twister
Well-Known Member
Yesterday morning I dragged myself out of bed at 4 am (must be nuts) in order to leave at 5 am. We were going to be the star attraction at a walkathon in downtown Toronto to raise money for a seniors facility that I insure. We being Jazz my daughter Alex and myself. Anyone that has driven in Toronto knows about the traffic and the lack of parking so the first problem was transportation, I didn't want to take our trailer as it is a standard 2 horse and is 7' high so we wondered if Jazz would go in my mini van, (this was a week prior) so I walked him up to the side door and he looked at the step and just hopped in like he had been doing it all his life :bgrin , then we had to take him for a test drive around the block, that went well, he enjoyed looking out the window, usually in the trailer he can't see out. The next hurdle was safety, I didn't want him sliding forward if I had to brake suddenly. So my husband Sean built a box that can go in and out of the back of my van and it has a little gate for the front, so that was the safety issue solved, we were calling him "Jazz in the box" all week :bgrin
We put a tarp over the carpet, then some shavings to absorb any wet and then some straw on top, loaded him up, gave him a bag of hay to munch on and off we went. I was still a little nervous as the first part of the trip was back roads but we had to go on the 407 and the Don Valley Parkway both of which are mega lane highways and have lots of traffic, I was thinking he might freak out when a big truck went by. He really seemed to enjoy looking at all the vehicles going by and was very comfortable in his little box :bgrin
When we arrived in Toronto at 5 to 8, we unloaded him in a church parking lot and let him stretch his legs before the crowds arrived.
There was a photographer there from the local paper and he took lots of pics of Jazz with the seniors outside the building and inside the building, Jazz was so well behaved around the walkers and wheelchairs, kids running up behind him and hugging him, I was really proud of him. I know why all of us love these little guys they are just incredible and have such good natures, you can take them anywhere and do anything with them.
The seniors loved him and want him to come back again. We actually walked on the walkathon as well on Pape Avenue which is in the Greek area of Toronto and the storekeepers all came out to see the little horse go by, the barber offered to give him a haircut :bgrin
We finally loaded him back up just before lunch time but we weren't quite finished yet, on the way home we stopped off at my son's in Mississauga to give Jazz a break, I was a little concerned as he had not passed anything and we turned him loose in their back garden, he was quite happy munching grass while we had a bite of lunch. He still didn't go so we loaded him up to head home and sure enough as we left and turned the first corner he let loose and it was obvious everything was in working order :bgrin
I do have pictures but I always have a problem posting them so if someone would volunteer to post them for me I can email them to you.
Thanks so much
Yvonne
We put a tarp over the carpet, then some shavings to absorb any wet and then some straw on top, loaded him up, gave him a bag of hay to munch on and off we went. I was still a little nervous as the first part of the trip was back roads but we had to go on the 407 and the Don Valley Parkway both of which are mega lane highways and have lots of traffic, I was thinking he might freak out when a big truck went by. He really seemed to enjoy looking at all the vehicles going by and was very comfortable in his little box :bgrin
When we arrived in Toronto at 5 to 8, we unloaded him in a church parking lot and let him stretch his legs before the crowds arrived.
There was a photographer there from the local paper and he took lots of pics of Jazz with the seniors outside the building and inside the building, Jazz was so well behaved around the walkers and wheelchairs, kids running up behind him and hugging him, I was really proud of him. I know why all of us love these little guys they are just incredible and have such good natures, you can take them anywhere and do anything with them.
The seniors loved him and want him to come back again. We actually walked on the walkathon as well on Pape Avenue which is in the Greek area of Toronto and the storekeepers all came out to see the little horse go by, the barber offered to give him a haircut :bgrin
We finally loaded him back up just before lunch time but we weren't quite finished yet, on the way home we stopped off at my son's in Mississauga to give Jazz a break, I was a little concerned as he had not passed anything and we turned him loose in their back garden, he was quite happy munching grass while we had a bite of lunch. He still didn't go so we loaded him up to head home and sure enough as we left and turned the first corner he let loose and it was obvious everything was in working order :bgrin
I do have pictures but I always have a problem posting them so if someone would volunteer to post them for me I can email them to you.
Thanks so much
Yvonne
