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The pair had traveled to our ranch un-announced with the hope of simply petting the soft muzzles of my "angels in horse-hair". Even though the ranch was alive with children, Adam stood apart, completely alone, a tiny brown-eyed lamb lost in his own skin.
I smiled. Then I knelt down and quietly asked him if he'd ever ridden a horse before. Adam stared at the ground and silently shook his head. "Would you like to?" I asked. His little head snapped up, and he looked me directly in the eyes with more than a little disbelief. I smiled again. "We have a pony for you," I told him. "A very special pony that would like to meet you."
Brokenness
"Really?" he asked, with more emotion than I'm sure anyone had seen in awhile. He looked at his caseworker and then back at me. I told him where the halters were and pointed back behind the arena to where the golden pony, Hobbs, lived. Adam flashed us a little grin and took off running.
I was horrified! His grin revealed a mouth full of broken teeth. He ran on ahead of us. I could feel my neck prickle before I turned to his counselor and quietly asked, "Is that what I think it is?"
It took her a long moment to answer. When she did, her voice was choked by the grip of anger and compassion. "It's so much worse than you could imagine," she finally stated. "Adam's dad has broken most of his son's teeth with his fists. And before he went to prison, he'd get drunk and make his son run around the yard while he shot at him with a rifle!"
We walked on in silence. Both of us watched Adam enter the pony's paddock and begin stroking his face. "It's a miracle he's still alive," she finally said.
Adam and Hobbs
Together, Adam and I led the pony back to the hitching post and went through the grooming and tacking process. I held Hobbs' hooves and Adam cleaned them. I lifted the saddle into place, and he cinched up the girth. Then it was time to put on the bridle. I showed the little boy where his hands and fingers should be, how to hold his arms and where he should stand. Then I placed his hands so that they gripped the bridle in the right way and gently moved him toward the pony's left shoulder. It was up to him now. Silently I stepped back and watched.
Adam stood quietly for a moment, as if taking in all that he had just learned. And suddenly, Hobbs did something I've never seen any horse do before or since. As the child stood by the pony's shoulder, Hobbs reached around with his head and neck and pressed Adam into his body. The pony held him so tightly in the curve of his neck that Adam couldn't even raise his arms.
A Four-Footed Friend
For long moments the pony stayed that way, encircling Adam's tiny body with his neck. What was Hobbs doing? I could think of only one thing to say. The words all came out in a rush. "I think this pony is giving you a hug!"
Adam's huge, startled eyes moved in pinball fashion as he tried to process what was happening.
"I've never seen him do that to anyone else," I added. "You must be very special."
Adam's face began to relax with my reassurance. Slowly he wriggled his right arm out and began to hug the pony back. For a brief moment, this battered child was allowed to be nothing more than a little boy who was loved by a pony. Adam's head slowly dropped until it rested against Hobbs' neck. Like a whispered prayer, more to himself than to anyone else, he began saying over and over, "He likes me ... he likes me ... he likes me."
It was several minutes before Hobbs relaxed his grip on the child. Adam, seemingly so overwhelmed that anything on this earth would choose to love him, clung tightly to the pony with both arms, pressing his face into Hobbs' golden body.
Moments passed and the boy's hug melted into long strokes on both sides of the pony's neck. The stony tomb that had once imprisoned Adam's heart began to crumble under newfound love. Finally, he looked up and smiled. It was a radiant, jagged grin, so dazzling it was like trying to look at the sun.
With his arms still around the pony, he turned and looked up at me. "He likes me!" he said again. But this time he said it loud, with a convincing sparkle in his eyes.
I glanced toward heaven with a wink and a smile and whispered, "Thank You."
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Recreated here with permission.
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