Minis and Friends Austin display with Ellen
What a good time Minis and Friends had at the Bluebonnet Expo Oct 11! Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society’s mission is “to improve the lives of equines by educating and helping owners, assisting law enforcement agencies, rehabilitating abused and neglected equines, and placing them into safe, permanent homes.” Every year they have a fund-raising expo, and Minis and Friends joined the event again this year.
We all got there early and set up with our new display and minis. Thanks to Sandi Hodge, our newest member, who came all the way from Bryan with her little paint mini Daisy, we could also set up a portable aluminum corral for the minis. It was great to put them in there when they needed a rest, since we were there from 9 to 4. Helping set up were Carolyn and Bonnie Devaney, Jeff Hodges and Gil Iwanski. Of course the rest of us – Sally, Lin, and Ellen were holding down the fort too.
The first thing we had to do was decorate the minis with garlands of flowers, neckerchiefs, and even a flashing red white and blue stars necklace for Buckshot. Each got Twinkle Toes on their hooves. You could tell the little girl mini – Sandi dressed Daisy in pink bows, buds and a tiara! Wow. All the little girls who stopped by wanted to pet and lead Daisy! There were a couple of kids who just hung around most of the day –future mini owners I’m sure.
Buckshot and mini-pals at Bluebonnet Horse Expo
The minis were on good behaviour cause they had a pen and hay. Sean Monet, MasterCard, Buckshot, Daisy and Stardust all drew a lot of attention.
StarDust and Bonnie
The big moment happened when Stardust drew the attention of a lovely lady, Bonnie Barrington. She works at Howdy Honda and helped Gil and Sally buy their new MiniMobile. You could hear the music, you could see the stars in their eyes. Bonnie and Stardust went to each other like peanut butter and jelly. Like bees and honey. Little Stardust, who recently came back to Lin’s Onion Creek Ranch from a pony party business (boo-hiss) was so glad to see someones heart reach out to him. They were together all day, and when Bonnie finally went to the Ladies room, Stardust nickered after her! She has since been out to the ranch to see him and rumors are flying about them getting hitched!
We had a great setup spot where we could see the drill team, the clinicians, the auction, the parade of breeds and all else in the main arena. Sandi and Jeff brought out barbeque, beans and potato salad for everyone for a hearty lunch. Much appreciated. About that time the fancy Rodeo Queens Drill Team came out in their red white and blue spangles and chaps. Buckshot’s eyes grew wide. Oh he liked them. They were soooo flashy!
What an incredible team Bluebonnet has. They do it right. So many wonderful volunteers. If it weren’t for them all these horses’ futures would not be worth much. They still have some wonderful horses for adoption, including minis…. you can look at the rehab area and pick from there too.
To see the difference BEHS makes, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn93Cl-xG2g&feature=relatedfor a moving Before and After slideshow…. or just check out http://www.bluebonnetequine.org/
