World Arabian Horse Conference,  Australia 2000

Another memorable Conference was held! This year the WAHO Conference was held in Queensland (Gold Coast) Australia. Jackie, John, Susan, Jennifer and I (all Polks!) flew to the beautiful country of Australia to meet up with great old friends - and wonderful new friends of the special Arabian horse breed. The WAHO Meetings are a very positive look in to the various countries around the World. At the beginning of each WAHO Conference, President Jay Stream reminds all of us, Delegates and Observers, that we are all together here for one reason. The reason is our universal love for THE ARABIAN HORSE. There are meeting times to discuss each countries interest in Arabian Horses, but most important to Jay Stream is the breaks in between the meetings, the lunches, and elegant dinners, so that we can all meet each other and talk about our great Arabian horses from all over the World. By the end of the Conference, we had listened to the interesting meetings, rode in a riverboat together while watching and cheering the exciting Australian "Melbourne Cup" horse race, went to Sea World and had dinner and watched amazing fireworks (the finale was a beautiful white horse lit up welcoming WAHO to Australia!), and rode in buses to Brisbane for a special showing of lovely and diversified Australian Arabian horses. The last night of the Conference was the Gala Ball. This was the most elegant night! I will never forget all of the happy countries together having a wonderful evening. Jay Stream was presented a beautiful cake with large candles and a white Arabian horse on top, celebrating WAHO's 30th Anniversary. Jay said he hopes to see everyone in Istanbul, Turkey, for the Conference in 2002! The evening ended with the countries dancing happily together and many toasts to Arabian horses around the World. Thank you WAHO for the memories.

The night we returned home from Australia, the American moon outside over our pasture of white mares looked so beautiful. The moon was a huge bright orange color. This is called the "Harvest Moon". I couldn't wait to see my father Paul when we returned home to tell him of all the stories and how Jay Stream told me to give Paul a hug for him, but he was out late into the night harvesting beans for neighbors. I could feel the crisp night air and felt happy to know that he had our love, and that he had the Harvest Moon with him.