Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and it makes me think about all the animal lovers we've had at The Gentle Barn. Some mate for life, while others go on different dates. We have had male/female couples, same sex couples, and friends of different species. Most people know about our famous cow couple, Dudley and Destiny, who are as good as married. We have Gus the goat who loves our turkeys, and, Caesar and Sasha, two horses who are inseparable and have loved each other for over a decade.

I think one of the greatest love stories is about Andrew and Patrick. We heard about Andrew from a volunteer working at an animal shelter. He had been found starving to death in a ravine. He was brought to the shelter, but because of his lameness, old age, poor condition, and fear issues, he was scheduled for euthanasia. The vet was just about to give him the injection when the volunteer remembered that we take in animals that no one else wants. She asked the vet to wait a minute, called us, and with one phone call saved his life.

When we got there, what we found broke our hearts. Andrew was skin and bones, dead lame, and severely depressed. His head was bent down to the ground and he seemed so sad. I approached him and introduced myself. I explained what The Gentle Barn was and told him we would like to bring him home to us. We said that he would get top quality food, clean water, groomed every day, get to play in the pasture with other horses, and taken for walks each day. As I was talking, Andrew started lifting his head and looking at me in disbelief. By the time I was done painting the picture of what his life would look like, he was looking right at me, ears forward, as if to say, "let's go!"

I gently put a halter on him and was leading him out of the pipe coral barn to the trailer when Andrew slammed on the breaks and refused to move. When I turned around to see why, Andrew was vehemently shaking his head. I thought maybe he had flies on his face. I brushed his forelock out of his eyes, but he kept doing it over and over again. I quickly realized that his head bobbing was in the same direction as if he was pointing at something. He kept doing it over and over again and I couldn't get him to stop or move forward. So running out of ideas I looked at what he seemed to pointing at with his nose. There, in front of him was a brown, old, decrepit horse in worse shape than Andrew, that I hadn't noticed before. I asked the volunteer about that sad looking horse and she said he would be euthanized later that day. I looked back at Andrew and said, "Yes, we can take him, too!" We loaded both horses in the trailer and headed home.

Andrew and Patric recovered together at The Gentle Barn. They had chiropractic treatments, hand walking, and massage therapy together. We spent hours with them showing them that they were now safe and loved. Andrew was terrified of everything and learned to trust, Patric was hopeless and learned to find joy again. When it was time to integrate with the other horses, Andrew made it very clear that was not going to happen. If any of the other horses went near Patric, Andrew would charge and run circles around Patric, protecting him. We finally gave up and put Andrew and Patric in their own day pasture/honeymoon suite where they have been blissfully happy ever since.

When I see Andrew and Patric together, running with manes flowing or laying in the sun relaxing, I am reminded that whether we're a human or non- human animal, all we need is love! Please come celebrate Valentine’s Day with us in Tennessee on Saturday, February 11th, or in California on Sunday, February 12th and hug cows, cuddle turkeys, give pigs tummy rubs, and hear their love stories.

By Ellie Laks
Founder, The Gentle Barn