Ak2046
From AlexBrownRacing
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Bio
Welcome my Wiki Page!
My name is Anne McLeod Koletzke, and I've started this Wiki page so that I can, when needed, do some fund raising for GEVA (Glen Ellen Vocational Academy), Pam Berg's horse rescue in Glen Ellen, CA. GEVA has its own Wiki page on ABR if you want to learn more about what goes on there, and if you want to learn even more, there's a website: www.glenellenfarms.com/geva. Fittingly, I first learned of GEVA here--well, it was Tim Wooley Racing then--where I read that Harry Aleo had requested people to make donations to GEVA in memory of his great horse, Lost in the Fog. Long a proponent of acting locally while thinking globally, I was thrilled to discover there was a horse rescue in my back yard (I live on the San Francisco Peninsula). I must have babbled away about this a lot to my eternally patient husband, who neither knows nor cares anything about horses, because that year (2006) for Christmas, he dropped a very big hint to his mother that a gift to GEVA would be a gift to me, and she followed through. Nice.
I don’t remember when my passion for horses started, or where it came from; certainly neither of my parents had ever had anything to do with horses. I grew up in Southern Illinois, Carbondale to be precise, as my father was head of the Theatre Department at the University there (Southern Illinois University). I started taking riding lessons at a local stable when I was around 11, and when I was 13 Mom bought me my favorite horse at the stable, Taffy, who was a palomino American Saddlebred. I always liked being as close physically to her as possible, so I rode with an English saddle (and I'd had all those riding lessons!), but mostly I rode bareback. I don't remember falling off any more than my friends, who all rode Western, but maybe I did. I'm 63 now, so it was a long time ago.
Also at that teen-age time, I used to follow the races a bit just because the horses were so beautiful. I distinctly remember putting newspaper photos and articles about Nashua and Swaps into a scrapbook--Nashua on one page, Swaps on the other. I was a Nashua fan, myself, so you can imagine what a heart-stopping moment it was when I discovered, quite by chance, that the horse at GEVA I have grown to love the most, dear Dissinger, is a great, great grandson of Nashua!
I remember looking at our old black and white TV and watching Secretariat win the Belmont by 31 lengths. And I remember looking at that same old TV and watching Ruffian break her leg. I didn't watch horse races much after that.
I had thought for a while I'd like to be a jockey, but that didn't last long, which is probably just as well for a whole host of reasons not worth going into. Then I thought I'd be a veterinarian, but everyone--everyone!--told me a woman couldn't be a veterinarian, couldn't be strong enough to deal with the big animals, and the tragedy is I believed them. So I became a dancer. There's a long story there, but suffice it to say, I eventually ended up in New York City where a little bit of talent, a whole lot of hard work, and a great deal of just being in the right place at the right time landed me in the Murray Louis Dance Company from 1970-82.
All in all, I lived in New York City for 27 years, so horses were out of my life for a long time. When we moved to the San Francisco Bay area 10 years ago, what an unexpected delight it was to discover that there were horses aplenty to admire if I just took a little drive into the countryside.
And then Barbaro broke his leg. I hadn't watched the Derby. I hadn't watched the Preakness. I don't remember how or when I got caught up in the drama that became Barbaro's life, but I did, and when I found the TWR site, there wasn't a day I didn't check in at least once, usually more often. And here I still am.
Horse experience
See above.
FOB activities
I pretty much covered this in the Bio section above. However, I would like to add that it was through this web site that I learned of the awful truck-full-of-horses accident in Missouri in 2006, and since I grew up not far from there, and the slaughter house they were headed to was in my home state of Illinois, I felt more than obliged to send the biggest donation I could as fast as I could. As I wouldn't have known about the incident if it hadn't been for this web site, I sincerely thank the FOBs for bringing the information to light, even though the information itself was almost more painful than I could bear.
I already mentioned that I discovered GEVA through this web site, for which I owe the FOBs the biggest thank you in the world. As I quit my job in June (quit or retired, it's not clear which it is just yet), I'm free to go to GEVA whenever I want, as long as it's convenient for Pam. That said, GEVA is, unfortuantely, a 2-hour drive away, so if I can get there once a week, I'm happy.
FOB Network
Other FOBs you have developed a network with through your activities.
Questions from other FOBs
This this space available for FOBs to ask you questions. Answers can then be worked into the above content if appropriate.
