Horse Stories

MINISTERUL EDUCAIEI NAIONALE I CERCETRII TIINIFICE
UNIVERSITATEA TEHNIC CLUJ-NAPOCA

CENTRUL UNIVERSITATAR NORD BAIA MARE
FACULTATEA DE LITERE
Masteratul de Literatur englez pentru copii i tineret
DISERTAIE
EQUINE FRIENDS.
EMPATHY AND HEALING IN
SMOKY THE COWHORSE AND
THE HORSE WHISPERER
Masterand
coordonator tiinific
Anamaria Susana
conf.dr.Adrian
anta
2016
Ooiu
Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

Cowhorse and The Horse Whisperer
CONTENTS
Argument ........................................................................... 3
Chapter 1. Introduction: A Brief History of Animal
Tales ..........................................................................6
Chapter 2. Horses as Protagonists in
Childrens Literature ................................................11
Chapter 3. Smoky the Cowhorse by Will James ............... 14
3.1. Will James - Biographical Data ....................................... 14
3.2. Smoky 'the best horse' ...................................................... 15
3.2.1 Of good masters and bad masters ......................... 33
3.2.2. Cowboy speech ..................................................... 35
Chapter 4.The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans .........38
4.1.Nicholas Evans - Biographical Data ................................. 38
4.2. Real Friendship is a Medicine ......................................... 39
4.2.1
A scientific perspective on the so-called
horse whisperers .................................................... 50

4.2.2. Equine therapy in the light of modern science .....51
Conclusion ....................................................................... 54
Reference List .................................................................. 56

Argument
he horses are the humans best friends because they are
the only animals who have the ability to respond quickly and give
feedback to the action or behavior of the rider. They are able to
mirror the emotion of the human.
I have chosen this topic because I am interested in horses, in the
destiny of their species, in their behaviour in relation to humans, as
well as in equestrian therapy. The horse can clearly be a pet, a friend,
or simply replace a sister or a brother. There are people, especially
children, who acquire more confidence and become obviously more
attached by their own horse than by their parents.
In order to explore these areas I chose two horse narratives from
two different periods: Smokey the Cowhorse (1926) by Will James
and The Horse Whisperer (1995), by Nicholas Evans.
Smoky the Cowhorse reveals the story of a horse, mustang blood,
from Western United States, from his birth till his decline. Smoky
and his true master, Clint showed what means friendship, empathy
and compassion. But the destiny of this horse was not as good as
when he was near Clint. This novel illustrates what means to the
animals having a good master or a bad one. Human treatment
regarding animals differs a lot. Smoky proved also that he was an
intelligent animal. This human animal relationship was based on
sincerity. The funny part of this book is that the author was a horse
thief and he got in prison for this. In prison he learned how to treat
these animals. Maybe this novel is kind a confession that he was a

bad master and during the time had learned how should be his
proper behaviour.
The Horse Whisperer tells the story of a young girl, Grace
Maclean and her horse Pilgrim, and it takes place from New York to
Montana. Their friendship proves that this feeling pass on many
boundaries. Her passion for riding is obviously but a winter walk,
with a snow-covered morning, is misfortune, Grace and Pilgrim are
hit by a forty-ton truck. Here I have looked for concepts such as
horse whisperer, I have done research about his statute, if he is just
a myth or he really exists and what he really means. Sincerely about
therapy riding I did not know before, but reading this book this
made me curious and I looked in depth about this. Interestingly the
source of inspiration for this novel was a meeting with a blacksmith
from the South-West England, he told Evans about the people who
have the special gift to cure traumatized horses.
I started my work by making an incursion into the history of
the genre of animal tales, briefly following its chronological
development, then I had stopped for a while upon horses appearing
as characters in childrens literature. The main chapters deal with
the two novels The Horse Whisperer and Smokey the Cowhorse.
Each one of these chapters begins with a short biographical data
about the author, followed by the texts exploration and then by a
discussion related to the main themes identified in each book. I also
surveyed some of the very abundant scientific literature about
equine ethology and hippotherapy and I presented the findings of
those studies that seem to validate the empirical observations of the
authors of the two novels.
In the chapter dedicated to The Horse Whisperer I focused on
the whisperer that has the gift to see and understand what was in the
soul of a horse, on equestrian therapy and the relationship between
Grace and Pilgrim.

As Smokey the Cowhorse illustrates a tortuous destiny of a

horse, I pursued the multiple identities that a horse may take during
his lifetime, whether they are related to changing a horses name or
to the change of the owner, and that of his life conditions- His first
owner, Clint, is an near-ideal one, who gave proof to be a good tamer
with special skills, able to feel genuine empathy for horses.
Both novels focus on the theme of friendship, both rider/horse
couples Grace and Pilgrim, Clint and Smoky, respectively being
dependent on each other. Grace loves her horse and, once badly
injured, she will not be not completely recovered until her stead
Pilgrim is. On the other hand Clint got in touch with Smoky ever
since he was just a colt, he noticed his scamp behaviour, which this
attracted to him and decided to take care of him and train him in
order to turn him into the best horse from that region.
Clint and Tom may be identified as more than just owners, that
is, special tamers. Tom is also called whisperer, and even Clint is not
far from this. Both are well prepared to tame horses and health
troubles in their savage souls. Thus horses may turn out be not just
real friends but also medicines, as research on equine therapy, or
hippotherapy, amply demonstrates.

Chapter 1. Introduction: A Brief History

of Animal Tales
nimals have always been favourite in childrens literature.

Firstly, the purpose that animal tales had to induce
children to learn how to read and, at the same time, to
encourage them to discover the world that surrounds them with all
these animals, whether savage or domestic. Animals have a huge
importance in grown-ups lives and not just in childrens. In their
earliest phase, animal tales developed into moral stories for
children.
In the present chapter I have used the following materials: Childrens Animal Tales by Matthew Shaw, the entry on Animal Cognition from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the website Childrens Literature, the section on Animal Stories by Keith Barker
from the International Companion Encyclopedia of Childrens
Literature and Chuck Mintzlaffs article entitled Critique Natural
Horsemanship from Cavallo Magazine.
Worldwide the literature of animal tales proper starts with
Aesop's Fables in the fifth century before Christ. These fables are
moral stories, that teach a lesson to children. They can be also
described as tales that have a message which is close to that of a
parable. These stories are often centered on animals loved by children.
The animal tale in its earlier embodiments the myth, the
legend, the religious parable was one of the oldest forms of
narrative folktale. Later on, writers re-shaped the animal tale as the
beast fable; here the animal features are used only to reflect the
virtues and vices of the human world. The characters of such

moralizing tales were used to take a stand in ethical issues existing

in society and in human interaction.
Thus animal tales may appear in different forms, and all of them
usually appeal to children, as it appears that in a certain way animals
help children compensate their powerless in the grown-ups society.
The children perceive animals as if they had human characteristics.
So universal was the moralizing on the subject that we are led to
conclude the chief recreation of Georgian youths was spitting cockchafers, pulling the wings off flies, stripping birds of their feathers,
flogging donkeys and horses, and thinking up ingenious ways to
torment kittens and dogs.(Avery qtd. in Barker)
The later evolution of animal tales lead to their diversification

into several categories: the beast fable, the animal autobiography
and biography, the pet story, the animal fantasy, the real animal
tales (often naturalistic in approach), the animal-featured political
allegory and the more recent environment-minded narrative.
Let us now have a look at the evolution of the animal tale genre
throughout its long history, past its pre-history (represented by the
myth, the legend and the religious parable) and into its branch
specifically targeted at children. One of the earliest books for children dating back from the seventeenth century is Comeniuss Orbis
sensualium pictus, that was used to teach children the alphabet in
an interesting way, by mimicking the noises produced by animals.
This method might seem strange to us, but in those times it
appeared to have been useful. (Shaw, Childrens Animal Tales)
By the eighteenth century children's literature was growing and
was becoming more child-oriented, old stories were being reedited
while moral and religious education gained terrain; conversely some
books were illustrated (however crudely) in order to attract the
readers. Like always, during that period the publishers, were look-

ing for commercial profit, whereas parents, grandparents and the

educators were looking for something educative.
In 1821 An Alphabetical arrangement of animals for little naturalists was published anonymously, a book whose purpose to teach
the children about animals, their natural habitat and so on. Sarah
Trimmer was the author book entitled Fabulous Histories, that
revealed ways of teaching the children how to treat the animals with
respect.
One of the most successful books for children from the nineteenth century was Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (1877), which contains a lesson about the proper treatment of horses. Many books of
these genre were written with a specific pedagogical purpose. Others
tackled different subjects such as the affinity between young people
and animals. Theres a strong connection between animals and
children, that might reflect the childrens sense of powerlessness in a
world dominated by adults.
Young infants and animals might also be comparable also in
terms of their emerging language skills and their cognitive abilities.
Communication is the main point in studying animals intelligence.
We say about animals that they are smart if they perform, if they
recognize different things, if they do what we ask them and if truly
even exceed our expectations. Animals are the most adaptable
characters for every unpredictable situations. Humans are used to
plan every next step and move in their lives, their future, but animals
do not plan, they just adapt to every new situation. Even though we
might think they have neither feelings nor emotions, they do have.
Not the way we do and not manifesting their feelings as humans do.
There are things in life we cannot see, taste, smell, hear, touch, or
understand. But we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they
exist because our heart tells us go. For the heart possesses a wisdom

far beyond that of the intellect and a vision far grander than that of
the mind.(Mintzlaff)
This refers also to animals because they could not express their
feelings, they are intelligent but they are not able to talk and say if
something hurts them, speak about their mood and what do they
thinks about everything surrounds them. Animals could not justify
their acts the we do.
Animals do have cognition, although back in history animals
were perceived as lacking rationality. Scientists have proved that
animals are minded after carrying out research on different animals
in order to establish their capabilities of perception, language,
communication, social cognition and so on. Animals cognition indicates that they have capacity to adapt and take flexible behaviour
fitting different new situations. The scientists advanced the term
anthrophomorfism to refer to the attribution of human traits to
animals. Of course the term has many connotations, such as the
mere reference to psychological traits in animals or to uniquely
human traits granted to animals. (Animal Cognition)
In 1894 Rudyard Kipling published a collection of stories entitled
The Jungle Book, whose source of inspiration were the years he had
spent pass in India, and which feature the-well known character
Mowgli. In 1912 Kipling published Just so Stories, a collection of
funny pourquoi legends that illustrate the differences among
animals.
A few years earlier, in 1902 Beatrix Potter published her
immortal The Tale of Peter Rabbit, a book that narrated in touching
detail the adventures of the mischievous and disobedient Peter
Rabbit.
Another perspective related to the point of view of the animal
is White Fang (1906)by Jack London that describes the progress of

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an half wolf towards domestication. I think that in virtually every

story we talk about domestication we have the parallel between the
good owners and the cruel and harsh ones that mark animal life. The
same author had written three years earlier The Call of the Wild, a
story about sledge dogs and the main character power, the dog Buck
that fulfills himself as a team leader in the wilderness just by
listening to his primordial instinct and experience.
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame was published in
1908. The plot takes place on the Thames Valley and it focuses on
anthropomorphized animals in a pastoral version of England.
Alan Alexander Milne published several story books that have
at their centre a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear called Pooh
Bear, the first of which is Winnie the Pooh, published in 1926
followed in 1928 by The House at the Pooh Corner. These stories
have become very famous and later Walt Disney adopted Winnie and
amplified the series success. Today children are still delighted by
Winnie the Pooh.
Elwin Brooks White's novel Charlotte's Web (1952), focuses on
the life story of a pig that was named Wilbur by his protector Fern
and protected by the spider Charlotte who was later to save him
from being slaughtered.
Childrens empathy towards animals is illustrated also in
Because of Winn-Dixie(2000), a novella written by Kate DiCamillo,
where Opal, a girl abandoned by her mother, adopts a scruffy dog. A
contemporary animals book, that relates a mouses terrifying
adventures, is The Tale of Despereaux (2003) by Kate DiCamillo.
The mouse plans to rescue a human princess from the rats.
(Childrens Literature)
These were just a few examples on animal books for children.

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Chapter 2. Horses as Protagonists in

Childrens Literature
he horse evolved as herbivorous mammal prone to

become a prey, while humans are classified as predators.
The horse is well prepared for detecting danger. It is the
fourth or five species that had been domesticated by
humans in the course of their history. The process of domestication

starts with the horse capturing, then taming and breeding stage.
This process of domestication is believed to have occurred about
8.000 years ago in Eurasia, (Jensen, 119) whereas horse riding
happened about 5,000 years ago. Naturally the horses social
organization is into herds, which means a leader (the stallion) ruling
over the mares and colts.
In modern society the use of horses has shifted from primarily
agricultural and professional sport, to pleasure hobby horses, often
owned by first generation horse keepers. (Jensen, 127)
Horses have long been one of the favourite protagonists of the

animal tale. Ancient Greek mythology had protagonists such as
Bucephalus, Pegasus, Areion; Aesop fables The Horse and the Ass,
The Horse and the Stag; in 1858 John Quidor published The Legend
of Sleepy Hollow; Grimms fable The Fox and the Horse.
Black Beauty(1877) by Anna Sewell reveals the destiny of a
horse, since he was a colt and had a wonderful life with his mother
on an English farm, and the harsh life that has at different owners,
from owner to owner his life was even more cruel, and this came
down. He endures the hard living conditions, the long and difficult
roads, he turns against just a single time and he is beaten even worse

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than usual. Every horse that passes through things like these we
should understand that he deserves freedom.
A Horses Tale(1907) by Mark Twain tells the story of Soldier
Boy, the favorite horse of Buffalo Bill. The series of Blaze, by
Clarence William Anderson, first one entitled Billy and Blaze(1936),
relates the adventures of a boy and his pony, meanwhile teaching a
lesson.
King of the Wind(1948) by Marguerite Henry tells the story of a
colt that is saved from death from a boy and who is fed with camel
milk and wild honey because his mother dies. Agba names him
Sham, meanwhile promising that one day he will be the King of the
Wind. The prophecy fulfils itself and he becomes a hopeful racehorse.
Big Black Horse(1955) is a version of The Black Stallion(1941)
written by the same author, and it recounts the story of Alec, a
seventeen year old boy and a horse, a black stallion, that survived
after a shipwreck; it narrates their life on a island, the way in which
Alec and the horse learned to trust and love each other. They get an
amazing friendship, the stallion saves Ales from death, then the boy
trains him for a special race.
Ride Like an Indian(1958) by Henry V. Larom is about an
Apaloosahorse (spotted American horse breed) and how the Indian
boy from the ranch knows to train him.
Walter Farley wrote many books that have as a main character
the horse. Little Black, a Pony (1961) tells the story of a child who
loves ponies and that pony named Little Black who wants to be
grown up and to do the things that just a big horse can do. The same
author published in 1963 Little Black Goes to the Circus, the tale of a
pony that initially fails at the circus, only to later become a
success.The Horse that Swam Away(1965) reveals the adventure of
a boy, a horse and a dolphin.

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Chapter 3. Smoky the Cowhorse by Will James
3.1. Will James - Biographical Data
ill James born in Saint-Nazaire-d'Acton, Quebec,

Canada on the 6th of June 1892. He was an American
West artist and writer. He showed signs that he was
skillful in art since early childhood, by drawing. In 1910 he

established near the French-Saskatchewan settlement of Val Marie.
Here he trained to be a cowboy. The land now occupied by
Grasslands National Park, was at the time James property.
James was accused of cattle theft and because of this situation
he had to move to the United States under the fake name of William
Roderick James. The following years he had several jobs, but he was
arrested for cattle theft, and during his sentence which was about
fifteen months, he took care of the prisons horses.
After he had fulfilled his sentence, James travelled to San
Francisco where he sold graphic sketches and begin to work as a
stuntman in western movies. He served to the American Army from
1918 to 1919. In July 1919 he was a horse wrangler for the First
Annual Nevada round-up in Reno. In the next year he married with
the sister of his rodeo partner, Alice Conradt.
It was in 1992 that he published his first book, Bucking Horse
Riders. Then in 1924 he published a collection of short stories
entitled Cowboys North and South, and the following year appeared
his Drifting Cowboy. The money earned from the selling of these
books helped James to buy a small ranch in Washoe Valley, Nevada.
Here he wrote Smoky the Cowhorse, the novel which I will present

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further on. His publication took place in 1926 and the next year the
book received Newbery Medal for childrens literature.
In 1930 he wrote Lone Cowboy, his fictionalized autobiography,
which became a bestselling Book-of-the-Month Club selection. He
wrote and illustrated twenty-three books and the last of them is The
American Cowboy, written in 1942. The last line of this book was
The cowboy will never die, this happened shortly before his death.
His last years were spend on his ranch at Pryor Creek and at his
Billing home. He died of alcoholism at the age of 50, in September 3,
1942 in Hollywood, California. At the Yellowstone Art Museum from
Billings, Montana we find out the largest public collection of
writings, artworks and personal things.
He was celebrated and received different awards after his death.
In 1988 a biopic movie entitled Alias Will James, was shot to commemorate the art, story craft and French Canadian life of Will
James. A few years later, in 1991 James was glorified to be
memorialized in Nevada Hall of Fame. The following year he got into
Hall of Great Westerners and in the National Cowboy and Western
Heritage Museum.
Western civilizations treated both children and animals themes
in their books. The 19th century childrens books that feature animal
characters follow the process of exhibiting the strong human
characters or showing empathy for this feature. The animals were a
kind of device in order to portray human characteristics, for giving a
lesson to the children. (Barker)
3.2. Smoky 'the best horse'

Smoky the Cowhorse by Will James was first published in 1926,
at Charles Scribner's Sons Publishing House and it reveals the story
of a horse, of mustang blood, from the Western United States, from

15
his birth till his decline. The mustang was born into the wild but he
was captured by a cowboy and trained in order to become the best
horse ever. The cowboy Clint knew how to work with Smoky, how to
use his intelligence and spirit to make him his personal steed.
Because in short time the horse was known as the best cowhorse
around, Smoky was desired by many cowboys. He was stolen by a
horse thief and he went through a lot of unpleasant events, meeting
cruel owners, and in the end he got back to his real and first owner,
Clint. Smoky's life story resembles with the biography of Black
Beauty, written by Anna Sewell, from several points of view.
(Illustration to Smoky the

Cowhorse by Will James,
1925)
Smoky clearly gives signs of intelligence and curiosity since his

first moments of life
Smoky wasnt quite an hour old when he begin to take interest in
things. The warm spring sun was doing its work and kept a pouring
warmth all over that slick little black hide, and right on thru his
little body, till pretty soon his head come up kind a shaky and he
begin nosing around them long front legs that was stretched out in
front of him. His mammy was closed by him, and at the first move
the colt made she rim her nose along his short neck and nickered.
Smoky's head went up another two inches at that sound... (SC, 6)

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He was interested about the things that surrounded him, he

explored and reacted by making specific noises. He behaved just as a
baby beginning to walk. He looked and focused at every new element
that sees.
A baby cottontail had jumped up once right under his nose,
stood there a second too scared to move, and pretty soon made a
high dive between the colts long legs and hit for his hole; Smoky
never seen the rabbit or even knew he was there or he might of been
running yet, cause thats what hed been looking for, an excuse to
run. But he finally made up an excuse, and while later as he brushed
past a long dry weed and it tickled his belly, he let out a squeal and
went firm there.
His long legs tangled and untangled themselves as he run, and
he was sure making speed. (SC, 10)
Smokys reaction at novelty was interesting as he had never seen

a rabbit before. So for him this was the confined excuse to run, to
explore the further ground, not just the delimited area in which he
used to live. The speed of the rabbit also made him aware of his own
capacity of speeding up.
Smoky wanted to socialize and befriend all horses from the herd.
It did not matter to him that they were older, or that some of them
had a special status. He behaved like a child who enjoys to know
everyone and about everything, as a child that likes to receive
attention. He was not afraid even of the big horses and in fact he
enjoyed to disturb them.
His instinct had no warning to give as he strutted towards the
smallest one of the strangers which he picked to investigate...theyll
be meeting thru the round-ups at the cutting-grounds, on dayherd and on night-guard, on the long, hot, and dusty trails. A
cowboy will be riding Smoky then and keeping a whole herd on the
move, a whole herd of the kind that little Smoky was so busy

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investigating that day. (SC, 16) Smoky was curious about everything
that surrounded him, about every habit of the horses. But near his
mother, he learned quickly what a horse lifestyle meant.
Smokys roots of seemed to be originated in special ancestry, as
he was quite smart and had a character, that was difficult to forget.
He was a particular horse whose wisdom grew in short time.
When Smoky was four months old something different happened: he saw a human for the first time. This encounter was different from the one with the rabbit. The horses were running
dispersedly because the human beings came to trouble their quiet
wilderness in order catch horses into corrals. The horses that had
been caught were tamed or sold directly without any training stage.
Because he would never miss a thing, of course he got involved. He
was looking at other horses that were undergoing the branding
procedure. He did not escape the hot iron because of his curiosity.
Afterwards ...Smoky felt the ropes come off his legs, a boost to let
him know that all was over, and when he stood up and run back to
the bunch, there was a mark on his slick hide that was there for life,
as the brand read, the little horse belonged to the Rocking R outfit.
(SC, 21) Now he was a branded horse, which meant that he would
not be able to enjoy freedom ever again. From this day his life
changed; spring came and he started to eat grass although firstly he
looked suspiciously at it, he changed his colour and he was named
mouse color.
His head and legs were a little darker than his body and showed
brown, and with that little blaze face of his a looming up, he made a
mighty pretty picture, a picture of the kind once you see you never
forget; for Smoky was perfect any way you looked at him and it
seemed like as you seized him up that the other of his kind hadnt
been played square with and some of their good points stole away so
as Smoky would be the perfect little horse.(SC, 23)

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Mother Nature gave him strength, a sign of good health and now
he was looking even stronger. Spring that came helped him to
change the color that had before, he now was of a grayish mouse
color. He was a well-built horse. We would say that he is in the
prime of his life as he was a beautiful and healthy horse.
Because he was young he had a certain pride, Like all the other
colts of his age he was just where conceit had the best of him; he got
strong headed and full of mischief, and then when the older horses
figgered him to be a regular pest and began knocking on him. (SC,
27, 28) He was proud through the horses, just because he was feeling
young and the best, his behaviour resembled much that of a teenager. His mischievious personality was not to his own advantage.
Because of this the disputes began.
When he was three years old he was loved by anyone would saw
him, he had the label of a good horse He was a picture to make any
cowboy miss a few heart beats as he sometimes raced across the
prairie sod and with head and tail up showed off the qualities that
stuck out at his every move. (SC, 29) He was both athlete and
beauty model. He had a rapidity in his movements that is rarely met
among horses. He even got to fight with a stallion, and won. Even
that defeated stallion had looked at him impressed by Smokys
exhibition of swiftness. In winter Smoky took a battle with the wolfs,
at the end of which one wolf was maimed, he remained three legged.
Smoky was almost five years old when his destiny would clearly
change. The Rocking R men needed him, because this was the
proper age for a horse to be used for ride. Smoky was now a four
year old going to five, the age when most all range geldings are run
in and broke to either saddle or harness, for use on the range or to
fitem for market... and Smokys experience from his colt days on till
now would go on with more learning and experiences with the
human. (SC, 41) Smoky enjoyed a long time of freedom but this was

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to end because he was well prepared for doing something else, horse
specific things. He was in such circumstances that he got into the
high corral, where there were also other geldings. This time he
behaved worse than any wolf, he was caught and he knew what was
the next step and did not agree to this particular destiny. His mood
became a real savage one and there was no use to wait in order to see
what those men would do with him. He needed freedom immediately.
Smoky watched him and the bunch disappear in a cloud of dust
and out of sight. If only there was no bars holding him it wouldnt
take him long and he could still catch up with em, but He was
brought back to hard facts by the squeak of the heavy gate as it was
pulled open, and the cowboy walked in with a long coil of rope on his
arm. (SC, 42) For Smoky this event announced a disaster. He was
used to be a free horse, to be on the rove and to do everything in his
own way, but now, to be confined in a corral, which meant in captivity and to do what a human wanted him to do was terrible for him.
He was a victim and the humans knew well his kind of reaction.
But Smoky had the temper of a fighter who would not give up
easily. He repeatedly attempted to escape from that corral. But
once past it Smoky was jerked to a fighting standstill, he hadnt as
yet reckoned that a rope could hold him . The gate was closed after
him and the rider had went thru and then Smoky felt some slack. He
took advantage of that and started out full of speed again; he was out
of the corral and in the open, the rope that was still on him was only
felt and wasnt holding him from lining out. (SC, 44) The cowboy
was now content that he had managed to catch the intractable horse.
This lost chance grieved Smoky even more.
Unfortunately Smokys happy and beautiful days came to an end
The little horse realized somehow as he seized up the contraption
that the end had come to all hed enjoyed with the freedom hed had,

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cool shades, clear streams, and grassy ranges to all roam on as he

pleased had been took away from him; he didnt know what was to
come next, but he did know that he was on that creek bottom, close
to corrals, and there to stay for a spell. (SC, 44). He was already
thinking of the beautiful landscapes that he used to roam about as
long as we wished, and of the clear streams and grassy ranges, that
were soon to become just a distant memory.
Clint, the cowboy that attended Smoky, read very well the horse
temper, and saw fear in Smoky's eyes, that expressed an urge to
fight. This was a wild reaction, a normal one related to what had
happened. But Clint proposed himself to make a educate cowhorse
from this mustang. He would take his time, do a good job and turn
Smoky from a wild raw bronco into a well-broken and educated
cowhorse. (SC, 47) This horse had attracted Clints attention so that
he would be with Smoky more attentively than he usually did.
The next few days Smoky realized that there was no use to fight
with the rope that held him and that his wilderness had no effect.
Gradually he got used to it as well as to other objects used in the
equine training.
In the mind of Clint rose a wonderful idea, to turn Smoky into
an enviable horse, that would be his personal steed Im going to
make you my private top horse and when that's done Ill have every
cowboy in the country jealous of me for having such a horse as
youre going to turn out to be. (SC, 48) But this great idea was to
have unexpected consequences.
While training there was an episode when Smoky showed hate
and fear of the human once again the same as when he was first
caught, his instinct had warned him to expect most anything from
that creature, and he wasnt surprised at the way things had turned;
(SC, 50) Smoky had not lost his native temper, he was just reacting
to a specific thing, where everything was unknown. There is some-

21
thing in animal and human nature that attempts to protect one of

the things that you did not encounter before. As his freedom had
been stolen Smoky, was reacting inappropriately.
Theres folks thats read some on how horses are broke on the range,
and from that reading they get the idea that the cowboy breaks the
horses spirit, that its the only way a wild horse can be tamed. What
Ive got to say on the subject if thats whats believed, is that either
them folks read something thats mighty wrong, or else they got the
wrong impression and misunderstood what they read; and breaking
a horse the way hes broke on the range is about the same on the
animal as schooling is to human youngster. The spirit of the wild
horse is the same after years of riding as it was before he ever felt a
rope, and theres no human in the world wants to preserve that
spirit in the horse like the cowboy does; hes the one what knows
better than anybody else that a horse with a broken spirit is no
horse at all.(SC, 50)
I can say that a wild horse has a wild spirit as he was used to live
in the freedom of wilderness. In such cases, the folk tales said that
when a wild horse is caught a cowboy usually breaks his spirit in
order to manage/domesticate him. In fact the wild spirit never fades,
stays quietly in the horses body for many years, although a cowboy
may create the impression that the horse is totally subdued and he
would never be the same as before. In our case, Clint knows how to
work with Smokys wild spirit in order to create a well-trained horse.
I think that he is not just a trainer, he is a whisperer. This is the
main idea that connect this novel to the next one. He knows that a
horse with a broken spirit it could not be named horse.
Clint used just his own knowledge regarding to horses in order
to train Smoky, while not heading at what people said. His experience with horses helped him to do his best with Smoky. Clint
worked with that wild spirit in the appropriate way. The spirit of

22
Smoky will remain unique even after he became domesticated. I

think that the spirit never changes because there is in the blood, and
the blood could not be changed. James was right when he said that a
horse with a broken spirit is no horse at all and this is similar with a
human being without identity, who is no human at all.
Now, you just take it easy for a spell, and keep your head up says
that cowboy as he started walking towards the pony. - Legs wide
apart, a wild look in his eyes, and a snorting his surprise Smoky
watched him come; he didnt know whether to stand his ground and
start fighting or back away as the cowboy came. - On he came, and
as Smoky was seeing no sign of harm, he stood in his tracks,
watched, and waited. A hand touched him on the forehead and
moved on down his neck, the cowboy was a talking to him the while,
and pretty soon Smokys heart wasnt thumping so hard no more.
(SC, 54)
Now Smoky was starting to get used with human presence, also
with human touch. His wilderness went down, he was no longer nervous, while his heart problems, caused by anxiety, started to fade.
Now he was like an obedient student. He was listening the demands
of Clint and executed them without any restraint. Smoky had
become an educated horse.
His intelligence amazed Clint: Smoky was taking the change,
from the life hed led to what he was now going thru, kind a hard,
harder than the average wild horse ever does and Clint lay it that the
little horse had more brains than the average, more sensitive maybe,
and more able to realize. (SC, 59) Smokys capacity to adapt to a
new way of life and to satisfy his owner was more than Clint could
have imagined. This horse was able to do more than others, his mind
showed intelligence and his soul kindness. This was a major change
in Smokys behaviour.

23
Hed got to finding a lot of pleasure in doing just what that

cowboy wanted him to do, and when that was done there was a
hankering in him to do just a little bit more. Thats the way Clint
wanted to keep him; just a hankering to do more would get results,
and he was careful to see that the little horse didnt tire on the work.
(SC, 67) Clint was happy about Smokys results and he wanted him
to keep it at way. Besides Smoky found enjoyment in complying to
Clints wishes and every time he wanted to do more than was
required, just for his own satisfaction. The cowboy wanted to play
and ride just for him in order to keep Smokys heart and spirit all in
one hunk and intact (SC, 67)
The problems that I have mentioned earlier quietly appeared.
The news about Smoky being such an educated horse soon spread all
over the county. The horse was coveted by other cowboys in that
area, but Clint never agreed to sell him even for a considerable
amount of money. Clint cared so much about his horse, that he could
not possibly sell him.
The first day of the fall round-up was to Smoky a whole lot like
the first day of school to the kid of the settlement, only, Smoky was
full grown and his brain full developed. His eyes stayed wide open
and worked with his ears so that nothing of interest would be
missed. (SC, 75) Smoky featured a clever horse at the round up. He
had grown up and his mind developed, his eyes and ears were in
permanent contact in order to not miss anything important. He paid
attention to every herd that came in. The vigilance that he showed
was amazing.
Smoky was the one exception on the Rocking R, and every cowboy was good natured jealous at the way that mouse colored son of a
gun of a horse would stick his head out every time Clint came around
and then left his hiding place from amongst the other horses to meet
him. (SC, 83) Smoky was unique and they were jealous of Clint to

24
have him. He was paying attention both and meanwhile to the

moves of Clint and everyone, everything that was passing and
happening near himself.
Smokys time to be rode came on the dot of that time, but Clint
didnt always take him out on that, and often hed switch so that the
little horse would get plenty of work cutting out or bringing big
calves and sticks to the branding fire, and that pony was sure
beginning to shine there. (SC, 86) For Clint it was a pleasure to ride
up the knoll and from there to look at the herd with Smoky. Smoky
was his favourite and Clint deserved the best for his horse. In every
horse Clint saw a story, expressed by the horses eyes.
Surprisingly Clint let Smoky free that autumn till the spring. He
hoped that they would meet again next spring. Maybe Clint had let
him free because he thought about of his wild nature and it would be
good for him to spend a period in his natural habitat. His own way of
taming Smoky would surprise anyone. He behaved with the horse as
with an adopted child who would like to go back to his natural family
to revisit his roots and then come back where his soul was. Well, so
long, Smoky, take care of yourself and dont let anything drag you
down. (SC, 89) Clint talked to his horse like with a child, his own
child.
That winter passed quietly, excepting a fight between two
horses, in which Smoky cut in, at the end of whom he and Pecos get
friends. The spring came and Clint came to look for his horse. Smoky
did not remember his owner, as such a long time without seeing a
human had reverted him back to his native instinct: Clint was right,
the long winter months of freedom without seeing one human had
kind of let him get back to his natural wild instinct, and the first
sight of Clint had been of just a human, and itd spooked him up till
hed have to calm down some before itd come to him just who that
human was. (SC, 93) The first reaction of Smoky was to run away

25
but something kept him back there, near Clint. Maybe in his mind
there was still something related to this human.
Smoky broke the record for learning that year, and when the fall
round-up was over and the saddle was pulled off him for the last
time before being turned out on the winter range, there was two
little white spots of white hair showed on each side of his withers
and about the size of a dollar, saddle marks they was, and like
medals for the good work hed done. There was a knowing spark in
his eyes for the critter too, for the little horse had got to savvy the
cow near as well as the old cowhorses thatd been in the same
remuda that year. (SC, 95)
Smoky was back, Clint analyzed this stranger attentively and all
details concorded with those of his own horse. Now he remembered
of all Smokys successes with melancholy, he was sure that Smoky
belonged to him.
After came out with Smoky, an old cowman proposed Clint to
trade for the horse. That man wanted to try Smoky, but no other
than Clint could ride him. Smoky did not approve of any stranger in
Smokys saddle. Clint received an offer of over two thousand dollars
for the horse, and he still wanted to keep him. This clearly indicated
how much he loved his horse, who was to him like a friend or a
relative that he could not betray.
The winter was coming and he let Smoky again to run out, which
meant that the horse was valuable for him and that is why he trust
him. On their parting he told him that he would look out for him in
order to see how he was. But during the winter some cowboy tried to
capture Smoky, who showed his intelligence by managing to escape,
but after many trials, he ended up in a unknown corral. When Clint
noticed his absence he could not believe that the horse had been
stolen.

26
Smoky was born with a natural fear and hate of the human.
Hed carried it always, excepting when Clint, that one man, was
around; but hating humans had never bothered him, not till the dark
face of the breed had showed itself over the skyline. (SC, 119,
original underline) Smoky got accustomed just with Clints presence;
for the owner this was a kind of good sign, because only he could
approach and ride him. Clint was disappointed that he had lost his
mark.
Smoky behaved as a maverick, he was prepared to fight into the
new corral, but the ropes that tied him cancelled any chance that he
might to escape. Meanwhile Clint was looking for Smoky endlessly,
the horse was abused by the caretakers. Smoky underwent many
transformations, such as he was dyed lest he might recognized, his
new name was Cougar, as he became a horse used at rodeos. The
horse was then advertised in the county and State papers and
described as A mouse colored, blaze faced, stocking legged geldings,
and packing a brand that looked like a blotched wagon wheel. (SC,
128)
Even with a new identity the horse was coveted by many cowboys. Smoky, now Cougar, was mounted at different rodeos but he
hated doing at all It was wicked times, not only for the horse, but
for all who handled and tried to ride him. There was so much poison
in that ponys heart that the only way he could live was by hating and
being hated; (SC, 132) When he was in Clints hands this feeling of
hate did not exist. Clint knew how to cure him from hated.
But there came a day when Clint was in the right place at the
right time. He saw Cougar and he felt that in fact this was his
Smoky that was what his instinct told him, added to the way the
horse rode, the way he carried his ears and so on. Hed done a
mighty neat job of bucking then, even though it was hard, didnt
compare much with the bucking of The Cougar. Hed just been

27
bucking thru instinct. (SC, 132) He knew so well his favourite horse,
that he could recognize him. This shows that he was a responsible
horse owner.
Every cowboy who saw Cougar wanted to ride him. It was
precisely the fact that it was difficult to ride him at all that attracted
so many people. They seemed happy to fall from the horse and with
a childish smile they used to say that they would try it again. Hed
never seen a horse he couldnt ride before, but there was more and
which all kept the cowboy to following the outlaw. The unnatural
meanness of that pony had him guessing, and he sort of wanted to
figger it out while a setting on top. There was a horse that not only
called for skill and nerve, but the thinking ability of the pony was
sure worth a trying to match. (SC, 136) There was even an offer to
pay a thousand dollar to the one who could ride Cougar. This
amount decreased as the horse got tired of hating humans. Cougar
felt he was peoples plaything. He got tired of meeting strange people
who tried to ride him, and both his body and his spirit were tired.
The next rodeo started the same way, with cowboys who got
excited as they felt they were coming closer to the day in which one
man would say with a satisfied grin I rode him. They even looked
satisfied when they fell down off Cougar.The heart of The Cougar
was shriveling up and leaving space for the heart that was Smokys,
and that heart, even though older and weaker, was making a mighty
strong stand, and steady coming back. (SC, 140) Smokys previous
behaviour was to taking over him.
From his Roman nose on up to his sunk, dead looking eyes,
and taking in his lantern jaws on to his thick neck and along with the
rest of him, all indicated the natural outlaw; but what made him as a
most valuable horse for the rodeos, was in the how he could buck;
thats all he knew, and like all natural outlaws that way, thats all he
wanted to know. (SC, 140) Smokys description illustrated that he

28
was a hard-mouthed one and his actual owners wanted him to be

just as he had been, that is he should only know how to buck at
rodeos.
The Cougars life changed completely, as he was no longer
valuable for rodeo and so he was sold for twenty-five dollars. It was
figgered that at least twenty-five dollars worth of use would be got
out of him there. The horse was fat and strong-looking, could be
broke to harness, and made to do his share with any of the six and
eight horse teams which was kept on the road across the desserts as
freight teams. (SC, 141) The masters that he had after Clint sold him
when he was of no use, without any remorse, without a blink. These
were not real horse owners as a real owner cares about his horse,
thinks about the circumstances under which he sells him, especially
to whom he sells him and how would be treated in his new habitat.
Now his name was Cloudy, poor him had gone through so many
identities!
But then again that horse wasnt the same no more, hed
went from top cowhorse, to champion bucking horse and all around
outlaw, only to fade away in a livery stable, and there for every Tom,
Dick, and Harry to ride as they pleased. Cloudy was a livery plug.
(SC, 143) To sum up, having reached maturity, Smoky had been the
best cowhorse ever, then he was stolen and he started a new life
under another identity. Then he became a famous bucking horse
named Cougar. The next owner named him Cloudy. He became just
a livery hack. So many identities for a single horse did not leave his
heart as it had been. Every new identity meant a new way of life, a
new owner, a new location, a new set of rules. It was not easy for him
to adapt to such a variety of circumstances.
Sometimes one miracle follows, such as the next one. Smoky,
now re-baptized Cloudy felt that he was dreaming and he did not
want to wake up. He enjoyed a real nights rest with good food

29
nearby, as it was winter. Never before had that horse appreciated

his nights rests as he was now doing. He'd near close his eyes for the
peace he'd feel then, and eat his hay and grain slow, the same as
though he was fearing that as soon as it was gone, hed have to be
out again, and going. (SC, 144) But he was afraid that blizzard days
would go off and he would have to get out to ride again, taking
everyone who rented him everywhere they wanted.
Everybody preferred to rent Cloudy because he used to drive no
matter how difficult the road was, and how precarious the weather
was or how late the night was. Despite all these he was able to continue without pause, he did not give any sign of tiredness or disobedience, he was a humble and obedient horse.
But there were times when the man who rented him was a heavy
one, or he should ride on ragged road. Some people liked to test
Cloudys maximum endurance. There were periods that Cloudy rode
day by day, from dawn to dusk. He was rented whenever he was
needed. Most of the customers have no idea about the horses endurance and needs, they ignore if a horse is tired or ready to be
ridden. For this kind of people Cloudy was just a horse.
The winter helped Cloudy to recover and to look like a horse
again, because he was becoming a real plug. He still rode, but
nobody noticed his stiff back. Every person around wondered when
that awful wind was going to stop; but with Cloudy, and if he could
of, hed wished that wind would last forever. Itd got to be sweet
music to his ears, and he dozed to his hearts content only to be woke
up out of his dream to stare at fresh forkful of hay once in a while.
(SC, 146) He was brushed after a long time, he felt like in heaven. He
forgot what this meant in a daily routine of a horse. After such a time
of being neglected he enjoyed to be brushed.
Then he became a pet for a girl. One day he had the opportunity
to run alone for a while just for his own pleasure. (a man advised the

30
girl to let him run from time to time, just as a child who needs
sometimes to enjoy a few moments of real freedom) Cloudy et up
the distance and brought up sudden changes of scenery as mile after
mile was covered and let behind. With the warming up of the run,
the stiffness went out of his legs. He felt near young again, and was
taking the steep hills more like a four year old than the old stove he
was. (SC, 148) But in this episode he almost got killed. He got so
tired that he shook and quivered all over. He was hot because of his
fast run and the girl who did not knew what to do, had watered him
and this made him very sick. From then on the girl spent time every
day in the stable with Cloudy, fed him and he was very sorry for this
situation. The vet told that he would never recover to be ridden
again, and so he was sold.
He was sold to a man who killed horses for chicken food. What
horrible destiny! He was sold for just three dollars. The price for
which he was sold reveals his poor condition. Now his days were
truly counted.
There is a circumstance when Clint that was looking now for
Cougar found about Cloudy. The man was still talking on the
subject, when an old mouse colored horse, pulling an old wagon
loaded down with vegetable, came to a stiffed logged stop, and right
by the telegraph pole on which the poster telling all about The Grey
Cougar was nailed...There must be the Old Cougar right there, Clint.
Anyway hes got the same color. (SC, 155) Upon hearing this
description, Clint hoped that this horse might be his Smoky. Clint
and the sheriff investigated the chicken horse man.
Clint was proud to hear that his Smoky had been known for a
period as The Cougar, the famous wicked horse. Clint said about his
horse that that Smoky horse never does things half ways. (SC, 159)
Clint is wondering if Smoky remembers him after he had gone
through so many mishaps. Surely there was someone that broke

31
Smokys heart, but after a while spent in Clints company, the

Smokys heart came to life again.
When Clint noticed that Smoky showed affection for the colts, he
smiled to them, and enjoyed the way his horse asserted his mood to
the members of his race. The cowboy could near see the horse smile
at time little colts; and he was surprised at the show of action and
interest the old pony had reserved, or gained. He was acting near
like a two-year-old, and Clint grinned as he watched. (SC, 161)
Smoky felt Clints absence and surprisingly one morning he
looked out for him just in front of his house. Clint noticed quickly
the shadow of the horse and got out. Their relationship had stayed
the same even after a long period of time, when Smoky went through
difficult situations. Then a lot of work came on which kept the
cowboy from going out soon as he wanted to, and then one morning,
bright and early, as he stopped out to get a bucket of water, the
morning sun threw a shadow on the door; as he stuck his head out a
nicker was heard. (SC, 162) It is amazing how these friends could
look again after the horse had exchanged so many identities and life
styles, they continued their story as before, as nothing had happened
in the meanwhile.
3.2.1 Of good masters and bad masters
This book illustrates what it means to have a good master or a
bad master. How important is for an animal, in our case for a horse
to have a good master in order to have a well built relationship.
Everything begins from empathy. Empathy is the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either
the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and ex-

32
perience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner

(Merriam-Webster)
Empathy is connected with compassion, and if you do not have
these for animals, as many of the cowboys that owned Smoky for a
certain period, then human violence appears. Cruelty to animals and
human aggression represent forms of violence. Hunting is also a
form of violence and cruel behaviour. In everyday life there are
animal rights organizations that strive to help the animals that are in
difficult situations(overworked, injured, living in inappropriate
conditions). These organizations have strict rules that apply fines
and other punishments that are more austere for harming horses
than for other animals, such as cats.
...human societies arguing for better treatment sought to challenge
the property rights mentality that allowed an owner to treat his
animal in any way he wished. (Rarey, 7)
We need to promote animals empathy in order to change human

attitude towards animals. Animals are not simple objects that we can
use as we want, they are breathers that have souls as we do. But
everything starts from education, we need an appropriate education
regarding this subject. Education is the most obvious place for
fostering caring values. (Gaastra, 113) So we should develop our
ability to care about the others, about the environment and especially about the animals.
The apogee of the wrong attitude from ill-educated human that
show abusing animals is the story of Black Beauty. To humanize is
to attempt to bring animals and nature itself into our lives, a way
known to ancient man, who felt that the rocks and earth were alive
and full of power and living substance Far from the machine age,
the animals are older and wiser than we in the best sense of the
word... (Uttly qtd. in Barker, 287)

33
In the novel, Clint proved to be a good master, he showed everything that compassion of animals means(nurture, emotion, cognition, behaviour). Clint was both a tamer and a friend. They were a
perfect pair, where Smoky mirrored Clints mental and emotional
state. Indeed, it is scientifically proven that horses have this ability
to read and reflect these individual states, as horses do not lie. The
main difference between animal emotions and human emotions is
that animals dont have mixed emotions the way normal people do.
(Grandin qtd in Duran) Electrophysiology is the science that studies
horses emotions and behaviour. These are detemined by neurotransmitters(substances that are synthesized in a neuron and some
components of the neuron produces the adrenaline and the final
result is energy).
a horse can be trained, the owner or the person working with a
horse must be trained or educated (Pigney, 7-8)
Horses have a unique personality and they rely on environmental

conditions for survival. They allow their bodies to react to the
information they receive, which means that they do not have the
cognitive structure in order to assess a situation. During my reading
of scientific literature in the field of equine ethology, I found out
that animals with laterally placed eyes have the ability to see in
stereo (stereovision) and perceive in depth.
3.2.2. Cowboy speech
Another element that I find interesting in this novel is the
cowboy vocabulary. This farmer slang is just an informal term that
we do not normally find out in dictionaries. Cowboys use a lot also
jargon terms which refers to certain kind of terminology. The works
about the Old West(the region from the West of Mississippi River)
reveal a real atmosphere, the descriptions contain the reality of the

34
humans native place, their crafts, their education and their social
environment.
We should bear in mind that cowboys dialogues are usually
shouted across large distances. Don McCarthy says that this is a
language of the open range where guns and fists mean more than
Websters compilation(McCarthy)At the same time, the European
might find this jargon exotic and occasionally seems awkward (e.g.
ifin - if; yup - yes).
The cowboy favored simplicity in language and a principle of
economy of letters and sounds. The cowboy jargon has especially
mono-syllabic words for describing the specific environment, the
daily activities routine (hat, gun, cook). A single word can describe
many things, for example smoke denotes the fumes but also the
cigarette itself. Maybe this hurry in words and speaking comes from
the Spartan life they had. They had also multi-syllable words but
many of these express troubles (thunder, sheriff, sunburn).
Cowboys communication can be the simplest, by using only a
gesture, whenever this is possible.
The word cowboy appeared as a translation of the Spanish word
vaquero. These cattle-rising ranchers were settled in the western
Massachusetts, in the uplands of the Carolinas, in Florida, and
across the northern part of Georgia and Alabama. For the young
cowboys, working with cattle was not only a job, but a lifestyle. The
myth of the cowboy appeared in Texas. Their specific occupations
were cattle drive and round up. The most important things for
cowboys were the horse and the saddle. Since 1900 the evolution of
the so-called cowgirls also started. The culture of the cowboys was
perfectly illustrated by Buffalo Bills legend.

35
COWBOY GLOSSARY
Ranch jargon
To be broke to break (a wild horse); to train to the bridle and bit
Bronc (also bronco) - an untamed horse
Bronc buster - a cowboy who could tame wild horses
Buck - the action of a horse attempting to throw its rider
Buckskin - a tan or yellow colored horse with a black mane and tale
Corral - a large cattle
Cow horse - a horse that is trained to roping, cutting, working out a
cow-herd
Curry comb - a brush for horses
Hackamore - bridles; usually made of rope
Herd - a band of cattle
Mustang - a feral horse
Nicker - the neigh of a horse
Nighthawk - boys who have charge of the saddle horse at night
Plug - steed
Range horses - horses born and bred on the range
Remuda - saddle horses used regularly
Stallion - an adult male horse
Stockyard - an enclosure for the temporary housing of horses
Wrangler - the wrangler herds the cavvy during the day and
bunches them in a rope corral at meal time
Western slang
Buck up - cheer up
Daggone - damn
Frazzle - tire out
Japer - mocker
Western Regional Terms and Pronunciations
critter creature

36
'em - them
et ate
figgered figured; realized.
Jiggered - damn
Hollered - shout or yell
Spook to scare
Steeper - extreme, incredible
Thru through
to be woke up to be awake
Western Phrases
Listen feller - listen fellow
Its all hunkydory- satisfactory, fine
A good long ride'll fix you - I will tame you
These are just some of the Western terms that can be encountered in
Smoky the Cowhorse, set against the brief definitions provided by
McCarthy in his article of 1936.

37
Chapter 4.The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas

Evans
4.1.Nicholas Evans - Biographical Data
icholas Evans was born on 26 July, 1950 in Bromsgrove,

Worcerstershire. He attended the Voluntary Service Overseas in Africa and then studies law at Oxford University,
graduates with first class honors. He started working as a newspaper

reporter, he worked as a journalist for three years at the Evening
Chronicle. Then he moves into television and produced films about
US politics and the Middle East.
In 1982 he seized another television area and he produces arts
documentaries about famous writers, painters and film makers.
Evans became friends with the British director David Lean, about
whom he made a film (Lawrence of Arabia), and who encouraged him
to produce fiction. Then he produces a number of films for cinema
and television.
In 1993 he met the one who enflamed him with stories about the
so-called horse whisperers and as a result he started to write his
first novel. Its hero is a blacksmith from South-West England, who
told him Evans about the people that have the special gift to heal
traumatized horses.
The Horse Whisperer was published two years later, in the fall. It
quickly became a bestseller in 20 countries and has been translated
into 36 languages. Such a success continued with the movie that was
starred, produced and directed by Robert Redford.

38
Evans is married to singer Charlotte Gordon Cumming. Evans

and several relatives were poisoned in 2008 and all of them had to
undergo kidney dialyses. He had also a transplant intervention in
2011, when his daughter donated him a kidney.
Nicholas Evans also wrote the following novels, which are not
for children, The Loop(1998), The Smoke Jumper(2001), The Divide
(2005), The Brave(2010).
4.2. Real Friendship is a Medicine

The Horse Whisperer tells the wonderful story of a young girl,
Grace and of her horse, Pilgrim, that go through critical situations
together. Her best friend Judith also has a horse, named Gulliver.
The friendship belonged here, with their horses as the author
comments (HW, 9). Grace and Judith used to ride their horses, but
this time the girls did not even announce that they planned to go
out. Both of them were closely connected to their horses. Grace was
closer to her horse than to her mother. Her mother, Annie, was a
famous journalist who had little time for her. As well Annie had
grown up with lacking of her mothers attention, so she stayed
focused on career from a young age. Her father, Robert is a lawyer.
Grace walked on. Her horse was in the far end of the barn. Grace
spoke softly to the others as she passed them, greeting them by
name. She could see Pilgrim, his head erect and still, watching her
all the way. He was a four-year-old Morgan, a gelding of a bay so
dark that in some lights he looked back. Her parents had bought
him for her last summer for her birthday, reluctantly. They had
worried he was too big and too young for her, altogether too much
of a horse. For Grace, it was love at first sight. (HW, 10)

39
(Image from the film The

Horse Whisperer, directed by
Robert Redford, 1998)
Her passion for riding was recent, but she loved Pilgrim and
loved riding. They got in touch quickly and became friends. Grace
could not wait for the weekends to meet Pilgrim and ride. Her
mother also enjoyed to drive Grace to horse events, yet Grace had
more trust in her father than in her mother.
However that particular walk, was to be a fateful one. It was
winter and it snowed, on the road there was ice. Grace and Judith
planned a walk to the old mill road. Once they had arrived there, the
girls were not cautious at the road and a passing truck hit them. The
scene is dramatically narrated in the novel:
With all her strength, Grace tugged on Pilgrims mouth and for a
moment had his attention. She backed him toward the other horse,
leaning precariously from her saddle, and reached out for Gullivers
bridle. He moved off, but she shadowed him, stretching out her arm
till she thought it would pop from its socket. Her fingers were nearly
on it when the truck blasted its horn. (HW, 22)
Grace tried to avoid the impact by bearing away from the road
Pilgrim and Gulliver. But her efforts were ineffective. Her friend
Judith and her horse died at the moment of the impact. Grace and
Pilgrim suffered serious injuries and had few life chances.

40
Morning is symbol of hope, a new day, a new experience. In this

novel the morning time uses as the opening of the story because it
tells about Grace that wakes up in the morning and happy to see her
friend to ride their horses together. (Lestari)But that morning was
an unfortunate one.
Shortly after this accident Grace was in the hospital in the
middle of the surgery, while Pilgrim was running madly around the
place of the tragic event. Graces mother Annie did not agree that
Pilgrim should be killed so the vet tried to sedate him in order that
he could be caught. Pilgrim was lying on his side in a giant bloodstain that was spreading out through the snow under the knees of
those trying to save him. This was as far as hed got when the flood of
sedative hit. His forelegs buckled and he went down on his knee.
(HW, 48)
Pilgrim was badly hurt: His nasal bone was hideously crunched
in, there were clearly some broken ribs, an ugly gash over the left
cannon bone and God knows how many other smaller cuts and
bruises. (HW, 49)
Grace fell into coma and her right leg was going to be amputated
to the knee. Annie and Robert became physical therapy experts in
that situation. But Annie also took care of Pilgrim, as she did not
want him to be killed although he was in a critical situation and it
was rationally better to end his suffering.
For Christmas Eve, Grace was allowed to go home, but just for
two days. This was two weeks since she had come out of the coma.
She was able to walk with the help of two crutches. Grace was
suffering because she moved about so clumsily because of her
missing leg. She needed help but she would not accept it, she wanted
to manage alone; she had a kind of pride in order to manage by
herself so she did not accept even her fathers help, the person with
whom she had a better relationship.

41
She was not in her mood also because of Pilgrim, her soul-mate:
Grace was still staring at the picture of Pilgrim. She had already decided what she was going to do. She knew theyd try and get her to
ride again. But she wasnt going to, ever. She would tell her parents
to give him back to the people in Kentucky. (HW, 77, 78)
However, a change is about to happen:

As the novel unfolds, we see how the physical effect of the accident
on both family and horse is overtaken by the spiritual effect the
result of the accident now has upon all of them (Kimber, 2: 159)
The girl got into a strange situation, she locked herself indoors,
pretending with the therapists that all war in order, while she obviously was not. She was seriously affected by having witnessed the
death of both Judith and Gulliver. The death of her friends made her
decide never to ride again. Her mother realized that she was not well
and that she had do everything she could in this regard. Annie
brought home Pilgrim for Christmas, hoping that seeing him would
make Grace feel better. Her soul was broken, but she decided to give
her and Pilgrim a chance and to see him for the last time. The veterinary tried to convince Grace and Annie that Pilgrim was not prepared to receive visits, and that surely it was not a good idea for
Grace to see him in those conditions.
Annie looked at her blankly then stepped closer to the door of the
stall. The smell of urine hit her in a sudden, pungent wave and she
could see the floor was filthy with dung. Pilgrim was backed into the
shadow of the far corner, watching her. His feet were splayed and
his neck stretched so low that his head was little more than a foot
above the ground. His grotesquely scarred muzzle was titled up at
her, as if daring her to move and he was panting in short, nervy
snorts. Annie felt a shiver at the nape of her neck and the horse

42
seemed to sense it too for now he pinned back his ears and leered at
her in a toothy, gothic parody of threat. (HW, 87)
Pilgrim was in a humble situation, he was looking physically and

psychically horrible. The accident had destroyed him inside and
rendered him again savage, he did not accept human presence near
him. He was not held in the appropriate conditions, in the dark, in
dirt, so in this way his bad injuries were not giving any signs of
curing. For the first time Annie received a bad message from
Pilgrims eyes and she was scared that she through she was seeing a
devil in Pilgrims glance. He was unrecognizable, it was not that
Pilgrim that everybody knew as a beautiful and steady horse. This
meeting scared all of the people present there, even the veterinary,
who did not agree to the idea that he should met Grace.
Pilgrim was wasting away. The broken bones and the scars on his
body and legs had healed, but the damage done to the nerves in his
shoulder had rendered him lame. Only a combination of confinement and physical therapy could help him. But such was the
violence with which he exploded at anyones approach that the
latter was impossible without risk of serious injury. Confinement
alone was thus his lot. In the dark stench of his stall, behind the
barn where he had known days far happier, Pilgrim grew thin. (HW,
92)
The second part of the book presents the history of the so-called
whisperers. Back in time the people of America used to kill horses
for their meat, so in this way horses perceived the human beings as
hunters. Afterwards they turned to using horses for riding and
rodeo. In that society, those whisperers had the gift to see and
understand what was in the soul of a horse, they read the animal so
well in order so they could train them just by knowing and reacting
properly to the horses instincts.

43
Those whisperers were more than trainers, they were kind of

equine psycho-therapists. I found a definition for whisperer that
tells us that it means a person who excels at calming or training
hard-to-manage animals using non-coercive methods based especially on an understanding of the animals natural instincts
(Merriam-Webster). Annie heard of these Whisperers and started to
look for one hoping that he might help Pilgrim to became again what
he had once been. At her office she was working longer hours,
browsing newspapers, magazines and books in order to locate a
whisperer, she was looking everywhere, made calls, until she found
about Tom Booker.
Tom Booker was a special tamer also known as a horse
whisperer. He lived surrounded by horses, he had grown up in their
midst, so he was able to understand the horses language. He said
that:
dancing and riding, its the same damn thing, he would say. Its
about trust and consent. Youre gotten hold one another. The mans
leading but hes not dragging her, hes offering a feel and she feels it
and goes with him. Youre in harmony and moving to each others
rhythm, just following the feel. (HW, 112)
This similitude could astound someone, and yet it was true:

indeed, from the moment you have any kind of relationship with a
horse, you start doing something together, it means that you
perceive his world not only yours, and the horse is doing the same.
The only fact you have to take into account is that both have to agree
upon the decision that you made. Tom interpret the riding as asking
a woman to dance. Harmony is the key of every pair or group project
even in the ordinary days.
Robert agreed to Annies idea that she, Grace and Pilgrim should
travel to Tom Booker's ranch in order to fix the two victims, that is,

44
both Pilgrim and Grace. Grace hardly accepted the idea, as in fact
she was forced by her mother to agree to it. She was not comfortable
even at school because everyone was so careful with her, but she
only wanted that everything should behave normally to her, as they
had done before the accident. So in a way she preferred not going to
school. But Grace did not agree that her mother should always
decide for the ones that were near herself, neither for her, nor for
her father. She was having a teenager arguement with her mother,
alleging that Annie was claiming to be caring about others just in
order to make the decisions herself. Grace was also angry because
her mother had behaved as if Pilgrim had not been hers, but Annies.
Now Graces physical condition looked better, her recovery was
on the right path, she finally accepted her prosthesis, and yet she
failed to recover spiritually, She could look at this leg now and
accept at last that it belonged to her. The scar was neat, no longer
that angry, itching pink. Her muscles were coming back nicely, so
much so that the sleeve of her prosthetic leg was starting to feel a
little tight. (HW, 175, 176)
After having met the three of them(Annie, Grace and Pilgrim),
Tom really understood what this was about and why Annie had
insisted in helping them; he initially refused to attend this case, but
then he decided that he wanted to hear the story of the accident from
Graces mouth, which would not happen until later, because the girl
was not prepared to remember such a painful event. The whole had
become clear. All three mother, daughter and horse were
inextricably connected with the pain. If he could help the horse, even
a little, maybe he could help them all? What could be wrong with
that? And truly, how could he walk away from such suffering?
(HW,181) He did not have the certainty that he could do anything
with Pilgrim but he needed especially Graces help in order to try.

45
She was feeling somehow bounded by the circumstances so she

accepted.
Pilgrims treatment started with a special technique, by getting
in and out of the water, while Tom was near him, and Grace
attended closely to them Not that the real with Pilgrim had started
yet. So far it had been mostly physical therapy, building up the
horses wasted shoulder and leg muscles in the swimming pool.
(HW, 187)
After a while they started the training in the arena, a corral
specially designed for training horses. The horses reaction at the
saddle revealed his wild behaviour, His tail was clenched and it
twitched and his ears moved back and forward. His eyes were wild
and fixed on the open gate though which hed come and through
which he knew the man would now follow him. (HW,204)
Pilgrim showed visible results of recovery during the time spent
at the ranch, he was strong again, people could now approach him,
he was no longer nervous at human presence, and Grace was able to
feed him. As the author noted:
The horses leg muscles had grown strong again with all the
swimming hed been doing and the scars on his chest and face were
looking better by the day. It was the scars inside his head that now
needed seeing to... But no longer charged when they came in and
lately Tom had let Grace take in his feed and water. His coat was
matted and his mane and tail filthy and tangled and Grace longed to
get a brush on him. (HW, 205)
Tom was doing his job keeping with Pilgrim's pace of recovery,
but now that Grace noticed the fact that the horse was better, she
started to think that the others expected her to ride him. Yet she did
not want to give people the chance to see her riding again, simply

46
because Grace would not feel comfortable that people should feel
sorrow for her.
Grace knew quite well that people rode with worse disabilities than
hers. Some even started from scratch that way. She'd seen them at
events and once she'd even taken part in a sponsored show-jump
where all the money went to the local Disabled group. Shed thought
how brave these people were and felt sorrow for them. Now she
couldnt bear the idea that people might feel the same about her.
She wouldnt give them the chance. Shed said she would never ride
again and that was that.(HW, 207)
There was a real example, Amberley Snyder, a famous rodeo girl,

who rode again after six years of paralysis. The doctors had given her
very few chances to walk again, or even to ride after her terrible car
accident. But her force and psychic were tougher, more powerful
than anything they would say, do or show. She knew that she wanted
to recover so she focused on this and nothing else. From her first day
of therapy she had told to that nurse that what she was going to do
was to walk, ride and rodeo. The word maybe did not exist in her
vocabulary.
Amberley had the best balance in her saddle so she started to
diversify her therapy by using a saddle. After four months of therapy,
including her own exercise with the saddle she received the doctors
approval to saddle up a real horse. Just at that moment she realized
that nothing was the same, as she needed help to saddle up, and that
she had no longer the same abilities to ride. Here she adopted the
same position as Grace, by refusing to ride because she could not do
this at the same level and she proposed her mother to sell the horses
in order for them not to lose their athletic talent, as they were not
horses meant for leisurely rides. But her mother refused to sell the

47
horse, just as Annie had refused to kill Pilgrim, saying that they
would wait for her to recover completely.
One day as she received a call from a journalist in order to make
a photo shot with her and her horses, she agreed, so in this way she
saddled up again, now she felt that her riding story could continue.
She needed special conditions to ride, and on June 2011, 18 months
after her accident she was ready to be back onto the ring. She
continued to compete in rodeos.
She felt at ease when was on
horseback, rather than slumped down on her wheelchair.

Grace asked him if what he now knew would help him make
Pilgrim better and he said hed have to do some thinking but that he
hoped so. (HW, 233) She had related the whole story of the accident
to Tom in order to help Pilgrim. She became very concerned about
Pilgrim. Her feelings for Pilgrim were again in light. Till now she
seemed to hide her pure feelings for his best friend Pilgrim, but she
became completely involved in his recovery.
The big day came when Grace could ride Pilgrim with lots of
beholders around, as everyone from the ranch were present. Grace
was nervous and Tom forced Pilgrim to kneel by binding his legs, in
order that Grace could saddle up. She had known that this day would
come from the moment she had ridden Gonzo in the arena. Since the
accident only Tom rode Pilgrim. So this moment was quite important, in order to see if Pilgrim would accept other people and especially his old owner to ride him. The horse was looking beautiful
now, although some scars were still visible. Grace started to cry
when she saw what Tom was doing with her horse, she felt that he
griped him too brutally.
Everyone was there and Grace wished they werent. Such though
had been the build-up to this moment, that a full turnout was only
to be expected. She looked at the waiting faces along the rail of the

48
big arena: her mom, Frank and Diane, Joe, the twins in their matching Universal Studios caps, even Smoky had come by. And what if it
all went wrong? It wouldnt, she told herself firmly. She wasnt
going to let it. (HW, 376)
The girl and her horse are united also in their recovery:
not only do Pilgrim and Grace have similar recovery from the accident, their behavior after the accident is also very much alike. (Pigney 11-12)
The fact that she managed to ride Pilgrim again, after a long
period of rest excited everyone who was present there. Grace was
exhilariated:
But this was Pilgrim. Her Pilgrim. He'd come through. And she
could feel him beneath her, like he always used to be, giving and
trusting and true.(HW, 387)
Grace was feeling completely fulfilled, as two life friends who

recovered after a long time. Pilgrim was her soul, and now that saw
that they could be partners as in old times, she was the happiest
person on earth. When their friendship was fulfilled, the horse with
whom she had gone through difficult times was again what he had
once been and there was nothing more that she needed. Her mood
instantly came alive. The trust and the feelings that she had for this
horse meant more that anyone could imagine. So now the two
friends were alright again.
Grace returned happily home with her mother and Pilgrim. Surprisingly, Grace received a present from Tom; after his death, Frank
wrote them that Toms last wish was to give her the foal of Bronty.
Grace named him Gully, but firstly she consulted Judiths mother
regarding to this.

49
In the fall Grace went back to school and the welcome she got there
from her friends was worth a thousand sessions with her new
therapist, whom nonetheless, even now, she still visited every
week.(HW, 416-7)
The film directed by Robert Redford in 1998 gave him ...the

opportunity to explore most of the novels plot, but with a more
pedestrian depressing ending than in the original novel. (Kimber,
4-161)
4.2.1
A scientific perspective on the so-called

horse whisperers
A Horse whisperer is more than a simple trainer, I can say that

he is a psychotherapist because uses non-coercive methods in order
to tame the horse.
a horse whisperer is a practitioner of natural horsemanship and is
someone that is considered to have a higher ability to communicate
with horses than other people (Pigney, 2)
There are specialists that say that the horse whisperer does not
use cruel and barbaric techniques, he uses just techniques based on
understanding the animals natural instincts. The whisperer starts
by seeing from another perspective, the one of the horse; the gifted
man observes the horses world from their point of view, and the
first reaction it would be prey versus predator; although the horse
had been domesticated, inside him there still alive a wild one; from
this moment the whisperer starts communicating with the horse, by
doing every step taking into account how the horse perceives a
certain thing. Because Tom had a special ability to understand the
situation and predict the future it had been attributed to him a socalled mystical quality. Tom becomes some kind of healer to them

50
both as in his process of healing Pilgrim, he also heals Grace.

(Pigney, 10)
The struggle and bravery that Grace prove in order to face real
life was fairly difficult. There are many conflicts in this book. But my
attention stops on that of Grace and Pilgrim that have emotional
problems in order to cure their ache and that of the whisperer,
Everyone meets problems in the learning process to deal with self
and others. Everyone has a conflict. (Lestari)
There are no bad horses, the only problem is that we do not
know to read what they share us by their eyes and body language.
Instead of words the horse uses body language. For example the ears
laid back are associated with intensive aggressive interaction; when
he is in alert he has a rigid stance with the neck elevated and the
head oriented to the point of focus and the ears are held stiffly
upright and forward.
4.2.2. Equine therapy in the light of modern science

Equine therapy is the therapy assisted by horses which helps
people and kids that have emotional and behavioural issues. This
therapy can benefit persons with autism, amputation, brain injuries,
the developmentally delayed, those with the down syndrome, those
with emotion disabilities, learning disabilities, visual, hearing and
speech impairments, anxiety attacks and phobias, post traumatic
stress disorder and many other problems. (Equestrian Assisted
Therapy)
The use of horses as a therapeutic aid was known as early as600
BC. Hippocrates spoke about the ancient Greeks whom used this
therapy in order to help people that had incurable illness. In 1875 a
French physician named Cassaign claimed that this therapy may

51
help certain neurological disorders. In Scandinavia the equine

therapy was introduced in 1946 during an outbreak of poliomyelitis.
Liz Hartel from Denmark was one of those people who cured of polio
doing this therapy.
There are three main types of equine therapy. The common one
is therapeutic horseback riding, this is used by people in order to
relax and grow confidence in themselves. The hippotherapy is a
physical form and it is used to cure certain motor function, as in our
case amputation. The movement of the horse affects a riders posture, balance, coordination, strength and sensor-motor systems. It is
thought that the warmth and shape of the horse and its rhythmic,
three-dimensional movement along with the riders interactions
with the horse and responses to the movement of the horse can improve the flexibility, posture, balance and mobility of the
rider.("Equine assisted therapy)
Equine assisted psychotherapy is used in order to treat human
psychological problems.
EAP incorporates horses experientially for emotional growth
and learning. It is a collaborative effort between a licensed therapist
and a horse professional working with the participant and horses to
address treatment goals... EAP is experiential in nature... the participant will learn about themselves and others by participating in activities with the horses, and then processing (or discussing) feelings,
behaviors, and patterns... involves setting up ground activities involving the horses, which will require the participant or group to
apply certain skills...
EAP is a powerful and effective therapeutic approach that has
an
incredible impact on individuals, youth, families,
and
groups.("Benefits of equine therapy)
Through this therapy we can learn to identify our feelings, develop our communication skills, set boundaries, overcome our fears,

52
and to build trust. Horses are able to respond and also give a
feedback to the action or behaviour of the rider. As far as social and
responsive behaviour is concerned, the horses behave similarly to
humans, and this is why they are said to be able to mirror the
emotion of rider.
Therapy counsellor Gabrielle Gardner argues that
[t]he horse is the perfect mirror; they are very emotional beings;
were only starting to realize how intelligent they are... It has been
clinically documented that just being around horses changes human
brainwave patterns. We calm down and become more centred and
focused when we are with horses.(qtd in McVeigh, "Not just
horsing around...psychologists put their faith in equine therapies")
Grace behaved like an infant who wanted to forget completely

the moment of the accident, as this event had affected her so much,
that she did not want to ride ever again. But the therapy gave results
in her case too, and (in this order) she and her horse Pilgrim
managed to completely recover. At the end of the book they were
ready to continue their friendship story.

53
Conclusion
nimal tales may open a stereo perspective on the

horses area. I have been thoroughly impressed with the
horses intelligence, as well as the fact that they are able
to respond and also give a feedback to the action or behaviour of the

rider. For their special behaviour horses maybe chosen for therapy.
Equines wisdom proved the partnership that could exist
between humans and horses. The so-called horse whisperer is an
equine specialist, both a tamer and a therapist. He helps horses with
various ailments, whether physical or mental. This kind of man uses
only the horses own behaviour in order to cure him.
As for equine therapy, this is a field about which I have found out
more information than I expected. It really helps us to learn how to
identify our feelings, develop our communication skills, set
boundaries, overcome our fears and to build trust. This therapy
helps children with emotional and behavioural issues, and not only
them, but also people that suffer of autism, amputation and many
more. There are many types of equine therapy such as: therapeutic
horseback riding, hippotherapy, equine-assisted psychotherapy.
Reading about these methods incredible results on people I became
convinced that I should whatever it takes to buy a horse and over
time do more than horseback riding. The American Amberley
Snyder proved us that this works.
Will James got to prison for having misbehaved with horses,
nowadays we receive fines and different punishments for this and
the last resort punishment is prison. Empathy builds up by being
educated in this area.

54
Horses are intelligent animals and if we behave towards them

properly, miracles may exist at every step. A soulful horsemanship it
had been proved. Both stories, The Horse Whisperer and Smoky the
Cowboy revealed through their main characters Grace/Pilgrim/
Tom, Clint/Smoky that there are special connections between
humans and horses.

55
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SC
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Horse Stories

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MINISTERUL EDUCAIEI NAIONALE I CERCETRII TIINIFICE

UNIVERSITATEA TEHNIC CLUJ-NAPOCA

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

A scientific perspective on the so-called

horse whisperers .................................................... 50

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

he horses are the humans best friends because they are

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

As Smokey the Cowhorse illustrates a tortuous destiny of a

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

Chapter 1. Introduction: A Brief History

nimals have always been favourite in childrens literature.

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

moralizing tales were used to take a stand in ethical issues existing

The later evolution of animal tales lead to their diversification

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

ing for commercial profit, whereas parents, grandparents and the

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

an half wolf towards domestication. I think that in virtually every

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

Chapter 2. Horses as Protagonists in

he horse evolved as herbivorous mammal prone to

humans in the course of their history. The process of domestication

Horses have long been one of the favourite protagonists of the

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

Chapter 3. Smoky the Cowhorse by Will James

3.1. Will James - Biographical Data

ill James born in Saint-Nazaire-d'Acton, Quebec,

skillful in art since early childhood, by drawing. In 1910 he

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

3.2. Smoky 'the best horse'

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

(Illustration to Smoky the

Smoky clearly gives signs of intelligence and curiosity since his

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

He was interested about the things that surrounded him, he

Smokys reaction at novelty was interesting as he had never seen

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

cool shades, clear streams, and grassy ranges to all roam on as he

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

thing in animal and human nature that attempts to protect one of

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

Smoky will remain unique even after he became domesticated. I

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

Hed got to finding a lot of pleasure in doing just what that

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

have him. He was paying attention both and meanwhile to the

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

was a hard-mouthed one and his actual owners wanted him to be

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

nearby, as it was winter. Never before had that horse appreciated

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the

Smokys heart, but after a while spent in Clints company, the

Anamaria Susana antaEquine Friends. Empathy and Healing in Smoky the