Equine Dentistry

Last week I had 5 tonnes of pebbles delivered. My brilliant gardener had said she would help shift them – and volunteered the help of her teenage son. She suggested I might ask other friends to help with the task of moving this mountain (actually, it’s more akin to a beach) from the front garden to the back. But I was reluctant to do so (lots of potential lessons there, to be explored another time) and so the task fell to the three of us. And, to be truthful, mainly to the two of them.



As they set to work one sunny afternoon, an 18 year old lad passed by, paused and offered his help.
He was unknown to all of us and quite simply asked, ‘Would you like a hand with that?’. Now, my gardener had three main choices here, she could

• Accept graciously and gratefully
• Simper (well, maybe she couldn’t; in my experience, that’s not her style !) and say something like ‘oh, that’s very kind but I couldn’t possibly put you to so much trouble’
• Wonder about his motives and either quiz him on them relentlessly or refuse point blank on the grounds that he was probably on the make somehow.

My gardener is a down to earth soul (if you’re reading this, that’s a compliment btw !) and rather than looking this gift horse in the mouth she went for option 1. Result? 50% less time needed to shift the pebbles and an 18 year old (who explained, along the way, that it was a nice day, he enjoyed being outside and that it beat revising for his ‘A’ levels) has left a bigger mark in the minds and hearts of others than perhaps he’s conscious of. All by a simple gift of helping. My hope for him is that his gift is repaid many times over – that the sunshine and exercise will have re-energised him and enabled him to tackle his revision with renewed vigour.

Power is the ability to do good things for others.

E. W. Howe

All power to his (mental) elbow ! We, after all, benefitted from the physical one.