Day: July 25, 2015

“Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.”

– Herman Hesse

I have not learned how to speak to trees, but I am beginning to learn how to listen to them. For me, trees have always been the most worthy of preachers. They stand alone, like prophets and wise men.  I love them most when they stand alone. They are like lonely persons, not piteous hermits, but great men and women. In their highest branches the world rustles, they struggle with all the force of their lives for one thing only: to fulfill themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form, to represent themselves. In their lowest limbs, they brush against life on the earth. On one end, they touch the sky, on the other, the most common dirt.

They are symbols of independence to me, no one presumes to tell them how to live or grow or stand. There is a wisdom to them, and a glory in the way they reach up to the heavens, always upwards.

It was a great pleasure to see Ken Norman this morning. When someone has been in great pain as long as Ken has, you tend to forget what they were like before the pain began. Ken was in pain for nearly ten years. A willful and work-obsessed man, he didn’t really deal with the pain until last December, when he had both knees replaced in a surgical procedure that left him in even more pain for months.

A farrier’s life is not an easy or simple life. Ken and his wife Eli had a long and hard and painful winter, Eli broke her wrist, was in great pain herself and needed surgery. She fell down Friday night and the pain returned, but nothing new was broken. Ken looked about 20 years younger, his demeanor was easy and cheerful – he can be grumpy and mono-syllabic and stoic – he looked great, he moved easily and smiled readily. He even cracked a few jokes.

Modern medicine is challenging and difficult,  but it can be miraculous. I was thinking, watching Ken, that just a few years ago I would be dead and he would be crippled for life. And here we both are, back at it, feeling better. Ken’s recovery was long and hard, but we could see this morning that he is coming through it. I may not have ever known Ken when he wasn’t in some kind of pain, it was nice to meet him again, to see him reborn.

Few people have the will, skills and strength to take care of horses and donkeys. They are important, necessary to keeping animals in the every day world. The animal rights activists in New York claiming it is abuse for horses to pull carriages would do well to avoid Ken, they would get an earful or worse. People like Ken make it possible for animals to remain in our lives, I am grateful to him and to his  new knees. I am also grateful to the many generous people who supported him on his gofundme drive before the surgery.

Chloe is a pretty easy going pony, but she was anxious after we got her into the Pole Barn and Ken Norman started trimming her hooves. Maria kept her calm and steady. The two are talking a lot to one another.

I admire Ken Norman, he is a good friend and valuable man. It is sometimes discouraging to search for good men, but this one comes to the farm regularly, and has been in my life for more than a decade. He showed up this morning on his two new knees – he is in no pain and moving easily and fluidly – to trim three sets of hooves – Lulu, Fanny, and Chloe, our new pony.

Ken cares about animals, he has rescued scores of horses. He cares about people. He is working hard in defense of Joshua Rockwood, the Glenville, N.Y. farmer accused of animal cruelty and neglect this winter. Ken has been to Joshua’s court hearings and defended him on various social media sites. Ken loves horses, they are his life, but he also loves people, and will stand up for people who are being treated unjustly. Not too many people like that.

Ken, a horse rescuer,  has gone over the evidence in the case, and declared the 13 charges to be “Bullshit Misdemeanors,” a good and accurate description of the charges. Maria and I both love to see how gracefully Ken handles the donkeys and the pony, how easy they are with him, how difficult this work is.

Ken is an animal craftsman, there are very few people left who do what he does. We value him in our lives, I value him as a friend.