The Lonely Little Horse

Spanky the mini horse used to bite and kick. Even the big horses on the ranch were scared of him, and sometimes he bit people. So Spanky’s owners decided that he could not stay. But who would take such a grumpy little horse? 

Luckily, Francesca Carsen was willing to give Spanky a chance. She brought him to her own ranch to see if she could find out what was bothering him. 

“Maybe someone is acting out because something is missing,” she says, “not because they want to act out.” 

Francesca decided to train Spanky. Perhaps he was just bored and needed exercise. If he could stop biting, then he could be with the other horses. 

At first, no one wanted Dally either. Dally was a little Jack Russell puppy. She was the runt of the litter. But Francesca liked her and took her home. 

At the ranch, the new puppy liked to watch Francesca train the mini horse. Then one day, something surprising happened. Dally the puppy joined in!

“I turned around one day, and she jumped up on a step stool and onto Spanky,” says Francesca.

As Dally sat on top of Spanky, Francesca was nervous. The horse might get upset. He might buck and make the dog fall off.

The furry friends loved learning tricks together! They could sit when Francesca told them to. They could push a big ball around. They even learned to jump together. To do all this, the horse and puppy pair had to cooperate. 

Dally and Spanky went to shows and won prizes for their tricks. But best of all, they got to spend time together. When they weren’t training, Dally loved to snuggle into Spanky’s thick fur.

They may have been different animals, but they changed each other’s lives.

As Francesca says, “If you’re with a friend, things can turn around. There’s a friend out there for everyone.”