Perhaps one day I will understand a friendship between a 34 year old pony who is totally blind and has lived outside in a pasture alone for 15 years, and a five-year-old border collie from Ireland who until a month ago had not lived in a house or even been housebroken. Whenever I look up at the new farm, Red is watching me, as usual, but he is most likely hanging out with Rocky, the pony. Rocky sniffs Red once in awhile, but generally the two show friendship in the way dogs show real affection – just be being near the things they love. That is not, of course, enough for us, we want them to melt through the ground at the sight of us so we feel loved.

So in our various ways, we teach them to lick us and squirm, because we love it, but when I see a dog hanging around a human and just being a dog, that is love for them.

And this is what I see in this very unlikely friendship – a connection. Rocky, always skittish because of his blindness, and Red, always active because he is a border collie, seem to calm one another, ground one another.  They are so often just around one another, accepting their world. I am listening to that friendship, watching it. A beautiful and surprising thing to see.