your eyes and take a deep breath,” Halloran whispered. “Feel the energy in your body. Where is it tight?…Let all that tension pour out of you, through your feet.” She briefly demonstrated use of the wand.
    I stood quietly until Ziggy turned and nosed my hand. Then I started with the wand, moving it in a small figure eight near the ground- and pointed the direction I wanted this boy to go.
    “Feel your heart reach out to him. Use strong energy,” Halloran whispered. I stared at Ziggy and felt an arrow of energy glide toward him. Walk, I thought. He walked. I turned with him, like the hub at the center of the wheel. He was sharply in focus, with everything else a blur as we turned. Trot, I thought. He trotted. Then I managed to turn him around and go the other way, just with a point of the finger and a movement of the wand. Stop, I thought. He stopped. I felt a sense of amazement.
    Maybe there was something to this Equine Jurney stuff after all. Others agreed.
    “I was shaking. I was freaking out,” said Michaela DeNardo, 15. “But when I got in there, it was just me and Ace.”
    “You were totally in your heart space,” Halloran said.
    By Ellen Creager
    What do you think Zenyatta, pretty interesting, huh?

  22. / Reply

    Queen Z I agree we have so much to be thankful for and for yours and tasties precious little ones. Happy Thanksgiving to all and lord bless !

  24. / Reply

    What a fitting way to end TG day.I am watching Zenyatta’s stunning performance in the 2009 BC Classic on TVG. No one can take their eyes off her. She was still prancing and dancing after the race had ended, barely winded. Such an athlete with long beautiful strides. Even then, comments were made on her deserving HOTY. I am so thankful to have known this fantastic mare and everything she represents to us all.
    Can’t wait to see her as a new mom in March maybe teaching those fancy steps to her little one.

  25. / Reply

    Happy Thanksgiving, Zenny! You are very special to me! Thank you for your wishes and the best to you and your family! I love you!

  28. / Reply

    Happy Thanksgiving to you too ,I hope your day was blessed with all the joy in the world and every happiness there is to my Lade Zenyatta..
    LOVE YOU, LOVE YOU. LOVE YOU

  29. / Reply

    Good night, sweet Z, sleep tight till the morning light.
    @Dawn Conrad—-Thank you for your exquisite posts!
    @JAG—Heartwarming news of the paralyzed jockey-turned-trainer who got his first win.
    @Delrene—Thanks for mentioning the lovely photos of Dawn Diovera’s animals (credited as “staff”) on the Thanksgiving entry of the Horse and Man blog. http://horseandman.com/
    @Sunny Boyd—REALLY interesting!

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