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8/ MARCH/APRIL 2013 THE RIDER Keep Your Eye(s) on Norman!


Last month, The Rider reviewed the fun new kids’ book, Norman, about a one- eyed ex-racehorse who was rescued and now enjoys a lovely life of luxury and spends his time writing and posting messages on his Face- book. Well, actually it’s his owner, Heather Young, who handles the writing part – Nor- man’s hooves are a bit too big for the keyboard!


I had the pleasure of meeting both Heather and Norman in January and I can tell you that they make a per- fect team however accidental- ly the partnership may have started. “I actually had no intention of adopting a horse,” explains Heather. “I was at the Heaven Can Wait sanctuary back in 2010 for their annual fundraising bbq and was hop- ing to purchase a helmet. When I went out to the field to look at the horses (you can never resist, can you?) and this big bay monster of a horse walked over to me. He had the softest eyes and the most calming presence and he came up and just rested his head on my shoulder and I toast. He had to be mine, no matter what the cost.”


It was love at first sight for both of them. Norman had started life as a racehorse – his lineage includes the great Northern Dancer and Alydeed – but after several less-than- stellar years of racing it was


him so he could prove he was a real champion, regardless of expense or time commitment.


decided to surrender him to Heaven Can Wait Equine Horse Rescue in Cameron, Ontario, in the hope of Nor- man finding a new loving home that did not involve starting gates.


And he did – when Heather first met Norman, he was a healthy although some- what sad beastie who was obviously bored and needed some sort of job to challenge his intelligence, speed and willingness to please. He enjoyed being ridden and Heather was encouraged by Norman’s ability to learn tricks, jump and socialize with the other horses in his new home barn.


But in the summer of 2011, Norman contracted a painful eye infection that would not heal and Heather


was put in the terrible position of having to choose between putting him down or having Norman undergoing surgery to remove the eye with no guar- antee of a successful recovery. “A lot of people advised me to humanely put Norman down and that there were lots of other horses needing to be saved. To be honest, I did con- sider that scenario….but only for a brief moment. I had only been riding English for four years when I adopted Norman; I knew nothing about horses and even less about one-eyed horses.”


But considering every- thing this poor horse had been through and how many differ- ent people had already han- dled him and passed him off, Heather decided Norman deserved someone to fight for


Fortunately the surgery was a success and Norman recovered fairly quickly after his eye removal but he was timid about certain things and needed time to get his confidence back. Heather did not rush him and allowed him to work it out for himself. His biggest issue was the mounting block, he abso- lutely refused to stand at the mounting block to allow Heather to mount him no matter how much she tried to convince him or bribe him.


“I was at a loss so I did an internet search on solutions and Parelli kept popping up. I found a local Level 3 instructor in Uxbridge and when he came out, we immediate- ly figured out the mount- ing block issue,” Heather goes on to clarify, “Nor- man was trying to tell me that the way you normally mount, from the left side, made him vulnerable on his blind side and it scared him. So we switched sides to his right (or blind side) and that made all the difference in the world. There were other things I needed to change like allowing him to have more of his head so he could see what he needed to. The trust we developed during this


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Heather knew she had made the right choice in adopting Norman long before his eye was removed. His character shone through in every interaction they had. There was not a mean streak in him and he proved this time and time again when he was taken to the hospital for surgery. The vets poked and prodded him on an hourly basis but it only took him a day to realize that if someone was wearing a white coat, they were coming to poke him some more so he decided not to cooperate in a very creative way. “He was never mean or rude in anyway, and believe me with his size he could do


some serious damage, he would just turn his head into a corner and have his bad eye against the wall. The doctors would have to leave the stall, go around the corner, take off their white coats, get a treat and then come back into his stall. Only then would he let them look at his eye. As sad as the situation was, you had to laugh at this horse’s ingenuity and smarts.”


Norman is now well on his way to a wonderful second chance at a life with Heather who has taught him to jump fences, how to shake hands (or hooves), even how to pose for photos and perform tricks for videos.


After everything Norman


had endured, Heather felt there were parallels between his challenges and those of children struggling with health and isolation issues; she thought perhaps the kids would relate to Norman. Animals are such great teachers and they bring out empathy and compas- sion in us humans. She thought that if children with any sort of disability read Norman’s story they might take strength from it - they can read his book or just click on his web- site to see how Norman never gave up, nor did his fictional friend Prudence give up on him, and young readers can learn how Norman achieved happiness in spite of all his misfortune. Heather hopes children will think they, too, can achieve suc- cess in life.


“There are a few things I would like people to take away from this wonderful real-life story,” says Nor- man’s modest owner, “ 1) always believe in yourself no matter what your obstacles or challenges are in life, 2) everyone and everything matters and flaws don’t make you less but make you a little more special, and 3) friendship, no matter where is comes from, can lift you up to achieve things you might not think you can do on your own.” Norman proves that if a 1,200lb, one-eyed ex racehorse has the will to suc- ceed and start a second career as a hunter/jumper (and author) then anyone of us can make a fresh start. He loves all the attention his book is gar- nering; he and Heather are currently hard at work on a second book, this time about bullying. Readers may be sur- prised to find out that horses also get bullied by other hors- es; while he was recovering from surgery, Norman got bul- lied by other horses out in the paddock but he’s since learned to take care of himself now. Norman will be hitting the horse show circuit this spring and summer, and he may attending the OEF Toron- to Horse Day to promote his book...he actually autographs the books by stamping his hoof print on them! And you may see Norman trick-or- treating next Halloween as a pirate horse. Heather made him a pirate hat and cool eye patch with a skull and cross- bones on it so instead of a neigh, you might hear Norman go “Yaaaar”!


If you’d like to learn more about Norman and Heather you can visit Nor- man’s wonderful website: www.normanthebook.webs.com


Glenda Fordham


Entertainment & Lifestyles columnist


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