An Imperfect Horse

Spirit is a wonderful young Colonial Spanish horse. He lives deep in North Carolina many miles from our horse lot. It is amazing how much he looks like Emma's horse, Ice, but they are not related. He is beautiful. He is athletic. He is affectionate. He is loved.

And he is deaf.

He is no more bothered by the fact that other horses hear that which he cannot than I am bothered by the fact that blood hounds smell that which I cannot smell. He is not in pain. He does not need pity. He does not even need sympathy. He needs only that which every other horse needs--sunlight, water, grass, air, and room for movement.

Put your check book away. You do not have enough money to persuade his owner to part with him. He is a special horse, but he is not a "special" horse. He is special in the sense that every horse deserves to be special.

There is no reason that he cannot be trained to become a horse that is perfect for his owner. He can be trained to jump. He can be trained to do dressage. He can be trained to ride gentle trails and he can be trained to ride grueling endurance treks. He can be trained to work cattle and he can be trained to teach children.

Those who waste their lives constantly looking for the perfectly built horse, the perfectly trained horse, and the perfectly bred horse are as blind to his potential as he is deaf to their pretensions. He gets the best of that deal. They cannot see his soul and he does not have to hear their scoffing.

Had Lido been a horse, he would have been a perfectly imperfect horse. Ill conformed and ill trained, he would have been discarded by all those who seek the perfect horse. Yet as imperfect as he was, with only one fully functioning arm and one fully functioning leg, he drove himself until he could run five miles faster than most high school track stars. He could unload a truck load of hay or feed without the help of another person or even the use of a wheel barrow. For years he was the first person to mount the wild horses that he and I trained and he was always the first person to remount a wild horse that had just thrown him sky high.

As Lido showed through out his brief life, true ability is that which is demonstrated, not that which is perceived. As Spirit has shown in his brief life, love is that which is felt, not that which is heard.