There’s a new kid in town.

. . . hopeless romantics, here we go again. . .

Here’s the challenge announcement – make sure you read the fine print at bottom of page:

If your dog can do it, so can Hazel and/or Gladys.  If Hazel &/or Gladys can’t do your trick, you win.

What:  Post a photo of your dog doing a trick on the Fetching Tags Facebook page.  Post must include dog name, title of trick (clever titles are best) & your email address.  Make sure that you include this info, we will need it to respond to your challenge & email your prize!

trick defined:  This can be a photo of your dog doing anything that could be duplicated in a normal household or yard setting.  Tricks can be as basic (sit) or as tricky (backflip) as you can capture in a photo.  No dangerous tricks or tricks like dock diving (tricks involving things – like the ocean or stadiums) we can’t recreate here.

Where:  Like I said, on our Facebook page.

When:  Post your trick by Saturday January 29th at midnight.

Prizes:

1.  Each person who enters the contest by posting a pet trick photo, receives a $5 Fetching Tags gift certificate – enter as many pets/times as you wish, but only one $5 certificate per household.

2. If Hazel &/or Gladys can’t do your trick(s), or can’t be captured in a photo doing your trick, you get a $10 Fetching Tags gift certificate.

3.  Grand Prize winner,  for best trick that can’t be done by H/G, wins $80 certificate, runner up wins $40 certificate – to be determined by an independent judge.

The fine print:  Hazel & Gladys reserve the right to cheat, substitute props, and/or call on their cat, Preacher, or any other herd or flock members as trick stunt doubles.

Long ago, at the beginning of November, we introduced the Ride For Joy herd & asked You for your best tagline submissions for each horse.

With so many clever & sweet submissions, this was a tough contest to judge.

We chose finalists & sent them directly to the Ride For Joy team to select winners.

And the winners  (of  a Fetching Tag each) are:

for Brewster: Let’s Ride! Congratulations, Lisa!

for Shadow:  Wild At Heart Congratulations, Marnie!

for Cowboy:  Cowboy Up! Congratulations, Dawn!

for Buttons:  Little Hearts are the Best Congratulations, Winna!

for Stretch:  Reach for the Sky Congratulations, Angie!

Thanks so much to all who played, it has been wonderful to have your splendid help tagging these noble beasts!

Maybe there’s a reason why you’ve never heard of Milk Pants.

Whatever it is, just forget it, cause from now on, when somebody says “Milk Pants”, you’re going to know.  You’ll say “oh yeah, I’ve seen it.  And did you know those goats are all grown up now?”

Now they’re twice the size of Gladys.

Let’s get nostalgic & watch the Pants one more time. . .

and DONATE!  we’re so close to $600 – somebody give a little & tip it over!

You must remember Jasper Jules.

We’ve really knocked heads over this one, but a winning tagline has finally been selected. . .

Congratulations, Jillian, you win the tag.

Garden Tool is a most excellent tagline.

A few of you suggested Jasper the Friendly Goat, a close runner-up, but Brittany was 1st.

Also loved was Lisa L.’s   Fair- Wether Friend.

Thanks to you all for playing – don’t forget the horses that need your clever lines this month. . .

To kick off this season of giving, this month’s What’s My Tagline? contest is different.  We’re not tagging one little dog, or even a single goat.  We’re making tags for a whole herd of horses.  This means that after you submit your clever taglines, we’ll also have a herd of tag winners by month’s end.

These particular horses are each special in their own way, and together they are the heart of the Ride For Joy therapeutic riding program in Boise, Idaho.  Time to meet the herd. . .

Meet Shadow.

Shadow is a 14 H* Bureau of Land Management mustang mare.  She was first adopted from a herd of wild horses that came from the Goshutes of Sparks, Nevada.    Due to some unfortunate circumstances, in 2004 Shadow ended up back in the wild in the Owyhees.

Luckily for Ride for Joy, the BLM located Shadow and she was reunited with her original owner and ultimately found her way to the Ride for Joy program.  Shadow is our sweet and loving hippy girl.

Meet Buttons.

Buttons is a 14.1 H buckskin Quarter Horse mare.  Her previous career as a 4-H and parade horse made it easy for her to adjust to the life of a therapy horse.  Her size, at just 14.1 hands and 800 pounds, along with her very slow smooth gaits, makes her perfect for the little kids.

And her name is perfect because she really is “cute as a button”.

Meet Cowboy.

Cowboy is a 16 H red dun Quarter Horse gelding.   Prior to coming to Ride for Joy he had been trained and shown as a reining cow horse and spent most of his life showing and competing in the cow horse events with his owner.

Cowboy is a great horse for the independent riders and loves attention, especially kisses.

Meet Stretch.

Stretch is a 16.3 H black Appendix Quarter Horse gelding.  He was originally purchased by his former owner to be a barrel racing horse, but he didn’t think going fast was a very good idea.  He loves his job as a therapy horse.  And his very slow jog and smooth gaits are perfect for the kids.

Even at 16.3 hands tall, Stretch loves taking around even the smallest of kids and they really love riding way up in the sky.  You can just see by the look on Stretch’s face that he knows he is carrying around some very precious cargo.

Meet Brewster.

Brewster is a Dun QH gelding. After his initial training he spent most of his time in the pasture with his mother and sister and occasionally taking kids for rides.

He was looking for a real job and with the help of the RFJ staff he found one. Brew is now another great addition to the RFJ program and is looking forward to many years here.

What are their taglines?  You decide.  Don’t just decide – compete!  Submit your taglines for one or all horses in the comments – best tagline for each horse wins a Fetching Tag.

Just remember this:  Ride for Joy is a pediatric program and the tags will hang on the horses’ halters for all to read, so submissions should be kid-appropriate & fun to read/explain. The contest runs till end of November & you may enter as often as you like.

* H (hands) or hh (hands high) is a measure of horse size & refers to the height of horse at the withers (the hump of bone at base of neck).  1 hand =4 inches.  In some equine activities, a horse 14.2 H & under is considered to be a pony.  In therapeutic riding, with children of differing sizes/abilities & the necessity of “sidewalkers” (humans who walk on either side of the horse & rider for safety), horse height is a major consideration.

Want to know more about therapeutic riding?  Check out NARHA.

Last week’s Fetching Tag giveaway Con-Test was lots of fun, that is, unless you were Luther the mule.  Luther’s big & tender feelings were hurt when so many of you incorrectly guessed him as the one who threw the (alleged) kick at the judge.

By the stroke of midnight Saturday, five of you had guessed the correct order.  Hats off to you, Marnie, Spazzdog, Lisa Prince Fishler, Bridget & Amy Miller.  Luther was troubled by the blatant muleist views of most of our dear readers and really needed a post-contest apple, so we let him choose the tag winner from the correct guessers.

I explained the selection system to him: name on bottom of each plate, apple slice on top, first slice eaten determines winner.

Luther took this work very seriously

and ate each slice carefully from one side to the other, starting with

Congratulations, Bridget!  Luther picked you as the Fetching Tag winner.

Thanks for playing!

correct answers were  mustang, bull terrier, Canadian, Boston Terrier, boy, mule

This past weekend, we competed in a NATRC competitive trail ride.

This involved traveling & camping with a bull terrier, a Boston terrier,

a seven year old boy,

a Canadian on Thanksgiving holiday,

a mustang

and a mule.

Oh, and it also involved miles of trail riding through gorgeous western NC.

To participate in this quiz you’ll list your answers, separated by commas, as a comment below.  Like this:

boy, Canadian, Boston terrier, mule, bull terrier, mustang

(These are the answers, but this is not the correct order.  Please don’t include the numbers in your answer.)

Enter now through Saturday midnight & the winner of a free Fetching Tag will be randomly chosen from the correct answers.

Ready?

Good.  Let’s begin.

1. I went 40 miles on the trail over two days and ate 2 bananas.  And they say that I kicked at the judge.  (It was a fly, I swear!)

2. I wandered away from the campsite in the pitch dark and gave everyone a scare.

3. I was so glad to find that I had absolutely no signal on my Blackberry – how relaxing!

4. I wore a warm shirt and jacket each night because I got a little chilly.

5. I played with the ride manager’s grand niece all weekend and was very reluctant to leave for home.

6. I turned lots of heads with my good looks &  I needed a little ice therapy after my 22 miles on the trail.

Good luck & happy trails. . .

Meet Jasper.

Jasper Jules, or “JJ,” is not a dog, but he is doggedly determined, doggishly devoted, and doggone cute. Jasper is a two year-old, 190 pound American Saanen wether (neutered male) goat. He is a bit of a tool, and a bit of a goof, but above all a very nice guy. He’s at the bottom of the totem pole and he’s not the brightest bulb in the box, but we love him dearly. He was born here on Bent Barrow Farm in the Pacific Northwest, and he does great work pulling the kids around the neighborhood in his yellow cart. We sing to him and he dances: “Jasper Jules, he’s no fool, but he’d look silly in a swimming pool!” Or, to the tune of Bohemian Rhapsody: “Jasper Jules! Jasper Jules! Watch him do the fandango!”

Jasper still lives with his mother, who is about eight inches shorter, seventy pounds lighter, and two times smarter than he is. JJ narrowly survived a life-threatening illness last week, and he’s home from the emergency clinic recovering from surgery. His mama is glad to have him back, as are we all.

Jasper Jules has a youtube video and a famous herdmate, Fenway Bartholomule but he is a simple goat. A Fetching Tag would jazz him up, and I know he’d be proud to wear one. It might make him feel special—and there’s a big difference between “short bus special” and “Fetching Tags special.”  He deserves the latter.

What’s his tagline?  You decide.  Don’t just decide – compete!  Submit your taglines for Jasper in the comments – best tagline wins a Fetching Tag.

This is going to be a good one!