Several years ago we found this old gelding starving in someone’s backyard in Waxahachie, TX. He stood patiently, in 100 degree heat, waiting for someone to fill his water and for food that would never come. His hooves never got trimmed. Never did he see a vet about the puncture in his eye.
Did I want to give $900 for an animal that looked like he was going to die on my trailer? No, but that’s what it took to save his life. He threw himself in the trailer before we could barely get the door open. I felt him fall down several times on the way home.
When we got home, I expected him to be dead in my trailer, or at least be down, unable to get up. But, when I opened the door, there he was, looking at me with his big soulful eyes. His rickety body seemed to sway as he tried to drag me down the hill to the barn and set up shop in his new home.
A few days later, after I fed breakfast, I was kneeling down cleaning water troughs. I remember thinking about the woman who had done all this to him as I was furiously scrubbing away. Suddenly, I could feel whiskers on the back of my neck. I looked up and there he was, staring down at me. Just staring. He wasn’t asking for treats, to be pet or for anything really, just my attention for a moment.
He stood there looking at me as if he was trying to say something. He paused for a second then touched my face, as if to thank me. I started sobbing. My heart broke for this pathetic looking bag of bones in front of me, yet, his heart was still so full of kindness. I couldn’t wrap my mind around how such a large animal could be appreciative towards any human after someone had treated him this way.
He waited until I stopped crying, then turned and went back to his food like it was nothing.
Chaplin was laid to rest this winter. He would have been 34 next month. He was partially blind in an eye, had arthritis from an injury to his knee and lost his ability to sweat. However, he was happy every day to get to work with kids.
If there was one thing that horse taught me, it’s that everyone deserves forgiveness. Forgive but don’t forget. He had every right to distrust humans after that. However, there was never an ounce of bitterness in his heart. The weight of hate will drag you down.
