Come visit the Catskill Animal Sanctuary, where “love is spoken.” In her first book, Kathy Stevens, founder of CAS, shares her stories that shows the rehabilitative power of love—a guardian sheep, an aqua-phobic duck, the titular blind horse, and more. After giving up her career as a teacher, Kathy Stevens bought a run-down old farm to create the Catskill Animal Sanctuary, a safe haven for abused and unwanted animals. In this deeply moving account, she shares stories readers won’t be able to forget, of… Rambo, a sheep who informs the staff when another animal is in trouble - Paulie, a former cockfighting rooster who eats lunch with humans - Dino, an old toothless pony who survived a fire - And many more Alongside these horses, roosters, pigs, sheep, rabbits, cows, and other animals is a staff of loving humans for whom every animal life, even that of a frog rushed to the vet for emergency surgery, has merit. Reading this book can profoundly—and joyously—change your life. With a foreword by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of The Hidden Life of Dogs and The Tribe of Tiger . Kathy Stevens in 2001, co-founded Catskill Animal Sanctuary, where her love of teaching, her belief that education has the power to transform, and her love of animals come together. Kathy is the author of Where the Blind Horse Sings and Animal Camp , two critically and popularly-acclaimed books about the work of Catskill, and a frequent contributor to books, podcasts, and articles on animal sentience, animal rights, and veganism. She takes her message of kindness to all beings and the urgent imperative of veganism to conferences and colleges in the US and Canada. Kathy lives on the grounds of Catskill in Saugerties, New York, with her dogs Chumbley and Scout, and kisses many critters every day. Where The Blind Horse Sings Love and Healing at an Animal Sanctuary By Kathy Stevens Skyhorse Publishing Copyright © 2009 E. Kathleen Stevens All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-60239-669-2 Contents Title Page, Copyright Page, Dedication, Acknowledgments, Foreword, Introduction, Part One - First Steps, - 1 - - A Diamond in the Rough (One), - 2 - - A Diamond in the Rough (Two), - 3 - - Angry Man, - 4 - - One Cold Bitter Night, - 5 - - Boys, I Need Your Help!, - 6 - - St. Francis of CAS, - 7 - - All in the Family, - 8 - - Welcome, Buddy, - 9 - - Dino Finds a Friend, - 10 - - Buddy's Big Day, Part Two - The Journey Continues, - 11 - - The Doctor Is In, -12- - Every Day is Pigs' Day, - 13 - - Paulie Comes Home, - 14 - - Hey, Teach!, - 15 - - Lunchtime, - 16 - - Paulie the Yogi, - 17 - - Road Rage, - 18 - - Add Water, Stir With Love, - 19 - - Where the Blind Horse Sings, - 20 - - 207 Happy Endings, - 21 - - Saying Good-Bye, - 22 - - Welcome to CAS, Epilogue: - The Journey Continues, Bookshelf, CHAPTER 1 A Diamond in the Rough (One) A year after we moved into our temporary residence, we began in earnest the search for a permanent home. Our criteria were simple: seventy-five acres or more, a few pre-existing shelters, and a house on the premises. For our own convenience and sanity (and that of future volunteers), we also hoped to be closer to either Kingston or New Paltz, two small cities that were both thirty minutes from our current home. The area where we lived was nearly twenty miles from the interstate. One small, foul-smelling grocery store sold junk food and rotting fruit, and the only restaurant was a diner: hardly an option for vegetarians. Much to our alarm, a million dollars or more was the going rate for farms of that size. No matter our early success at fund-raising, that kind of price tag was way out of reach. We quickly learned, too, that much of the value at that level was in the home that came as part of the package: wonderful eighteenth-century stone houses with six-hundred-square-foot living rooms, or nineteenth-century, five-bedroom clapboards with deep farmers' porches. There were only two of us. We didn't need a four-thousand-square-foot home. We kept looking. Jim Nimal and his wife became members of Catskill Animal Sanctuary not long after we opened. Like everyone else in the community, Jim knew we were looking for a place to hang our shingle. Even so, I didn't expect what I heard when he called one June morning. "I investigate welfare fraud," he explained, "and one of my cases is in Saugerties, near a former racehorse farm." I perked up. A training farm would probably have a huge barn ... now, that would be a bonus. "I've gotten friendly with the owner, a guy named Charlie. He's pretty desperate to sell." "Oh, really?" Jim wasn't sure of the details, but he knew Charlie was anxious. With the next words out of his mouth, I was in my car and on my way: "Kathy," Jim said cautiously, "it's in rough shape." We'd seen quite a few places that were a little rough around the edges, so the comment didn't faze me. In fact, I was heartened,