Dog and Pony Show: Hoof & Woof Walk Benefits Burbank Police

Hi, it's me, Heidi, to tell you about an event on Saturday morning I think you would ike to go to.  It is not my event, but since it is for dogs I have decided it would be OK for me to invite you.  That’s also why I am writing the column this week even though it is Diane’s turn. She is not a dog — although I think if she tried hard she could be very good at it.

Guess what , this party is not just for dogs, it’s for horses too!  Diane is not a horse either so that won’t help her, but maybe you know a horse or are one yourself. OK, now that we’re already into the second paragraph it is time to tell you what I am writing about:  The First Annual Hoof and Woof Walk, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank. In case you don't know an Equester is a horse. This is the very first event  ever held by the new Burbank Police Foundation.

That’s funny isn’t it, Hoof & Woof? I laughed a lot when I finally got the joke about us barking plus the horses’ weird hard feet with no toes.  I’ll bet a lot of dogs laugh when they ride by the Equestrian Center in cars with their peoples and see the sign through the back window. I am not sure if horses think it’s funny, too. You just never can tell with horses.

I know that because I met real horses doing this story! Once I saw one in a Studio City Holiday Parade but it was my first time up close.  I got out of the car near the Equestrian Center and boy did it smell funny!  I started to sniff everything around me.  Then since it was a very hot day Diane walked me on the grass, not the sidewalk, into the Equestrian Center on Riverside Drive.  Know why we went in? To look for horses so I could find out what they are.

We walked and walked and then suddenly, behind a white fence, there they were! Two horses.  They were very big  and tall with skinny legs and they had peoples sitting on top of them.  I don’t know how the peoples got up there or how they would get down so they are probably still up there.  These were nice women peoples who said how pretty I was and how much they like my big ears because they are like horses’ ears. OK after that I liked the horses whether they laugh or not.

And guess what, at this Equestrian Center had these little black and white dogs that run around with horses just to keep them company.  I think that would be fun but I did not get invited into the ring. I think it is because they knew I would round the horses up and not let them go anywhere until they laughed at my jokes. I am a herding dog and that’s what we do.

So the most interesting thing about this story is what happened to me, but maybe you would also like to know what Diane found out about the Hoof & Woof Walk when she talked on the phone to Mr. Michael Hastings, a Burbank businesspeoples who is president of the Burbank Police Foundation.  He was also mayor of Burbank once which I think means he had his own late night television show.  Also it is a good idea to laugh at his jokes. Anyway he has been helping the Burbank police for a long time and now there is this organization that makes it all official. They will have all kinds of helping events coming up so keep watching for them if you care about your policepeoples.

The Hoof & Woof (I still can’t stop laughing some) will benefit the Burbank Police Department’s Mounted and K-9 Units. That’s another thing I didn’t know before, some horses and dogs are also police officers.  That is the greatest thing ever!  I’ll bet you have to  say to them: “Sit, Officer! “ or ”Whoa, Officer!”  I think I could do this job because I keep my whole neighborhood safe when I go out on my walks.  I keep my nose to the ground.

Mr. Former Mayor Hastings says that the dogs will do their walk inside the 3500-seat Equidome and the horses will do two loops around the whole Equestrian Center, which is very big with riding trails.  So although I believe Mr. Hastings when he says we’re all in this together, technically woof will be in one place and hoof will be in another.  Us inside, them outside.

And because on Saturday in Burbank the temperature is supposed to be 101 degrees — or maybe 67 or even a million — I hope our horse friends don’t get hot on their trail! That’s a funny police detective joke that I wrote all by myself just now.