“Thank you from me, Rowdy and his herd.”

When you work with horses, especially those with special needs, there are moments that take you breath away and bring you to tears. Some of them are moments you thought might never happen, no matter how much you hung in there and hoped.

I would have probably never said it to anyone, or even to myself, but I guess I wondered if Rowdy would ever turn the corner. When Rowdy came to live with me, he had been a stallion for seven years, passed from owner to owner. Deprived of any contact with other horses and without proper training, he had earned his name and then some. Aggressive, even vicious, with people and animals, Rowdy had almost met the fate of too many stallions…total isolation and rejection.   

After more than a year of training him at liberty and with a great deal of consistency, patience (and learning to avoid teeth and hooves), Rowdy and I had become friends. We had no fear of each other and he had learned the manners that needed to go along with his new found sense of safety. Yet…he still had been kept at a safe distance from the two geldings in a nearby pasture.

Something told me he was ready and I let him in with the herd. There was the usual "who's in charge" antics, but amazingly nothing serious. I ran him off a few times when he showed too much aggression, especially to the youngsters. But, I finally decided they were in no real danger and left them alone.

The next day, I looked out the window and what I saw was one of those "moments." The geldings were resting on the ground and there was Rowdy standing guard with his beautiful flaxen mane and tale blowing in the Oklahoma wind. He was what nature had meant him to be…proud, strong and protective without having to be a bully. They trusted him enough to sleep under his watchful eye.   

Franklin, there is no doubt that without the lessons you taught me, that moment would never have happened. Perhaps in the large scheme of things it is not a major event, but it was a victory for trust, respect and love.

Thank you from me, Rowdy and his herd.