Chester's Heart

Sarah came to SIRE in November of 2011 and met Chester.

In the beginning, she would pet Chester but was too afraid to get on him. She finally worked up the courage in February to sit on his back, but just couldn't bring herself to make him move.

Now those of you that know Chester are aware that Chester is a bit... well, furry. He was pretty uncomfortable with the mild winter weather we've had this year so we decided to body clip him.

In honor of Chester's wonderful sense of humor (yes, he does have one. He just keeps it well hidden), we decided to clip a heart shape on his rump.

The week after we did this Sarah arrived for her lesson and her volunteers asked her if she knew what was cut into Chester's hair. Ana Short, one of her Sidewalkers, told us that her face lit up and she immediately said "a heart!"

That was the first day she was finally able to tell Chester to "walk on" and actually rode. "To say we were all a little teary-eyed would be an understatement" said Ana.

We never know what small thing will connect with one of our riders and move them to do something courageous.