Meet Elmer's Gypsy Rose. Elmer belongs to Ubet Racing and can be seen at Penn National racing her little heart out. Below are the two Jasons who make up Ubet Racing: Jason Eisenhower (aka Ike) and my friend Jason Batz. 
Kylie has been into horses for some time. In fact Christmas shopping involved a lot of searching for horses, dolls who ride horses, books about horses, and puzzles depicting horses! Gwen has suddenly developed an interest in horses too. Kera mentioned taking her to Penn National when the weather is better to see Jason's horse run. I asked Jason if we could take the girls to the barn at the track to see Elmer. As it turned out, Elmer and a yearling simply called "Baby" were at a farm outside Lebanon.
We found a date/time that worked for everyone, loaded up the van, and headed to the farm. The girls had plenty of carrots and when Gypsy and Baby ween't interested in that, there was plenty of hay to keep them interested in eating.
The girls were very brave about feeding the horses and petting them. They learned to keep their hands flat so the horses could nuzzle their palms to grab the little carrot nuggets. They giggled about feeling the horses whiskers tickling their palms.
They each got a handful of oats mixed with molasses and who knows what else and had the opportunity to feed the horses something they really wanted to eat. The fact that their hands were left sticky didn't seem to bother them as they used a little hay to wipe off the worst of it.
After this great experience, the girls love horses even more than they did going into this adventure. For Grandma, the day just doesn't get any better than having the opportunity to snuggle up to these two little girls. 
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