Anita Fund Update

"The Anita Fund" newsletter section:

It was so wonderful to look at the Equine Rescue, Inc. December Newsletter and see a brand new section created in memory of our friend Anita, who passed away several months ago, leaving all of us who loved her with a huge hole in our hearts. Several of us felt that the best way to honor her life would be to start a fund in her name which would be used strictly for rescuing horses from bad situations and/or the slaughterline. The Anita Memoral Fund was started with the hopes of continuing our friend Anita's work rescuing horses in jeopardy, rehabilitating them and then hopefully placing them in loving, happy 'forever' homes with folks who share our deep love for these magnificent creatures.

For those of you who didn't know her, Anita had the biggest heart of anyone we ever met, particularly when it came to animals, and most particularly when it came to horses in need. She always took care of her horses even after they were no longer 'rideable'. Her first horse, Big Tony, was her pride and joy and she would ride him daily, jumping and showing which was her passion in life. She had him since he was a 3 year old. When Tony was diagnosed with navicular, coupled with arthritis, she didn't feel comfortable riding him and/or showing him as one wrong step could be physically devastating for him, so she decided to retire him despite the fact that he was only 16 years old at the time. Rather than just dump him as so many horse owners do, or send him to the auctions or a dealer and hope for the best as many horse owners do, or sell him to someone else which would prevent her from being assured that he would never end up in a bad place, Anita retired him out to an exceptional boarding facility that she personally checked out, got him a stall, paid the board monthly, paid for the full treatment monthly (grooming, foot care, extra shavings, etc), and still made the weekly trek up to this facility (which was over an hour from her home) to see him, bring her famous 50lb bags of carrots, and just spend the day with him.....once a week EVERY week without fail!! I was at this boarding facility for 3 years which is when I had the blessing of meeting this incredible woman. Every Monday, I'd see her car in the lot as I pulled in to see my own horses, and every Monday no matter what, I'd see this crazy redhead with her Tony on a leadline out in the lushest of grasses along the driveway so that he could hand graze with her....not just for a few minutes...FOR HOURS!! I'm sure she had a bizzillion other things to do with her day, but without fail, nothing was more important to her than spending Mondays with her beloved Tony, hand grazing him for hours while she yacked up a storm on her cell phone! It was a sight to see.....Tony (who is no small boy) dragging her along as he hunted the sweetest of grasses and Anita just trying to hold on to Tony with one hand and the cell phone with the other, laughing her magical laugh as I pulled in and yelled out the window..."Hey Anita.....don't you have a life???". She bubbled with joy whenever I saw her with her Tony, and it was such a pleasure to view that I always made it my business to be there on Mondays just so I could inhale her joy, hoping it was contagious! It was!!

I share this thought with all of you in this newsletter because I want to keep the essence of this magnificent human being alive, even though she's gone on to greener pastures. I hope this will inspire those of you who have yet to make a donation to her fund to please do so now. There are many horses out there we can help, but we need your help to do it. And for those of you who are looking for your own horse, whether it be a companion horse or a rideable horse, we do have many in our 'rescue network' that are available for adoption right now, just waiting for their own human to love them. I know Lynda and Mike at Equine REscue, Inc have several ready for adoption (listed on their website), and Sharon & Bill (Shamrock Acres Horse Rescue in Morris, NY where "Juan" is) also have several rideables that are ready to be placed....if you have the room and can find it in your hearts to adopt one of them, that would be the greatest gift of all. For those of you reading this that cannot adopt at this time, please pass the information on to your horse friends who might be looking for that very special horse. Remember, the more we can place from the rescues, the more room we have to save more from the slaughterline. In the meantime, we wish you a lovely, sweet and WARM spring after a very long, cold winter!!

Andi C. and the horses

THANK YOU EVERYONE AND ...T A M F ’s “Cooler” story

This ANITA MEMORIAL FUND (TAMF) section of the Equine Rescue, Inc December 2007 newsletter is dedicated to everyone who made the 1st TAMF Charity Horse Show at MLC Farm on September 30th the incredible success that it was. No one could have imagined what an outpouring of love, support and involvement so many folks put out to make that weekend as wonderful as it was. I WISH THERE WAS A WAY TO PERSONALLY THANK EACH AND Every single one of you that participated and/or donated and /or just showed up to deliver your support even if just for an hour or two! (note: and give me a chance to hug some of you in person, like diane and claudia!! xoxo) Your generosity was so greatly appreciated! You ALL help us continue Anita’s love for horses and her support for Equine Rescue , all in memory of our friend.
I also want to say a special thank you to a few special people who really went above and beyond to make this a successful event. To Brooke, Lynn, Susanne and all the Riverside people who came up not just for the cocktail party on Friday night, but also to participate in this horse show all day sunday, simply because they all loved anita so much and wanted to show their support......they came from far away, with horses and riders and trailers and fruit......and donations!! Beyond our wildest dreams!!! there are no words to say thank you to these special ladies who put their convenience aside to honor our friend.
Let’s not forget about MLC Farm: This entire idea for the horse show came from the owner of MLC Farm, Michelle Clopp, who simply wanted to do something that would make a difference after hearing what a wonderful woman Anita was, and how deeply she was missed by those of us that loved her and knew her best.
Michelle and her mom Sandy started in April and did just about all the Preparation for the Anita Memorial Charity Horse Show. The idea for having a local horse show to support a fund that would give abused and abandoned horses a chance to live again was off the ground Local barns and businesses were contacted and asked to sponsor a horse at the rescue for a month, donate to the horse show, or sponsor any of the 13 class/divisions or any of the 7 classics.it didn’t take long before Donations were pouring in like crazy....Blue Seal donated grain and Herbie donated 50 bales of Hay. MLC Farm clients immediately sponsored all of the 13 divisions and 7 classics. Over 100 horses entered the horse show. at last count the TAMF Horse show had 100 Sponsors. Dolly from Dolly’s Tack Shop offered to donate 7 coolers for the classics. The coolers were ordered in navy blue with green writing and white trim. After all the divisions and classics were sponsored and the coolers were ordered, Michelle received a phone call from Susan at Tailored Sportsman and asked how she could become a sponsor at the horse show. Susan decided to give each winner of the classics a Tailored Sportsman Show Shirt and donated an entire rider’s package (Show jacket, britches, and shirt) to be put in the silent auction.
As time passed, Michelle had two additional sponsors requesting to sponsor the classics. Instead of using the money towards expenses of the horse show, she decided to create a special class in honor of Anita, creating “The Anita Memorial Classic”. The two outside sponsors were given the other classics and the initial sponsorship of $500 from Congaloosh was moved into the new classic. With the additional classic added, Michelle needed to order one more cooler so She called Dolly and asked her to order one more cooler...the horse show would pay for it since she was so kind to already donate the other 7 coolers. Without hesitation she agreed to sponsor the 8th cooler. Dolly called and ordered the 8th cooler from the same company she previously ordered the other coolers from. During that time the 7 navy with green coolers arrived. Several days later Dolly called Michelle to say there was an error made with the 8th cooler as it did not match the previous 7 coolers....the colors were different.
Michelle explained that the colors were important as they were ‘barn colors’ and they’d like to have all the coolers the same. Michelle even said she’d be happy to buy the 8th cooler in the correct color. Dolly called back the company to ask why the color was changed and the company stated it was a mystery to them...they could not explain what happened. They checked the invoice and it clearly stated the 8th cooler was to be made exactly like the 7 other ones since it was apparently their fault, they stated they would ship the correct cooler immediately. Further, since it was their error they told Michelle to simply keep the wrong cooler at no charge. That was when Dolly suggested Michelle put the extra ‘free’ cooler into the silent auction, which would ultimately benefit the Anita Memorial Fund.
But Michelle had a better idea, and oddly enough it was exactly as Anita planned it although no one knew it at the time! Instead of the silent auction, Michelle decided to present this extra cooler to me as a gift for Tony (Anita’s retired horse who lives with me now) , which she did at the cocktail party much to my complete shock and surprise. Michelle thought it would be fitting to present the cooler to Anita’s old horse tony, in honor of Anita and all the work done to benefit the Anita Memorial Fund. So, that Friday night she made this presentation to me not knowing why I was completely in shock when she did. It wasn’t the shock of Michelle’s utter kindness to make this presentation in the first place. It was because Michelle had no idea what my last conversation with anita was in August/September of 2006 just before she got really sick.
Flashback to September of last year, when I started sending Anita pictures of Tony in my mare’s size 78 cooler which was wayyyy tooooo small for Tony (who is no small boy at a chubby 17.2). He looked like a sausage packed into a casing.
I sent Anita several pictures of Tony in that little marroon cooler, teasing her about the fact that tony was embarrassed to be seen in it, and how she needed to buy Tony a new cooler in his size.........one that actually fit him! She would laugh and giggle at each picture she’d get as one was funnier than the other. Sadly, while Anita always meant get that cooler for her boy Tony, “life happens’, and she never got around to it. Then, Anita got sick.......really sick. The cooler was no longer important to either of us, although we did joke about it often. She always meant to get Tony that cooler. And then, suddenly she was gone. All thoughts of a cooler for Tony were no longer important. We were struggling with our own pain and loss when Anita passed. In the year since she’s gone, the cooler subject was completely forgotten......until the TAMF cocktail party at MLC farm a few weeks ago.
Now, fast forward to a year later this past September 28th, when Michelle made that presentation to me that Friday night: as I was trying to control my own emotions during Michelle’s presentation, our friend Dorene leaned over and whispered into my ear with a smile......"well, looks like Anita finally got Tony that cooler after all...she just sent it long distance!!!" We just started to smile.
The oddest part of this is regarding the extra cooler in the wrong colors? Well, they were the right colors.......they just happened to be Anita’s colors for Tony before he was retired out. Who says she’s still not around, running the show? She’s just running it all from a new place! Next newsletter, I’ll tell you about the white feathers......( Anita’s “sign” to us the last year that she’s around has always been a white feather. Many of you know there were white feathers all over my barn that weekend, and since then, a new place for white feathers.......sitting in the driveway at Lynda and Mike’s Equine Rescue, Inc. the day after the show. So, more ‘white feather’ stories in the next issue!! With pictures)

Lovingly written for my friend Anita,
Andi C. & “TONY”