Mini Horse, Mighty Hope: How a Herd of Miniature Horses Provides Comfort and Healing
By: Debbie Garcia-Bengochea, Peggy Frezon / Narrated By: Angie Hickman
Length: 5 hrs and 18 mins
I DIDN’T CRY! I SWEAR IT…!!! …sniffle sniffle wah…!!!
Dunno what it is but, despite ADORING audiobooks, despite KNOWING there’ll never come a day when I don’t wanna say SOMEthing about what-all I listened to? Despite every now and again TOTALLY hitting the nail square-BAM! right on the head with what I’m wanting to say about an audiobook?
Welllll, sometimes the danged process wears me down and danged if it ain’t like pulling teeth in trying to find the words for what I’m thinking/feeling. When that happens (And it happens far oftener than I care for!), I usually brave it through a review, maybe two, using up a couple of hours per review, and then I crawl off to sob under a rock somewhere. Why do I tell you this?
Cuz such was my state of mind/being as I gazed at the blank page before me, contemplating Mini Horse, Mighty Hope, an audiobook that I KNEW I loved, but man! was I having a dickens of a time trying to shape what I was feeling. And so?
I did what one does nowadays: I hit Facebook to get a further gander of the dear tykes at Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses. And blow me down: All of a sudden I was back here, reinvigorated and raring to tell ya just why-all you should listen to this…
…or why you should chuck an extra shekel their way if you’ve the means.
Nowadays, it’s just de rigueur for animal rescuers, mighty do-gooders to have to HAVE a presence on Social Media. There’s Patreon as an offering for individuals to provide a pittance or two to assist rescue/charity efforts. There’s Sending Stars so that one’s comments can be seen. There’s, as always, the direct plea for funds. It could be gross, but hey! that’s just how it is. So I hit Facebook, no problems, not thinking it gross at all now that I’ve adjusted to it. But goodness, how wonderful is the Gentle Carousel page! It TOTALLY reminded me of just why I did love the audiobook so.
Cuz these are people with hearts that are huuuuge, who bring in stray and unwanted animals from storms. Sure, this audiobook is written from rescuer/therapy-team leader Debbie’s point of view, but her husband and partner in All Things Big-Hearted And Wonderful Jorge comes off as just as magnificent.
Each chapter has its own title, something I always applaud as doing so inspires thoughts and memories of what-all the chapter was about, so you’ll not get lost as you listen in. “In the Worst of Times, We See the Best in People”, “You Bring Books to Life”, “You Can’t Change Everything, but You Can Change Something” are just some of the forays into such heartstrings you’ll find tugged most mightily. My favorite was the chapter about navigating the current Covid-19 realities: Orchestrating a showing/little parade outside places so that the quarantined denizens could at least have a smile during their day. Gentle Carousel, despite relying on one-on-one interactions, has found a way to bring joy to many, despite the difficulties (Which might seem impossible… as in: I’m reeeeally worried about the efforts of Rodney Stotts of Bird Brother as he was juuuust picking up steam with his own healing others through raptors and education…).
The narration by Angie Hickman is just a triiiiifle off-putting as Hickman has the voice of a verrrry young woman, actually? It’s closer to the voice of an older girl. As Debbie is a go-getter and supremely in charge of all situations, I found this to be a bit odd. Still, it doesn’t detract too much from the stories told. Just saying, ya know?
Come for aaaallll the truly remarkable stories, hear about the mini-horses as they bring comfort after tragedies galore, mass shootings (Oh how common those are for them to visit!), first responders as well as victims. Witness how each little horse seems to know just how to offer comfort, a head lowered to a shoulder or lap. And of course, witness just how incredibly kind and indefatigable Debbie and Jorge are. Going the extra mile if a need crops up.
And do visit their Facebook page for wonderful pics of each of the horses, and see in amazement that the group, despite Hurricane Ian causing property damage, are STILL going out to provide comfort… -AND- food for dogs, cats, horses.
Can’t recommend this uplifting little gem enough. In this age of all things atrocious and heartrending? It’s AWEsome to be able to listen to something so inspiring. We can all be better; we can all do SOMEthing…
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