Pedro crossed the rainbow
Our Pedro has crossed the Rainbow, RIP. We will miss you at Hannah and Friends, thank you for the beautiful moments. Thank you Beth, Maddy, Jules and Riley for taking such a good care of him. For being there with him when he crossed over, Til’ we meet again sweet boy. You will be missed.
Maura Weis.
HORSE OF THE MONTH
Nacho The Pony
Nacho is a beautiful pony who was found by Maura Weis on-line in a kill pen in Pennsylvania. He caught her eye and he was only 7 years old at the time, way too young to end up that way. So she adopted him for Hannah and Friends. He spent a month in quarantine and then he was able to come to our farm. As you can see he was very skinny and lacked medical care and grooming. It’s a sad fact that the US ships out over 200 thousand horses to Canada and Mexico for slaughter. Hopefully, someday this cruel ending for horses will not happen here in our country.
Fast forward to today! Nacho enjoys his life at the farm and has been here for 7 years, he is well cared for and loves attention! He is a beautiful boy who has a happy life and the residents love him very much. You are welcome to come meet him and the other beautiful horses as well as Beth our barn manager and our friendly staff. That is Nachos’s story not a great beginning but it ended up perfect.
Pedro was actually my show horse who I bought when he was 11, he is 25 years old now. Pedro was my first dressage horse and was and still is the most amazing horse I ever rode. He was super talented, way more talented than my skills at the time but he always took care of me. He was my dream horse and my birthday gift when I turned 50, my best present ever!!
When we moved to Kansas, Florida and then back to Kansas my entire barn came with us. All six horses and a barn cat came with us, we were like the circus coming to town. It was not easy for the horses and especially for my daughter Hannah. Moving a child with special needs is very difficult because change is something that Hannah absolutely hated. When Coach retired we moved to Florida to a town that hosts the most horses in the world in the winter time. Pedro after three years was not sweating and was getting bacterial infections from this environment. Unfortunately it happens to some
horses here and they must move to a cooler climate to survive. After the third infection I knew he had to go back to South Bend and live at H & F’s.
Pedro
Pedro at the barn
Pedro & Maura
Our horse of the month is Snowball!!!
Snowball is a adorable large miniature horse who has a amazing personality. He is full of life, loves attention, carrots, our staff, residents and visitors. I purchased him a few years ago when he came to my attention from one of our barn personnel at the time. She said the owner was selling him and his price if I remember right was $400.00. I personally bought him for H & F’s because his personality came thru the photo and said “please buy me”!!!
I am so glad we did because the mini’s are big horses in a little body. He is great about being groomed by our participants, leads great for walks and loves all of us. He is a perfect size for our smaller people and he is a true gentlemen. His previous owner had said he was a handful but we in all of these years have never seen that in him at all. We just love Snowball!!
Here are some pics of Snowball and one of our participants Connelly working with him and the other horses.
Have a great Holiday Season!
Mrs. Weis
SADIE!!!
Sadie is our horse of the month! She has been with us at Hannah and Friends since 2007. She was one of the first horses to move into our barn. At that time we were not taking horses in yet but a e-mail I received changed all of that. It was a plea for help for Sadie, the lady who owned her started a program for teenagers with Autism to ride on trails. Unfortunately it did not work out for her financially and Sadie had to go, it was us or an auction in Ohio. An auction horse can end up in the slaughter house and maybe just maybe a good home but Sadie was very overweight at the time. It probably would not have ended well for her. Still something in her plea made me want to meet Sadie.
So I set off to meet Sadie and she was in this field with another animal maybe a pig I really do not remember. She was big, very big but beautiful and had the biggest most beautiful , soulful brown eyes. She is a draft, quarter horse mix. I talked to her owner who wanted to surrender her to us and after she told me how amazing Sadie was I with the kids I decided to bring her to Hannah and Friends.
We are so happy we have her with us and give her such a great life. She has been invaluable to us as she is so patient and loving. She is now 22 and getting older but still beautiful and loving. Keeping the other horses in line especially the boys. We just love her so much and we would love visits to the barn to see Sadie in person and say “hello”!!
Have a great month,
Maura Weis
The summer camp at Vinceremos has been a great success this year. Vinceremos is a great charity, located in Wellington, FL.
Hannah and friends helped 75 kids by providing grants for children from many backgrounds and varying abilities. They had a great time enjoying the outdoors and caring for animals. One thing they definitely have in common: they love horses and the camp!
Welcome back to Camp Sharing Meadows! We’re so excited to have you back at camp in person this July at our first-ever day camp! Attached, you’ll find an invitation, pre-registration, application, COVID-19 liability form, and medication sheets. A lot of information about camp has changed, so please read through all these documents thoroughly and contact me if you have any questions. Please fill these out and return them as soon as possible because camp slots are on a first-come, first-served basis. Don’t forget to attach a forever stamp AND an additional ounce(s) stamp when you return them through the mail!
Here’s a youtube video where you can see me talk about camp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqwVI0HDrL8. There will be more short little videos with camp information and updates on our Share Foundation and Camp Sharing Meadows Facebook and Instagram pages! Please follow us on both platforms using @share_foundation and @campsharingmeadows. Thank you!
Dear Friends,
We hope all is well for you and your families as you prepare for the holidays. Very exciting things have been going on at Hannah and Friends and we would love to share them with you. We have sold the land and buildings at Hannah and Friends Neighborhood to Logan Center. We are consolidating our two charities into one, dissolving Hannah and Friends Neighborhood while keeping Hannah and Friends Inc.
We are very proud of what has been created by Hannah and Friends Neighborhood and all the people who have worked for us, volunteered for us, and donated to us. Without your help we could never have done this and we especially needed God and Mary’s help as well. We feel like they are always watching over our special people and land.
Logan Center has been in the community for many decades and we know that they will do a fantastic job of continuing their services, programs, camps, and — most importantly — further growth. They will really take it to another level.
As for Hannah and Friends Inc., we will continue and expand our Grant Programs. We will start new and exciting horse therapies. We are super excited for this and feel like we can help in different and much needed ways. This past fall, we had a day for the Veterans at the barn and it was amazing. Such a great day for them, our barn managers, and myself. We had so much fun showing them the grounds, having lunch with them, and of course introducing them to the horses. We plan on continuing this and creating a program for them this spring. We would also like to start our program for the residents and day programmers again as well once the weather gets better.
Thank you for your support and a special shout out has to go to Dick Nussbaum who has volunteered countless hours to make this happen and many other hours on other endeavors for Hannah and Friends. Also to Kayle Sexton who has run Hannah and Friends for the last bunch of years — creating programs, installing the day program, and, most importantly, has been a friend for every special person involved with Hannah and Friends. Kayle will continue on with Logan and we know she will continue being amazing for the Logan Center!
Best Wishes,
Maura & Charlie Weis
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