Butterfly is hiding behind that post on her way to feed the horses. Each day they are fed four times with wheat bran, barley, and horse meal. Typically we feed them hay, but it has become hard to find and prohibitively expensive due to scarcity. They are also brushed, feet cleaned, and worked each day. It is a lot of work, but it is work with a purpose.
The horses are not just Kate's hobby. Nor did we buy the children ponies just to fulfill that seemingly ever present desire of young girls for a pony. We acquired the horses with the aim of using them as therapy animals. (Though of course some of our own children enjoy riding them as well.) There was a point in my spiritual journey that I decided to take Matthew 25 seriously. To aid and love "the least of these." Which is the reason we moved to Kenya.
And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ (Matthew 25:40)
Throughout the past twelve years we have tried to love and assist the least here in Kenya. We have fed the hungry, clothed the naked, cared for the sick, and assisted the oppressed as best as we can. We still do these things in fact. Yet we encountered many people that we struggled to be able to help. Disabled children were a big group in this category. We just had no way to bring joy and healing into their lives, until we encountered equine therapy.
The horses do more than bring these children joy. Riding these animals forces the children's bodies to use muscles that otherwise are not exercised properly. It is a form of physical therapy using several hundreds of pounds of horse. The children sit on the horse and go through a program of games and activities designed to strengthen their backs, legs, arms, and minds. This all takes place within half an hour to a hour, but all the work to get to that small window is worth the smiles and future improvements.
We are still at the beginning of this aspect of our project, but it has begun well. We have a thoroughbred and three ponies to utilize. The Shire, our almost twelve acres here in East Africa, is not quite large enough for fields of grass for the horses, but we have created a flat space for them to be worked and buy food for them from town. (Surprisingly there is a sizable horse loving community here in Kenya. We have not had much difficulty in finding feed for them.) We are at the end of our dry season. The rains are on the way. The space we leveled to be able to do the therapy in has had grass planted and we await the rain to spur the growth. The horses seem to be waiting for the rain as well. They miss all the yummy grass that dries up in the dry season.
Thank you to everyone that helps make this program successful, and thanks to those who will help in the future. These children are worth the effort.
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