animal crackers

read in the papers this morning that a local university is conducting animal behaviour studies to help students - in the pyschology course they are studying & also for better mental well-being. it has been proven that animals provide a 'support' to the less fortunate & children. when we were holidaying in gold coast australia, we saw a group of kids with down-syndrome who were special guests at the theme park we were visiting. it was a lovely sight to see the dolphins cozying up to the kids, and in return the kids laughing & hugging the dolphins with unconditional love.

when the daughter was just a baby, we brought her to a horse stable to get her familiar with animals. she was pretty excited but when we brought her up close to the horse, she refused to touch it & was scared. the animal trainer said it was normal for kids to be afraid but advised us to encourage the little one to have pets / contacts with animals to develop a sense of responsibility & confidence. so when me moved to a state down south, i started to take her to a horse riding range. she started out with the pony rides & i had to make sure that i was within her sight lest she let out a scream & demanded to get off the pony. i then decided to take riding lessons myself.

i was lucky that the manager of the stables was kind enough to give me a horse provided i pay for its meals & the caretaker a token for taking care of patches (thats the name of my horse). i used to ride almost every other day & brought the little one with me on some evenings to ride or at times, to help me groom or feed the horse. sure enough, she became more confident - even ran up to pat the horse (much to her dad's dismay that it might kick her). but patches was such a gentle creature. he allowed her to pat, or brush or feed him (his favourite). but ironically, he did not like my hubby. everytime my hubby tried to approach it, patches would kick its hind legs hitting the walls of the stable. and i am pretty sure the feeling was mutual on my hubby's part. but he would always make sure i bought enough food (biscuits, apples or carrots) for our four legged friend.

when we moved back to kl, sadly i could not bring patches along to be placed at some riding stable here (too expensive lah). anyways, we got a cat instead. and in a sense it is true, animals bring out the calm in you (until they decide to test your nerves by leaving their marks, or scratching your furniture) & they love you unconditionally (on condition however that you keep their stomachs full all the time, and brush them, and stroke them. well on some conditions anyway).

but you must also teach the kids to love & care for the animals, and not use them as some experiment or torment them. and if you know of anyone torturing them poor creatures, just call special people cruel animals (if any of you remember my earlier post, you should know what crap i am talking about).