Bryant Elementary Girl Scout Troop (Superior, WI, 06/09/10)

6/9/2010 Outreach Visit to Bryant Elementary Girl Scout Troop by Paula Moore

Magic became an honorary GIRL SCOUT complete with her own badge filled sash which she wore proudly as she entered the room to her adoring Girl Scout fans.

This plan was hatched at the Diamond Royal Tack Horse Fair at the Mariner Mall back on March 27. The parent thought it would be great to have our program for her daughter’s 3^rd grade classroom and also her 5th grade daughter’s classroom. She started the plan by calling me and getting the information. However despite her enthusiasm and persistence, the 3^rd grade teacher and the 5^th grade teacher did not contact me. She then decided to go the route of her Girl Scout troop. She was thrilled when I said yes.

However there was one more obstacle, they met in a classroom at Bryant Elementary. The principal refused to have Magic be in that room because of the carpeting. Again the parent pressed on and finally got the ok for us to be in the cafeteria.

I now understand why the parent was so persistent. She has 3 very horse crazy daughters, a 3^rd grader, a 5^th grader and a 9^th grader. I saw them in action with Magic and Jazz. The youngest screamed. They all were head over heels in love and smothered Magic with hugs and kisses. The mother had to tell them to give the other girls a chance to see Magic.

The parent and I communicated a lot over the months. She decided to surprise all the girls. She went behind their backs emailing parents to get permission for the girls to pet Magic and have pictures taken. It was a lot of work and shows how dedicated she is.

When we got to the school and the girls saw our shirts they figured out what was up and they were very excited, peppering me with questions.

One of the reason we were there was to help the girls earn a badge.

Just before I started the presentation, I noticed the kids were working on cards for a girl who was in the hospital with pneumonia. I sat down with them and ask about the girl. They suggested I make a card for her too. So I did. I put stickers of WindChill and Walker on it. While I was doing that we talked about horses and other things.

I did my older power point with the girls. They really impressed Carole and Trish with their deep answers. One girl said she thought the person who did this to WindChill should do community work and be supervised working with horses to better understand their basic needs so her other horses will have a better life. One girl said it was both the owner and the boarder’s responsibility to provide WindChill with the attention he needed. One girl said the owner and the boarder were just too much into their own lives.

When the girls talked about whether we should have kept WindChill alive, one of them brought up a dog of hers that was in really bad shape when she rescued it from the pound, ribs showing, etc. All the girls knew this dog and shared the funny descriptions of the antics after he was rescued. I told the girls that they sure showed a lot of love for that dog. One story in particular that hit me was that the dog did not play. I made the comment that he did not have the time to learn that because he was in survival mode. Jeff made a profound comment too about keeping WindChill alive…”WindChill made the choice to live. He wanted to live. He kept whinnying for help.”

We all were thrilled to see Jeff bringing in Magic. He was all dressed up in a business suit, looking very CEO. He looked us over in our black jeans and WindChill T-shirts and said to us in a very CEO voice, “Didn’t you get the memo that you had to dress up for this?” However the girls did get back at him when I called him the cowboy. They asked Jeff, “Where’s your hat?”

Magic was so happy to be with her dad. There was a basketball game going on next door in the gym. The ball would crash against metal and reverberate. It did not bother Magic at all. Of course that could have been because she was with her Dad during the whole program. She just loves to lean up her body against him.

Magic did a great job. She is so sure of herself and knows her job well. After Magic went around 3 x’s, Kathi brought in Jazz. They stood in the hall so Jazz could watch and observe Magic. However Magic was the one observing Jazz. Magic kept turning her head around to see where Jazz was. It sure proved to me that a horse’s field of vision is wide. Any time Kathi moved Jazz in the slightest, Magic turned her head. Her neck muscles sure can flex.

Jazz was a bit jumpy with all the noise and especially the basketball hitting the metal in the gym. However she is a young horse at 4 ½ and she handled the noises better than Kathi expected. She was so good that Kathi thought she could try her out with these girls. Jazz’s eyes were huge today as she took everything in…wondering what was going on and wondering why was she there.

Jeff pulled Magic aside and it was her turn to observe Jazz. Kathi told the kids to tuck in their feet; Jazz had not learned space like Magic has. Jazz was excited to visit and was all gung ho. She did not quite understand and Kathi had to redirect her. However on the 3^rd try around, she finally understood and became very relaxed with her foot crooked while the girls gave her lots of love. By the time she got to the end of the row, she was in a happy zone with her foot crooked and her eyes almost completely shut. Kathi said she was almost asleep. It must have felt good to her soaking up all their love. She also must have felt safe too.

So it was an exciting outreach for all of us. Jazz is darn cute just like Magic. We did not have any accidents either. Kathi had Betty W. shadow Jazz with a red bucket, paper towel, and scraper with orders “If you see her tail raise, do not let it hit the floor. “ Betty was a very good sport but yet VERY serious about her job. She was inches away from that cute little butt. Two times Jazz picked up her tail and Betty went in but false alarm. We all laughed but we were glad Betty had fast reflexes just in case.

Of course the red clean up bucket may have contained grain so Jazz in the hallway had to check it out. However Magic noticed the movement and saw what she thought was us feeding Jazz a treat. Kathi warned us not to let Jazz put her head in the bucket again. It upsets Magic who thinks she should get a treat too…even if it is imaginary.

One Girl Scout was too allergic to hay to be in the room with Magic and Jazz. She was not able to be there. Since she was a 5^th grader I sent home a copy of the book, Amazing Horse Facts and Trivia.

The troop had individual pictures taken with Magic as well as a group picture. Again Magic relished being the center of attention and being surrounded by her adoring Girl Scout fans.