I feel strongly about the misuse of the term abuse, in part because of Simon. People who think the Central Park carriage horses are abused do not know what abuse is, they ought to have seen Simon when he came to us, legs twisted, teeth grown into his jaw, hooves sticking out a foot – he walked on his ankles because he had never been trimmed. He has lice and sores and his eyes were infected. On October 7, my next book “Saving Simon: How A Rescue Donkey Taught Me The Meaning Of Compassion” will be published, and the following week Simon and I will be signing books together at the Bedlam Farm Open House on Columbus Day Weekend, an art show, herding demo and donkey celebration. I’m sort of glad to be alive too.

I saw Connie Brooks from Battenkill Books yesterday at the Round House Cafe and she asked me how many book sales in her wonderful bookstore we were going for. I said 2,000. She paled, then gulped. Okay, she said, okay. We both know what that means, long  hours of signing and shipping books after hours and on weekends. She takes Paypal and ships anywhere in the world. You can also call the store at 518 677-2515. There are already hundreds of orders for “Saving Simon,” we should be able to hit 2,000.

Connie and I have a neat thing going, anyone who orders or pre-orders books from her bookshop, my local bookstore, will received a signed and personalized copy of the book. In addition, anyone who orders a book will be eligible for some give-aways; dog food from Fromm Family Foods, potholders from Maria, signed notecards from me. This way, people can celebrate Simon, support my writing, help a wonderful independent bookstore remain wonderful and independent.

Simon is the sweetest and most wonderful animal, he greets me every morning with a boisterous bray and he loves to be touched, brushed and kissed on the nose, which I do every morning. He is an inspiration to me, when I had my open heart surgery, I thought of Simon and his call to life and I decided to try and do the same thing.

Simon and I will be signing books together at the Bedlam Farm Open House details on Maria’s website) and also at Battenkill Books. I will be doing a signing there on October 7 and also Sunday morning before the Open House at 9 a.m., October 12th.

This book is important to me, Simon is a symbol of our love for animals, our commitment to saving them from real mistreatment and abuse, and the wonderful things they can show us and teach us. Simon taught me the real meaning of compassion, one of the hardest and most valuable lessons in my life. The book comes out October 7, I hope that you will consider ordering it from Connie Brooks if you decide to purchase it. We need independent bookstores in our world. We need Simon too. This is a great marriage of ideals.