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On Wednesday, November 17, 2010, a team came from Dell came to Rancho Montoya to do their corporate team building.They had found us through Volunteer Match.  It was an absolute beautiful day outside and the team led by Melissa Boatright, showed up at lunch time and surprised Rocky, Rudy, and Bravo with a friendly visit. The three guys were actually ready for their afternoon siesta, but they were even more excited to have some company. I could see the little guys wheels turning in their brains, when they realized the company was here to see them and not me!

Besides having such an enjoyable time with the horses, we did have a goal set and wanted to accomplish it in a few short hours. All four of the workers from Dell – Steven, Trish, Melissa and Megan  dove right in and really worked as a team to clean up the pen where the horses can get exercise and practice running and lunging. They raked the whole area and cleaned it free of any debris such as rocks or sticks the horses could possibly trip on and hauled many wheelbarrows towards the woods.  They even got down the hedge cutters and trimmed a tree which had overgrown into their area.  Trish, did an awesome job mucking their shelter and the yard where they lay and hang out. After all of the work was done, we had saved some special time to spend with the Minis. They all worked together as a team once again and groomed and brushed the horses as well with plenty of petting and hugging and loving on the Minis. Let me tell you these little boys were just sucking up all of the attention (the horses, I mean). Lastly, we haltered them all up and went off down the driveway towards the road to take them for a walk and truly spend some quality time with the Minis. As we started down the driveway, all three of these horses just got so excited  and spunky that they were now going to get to go for a walk with their newly made friends. They all just picked up their little heads and were full of themselves as they took off trotting down the road. Steven and Rudy, really picked up the pace, as Steven recently ran a Marathon, so he showed Rudy he could run just as fast as a horse!

Everyone enjoyed their time away from and out of the office immensely, as they kept telling me what a great day this was. Once again, I can’t thank them enough for all of the help around the ranch. I was really far behind, due to traveling and my husband hurting his knee, with this on-going pain. So I am so grateful to Volunteer Match – that they found our opportunity – such wonderful caring people to give up their own personal time and effort for the benefit of our Minis. I truly am Thankful during this time of year for special people like these.
A funny tidbit of information: When they first arrived I was explaining to them what the Minis do in our community and how at the shelters in particular, the Children might bond with any one of our 11 minis and two donkeys we have. It’s just so strange how one kid will bond with this horse or the other. By the end of the visit when we went to groom and go for our walk, Melissa was commenting to me how I was right that each of the persons who had come out for the day had bonded with either rocky, Rudy, or Bravo and how they each sort of had their favorite little horse. It was so cute.

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