Good Morning,
This is so sweet! John was taking some photos and thought you would enjoy this one. At the Award Ceremony the other day, they gave Dottie a small ME and one of SECRETARIAT as her gift! I really think they did a great job! I really look like ME!
John decided he would try putting these images is some different settings! This shot is very special as I am in front of the Breeders’ Cup Trophy John received when I won the CLASSIC! Here I am with ‘ECLIPSE’! I must say, I do keep some fabulous company! I’m so fortunate!
I hope you enjoy the photo!
Several of you have asked about the Z pin and if Ann had any more details about it. Well, at this time, there is no further information. She and Dottie are having a meeting next week…and as soon as I hear any other details from them…I will share them with you!
I hope the weather is settling down wherever you live. It is cold here…but I really enjoy it now. I do like playing outside and in the ‘snow’. I must say, I really think I have acclimated beautifully to my new lifestyle!
Have a great day!
With Love,
Hugs to ALL~
Z
Julie Ann in O.C. CA.
Hi Zenny! (And Dottie!) I’m hoping you all have a great week-end. Everyone should be relaxing after all the excitement last week-end at Santa Anita Park! I’m baking a cherry pie, wrapping up Valentines for the family and trying to catch up after a week of teaching. I really like the pictures John took. It sounds as if you’re one happy Lady! Thanks for the post : )
Abrazotes! Julie Ann
Suzanne G
@CAM — thanks for posting the Breeders Cup pdf link — lots of interesting stuff to look over plus a picture of Ouija Board and Cigar
Leslie R.
Hi Zenny, that is a lovely picture! Please tell your John that I said thanks for sharing it with us! It is very generous of him to share so many pictures with us and I appreciate it.
Enjoy the warmer temps!
Love you sweet girl,
Leslie
Judy Sims
Hi Zenny:
Happy Friday. Another great picture from the talented John. Thanks so much for all the pictures and news you are sharing with us.
Hugs & nose kisses.
Judy 8-)
Sue B
Well, now that you’re acclimated to the cold it should start to warm up. That’s weather in the Midwest. Then you’ll be able to graze the lush Kentucky pastures and be a fat, healthy mama. I know you will be beautiful!
Pamela Zacek
Oh I love the Mini you, looks just like you, is so true, perfect, and Im thinking, I hope you get the blue grass soon, and enjoy your self, when spring, comes to call, its almost here. What a winter for you to come here to, wow, glad your enjoying the snow. and Thanks again for these diarys, When blue grass comes, enjoy, it I hear its the best .
Kathy Kimber
Thank you for sharing John and Dottie such great photos. Lady Z you have a happy valentines with all your friends. Weather is warming up it was 3 deg this morning and about 20 now better than we have had. We have snow to last awhile. I know you love playing in it. Stay warm stay happy. I’m so glad Mike got to come see you. Hugs
Vicki B.
LoL at “I really look like ME!” Who else would you look like, honey bun? It’s important that “you” look like You, so they needed to get You right. It’s a great picture, in front of Eclipse.
Dona
Zenyata and her Mini Me – love it!
But then, I love everything about you and your team.
Thanks John, you’re the Man!!
Lynette Lucas
Zenny – Thanks for sharing this photo it is great!! Please keep us informed about the pins I’m very interested!!! Have a great wkend with the girls and playing in the snow!! Love you big girl!!!
Linda Deutsch
Thank you Dottie, team & Z for ending the week as wonderfully as you started it – these posts are just great!
Penny
Dear Z:
Please ask John to gather his favorite photos and put them on discs for sale. My office is decorated with your calender, photos, signs, scrapbooks, and magazines. I’m always wearing your shirts so people think you are mine! These would be “uninformed” people, of course. Happy Valentine’s Day….you are loved!
dunie oneil
Very special photo for a very special Queen!
Maria
Thanks for sharing the picture. Have fun outside but be safe. I love you Queen Z.
Robbie Pfeufer Kahn
To Borntobreed: I am just catching up on #81. Thank you for your explanation about Bernardini and Zenyatta’s ears during a race.
My teacher who studied with Monty Roberts told me that some mares simply get bored with racing and want to breed instead. I wonder what happened to Rachel Alexandra? In an earlier post, someone mentioned that she raced poorly under a new trainer. I wondered whether she had become bored or perhaps burnt out, as you mentioned, from racing with the boys. Perhaps she won the Horse of the Year Award in 2009 because she mostly raced with the boys, even though Zenyatta won the BCC. I didn’t know of Ruffian until recently, but I saw a heartbreaking Youtube that showed her literally breaking down in the match race with a male horse (stallion?).
As for riding mares, Lucy the one I ride is an AQH and hence not high strung. But if touched with a whip, she simply stops. Touched again, her ears go back, flat back. Again, and she grinds her teeth and cow kicks. She doesn’t even like to feel pressure against her sides. I have to ride her using voice commands. I carry a crop and of course she is aware of that. But the way I “use” it is by saying “Crop.”
I appreciated your interesting interpretation of Zenyatta’s meeting with Mike at Lane’s End and your remarks about use of the whip/bat.
Interesting, too, your thoughts about how Zenyatta might have fared had she raced with the boys all the time—the physical and emotional toll on her and the possibility that she might not have won all of her races (but for one).
I remember John Shireffs or Jerry Moss saying that they believed fillies/mares should run against fillies/mares.
To L: Thank you for your comments as well. I did read the post about reins and remember becoming aware for the first time that the jockey has no use of the traditional aids–legs, back, seat. I can see why the whip/crop may be necessary. I have had dressage training and am familiar with use of the long dressage whip as an aid to help the horse collect under him/herself.
To Sunny Farm: Thank you for your comments. You reinforced my sense that the whip/bat plays to a prey animal’s instinct to avoid being “attacked” from behind. I agree that Mike Smith rode Zenyatta gently. I felt that Calvin Borel by contrast, although a talented jockey, rode Rachel Alexandra with a hard use of the whip/bat.
Best to all of you–Robbie
Rosanne Glynn
You are such a beautiful girl Zenyatta. Glad to hear you love the snow but Spring will be here in 37 more days. Then you can see the daffodils come up and look & smell all the gorgeous flowers. If you;re happy, then I’m happy!!! love you like crazzee…oxoxoxoxo<3
The Kennedys in San Diego
Good luck to Barn 55 stablemates, Zardana (Santa Maria) and Harmonious (La Canada),in this weekend’s races.
Hannah Huling
To:Zenyatta’
That does look like you! You deserve people who like you like that. I know I sure do! You are At THE top of my list and should be to everyone else.
Love you,Z~
Hannah
Gwen Romine
Happy Valentine’s Day to you, Miss Z, and all the girls at Lane’s End. Don’t worry, spring is just around the corner.
Shay
what a BEAUTIFUL model of you Z!! I MUST see larger pictures! See? Thats what breyer SHOULD have done!! <3
Hannah Huling
When are you going to get the kids section with fun and Games?
I’ve been patiantly waiting to show it to my little friend.
She asks me about it all the time!
Sharon in Seattle
love and spring are both in the air, Zenyatta. Wait til you see/munch on the grass, hear all the birds and get some of those wonderful whiffs of flowering. Happy day you gorgeous creature. Greetings to the amazing Dottie!!
Barb
Happy Valentines Day, Z! Love you!
Astrid
Zenny, your mini-you is “too cute” but you are amazing in every size!
I wrote a fun-valentine’s play for you but since I draw cartoons of my dog who has a crash-bash personality, don’t expect too much lOL
Inspired by this great Clydesdale commercial Love @ First Sight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdvwwTAbbY8
as well as Maximus, from the movie Tangled:)
Staring in “THE QUEST FOR LOVE”:
Zenyatta the Queen
Capone teaser (and teasing)stallion
Little Silver Charm Old Friends’ pony -smitten by Zenyatta as he publicly states so on his fb page)
– we shall call him S.C.
Bernardini the Chosen one
Seagull, P.Q, Alys Zenyatta’s paddock friends
Three enamoured suitors are jumping over cliffs, swimming through torrent rivers, fighting off evil forces in the quest for endless love. They arrive breathlessly at Zenyatta’s paddock, looking all dapper and debonair, ready to win the Queen’s affection.
Capone strutting towards the Queen: “MY, ARE YOU TALL….. AND MUDDY! SAY, WANNA ROLL WITH ME?”
Little Silver Charm eagerly pushing by Capone, presenting a pretty bunch of carrots for his beloved:
“MILADY, YOU LOOK AS CLEAR AS MORNING ROSES” …….. and muttering to Capone: “STOP SNICKERING CAPONE, I MAY BE TINY BUT YOU WILL KNOW WHERE MY HOOVES WILL HIT YOU! RIGHT IN THE…!”
Capone retorts: “WHOA, WATCH IT, LOVER-BOY, LADIES HERE!”
Amidst the squabbling, a magnificent equine specimen steps forward, gallantly bowing before his Queen and with melodic voice: “MY QUEEN, IN THY FACE I SEE HONOR, TRUTH AND GREATNESS! TO THEE I BELONG!”
Capone: “DARN IT, WE STAND NO CHANCE. COME ON, S.C., LET’S GO HOME!” …. and turning to Zenyatta’s paddock friends: ‘YO, YO, WHASSUP GIRLS? WANNA… OUCH!… MY ,YOU ARE FEISTY!….OUCH!… RUN, S.C!”…puff…puff…puff, and from a little distance: “HOLY MOTHER OF OATS, THOSE LADIES ARE FRESH! I LIKE IT!”
S.C: “WHEN WILL YOU LEARN, CAPONE? SEAGULL NEARLY BIT YOU IN THE BUTT!”
Capone: “A LOVE BITE! BUT DID YOU SEE ZENYATTA?… and winking and grinning at S.C.: “WISHED I COULD NEIGH A DUET WITH HER!”
S.C. blushing: “CAPONE, I SWEAR YOUR MOMMA SHOULD WASH YOUR MOUTH WITH SOAP!”
Capone amicably slamming his shoulder against S.C.: “JUST KIDDING! I KNOW SHE IS THE QUEEN AND WORTHY OF A PRINCE!…. and after a little while: “I THINK I LIKE SOAP!”
And so go our two friends, as their voices grow smaller by distance, entertaining themselves with friendly quarrels along their long way home, encountering new adventures in their quest for love! But what about Zenyatta? Was Bernardini her true Valentine? Watch for the sequel. The world is at her feet!
Seagull, P.Q, Alys: “THE BOYS WEREN’T ALL BAD. UH-HUH! BUT YOU GOTTA SHOW THEM WHO IS BOSS!”
Marilu V
Hello Zeny! Glad to hear you are fine despite the severe weather conditions. Thank you Dottie for the pictures you posted this week. Hugs, MV
Amanda Gilliland
My Sweet Lady Zenyatta, I love the photo. The statue of you is so amazing in that it actually looks like you. That is wonderful! I’m glad you are enjoying your new home. I think of you often each day and wonder what you are doing at that moment. I am so happy for you to be able to have a wonderful retirement. I know it is going to be different being a Mom but you’ll be great at that too! Happy Valetine’s Day to you & your friends. I often wonder what Pirate Queen & the other girls think of you having so much attention with vistors. When Mike was there I saw Pirate Queen looking over at you & Mike and wondered what she was thinking. I feel sorry for them if they don’t have any visits from their family, team or friends. I guess the other horses just have to get use to not being visited. That’s sad after all they have done for their families. I hope you will always have your family & Team Z to visit you. I know you would be lost without them. I love you so much, Zenyatta. I wish I could send that love to you through
the e-mails. There is a beautiful sunset over the Lake Martin in Alabama and you have one there in Ky at Land’s End, I know that at least we are seeing the same sunset together. Sending Hugs & Kisses To You From Alabama With Love, Amanda G.
Dottie Thank You & John for the posts & photos. You make it possible to hear from my sweetheart, Zenyatta.
Julia B
Hello Zenny ! haven’t been able to keep up with everything. Your mini is perfectly “Z” & Valentine’s Day is just around the corner so I am sending love and hugs your way!
Happy V Day to Team Z!
Hannah Huling
I just watched the video were the camera is on
Mikes helmet. It was GRRReat!!!!!!!!!!! I really felt like I was riding you! I’m sure it’s better really riding.
~Hannah
Janet Cutting
Happy V DAY TO U Ms Z: @ Bridget– I’m with you on Z having a visit– but I do understand what the Farm is and they are not the place to expect to cater to hundreds of fans visiting. — I say we ask Mr and Mrs Moss to get their big fancy horse trailer for Z and take her off- site to a beautiful park with her security people of course- Team Z and we have ourselves a little “meet and greet”.I’ll volunteer for clean-up!!! Ha! Not a good idea eh? Ok, I’ll just wait –patiently. Happy week-end!!
Bethany
I love the mini you! I agree with others that it should be your Breyer model. It looks much more like you and I feel like it captures your spirit better. :) I would have bought that. :P I love the photos John takes and I hope to continue to see more (maybe a close-up of the model? *hint, hint*). I’m glad you’re acclimating well! One day I’ll make it to Kentucky to see you again! Love you, Z!