Who Is Zenyatta?

A Horse is a Horse – Of Course – unless She is the Famous Zenyatta

Last fall Wire Works Custom Jewelry was contacted by Vicki Rossi, Jockey Mike Smiths assistant, and commissioned to do a special design Mane Name Necklace in honor of Zenyatta.  At the time, Master Wire Artist, Jim Thompson didn’t know Zenyatta from any other horse.  But after a bit of research, discovered that she is quite a horse – of course!  According to many racing enthusiast, she may very well be the greatest filly in horse racing history.  With much input and coordination with Vicki, Wire Works came up with a design that depicted this beautiful animal.

Owned by Jerry and Ann Moss and trained by John Shirreffs, Zenyatta won 19 out of 20 career races and has been named the 2010 Eclipse Award ‘Horse of the Year’.  She was taller than most of her opponents at 17.2  hands or 5′ 7″ tall – and carried 1,200 pounds on her frame while racing. According to a 201060 Minutes report, Zenyatta was purchased as a yearling at the low price of $60,000 because she suffered from a form of ringworm.   During her career she won purses totaling over $7 million making her the all-time North American female money-earner. Featured in W Magazine and the New York Times in 2010, she has been called “hard to beat, and harder to ignore”.   At this time The great Zenyatta has retired in lap of luxury and has a serious ‘beau’.

Zenyatta’s team seems to be having as much if not more fun now with the 2010 Horse of the Year as when she was racing.  About 15 days ago, Zenyatta was temed up in the breeding shed with the top freshman sire in the states, Bernardini, who won 6 of his 8 starts and is a son of A.P. Indy.

Dottie Ingordo-Shirreffs, wife of Zenyatta’s former trainer, John, is tracking Zenyatta’s progress in getting pregnant and composing the blog as if theZenyatta were penning it herself.

This post was on the website Thursday:

“I AM IN FOAL!”

“This is my 15-day scan! From what I am told, everything looks fabulous and solid. The embryo looks to be a good size. So, at this time, everything is WONDERFUL!”

“I will be rescanned at about 28 days and if that is all A-OK, my next scan will be at the 40-42 day time period from the date I was bred. As Dottie explained to you earlier, the latter scan is really very important. If all is perfect at that time, then I am pretty well on my way in my pregnancy. This is all so exciting and so new to me! I JUST LOVE IT!”

“Hmmm! I just had a thought! Lately, I have been craving BANANAS. It seems like that is all I’ve been thinking about for the last few days! I guess this could explain why. Dottie tells me craving some type of food is very normal for humans while pregnant. Maybe it is for horses like me too.”

“HOOVES CROSSED for the news on my next scan to be just as POSITIVE!

“With Love,”

“HUGS and Big Kisses to All,”

“Z” …

As you can imagine the entire crew at Wire Works Custom Jewelry was honored to have been chosen to design this beautiful necklace in Sterling Silver for Zenyatta.    Who knows, maybe a special design for Mom and Foal would be in order!

Wire Works Custom Jewelry Receives Blue Ribbon Award

Many of the shows we attend present various awards to the vendors for specific achievements. Prestigious awards such as best display, best utilization of space or best customer service are coveted by those who are receiptants.  This year at the NATIONAL WESTERN STOCK SHOW AND RODEO, Wire Artist Craig Kime, manager of our wire jewelry booth was given a new award.  I’ll let Craig tell the ‘Rest of the Story’.

“Let me tell you a short story about my last show, the NATIONAL WESTERN STOCK SHOW AND RODEO, in Denver Colorado.

Saturday January 23rd, around four p.m. was one of our busiest times of the day.  The rodeo had just started and Kelly, Donna and myself were swamped with customers.  I looked up in time to see Angie Que, the commercial exhibits manager, and her assistant in front of our booth.  This is not always a good sign!  My first thought was, ‘Oh my gosh, now what have I done’.  They patiently waited until I finished with the customers. When I finally got a break I greeted them and asked ‘What can I do for you ladies today’.  Much to my surprise they proceeded to present me with the BLUE RIBBON for Mr. Congeniality!!!  Later in my conversation with Angie and her assistant I asked, ‘How I was chosen for this prestigious and surprising award’? Their reply was, ‘ We selected you because you have the biggest line of Bull Shit in the whole show!’.

Meet Mr. Congenality

I am quite honored by the award and will do my best to keep the Bull Shit going day by day.”  While I would like to say this would take some effort on my part, it doesn’t.  It’s just one of those natural abilities!”

Just to add a note to this story, I have to say that I have know Craig for a very long time and other than my husband, Jim Thompson, I have never known anyone that could spin a yarn quite like Craig Kime.  It amazes me that either one of them can carry these story’s (based in fact) out  while they design the wire  jewelry items they are well known for.

I personally want to thank the Denver Stock Show Commercial Exhibits manager and her staff for recognizing Craigs unique and well defined talent for stretching a story.

Janyce

Craig Kime Receives Award for Mr Congenality

Women and Horses Expo 2009

The Second Annual Women & Horses Expo was held November 6-8, 2009 at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, OK. The event is geared towards women involved in the horse industry whether they are first time horse owners, long time horse owners, professional horse women, horse enthusiasts or horse related business owners.

The Women & Horses Expo TM featured educational seminars, workshops and demonstrations with horsewomen in mind. Some of the top horsewomen in the industry spoke and shared their knowledge and expertise in their field. A number of vendors, both local and national, displayed their products and services at the trade show.

Vendors are a vital part of any expo, a fact that Dog and Pony Productions realizes.They created an attractive and functional vendor area that was very inviting and accessible to all who attended the show. There were many gift ideas available and the wire was flowing freely as Jim Thompson of Wire Works Custom Jewelry designed several unique pieces of wearable art for the horsewomen and visitors alike.

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