Have you ever met a rescue horse?
Last week we celebrated our patron saint, Saint Francis of Assisi, by holding our annual Blessing of the Animals ceremony. There were many special guests at the event. One that I got to meet was Clyde, a rescue horse from Pennsylvania with a very interesting past.
Clyde was trained and worked as an Amish plow horse in Pennsylvania for 10 years. Despite his history of service, Clyde did not have a bright future. "He was a hard-working horse for many years, but even after all his hard work, he was turned over to a buyer, where he was abused and almost died," said Lieutenant Doug Williams of the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Fortunately, for Clyde he was rescued by a woman named Niki and was adopted by Lieutenant Williams in 2013. Williams saw what Clyde had to offer and helped him recover from his abuse. Clyde has gained back much of the weight that he lost and is now a healthy patrol horse serving in the Orange County Sheriff's Mounted Patrol. Clyde's story is a great example of how animals can change our lives.
Other special guests at the ceremony included a foster dog named Katniss that was up for adoption, a veterinarian that promoted her clinic, police officers who brought K-9s, a bloodhound search dog from the Orange County Sheriff's Department, and all the pets belonging to our families.
Blessing of the Animals was a great day at St. Francis. It was amazing to see the wide variety of animals, and see how much the SFA students love their pets and other animals who impact our lives!