Love and Dreams

Now, the wild white horses play, Champ and chafe and toss in the spray.

— Matthew Arnold

Each year three to four hundred captured wild horses are shipped to the Hutchinson Correctional Facility in Wichita, Kansas, to become part of the Kansas Wild Horse Program. At the prison the inmates gentle the horses and prepare them to be adopted into homes. The horses learn to load into and unload from trailers. They learn to climb up hills and calmly back down and to step over and around obstacles. According to "Paroled Horse: The Kansas Wild Horse Program Gives Inmates and Mustangs a Second Chance" by Denise Parsons, "An inmate must achieve the highest level of good behavior and trust by the warden before being allowed to take part in the program."

The training program provides inmates with the opportunity to have responsibility for another being and to feel pride in their accomplishments. The men have to qualify for the program and be minimum security risks. They ride the horses at Sand Hills State Park, not at the prison. Neither horses nor prisoners have ever tried to escape.

This program uses prisoners as trainers and companions for animals who need a friend. Its success gives hope to the inmates and to the horses because the power of love and friendship opens up a world of freedom for all of them.

As herd animals, horses form natural friendships with other horses and with humans who become like their herd. When pastured together, horses pair off with compatible horses. Claire Albinson writes in the book In Harmony with Your Horse: How to Build a Lasting Relationship, "During the ritual of mutual grooming, the heartbeat of both horses will drop as they become more relaxed. Horses will eventually mutually groom with all the members of their group, thus reinforcing the bond between the whole group ... These friendships are very important to the horses, and they will display a strong desire to be reunited with their 'friend,' if they are separated, by calling loudly and by showing agitation."

Because horses don't live inside homes with people and curl up on their laps like cats, the relationships between humans and horses are unlike those with any other domesticated animal. Horses must be loved at a distance until they let you into their hearts with the acknowledgment that you are a nice person after all, maybe even a friend.

Humans experience unique forms of companionship with horses. A rider's skin touches a horse's skin, feeling the ripple of muscle, hearing for hours at a time the symphony of breaths, snorts, whinnies, and hooves striking the ground. The pungent scent of horse sweat and the sight of a mane whipping in the wind like a flag add to the sensory delight of the bonding between horse and human. The memory of ancient times and past pacts provides visceral, sensual interactions that humans have with no other creatures on this earth.

This chapter illustrates the hope that horses bring for finding love and the part they play in making dreams come true. It shows that love arrives disguised in many forms and through a variety of experiences.

Listen, now, as the love songs that horses and people sing to each other bring hope and divine messages.

* * *

Emily's Song

Kevin Schwaderer
Edon, Ohio

The teachers at our small school knew little about Emily. She seemed to be another forgotten foster child enrolled in our special-needs school in central Ohio. Her birth parents had come to our town at some time in the past. After some legal issues, Emily and her younger brother had been made wards of the court and placed with foster parents. The birth parents had promptly disappeared, seemingly into thin air.

When I met Emily she was a thin, withdrawn eight-year-old with a pale complexion and stringy blond hair. Her posture and demeanor spoke of much abuse and neglect. She couldn't allow anyone to be close to her and would seek out the farthest point in any room, away from other people. Emily never spoke, and other children left her alone. Her eyes conveyed that social isolation was just fine with her.

Emily's only companion was a small stuffed pony of threadbare plaid fabric, which had seen many better years. She treated it not so much as a toy but as her contemporary, holding in-depth, telepathic conversations with the toy pony for hours on end. Its straggly mane and empty spots where button eyes should have been made it a perfect candidate for either extensive repairs or a replacement, but Emily would have none of that. Several people tried to take the stuffed pony from Emily long enough to either clean or refurbish it, but she greeted these efforts with wails of anguish. Her moments of separation from the stuffed pony so upset her that it would take the rest of the day for Emily's sobbing to be relieved.

Social workers and psychologists worked with Emily for many weeks, trying to determine the exact course that they should take to help her. Emily's younger brother acted ostensibly normal. His characteristic good attitude presented a stark contrast to Emily's reclusive and closed life.

"Autism," said one knowledgeable professional.

"Withdrawal or anxiety syndrome, at the very least," said another.

Whatever her diagnosis, Emily's symptoms told us that her world was not a pretty one.

Such was her life until the day of the farm trip.

That day the plan was to take Emily's class to the Valley Farm for the afternoon. Our numbers totaled twenty-one children, all with varying forms of special needs. The children were excited at having a day off from regular school, basking in the bright fall sun, enjoying a picnic and a trip in the bus.

The bus ride to the farm was uneventful. Teachers and their aides busily scooted about, checking up on their charges. Most of the children took catnaps, as the drone of the bus almost immediately lulled them to sleep. Emily, as usual, had positioned herself as far away from others as possible. She sat in the left rear corner of that long, yellow bus with, of course, her only companion, the unnamed stuffed pony.

In the late eighties, most people didn't give a lot of thought to the physically challenged, and most buildings and homes made no specific accommodations. The farm we were visiting was ahead of its time. It had ramps, slides, and several special sets of stairs for adults or children with poor motor skills. It even had properly equipped restrooms.

The farm's animals were kept in a large, open setting that allowed visitors to intermingle easily with them. There were goats, puppies, and kittens in abundance and even a variety of small, sweet-natured piglets. Throw in a very tame milk cow, and we had all that a trip to the farm should be. Except at this farm, there were also the horses. And what an attraction to the children they were!

Two older, stabled quarter horses provided rides or lessons for children who could ride. For those who could not ride, there were the...