I Heart Faces "Pets" and "Sports"

This is not a "real" sport, but ask any 1 year old and she will tell you it is one of the best sports out there....swinging!!!!

This is my entry into the I Love Faces Photo Challenge for this weeks "Pets"

This is Marsala! She is a Silver Wyandotte Hen. She is no longer with us as I have downsized my flock but non the less she is a beautiful bird and is greatly missed. She went to a wonderful girl who is in our local 4-H and will be showing her this yr in the upcoming fairs. We are hoping to see her at our big county fair this yr! How could she not win :)

Bob Bull's Race

Sorry for the delay in this post! My son has a double ear infection AGAIN and a upper respiratory infection. They think the ear infection didn't clear from almost 4 weeks ago. He is doing better now! But lets move on to Bob Bull.

Bob did race this weekend at Calder Race Course. Unfortunately I don't have any good news. He came in last place:( We contacted Tom after the race and asked what he thought happened. Tom told us that he worked out in the morning and looked great! He just didn't run. As Tom put it he didn't look like he wanted to be there. It is very hard to judge with animals what is going on. Tom is going to run him again hopefully in 2 weeks. Tom told us his heart has to be there. He needs to want to be out there on that track and run. If he chooses not to have his heart in it then Tom will make a decision and take him off the track and find him a good home. That is one of the things I love about Tom, he will never just throw a horse away. He will find a home for his horses that will be good for them, where they can be loved and cared for like they should. We hope that it was just a bad day for him and that maybe he will show us he wants to be there. After the life that Bob has gone through, I wouldn't want to see him get unhappy again. He seems as though he is a good horse with a good heart. If he wants to be a stable pony then I know he will make someone very happy and he will be able to live out his life in happiness.

Thank you for all your support for Bob. By no means is this over. I will NOT give up on him until he shows us that he doesn't want to be on the track anymore. Bob will run again and will hopefully show everyone what he has. I just wish I had better news to tell but I do have to say that this has been such a fun ride for Mark and I. I can't tell you how excited he was to see Bob out on that track. When he loaded into the gate my hubby was super excited! I'm not going to lie and say he wasn't disappointed that he didn't do better but he just happy that Bob was not hurt and that he got to say that that horse out there was part his. It was so nice to see Mark glowing with excitement on Saturday. This has been a long time dream for him and it was great to see it come true!

Here is the race from this Saturday. He is #6 and if you watched the video I put up last week you will see the difference. He looked like a different horse to me but that is just my opinion.

Bob Bull is Going to Run this Saturday!

Bob Bull is supposed to run at Calder Race Track, in Miami, this coming Saturday the 16th at 1:46p.m. EST. This is ONLY if Tom can get his papers in time! He has had some trouble with the Jockey Club with getting his papers sent to him. IF he gets his papers in time Bob is going to run! This has been the day my husband has been waiting for. Right now Bob is entered into a $10,000 claimer with a $10,000 purse. So if all goes well, Bob will be looking at the finish line once again!

Bob has been doing great!! He just did a practice run out of the gate last week. He broke with 3 other horses and came in 2nd out of 50! How awesome is that! I think Bob Bull is happy to be home and has a slight understanding of what could have been (If you are new to reading about Bob Bull then please read this and you will understand his story).
He has also been knocking time off of each of his breezes, not a lot, but they still haven't had to push him to take time off. Imagine what will happen when they do push him....he is going to fly!!
I hope you all will join us for this great day and celebrate Bobs first run in about 2 yrs! I will let you all know if there are any changes. Keep your fingers crossed that the papers will come in in time and Bob will run on Saturday!

I have included this race for you all to see Bob Bull at his best. This is the race in which he won on November 25, 2007. If you watch closely you will see that the jockey barely pushes him to run. What I mean by "pushes" is, that he doesn't really use the whip on him. I think he used it 2 or 3 times. When it comes to horse racing, that is great! He is also very beautiful and runs his heart out. I hope you enjoy this glimpse at Bob in action and hope you all will send good vibes to our friends Tom of McSchell Racing, Lisa, his wife, our jockey, and of coarse Bob Bull! Good vibes, mojo, wishes or whatever you want to call it, is greatly appreciated!

Bob Bull Breezes...Getting Closer

Bob Bull is doing great! He has been out on the track breezing. A Breeze is when the horse runs with a bunch of other horses, just like in a race but the horse is not pushed. They run easily without much encouragement. This is to get them back out on the track with other horses and in a real racing environment. You also want to start them out slowly so they don't get hurt in the process. It is like building up to running in a 5k road race, you wouldn't just go out and run. At least I hope not!

His first breeze was on Sunday March 8th. He ran on a fast track of 3 furlong and had a time of 39.20 seconds and was 7th out of 10.

His second breeze was this past Sunday March 15 and again ran 3 furlongs on a fast track. His time was 36.40 with a rank of 2nd out of 10!

Tom said he came out of both breezes just fine and that Bob is doing great. This last breeze Lisa just sat on him and Bob did it all on his own, no pushing. He cut 3 seconds off since the 1st breeze. Imagine what he can do if he was pushed! Tom is very pleased with they way Bob Bull is performing and he says that things are going according to plan.

Way to go Bob!!! and of coarse Tom and Lisa!!

He's on his way!

The first picture is of Lisa and Bob getting out on the track while Tom is on Bobs stable buddy Atlas Peak who escorts Bob to the track and will run with him when Bob is not breezing. Tom says they are great buddies.

Bob Bull

I finally received pictures of Bob Bull! Tom and his wife Lisa were so kind to purchase a disposable camera and fill it with pictures of Bob. I can't believe that the pictures aren't that bad! I am so used to looking at digital pictures that I thought the film would be horrible, but they aren't bad at all. Anyways we get to enjoy seeing Bob get ready for April. I can't thank Tom and Lisa enough!

This is Bob all decked out to run out on the track. Toms wife Lisa is the one riding him. She works out the horses every morning and is a huge part of McSchell Racing. Lisa was a jockey herself a few years back (I will fill you in more on her later) but now runs their horses.

He is currently running 2 miles to get him warmed up for his 5-5 1/2 furlongs (almost a half mile) 1st run in April

Here is Tom giving Bob a bath. Looks like Bob could care less about it. I can't tell if he is really enjoying it or hating it..LOL. I would think after a nice long run in Miami, I would enjoy a wash down.

Here is Bob out on the track with Lisa in their morning run. I know the picture isn't that close but it is still a nice picture of what you see around the track area and it gives you an idea of how wide the track is. If you look a little further above the white barrier you will see green...this is the infield where turf races are run.

Here is Bob looking all handsome in his "racing uniform". If you are wondering what is around his eyes, well those are blinkers. Blinkers stop the horse from seeing the sides to the back of him. A horses eyes are set more on the side of their heads so they can see all around them. If I am right, horses can see all around them except for the tip of their nose and tails.

Tom says he needs to wear these blinkers otherwise he is not very cooperative out of his stall. As Tom put it "if you take him out of his stall without them on, your in for a wild ride!"

He is all saddled and ready to go! Look at him waiting patiently, I think. That look may be also..."Let me out of here!"

We are getting so excited to see him run in his first race! Tom says he is doing really well and has good feelings about Bob. So do we!

I really hope all of you will share in our excitement on the day that Bob Bull races. I will have to check to see if you can streamline the race on the web or you will be able to get the race on HRTV if your TV carrier provides that channel. I will have more details when the race gets closer.

More of the White Stuff

Yep, we had another round of snow last night and today. We got about 12" maybe a little more, but this is the first big storm of the winter. We had a lot of snow this winter but it came little by little. It seemed like it snowed everyday there for a while. This storm was a good one for the amount but not for the quality. Not good snow for making a snowman or snowballs. I had one very upset little boy who wanted to make a snowman so badly. But we all still got out there and enjoyed it and I mean everyone!Reese LOVES the snow. Sasha doesn't like to be cold or wet for that fact, so she gets a little upset with her brother when he wants to play. She is usually a good sport and goes along with it for a little bit. She is 14 but still has a lot of pep! You also have to imagine that this poor little dog couldn't walk in the snow..she had to hop!
Thomas was so upset that we couldn't make a snowman or make snowballs so he went with the next best thing....throw snow at everyone. Daddy got smart and started going after him with shovels full. Thomas didn't mind at all.

After Mark got home from work, we all headed out to watch the 2 "big boys" clean all the snow off everything. You did catch "watch" right...LOL. They do such a good job all by themselves! I did have something set up with our neighbor that was supposed to come back and plow the driveway before Mark got home...he never showed. Nice neighbor :/

It really doesn't help that the dogs have a touch of spring fever and have so much built up energy from being inside all winter. It was fun to watch them get some energy out. Sasha kept up...at least Reese made her think she did!

Now who wouldn't love this face!

He is the sweetest and most loving dog! Yes, he is one of those dogs that thinks he is human. Can you tell? Ok, we let him think that way too...LOL.

Bob Bull Saved From Slaughter

This is the story of Bob Bull, my husbands race horse.

I am telling this story with the facts that I have. We have most of the information but some of the time line has holes that we cannot fill and will not without the facts.

Bob Bull is a 4 yr old Thoroughbred race horse who originally made his debut with Tom Schell of McSchell Racing Inc when he was 2 yrs old. He was born in March of 2005 and hit the track when he was 2. This is the age when Thoroughbreds start racing.

Tom ran him in a claiming race in the 2007-2008 racing season and Bob was claimed by another trainer. Bob raced 4 races in 2008 under this new trainer and then ended up in Pennsylvania. We are not sure how or why he was in Pennsylvania but anyway, he was eventually found in a field starving. He was then brought to a slaughter house to be slaughtered. Yes, it is true, people from all over the world eat horse meat!

Just a little information before we continue on. All race horses have tattoos on their inner lip that identifies them with the Jockey Club, this is where all names of race horses are registered. If your horse has a tattoo, then you can track their pedigree, race records, past owners, sales history etc. It is just like Carfax (in a way). Tattoos are made up of a letter and numbers. They start with a letter (every year is assigned a letter) followed by the year in which the horse was born and then followed by the last 5 digits of their Jockey Club registration number.

A wonderful organization called Racefund dedicates everything to finding home for race horses and helps provide funds to help race horses in retirement. They also go regularly to the slaughter houses looking for horses to save since a lot of race horses end up at the slaughter houses due to injury or retirement, Sad! On a day that Racefund was at the slaughter house, they found Bob Bull in a "Kill Box". The kill box is a box that is just big enough to fit the horse in it. The horse is not able to turn around or move much in this box. In a slaughter house this is the last place that a horse, or any animal will see. The kill box lives up to its name so I am not going to go into further detail. Usually once an animal gets into the Kill Box they will never walk out on their own.

Racefund found Bob, found his tattoo and traced him back to Tom, who was one of his past trainers! Thank God for tattoos!! Tom was then contacted by Racefund and the rest is history.

Bob Bull has spent some time in Ocala FL resting, putting on weight and getting ready for his trip back to Miami FL. He was reunited with Tom a few weeks ago at Calder Race Track in Miami FL. He has starting his training to get ready for his first run in April!

This story just amazed me! You always hear of cats and dogs being thrown away like they were nothing...did you ever think a horse? Bob is one lucky horse and has a very kind and caring owner. My husband could not ask for a better person or horse to be partnered with. We have so many animals that we saved and Bob just fits into our family!

I know people don't like to read super long posts so I have tried to keep it short and I will be filling you in more on Bob Bull and his race history and personality. I will also be filling you in a little more on how Tom got into racing and how he cares about all his animals.

If you you are thinking of donating money to a great organization, please consider Racefund.org! You can find there site on the right hand side of my page to make a donation!

If anyone has any other information on this story or has anything they would like to add please feel free to contact me through my profile email. Thank you

Types of Races/Bob Bull Update

I have recently posted some horse racing terms that you may see in upcoming posts on Bob Bull. Now I would like to shine some light on some different types of races that are run by these magnificent animals.

• Allowance Race: A race which has eligibility conditions to determine the horses that may enter and is not a claimer.


• Claiming Race: A race in which any horse may be purchased at a predetermined price.


• Handicap Race: A race in which weights have been assigned by the racing secretary after evaluating entrant's past races.


• Maiden Race: A race for horses which have never won a race.


• Stakes Race: Highest class of race, reserved for the best horses. Owners have to pay an entry fee or "stake" for these races.


• Derby: Stakes race for three year olds.

In horse racing they will run on one of two surfaces, dirt or turf. If it happens to rain the day of a race you will hear terms like sloppy or soft or yielding and you may see a lot of horses scratched from the race. Some horses can't run in the mud or wet surfaces, they are too slow and of coarse safety becomes an issue. If it is a beautiful dry day you will hear terms like Fast (dirt) or Firm (turf).

Bob Bull update:

Bob has adjusted just fine into his new (old) home and has starting training to run in April. He has put on weight and is around 1000 lbs. Tom says he seems to be very happy he is home and is still pretty "goofy". I will explain more of this in the next few days. I am currently working on Bob Bulls and Toms wonderful story of how Bob ended up back running with Tom.

I will be posting this story in the next few days. Please stay tuned. It is a wonderful story! Unfortunately it will be minus pictures but we are working on that right now. It's a little hard when we are 1500 miles away from each other :) but the pictures are coming!

Winter Safety Tips for Dogs/Cats

Please, Please, PLEASE remember your pets when it gets this cold!!

Just a friendly reminder :)

A lot of us are going to be getting or are getting a very bad cold snap the next few days and I would like to remind everyone how important it is not to leave animals outside for any length of time when the temperature is going to drop like is supposed to in the next few days.

If you dog is an outdoor dog here are a few tips to keep them safe:

1. Make sure they are protected by a dry, draft-free doghouse that is large enough for then to sit and lie down in. Make sure the floor of the doghouse is off the ground a few inches and that the ground is covered by straw or shavings. Also make sure the doorway is turned to face away from the wind and the door should have some sort of a cover like burlap or plastic.

2. Make sure they have plenty of food since food helps keep them warm. Also make sure they have fresh water at all times. Please use plastic water and food bowls rather then metal. Their tongues can stick to metal with below freezing temperatures.

3. Warm engines in parked cars are a hazards for cats and small wildlife. Make sure you bang on the hood of your car before starting you car in the morning. You never know what might have curled up there after you got home last night.

4. By throwing salt down on your driveway or walkways and having your animals walk on it can irritate paw pads. After you bring your animal in make sure you wipe your animals paws to get any salt off of their pads before they lick them.

5. Watch for antifreeze spills. It is not only a poison to us but a huge poison to any animal. It tastes sweet so a animal will lick it up. Make sure you clean up any spills you may find.

The safest tip is to always bring your animals inside. Even if you don't like them in the main house try to put them in a garage or a basement. Please check on other animals in your neighborhood. Any stray animals you see please try to feed them and offer them a warm place to sleep. It is going to be to darn cold for anything to be outside!

I hope everyone stays warm! For those of you that are in a warm climate...I don't want to know :)

The 2 dogs in the pictures above are mine. The white and black one is Reese and the other is our old lady Sasha. They were both rescue dogs and are a huge part of our family! as are our 3 cats who are indoor cats.