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BY JNFERRIGNO
The second Friday in
August marked the opening for the 2008 Olympic
Games. American members of VHR chat stayed up into the morning, waiting
to catch a glimpse of the first six eventers performing Dressage. Those
few brief moments of air time were not enough to hold the community
over through the horseless weekend, but thankfully, due to the
wonderful invention of internet streaming video, horse-starved rabid
members were able to get their quick fix before the Equestrian games
aired the following Monday.
Throughout the next two
weeks, the community rooted
for their favorite
of nine countries participating in this year’s Equestrian Games.
Eventing, Jumping, and Dressage were divided into Team and Individual
events, leaving six chances of taking home the gold. Australia took the
lead during the Dressage segment of Eventing with a very low penalty
score of 102.8. However Germany bumped them down to second with their
Cross Country score of 158.1. But Australia held firm during the
Jumping segment, and was awarded silver for over all Team Eventing,
leaving bronze for Great Britain. Germany took home gold in Individual
Eventing, however the United States made a come back by bringing home
Silver and Great Britain taking the bronze.
Winning gold since 1984
for Team Dressage, the
Germans once again have
proven the old adage to be true, when you find a winning formula don’t
change it, adding a third gold medal to their name. Those paying close
attention could see the unspoken battle for gold between Germany and
the Netherlands, with a 1.167 difference in score, the Netherlands took
home silver leaving Denmark the bronze.
SALINERO
DRAWN AND COLORED BY JNFERRIGNO
With Germany already having three golds under their
belt, this
foreshadowed a potential Equestrian smack down for Individual Dressage.
Who better to face off with Germany than the Netherlands? Together
Dutch owner/rider Anky Van Grunsven, and gelding Salinero, the
beautiful bay Hanoverian, received the gold by a 2.03 difference in
score, making this the second gold the pair won for Individual Dressage
(having won in 2004).
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SHANNON CUSICK AND HER KITTEN KAITO
This newsletter is yet
a brilliant example of our
community and
your efforts! It is put together by the players and volunteers, and I
hope it continues! I think this should be a lot of fun and I thank you
for your contributions and efforts!
I also wanted to thank
everyone for allowing these
wonderful
years of doing what I want to do- make games! I know many are
wondering, when is the next update? When are new breeds coming? Well I
am doing the best I can right now with all this. I am currently finding
a few minutes between moving (I was a few critters over my pet limit so
they asked me to leave) and a exciting new project to answer these
questions.
Before I go on to this
exciting new project, I
thought I would
explain a bit about my current daily life. Well I am a sucker for
animals if you haven't noticed yet. And since I spend a lot of my spare
time helping out animals who were left behind in moves along with many
other homeless lovables, leaving my pets behind was out of the
question. Besides, They are all part of my family.
We spent a few months
trying to get a loan, after
false
information from my loan broker and my poor father who is always there
to save my butt, things just didn't work out. So this last week I had
to find a house- with a backyard for my doggies if possible. Long story
short, I found a great place, and now it is past midnight and tired of
packing and cleaning, so here I am!
Now, to talk about the
really cool new project!
Orbis Games has
partnered up with Myrtlewood Horses to incorporate their realistic
plush toy horses in our 3D game Virtual Horse Ranch II. I am sure many
of you will agree, once you check out their website that these horses
are beyond
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way cool! I have
Heather (the clydesdale from the site), and
my husband and John laugh at me when they catch me petting or braiding
her mane.
We have more details posted at https://www.orbisaccounts.com/myrtlewood/
and you can also sign up there!
Next is to answer your
questions I am especially
sure many of you
old timers have! In the month of September, I have a game conference
here in Austin and a wedding in Hawaii to attend thanks to my dad's
airline miles. I am taking out the middle 2 weeks for that.
If I am not just
catching up on support and daily business during
any other times- updates for vhr and vp are my top priority. We have
many ideas and improvements compiled by a few volunteers that should be
easy to implement. I expect this to be done by latest, the end of
October for VHR and VP. I am going to hope for the end of September
however.
Paypal will be done
daily still except on Sunday (unless Saturday
is missed). My husband has been great about making sure this is done
once or twice daily lately. So if you do not have your upgrade done
within 24 hours- please do still let us know!
And once again I have
to give a big shout out for all the players
and volunteers. I am so impressed by the community and community
achievements everyone has accomplished! If I can encourage everyone to
try and click at least one ad a month that interests them, that will
help us keep up on the server bill and keep us going.
I also want to thank
the support and donations we have received
for our shelter. We have over 300 of the most wonderful animals ready
to home, and once again in jeopardy of having it shut down. I am doing
everything possible to help avoid this, as I don't ever want the
potential downfalls of what would happen if it was shut down. Please
read the article here about the brindle boxer written by the shelter
Vice President- one that your support personally saved.
...CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Thank you everyone!
'Nefertete'
-Shannon Cusick
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Those who collect
model horses, may be familiar
with the name Salinero. Recently Breyer
Horses released a beautiful
sculpture of Salinero performing a passage in an attempt to immortalize
the gelding for all his achievements. But
maybe I should stop drooling over this horse and get back
on track. Wrapping up Individual Dressage,
Germany held strong and took home the silver and the bronze.
The influence of Thoroughbred blood can be greatly
seen in the Olympic
Eventers, however it is clear that Hanoverians rule the dressage world.
Now with Eventing and Dressage out of the way, other breeds like Dutch
Warmbloods can flourish and take the gold home. Gold medal horses for
both Team and Individual Jumping were KWPN, registered with the royal
studbook of the Netherlands. The United States team brought home their
first and only gold, with Canada taking claim to the silver, this left
the bronze for Norway (their only medal).
In the Individual Jumping we see a change of pace.
While the top three
horses were all KWPN, it was Canada who took home the gold, and Sweden
earning the silver, leaving the bronze for the United States. Beezie
Madden, riding for the USA team, did 3.14 seconds better then Canada
and Sweden, however had acquired four faults, dropping her back to
third.
To honor my fellow VHRians, I say this to you,
Germany pwned They took
home five medals, the United States took home three, Canada,
Netherlands, and Great Britain took home two, while Australia, Sweden,
Denmark, and Norway took home one. Over all I’d say it was a great turn
out. |
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BY
JNFERRIGNO
So mark your calendar for September 6 to September 17, and keep an eye
out for more information. - For more information on these stunning
athletes, here’s the place to look http://en.paralympic.beijing2008.cn/
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BY
ALIAS
On an April
morning a little foal named Rarity is born into the comfort
of a warm barn and not so loving mother. Hawk’s miniature mare had
given birth to a wet, wiggling little filly named Rarity. At 7 am that
morning her proud new owners go out to the barn to find the little foal
hidden underneath the water pail, wet from her birth. According to
Hawk, not long after the little foal was born her mother Lil Butt
Honeysuckle Rose (Honey) had rejected the baby and wanted nothing to do
with her. She had been slammed against the wall and attacked by her
mother resulting in an eye injury. Honey repeatedly chased her into a
corner and forced the little baby under the water bucket.
From a young age,
the little filly was happy to see her human care
givers. “She got happy and jumped right up wanting attention from us,
even tried to wander out of the stall to the rest of the people
watching.” Hawk tells me that she was delighted with Rarity from the
start. Unfortunately for her, Honey decided that she wanted nothing to
do with the baby and refused to let the baby get the colostrum she
needed to boost her immune system. After many unsuccessful attempts by
Rarity to suckle Honey, Hawk tied Honey and made her let Rarity drink.
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Hawk’s gut told her that the baby wouldn’t survive to
the next morning
if she was left with her mother, so she took the little baby home with
her… “I picked the little munchkin up and put her over my shoulder like
a baby and climbed in the van and took her home with us. By the time I
got home, she was fast asleep with her head and tiny hooves over my
shoulder.”
For the next
couple of days, the family had to make sure little Rarity
was fed every three hours, so they bottle trained her and fed her a
foal milk replacer. Imagine the dedication in that task! “I don't know
how much I spent on foal milk replacer for her but I'd have to guess
somewhere around $400 maybe a bit more.” But Hawk was dedicated to
getting this filly off to the right start in life and continued to care
for little Rarity. Living in Hawks yard during her ordeal, she had her
own fleece lined dog coat, “I must admit she looks good in tweed!” says
Hawk.
Like any foal,
Rarity is playful. Her rough start in life made no
exception to the rule. When she wasn't sleeping or eating, she was busy
chasing the neighborhood kids around my yard and investigating Hawk’s
daughter’s trampoline and the flower beds.
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After months of the same routine of three hour feedings and romping in
the backyard, Rarity grew up and needed to eat solid food. According to
Hawk this didn’t work out too well, “Put grain in her mouth and she'd
spit it out... Didn't think teaching her to eat solids was going to be
so hard, but she had no one to show her that it was good. So, we
decided to bring her half brother home to wean with her which worked
perfectly. She watched him eat and within minutes was doing everything
he was doing.” The little horse and her brother soon had to leave the
comfort of Hawks’ backyard and return to the barn. By this time, Rarity
was a few months old and in much better shape then she would have been
if Hawk hadn’t taken her home that evening in April. From then on this
brave little filly who had a rough start in life has lived a happy life
with the rest of her stable mates… and Hawk says, “Oddest part of it
all, her mom is her best friend now and they follow each other
everywhere.” What a happy ending to a sad beginning. |
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Real Life Happenings
... PAGE 1
Letter
From Nefertete
Equestrian
Olympics
Paralympics
Inspirational
Story
Your Community
... PAGE 2
The Evolution
of VHR
Flavor of the
Month
SandBox Farm,
The Year of the Rat
Cats, Dogs
& Pandas, Oh My!
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Rev Your Engines!
The Zemaituka
VHR, MD?
Real Rescues
Creative Forum
... PAGE 3
Saddle Seat
Draggys Top 5!
Spot the
Difference
A Short Story
by Shekeira
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Alabama - Editor in Chief
Bara - Jack of all trades
Writers:
Alias
Cavalry
Bolivia
Broodmare paint
Jade
Jbk
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Jelly
Kapricorn
krolak
Moody
Pikachu
Snowkitty
Tarnish
Tobias
Uber |
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