I admire Ken Norman, he is a good friend and valuable man. It is sometimes discouraging to search for good men, but this one comes to the farm regularly, and has been in my life for more than a decade. He showed up this morning on his two new knees – he is in no pain and moving easily and fluidly – to trim three sets of hooves – Lulu, Fanny, and Chloe, our new pony.

Ken cares about animals, he has rescued scores of horses. He cares about people. He is working hard in defense of Joshua Rockwood, the Glenville, N.Y. farmer accused of animal cruelty and neglect this winter. Ken has been to Joshua’s court hearings and defended him on various social media sites. Ken loves horses, they are his life, but he also loves people, and will stand up for people who are being treated unjustly. Not too many people like that.

Ken, a horse rescuer,  has gone over the evidence in the case, and declared the 13 charges to be “Bullshit Misdemeanors,” a good and accurate description of the charges. Maria and I both love to see how gracefully Ken handles the donkeys and the pony, how easy they are with him, how difficult this work is.

Ken is an animal craftsman, there are very few people left who do what he does. We value him in our lives, I value him as a friend.