Merry Christmas Fom Sammy!

Sammy Hands, our Personal Ponies 2006 theme child, would like to wish each and every one of you a VERY Merry Christmas!!!

Casey and Courtney!

Our daughter Courtney turned 8 on August 12th and here is her photo, taken early in the morning (in her My Little Pony PJ's), holding her beloved CASEY!!! She absolutely LOVES him and takes him everywhere with her !

Just thought you might like to see one happy girl and her new pony, which Mariane THINKS might be the last Casey.....


Marie

Personal Ponies Harvest

Personal Ponies Produce Large Crop of Veggies For Area Familles

With a lot of help from the ponies (The North Branch Michigan Personal Ponies Crew) we are bringing in a bumper crop of produce these year, Just look What Goldie Pony, Tessa Marie, Mary Beth and I, Mary K., Picked today!

This Bushel and a Peck was taken to North Branch Food Bank to help fill the bags and boxes that the dear ladies at the
(North Branch Thrift Shop) fill each and every week for the area's familles in need of a little help.

The ponies are always busy doing their part and even like to help harvest. You could just tell that Goldie knew just what she was doing and was so pleased with today's pick that she hauled with her little borrowed goat cart out of the garden with out spilling one bean!

Mary K.

Hawaii Comes To PPL!

Just returned from a FABULOUS vacation in Hawaii!!!! Sugar Lips was NOT HAPPY she didn't get to tag along, but quickly forgave me, the second she slipped into her newest outfit! Doesn't she look wonderful!!!? Sammy, our PPL 2006 Theme Child, joined Sugar this morning for their own little Hula dance!

Sandra

Canada Magic!

I recently received the most beautiful gift I've been given in a long time!! When people ask me "Why would you just GIVE AWAY PONIES"? Check out the attached pictures I received of Kali and Daisy. Kali will be 4 in August and is dealing with end stage cancer. She is the first recipient of some Canadian Pony Magic ........
Lois

Can You Find The Foal?

Patty

A Wonderful Speech By A Young Volunteer

A wonderful speech young volunteer wrote....she was bat mitzvahed and did her volunteer hours with us.(bat mitzvah is when a jewish child turns 13 they read from the torah to symbolize becoming adult.)

She read this for her speech.

Denise

My mitzvah project is for a national organization called Personal Ponies. Personal Ponies breeds Shetland ponies and lends them to children with disabilities for free. My job was to get the ponies ready for their new social life by feeding, grooming, and cleaning up after the ponies, as well as teaching them to be comfortable with other people. I did this by petting them, walking them on a lead, learning each pony’s personality and getting them accustomed to loud noises and sudden movements. I think my mitzvah project relates to my haftarah because just like Samson was born to help the needy, my volunteer work will help needy kids. I know what it’s like to have an animal to care for, because this year we got a new dog, a whippet named Carly. I love to snuggle her, and she helps me burn off energy when I am excited by playing with me and she helps me relax by cuddling with me.

Everyone who works for Personal Ponies is a volunteer. For example, the woman who owns and breeds the ponies I worked with, Denise Chasin, cares for the ponies herself and pays for everything, even though they are expensive and require a lot of time and effort. By working there, I felt like I became part of the family that is Personal Ponies. We stick together through good times and bad times. One happy event is about to happen: one of the ponies is pregnant and will soon have a baby, and I will get to hold and cuddle the baby pony, to get it used to being touched. But sometimes, bad things happen: one of the ponies the Chasins were hoping to breed cannot become a mother because she was found to have an underbite. The Chasins will still care for the pony, but she can’t be a mother. I would like to thank the Chasins for letting me participate in this worthy program and look forward to spending a lot of time there this summer.

Personal Ponies - Delaware

This photo was just too cute to keep to myself....I had to share it with everyone. We really are having a wonderful time sharing our new foal with everyone. Glory seems to be quite a "show off" and very much enjoys being around people - as you can see!

Patty

Kathy gets her boys!!!

I'm absolutely THRILLED to announce the arrival of Donovan and Delaney to the Tripp family, of Georgia! Kathy has Cerebral Palsy and is deaf. I'm POSITIVE she's communicating just fine with her new special friends despite her lack of expressive language! I'd like to thank Donna Blood for transporting the two boys, along with her new placement Misty Star, and making a little girls dreams come true! No longer will Kathy have to watch her sisters enjoying their horses from the other side of a fence. As you can see, Kathy got RIGHT IN THERE! NOTHING is stopping her now!!!

Sandra

100% Sugar and Sami

This is Sami during her 3rd pony visit. Sami has Downs Syndrome. The first visit she was petrified, and barely able to make any physical contact with the ponies. The second visit, she played "Peek-a-Boo" with the ponies and let me tickle her fingers with some mane! Her 3rd visit is captured in photos added here. That very same little girl helped wash Cookie face, took him for a walk around the property and then sat down in the stall with a resting "Oopsie Daisy" and inspected every inch of her! How's that for magic!!!!!?

Oopsie Daisy is 100% SUGAR!!!!!

Sandra

A Pony For All Ages

Late last night I printed a special picture! I framed it...wrapped it in a gift bag, and placed it in my son Jacobs backpack for him to take to school this morning. Inside the bag there's a card that reads..."Wish you could have been there to see the ponies making magic! Your sweet mom STILL finds pleasure out of life!" You see...the Senior Rest Facility we visit every month is the "home" of "Miss Barbara's" mom. (Totally by coincidence!) "Miss Barbara" is Jacob's speech pathologist at school. She's been working with him since he was a little tot and had no speech! We've been visiting this facility now for 4 months or so. Each time, "Florence" had not attended. I asked Miss Barbara to request that next time her mom be wheeled out to participate. Her response was.."I'll ask. but these days she doesn't get pleasure out of very much." Yesterday...there she was waiting with the rest of the residents in her wheelchair as we unloaded the ponies! We proved them all wrong!!! Look at the expression of her face!!! She even made up a nickname for Sugar lips..."Baby Girl"!!!!! Alzheimer's and all, I don't think they'll let her miss another pony visit from "Baby Girl" again!!!!

Sandra

An eBay Celebrity Chooses PPL for a New Auction!

SierraFaith, Famous eBay Celeb has chosen PPL for her latest auction. Please visit and put it on watch. With just a few mouse clicks you can help her support PPL. Thank you!
Title above is a direct link to the auction.

Kenny Chesney Rocks on eBay in Support of PPL!

Title above is link directly to auction. Please put us on watch. With just a few mouse clicks you can support PPL. Thank you!

So hard to say "Goodbye"

I met Bianca when our ponies first arrived and we were having a "Breakfast With The Ponies" in the park event for the community. It was announced in the newspaper, and that is how Bianca's mother first found us. It was a special day for Bianca. Not only did she meet her wonderful pony friends, but it was her birthday! Her mother told me that the newspaper announcing the pony breakfast was a birthday gift from heaven to Bianca!!!! Tuesday, Bianca's family moved from Florida to Connecticut. Before they left, a stop at the barn was in order!

Many farewell hugs and kisses of course!

And then my gift... A small box with an angel inside! Bianca hugged me and said..."You have been my Angel of Healing...Thank you! I will never forget you!" Sure enough, on the bottom of the Angel it reads...

The real "Angels of Healing" are the Personal Ponies!!! Bianca will always hold a special place in my heart...as will her angel. The Angel now sits on a post at the farm, that encloses a memorial garden for the charity "Tomorrow's Rainbow". (Equine Assisted Psychotherapy for children that are grieving the loss of a parent, sibling or close friend)
Tomorrow's Rainbow
Having the privilege to know Bianca, was my real gift!

Giant Hugs To Everyone For Mother's Day!

Photo Courtesy of Brandy in California

Do Personal Ponies REALLY make a difference in the lives of differently able children?

By Sandra Seiden








You Bet!!!

I Watched

By Tammy Junker

I watched miracles happen yesterday without actually being witness to the one I've waited for so long for. I watched as I met two very special ponies sent to the Illinois PPL program by Annie Norvelle out of love and dedication and brought to me through a series of hands. I watched as they were so carefully loaded onto the trailer I was pulling with the loan of a pickup from my brother and I watched as we pulled out onto a busy street and began another leg of the journey that would bring them closer to their next destination. I watched as we headed north and my cell phone rang with the news that CJ was beginning to foal. Through the instant panic and feeling of no control of the situation I watched as a network of friends and family went into action to make her more comfortable and to help bring a new life into this world. I watched and realized that I didn't need to be right there in that stall, that I had another task just as important to do. During all the calls and spoken directions to the willing hands of my wonderful niece Lauren and her boyfriend Dennis I watched as the results of a lifetime of caring and love were given back to me tenfold. Through phone calls to and from Annie, Joy, Melissa, Jana and Natalie I watched as the circle of friends that had widened over the past few weeks broadened into a shared love that brought me to my knees and filled my heart with a joy that is rare and ever so precious. I watched as I cursed my stupidity for overlooking that gas gauge that would allow me to bring the girls to safety at our home and not leave us stranded by the wayside. I watched as I became calm inside and asked for another miracle - just a couple of more miles, just a couple of more miles - to fill the greedy tank and that miracle was also granted. When I pulled into the drive at home, I took a moment to watch all of the family and friends sharing a miracle started almost a year ago and then I stepped into that welcoming circle and I watched again as I approached the stall to see the miracle that brought us all together. I watched as CJ heard my step and realized I was there and I watched as her eyes grew soft upon me seeing baby Frankie for the first time. Other eyes watched as I welcomed him to our world. I watched and I learned yesterday that every day the true miracle of our daily life is the friends we bring into our circles of lives and . . . I gave thanks for all of you.

Tammy