Beyond the Dog Dish: Zoo and Farm Animals

Showing posts with label Zoo and Farm Animals. Show all posts

Polo For Heart 2013

Once again this year we took in the Polo for Heart hosted at the Toronto Polo Club. - June 14-16, 2013

Those lucky enough to have a "Power of the Blue" aka Bank of Montreal card to flash, got VIP parking - that meant they got to walk less than I did.

So much rain in the Toronto area during the month of June! The wet fields were a disappointment on Friday.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/misskodee/9078384811/

2013 marks the 34th year of games and this years proceeds are going towards The Heart & Stroke Foundations Stroke Recovery Centre as well as contributing towards a new MRI machine for Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket.

Sadly the weeks heavy rain meant, the players needed to slow down and also use an indoor ball.

Wet and slipper lawns do not make conditions very friendly for galloping horses.

Naturally my eye got a little distracted by the dogs in attendance!

The very few that attended were perfectly behaved. I opted to leave Kodee and Becky at home because I'm pretty sure they would have made spectacles out of themselves barking at the polo horses. At the very least, Becky would think for sure the ball was her's!

International Polo Players traveled far and wide from Argentina, United States, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Canada.

My pick for my Weekly Top Shot!
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Adding to my

100 Dog Strangers Series

The Canine version of "100 Strangers".

A photographic record of all the wonderful dogs I meet in my travels.

Began in 2012 and ending... TBD.

Participating in: Sunday In My City, Camera Critters and 100 Dog Strangers .

Hanging With the Wild Ones

Cheetahs have sharp, keen eyesight searching the grass for prey.

A Cheetah can run 100 meters in 4.59 minutes - that is about 40% faster than the Olympic record.

There are only about 7,000 - 10,000 of these beautiful cats left.

The Toronto Zoo has 3 new, young White Lion cubs. The male is called Fintan, which means “little fair one,”. The two females are called Lemon and Makali, which means “daring.”

White Lions are very rare and none are living in the wild.

The rare genetic marker that makes the White Lion unique has yet to be identified.

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We splurged for an Annual Pass to the Toronto Zoo. I love how we now can go on a moments notice and not feel pressured to stay a long time to get our monies worth. The hope is to collect our own photographs of our favorite animals and create our own coffee table book. I am looking forward to seeing the Toronto Zoo in all four seasons as we usually just go in the summer.

Today I am participating at: Outdoor Wednesday, and Camera Critters

Polo For Heart 2012

Yellow

[Photo A Day June Prompt For "30 Things About Me" Series]

It appears to be my month for horses - fine by me! This weekend I attended the annual fundraising event "Polo For Hearts" with a local group of 20 photographers. A great event for a great cause. Everyone was dressed up (well except rebel me), there was a hat contest complete with the background music from "Pretty Woman", loads of shopping (score a new purse!) and the weather couldn't have been more perfect.

Fact 15 About Me

I was a little pressed to keep focused on the game or the task of photographing at this event! Reason being - it was such a fun event to just sit back and watch the game, enjoy the skydivers, and well SHOP. Why yes I did score a new purse! Shopping and horses and cameras - my kind of day!

All Eight Hooves In Flight!

Always Keep Your Eye On the Sky

EEKS! Watch Out For the Other Horse!

Scored!

My husband rolled his eyes and stared at me when he saw this. Not a clue what he is thinking...

Sharing with:
Photo A Day June, and Your Sunday Best

Off to the Horse Races

Best Bit Of Your Weekend
[Photo A Day June Prompt For "30 Things About Me" Series]

What a weekend! Woofstock Saturday and Horse Racing Sunday! They were neck in neck for a bit but on the long stretch, the horses won out as the best photo (and fun) of the weekend! I really love the dirt flying and can just feel the hooves pounding the ground in my favourite photo of the week.

Fact 10 About Me
I used to compete in Equestian Hunter competitions. One of my horses was a chestnut thoroughbred mare named "Gossip" very similar to this beauty. I know my new interest in training Becky in Rally draws on my past experience as a rider and showing my horses. Both require a patience, understanding of animal behaviour and most important, the desire to work as a team.

Getting Ready For the Big Race

Pre-Race Jitters!

Chomping At the Bit

And There Off!

Working Hard Right To the Finish Line.

It Will Be Close!

Heading To The Winners Circle!

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Sharing with:
Photo A Day June, Camera Critters and Your Sunday Best

Stomp'n Through the Zoo!

Zoo animals are ambassadors for their cousins in the wild ~ Jack Hanna

So all winter I whined over the cold weather. Can you believe I had the gull to whine over the unusually warm weather earlier last week? If you hadn't guessed yet, I am a woman :) However the last 3 days of the week turned out to be the best weather days for me! I am a person who likes sunshine, summer clothes but a nice cool breeze; and that is just what I got. So Thursday I headed out to the Toronto Zoo as it a perfect day for a long hike. Cooler weather also means more wakeful animals and I am really pleased with a few photos.

Well except this these two sleepy heads.

Every time I go to the Zoo I learn a new fact on another animal. This time I learned that girl giraffes have tuffs of hair on top of their head and boy giraffes are bald. Fits with my experience on a few of my friends...

No Hair Means It's a Boy!

The other fact I learned is probably logical to everyone but me! I didn't know the snow leopard is the only animal at the Toronto Zoo with an air-conditioned den. For some reason I would have thought the polar bears would have had one too.

A very vocal Snow Leopard Today!

So you see! There's no end to the things you might know.
Depending how far beyond Zebra you go ~ Dr. Seuss

Not a Friend Insight For This Little Guy

The main attraction of the day was the Endangered African Penguin. Seriously the cutest new addition to the Toronto Zoo in a long time. These guys are small, black and white playful animals.

[Toronto Zoo African Penguin Fact Sheet]

At the end of the day the choice was made. This year we are going to get an annual family membership. It's such a great location to go and work off a few miles in an enjoyable atmosphere, a camera buffs dream and only a short drive from our house.