Match Made In Heaven | A Nice Horse Story

By: Nancy Pugliese

I am the mother of a daughter with special needs. About 6 years ago my older daughter had been taking riding lessons for more than a year and we decided it was time to start looking to purchase a horse of her own. Her sister Toni-Anne was non-verbal at this time and petrified of the barn and the horses. She would spend the entire hour or her sisters lesson screaming. She would prefer the discomfort of bathroom accidents to entering the barn to use the facilities.

We were sitting in the car waiting for someone to bring a horse for us to try out. As this big beautiful Palomino came up the driveway Toni-Anne stopped crying, jumped out of the car and ran to this horse throwing her arms around his neck as he lowered his head to nuzzle her and they kissed. It has been a match made in heaven. Skippy has become the love of our lives. He has shown my daughter the love and patience that is unimaginable.

[private]One day they were happily trotting a course of 8 small X’s . As they finished the last one Skippy stopped. Toni-Anne just quietly slid off the side unassisted and landed on the butt. Just the little jarring caused her to have one of her many unprovoked nosebleeds. He nudged her trying to get her to stand up, cleaned her face with the cutest expression on his face that said , “hurry you’re making me look bad.”

Toni-Anne and Skippy have been showing Palomino now for 2 seasons and also local Special Olympics. My older daughter has sadly outgrown Skippy but he will remain a big part of this family for a long time to come. We have recently purchased another Palomino but could never replace Skippy. He is definitely a tough act to follow. The sweetest kindest animal you could ever find. We wouldn’t sell him for all the money in the world.[private]