Belle Belle Rose Farm proudly introduces the
“We Have a Heart”
World Heart Foundation Charity
On May 20, 2006 a beautiful little colt was born to the lovely Gypsy Vanner mare, Panda Rose. His sire is The Gypsy King. Bill and Wendy Ricci found it somewhat easy to name their lovely boy as he had an almost perfect black heart on his chest. Panda was a proud and loving mother to her son now known as WR Heart of The King. He romped and played in the gentle pastures at WR Ranch in Bald Rock, North Carolina. Then as foals do he played with and nibbled on Panda’s mane. When he was only a few weeks old he became very ill. Bill and Wendy were away but neighbor and friend Jim Cox came to Panda and Heart’s rescue taking them to the hospital. There it was determined that Heart had a severe colic and would require surgery. He was a brave boy and the surgery was a success! ! On his recovery he returned home with Panda but was kept close as Bill and Wendy loved him dearly and felt they had almost lost him.
Heart grew stronger and more wonderful every day. He was turning into a handsome stallion. Bill and Wendy debated about keeping him, but decided if they could find just the right home they could let him go. In the autumn of 2008 Wendy emailed Joyce Christian and asked if she still admired Heart. The answer was of course. Wendy explained they were looking for a really good home for him. Joyce knew Heart’s value and she quickly called her farm partner, Carliss Henderson to see if together they could come up with enough to purchase him. They realized that their funds were low and more than likely they would not be able to buy him. However, they came up with an amount they could offer Bill and Wendy if the opportunity presented itself. The very next day Joyce received an email from Wendy saying she and Bill would like to offer Heart to Joyce and Carliss for the exact amount they had decided they could afford!
Something magical had happened! Joyce emailed Wendy to say they would buy Heart. A few days passed and Joyce opened her email to find a message Wendy had forwarded to her. It was a message from Dr. James Cox. The message was about a webinar project and Dr. Cox was explaining how this enabled the WHF to help surgeons in distant and struggling countries learn surgery techniques. As Joyce read she wondered why she had received this email, then suddenly she saw that the message was signed by Dr. James Cox, President of The World Heart Foundation. This was the man, Bill and Wendy’s neighbor, who had saved Heart’s life! Quickly Joyce sent an email to Bill and Wendy, and Dr. Cox. It stated:
“Now I know why we have Heart. We understood he was a gift because of the way he came to Carliss and me. It is clear what we must do with him. We want to start a charity with Heart as the center. Funds will be generated by a percentage of the sale of all his stud fees and a percentage of all his foals sold. Donations and fund raisers will be conducted. The funds will be used to provide medical care and/or surgery for children with heart problems who otherwise could not afford it.”
“WR Heart of The King” is a survivor. He survived so that he could help others do the same. Please take a moment to consider the different ways you could contribute to this effort:
1. Personal tax deductible donation
2. Consider breeding your Gypsy Vanner Mare to Heart; 25% of that stud fee goes to the charity; also should you choose to sale the resulting foal 25% of the sale of that foal goes to the charity
3. Consider purchasing a Heart foal, 25% of that purchase price goes to the charity.
All charity funds go directly to the World Heart Foundation
The “We Have a Heart” World Heart Foundation Charity will officially open and get underway in the Spring of 2010 with the first stud fee collected as Heart begins his career as a Gypsy Vanner Stallion.
The first breeding to Heart has been requested. We at Belle Rose Farm are happy to announce that WR Heart of The King will be bred to the lovely Gypsy Vanner Mare
Heart of Gold owned by Dorothy Cleary in Clifford, PA.
When Dorothy learned of our plans for the charity she felt it would be appropriate to breed “Heart to Heart” and to open the charity with this transaction. We simply had to agree with her.
For more information on the charity or how you can become involved, please contact Joyce Christian at Belle Rose Farm:
Email: gvbandit04@yahoo.com
Cell: 845-853-5295
WORLD HEART FOUNDATION
Advancing Humanitarian Efforts in Heart Surgery Worldwide through Education and Collaboration
Website: www.world-heart.org
All photos of WR Heart of The King are courtesy of Mark J. Barrett, his kind contribution to these efforts.
