Bubba and the Chocolate Farm 2- Where There's A Horse, There's Hope

by Connie Foss

  Pinto: spotted horse

  Poll: the area of a horse’s head between the ears

  Sorrel: a light brown color

  Sulky: a horse-drawn vehicle for one person

  Tacked up: a horse wearing a bridle and saddle or harness Tail board: a protruding board that is secured to the walls of a horse stall to prevent the horse from rubbing his tail

  Three-gaited: a horse that executes walk, trot and canter Withers: highest part of a horse’s back, at base of neck.

  Read on for a sneak peak at the third book in the Bubba series, coming soon!

  Bubba and the Chocolate Farm

  Book Three: Heartfelt Horses...Where Love Is Enough

  By Connie Raun Foss

  Chapter One: Brett

  It’s a beautiful morning!

  I love mornings, feeling the stable waking up, tasting the muskiness of the oats as I crunch my breakfast, hearing the birds beginning their morning serenade. What’s not to love?

  The crying from the tack room shatters the air, and the peace of the morning crumbles.“It can’t be true. It just can’t be!”

  “It’s okay, Meg. I know it hurts, but we have to believe that knowing

  I’ve noticed that Meg and Bill have not been themselves for quite a while.There’s been a kind of fog hanging over them, darkening their days. It has affected all of us, putting the whole stable in a depression.There’s no joy, even when Meg puts my saddle and bridle on me so we can go over the jumps.Whatever this overwhelming challenge is, it must have reached a critical level.

  The other day, Percy, the Miniature Horse stalled next to me, said, “What gives with Meg and Bill? They’re no fun any more. Maybe if they’d complain a bit, they’d feel better.”

  Hmm. So that’s why Percy is the all-time best complainer. He thinks it makes him feel better. I’d argue with that, if he would care to argue. He probably wouldn’t but would just get into a snit and go pout in the corner of his stall. Don’t you think it’s just the opposite? When you act happy, pretty soon you are happy? However, there’s no convincing Percy. He has to go through his complaint list everyday.

  Good old Tom, up on the tail-board in my stall, listening while he

  bad, for they don’t even talk about it.” Tom stops to pick a rat morsel out of his teeth, using a hind toenail. “I remember years ago when Bill was called back into the Army, he and Meg did lots of talking about that, and how they would handle things. I guess that about proves it. Sure as shootin’, this must be a biggee.”

  Though not as spry as he used to be when he’d be a black streak of a cat zooming in on a rat,Tom has been keeping the rat population under control at The Chocolate Farm for a long time. I was gone the years Bill was odd in the army, because Meg just couldn’t handle all of the work by herself. You might be surprised to know that I was a carriage horse during some of those years.Yes, I was. Looking back on it, I think it was good for me. Being that, for I had been ashamed of my size.You see, I am so much bigger than most of the other horses in the stable or even in the Arab shows we attend. (I get to go to those because my mom was an Arabian.) Discovering that being big is okay, sometimes even an advantage, helped me feel better about myself.

  - ed by a white blaze on my face and four white stockings. I could lift my knees

  “Hiss-hoo, Bubba. I, only I, with my exceptional sleuthing ability, just ascertained what all the sadness is about. It required a concentrated amount of superior detective work, but I am now ready to impart the knowledge. Would you care to have me share it with you?” Wise Mr. O, whose all seeing Barn Owl eyes…he says they are Stable Owl eyes…see everything, hangs out in our stable. His coloring is rather plain, except for those huge circles of white feathers around his eyes. He isn’t shy in agreeing that his eyes do see everything.That makes him the busybody of the stable, full of gossip that he will stoop to share only when it suits him.

  Of course, I want to know what is happening so after receiving a nod from me, Mr. O proceeds to reveal what he has uncovered.“My dear compatriots, the reason Meg has been crying on this beautiful morning is because yesterday the doctor diagnosed Brett as autistic.”

  “What’s that,” asked Geoffrey, who has been listening intently. Geoffrey and Percy and I are the stallions in the breeding operation of The Chocolate Farm. Geoffrey is a calm Western Pleasure Arabian, who is often used for the therapy riding in another barn. I’m rather surprised he doesn’t already know what autism is, for he gives rides to Mickey, who is autistic.

  “Don’t you know anything?” says Percy, who pretends to know everything. I think being a Miniature Horse has Percy in a defensive position. He is suffering from the same problem I had, only in the reverse. In dogs, they call it the small dog syndrome, in which a little dog acts tough to prove he’s as good as the big dogs.

  “Hiss-hoo, Geoffrey,” Mr. O says, ignoring Percy,“that is what makes Mickey different. I’m sure you have observed that Mickey doesn’t talk or smile a lot and moves like a mechanical toy. My wise great grandfather once advised me that autism is an abnormality in the gray matter of the brain that makes such a person act differently.”

  “You’re always trying to lord it over us, Mr. O, like you’re some big wig. You use those big words like ‘aborminaty’ or some such just to show off. I know some big words, too, but I don’t want to show off, so I don’t use them.” Percy was on a tear for sure.

  “Percy, Mr. O isn’t showing off. He’s explaining what autism is. It’s a complicated thing, so big words best describe it. But let’s talk about what it means, if Brett has autism,” I suggest.“Maybe that’s why Brett just stands in the corner when he comes to the stable.” He and Robin, Lilly’s daughter, year olds. But lately, when Robin rides Geoffrey, Brett

  “Is that why he threw himself to the ground and rolled around screaming?” asked Geoffrey. “Remember that day? Meg was trying to get him to walk with her to the pasture, and all of a sudden, for no reason at all, he was on the ground screaming.”

  Here comes Lilly, so it must be time to get to the work of the day. Our visiting time is over, for she takes Geoffrey out of the stall to groom him before his workout.When Geoffrey is brushed, he glistens like a copper penny. I’m sure it brightens his day to feel so clean and neat. I know I enjoy having been freshly groomed. Since Meg doesn’t take me jumping until later in the day, I’ll have to wait.That’s okay for that gives me time to think about Brett and what his having autism means, not just for him and Bill and Meg, but for all of us.

  Chapter Two: Me, A Therapy Horse?

  “Hey, Bubba,” Bill says, as he comes into my stall a bit later.“I’m happy to tell you that you have a new job.Yes, big guy, you are going to be a therapy horse. Never thought that would happen, huh? But you are just the one for John. He’s a big guy and you are a big guy, so you’re just perfect.” With that, Bill grooms me and throws my saddle on, before we walk over to the therapy barn.

  The therapy barn is new, having been built this past winter. Bruce, Mickey’s dad, and Bill and Meg are partners in the therapy part of The Chocolate Farm business. Bruce is a lawyer and has seen what being with horses has done for Mickey. So he wants to make it possible for more kids, and grownups, to have a chance to better handle whatever their problems are. I think it’s really neat that horses can help, but it never crossed my mind that I would get to do it. Here again I thought I was too big.

  There’s a new girl on the staff. She’s in charge of the therapy part of The Chocolate Farm, called Heartfelt Horses. Her name is Jack, well, really Jacqueline, and she seems really nice, very gentle with both the horses and the riders. She brought her old horse, Cricket, with her. Cricket’s even older than I am, but she’s a gentle soul and obviously like family to Jack. She’s a dark chestnut, while Geoffrey is a copper-penny sorrel, I am a bay, and Percy is a pinto. Kind of fun that we each have our own look.

  “Jack, here’s Bubba.You want to clue us in as to what we’re to do? John isn’t here yet, is he?”

&nbs
p; “Good morning to you both,” Jack says, as she comes out of the tack

  John won’t be here for a few minutes, I expect. His wife called a little while ago and said they were just leaving home.”

  Jack gets right down to business and says,“What we’ll want to do with John this morning is to gradually get him into the program. His doctor at the

  in himself and in life.That’s where you come in, Bubba. By riding you, John will absorb some of your calm acceptance of life.You will give him something to look forward to. Maybe he’ll even learn to love life again. It’s a tall order, but right down your alley, Bubba.”

  Jack gives me a good nose rub, and since she’s on the short side, she has to reach up a bit. Funny, I don’t think being short is a challenge for her. She proves what I learned as a carriage horse: Being smaller or larger than others is not a problem. Each has its place. For sure, I wouldn’t be over here in the therapy barn if I weren’t bigger than some.

  “As for you, Bill, if you have time to help, that would be great. John might be more apt to identifying with our program if he can work with a man. Since Bubba is already saddled, we won’t have John do any grooming today, but Thursday, when he comes again, let him learn the grooming routine, too.The more he and Bubba do together, the more good he will get out of this.”

  “Okay, so what do we do this morning?” Bill asks.“I really don’t know much about horse therapy. I only know what I’ve learned by helping Mickey for a couple of years.”

  “Since John doesn’t have any mental or physical problems, start this

  him to Bubba; maybe tell about Bubba’s jumping history, which will help him see Bubba as an individual.You might even tell about Bubba’s need for therapy after he broke his leg. John needs to be reminded that others have had problems, which they overcame.

  “Then show John how to mount a saddled horse, and talk about balance.” Jack is all focus as she talks to us, in contrast to when the twinkle in her eye takes over.

  “If all goes well, after explaining about neck-reining and direct reining, Bubba can walk around the ring a few times with John in the saddle.You, Bill, will walk alongside them using a lead rope, at least for today. Have John practice mounting and dismounting.After you think John has had enough for his

  down.

  “Each person who comes to us will have a different need.When I took therapy training, they emphasized the necessity of progressing slow

  ly and carefully, as the patient’s capabilities and challenges are uncovered. I guess that about covers it.Any questions?”

  “Nope. Sounds good,” says Bill.

  As Jack starts to leave, she turns and says,“Oh, yes, Bill, make it fun for John…and for you.There is no pressure here on John or you, just a nice relaxed, pleasant experience with Bubba.”

  Jack is just tucking her long brown hair under her baseball cap and turning away, when a pickup truck parks near the door and out climb a man and woman. She is short like Jack, but he requires another look, a large look. As Jack goes out to shake hands and welcome them to Heartfelt Horses, her petite size against his brawny build is like black and white. John could be a tackle in the NFL. No wonder I’m to be his mount.

  “So glad you could come this morning,” Jack says, as she brings John and his wife, Jane, into the stable.“I’d like you to meet Bill. Bill and his wife Meg own The Chocolate Farm.”

  After the hand shaking, Jack puts her hand on my shoulder and says, “And this is Bubba.Well, his registered name is Sir Hershey, but we only use that name when he enters jumping contests. Bubba is a very successful has a nose like you wouldn’t believe. It’s like a Bedlington Terrier or a Roman-nosed Belgian…the dish is upside down.

  Jack, too, giggles, and says,“Clarence doesn’t know how funny his nose looks. Because of it, he has never been to a horse show, but he has been loved in spite of his nose. He teaches kids that what one looks like isn’t important. It’s how one acts that matters, and that’s where Clarence shines.”

  “The little guy over here is for our littlest kids. He is a Miniature Horse. His name is Napoleon. Hi, Napoleon, how are you this morning? ” Jack says, as the little guy comes over and stretches his nose up to be

  Bubba will be a true friend.”

  John looks like he’s ready to wheel and head for the door, but Jane

  puts a gentle hand on his arm, and he appears to calm down. Maybe he

  doesn’t like jumping and is afraid he is supposed to ride me over the jumps.

  He seems as skittish as a young colt.

  “Come, I’d like you to meet the other horses in the stable,” Jack says,

  as she leads us down the aisle.“Since this is a brand new part of The Chocolate Farm, we don’t have all of our horses yet, but we have more coming in

  each week.We want just the best, most loving horses, so we’re picky.” As we walk along the stall fronts, Jack says,“This beautiful black horse is

  Beauty.An appropriate name, don’t you think, John? He’s just a bit too short

  for you, though.”

  John isn’t saying anything, so we move on to the next stall.“This is

  Betty.” Betty and I touch noses through the bars of her stall. I like Betty. She’s

  as soft and gentle as her nose.“She is from a family whose kids grew up riding her, but they’ve all gone off to college and jobs, so Betty wasn’t having any

  fun. Now that Betty is with us, she will get to help other kids enjoy riding.

  It’s a good deal for her and for everyone.”

  As we stop to look at the horse in the next stall, John begins to laugh,

  a real belly-shaking laugh.Then I see what struck him as funny.As Clarence

  pokes his nose through the bars, asking for attention, that face demands

  comment. Clarence, who is supposed to have the dished face of an Arabian,

  a pony. He used to pull a sulky in shows and I’ve been told he was quite the star.”

  “Well, John” Jack says,“let’s go put you and Bubba to work.”

  It was nice to say good morning to my horse friends, but I’m more than ready to work and hope John is, too.