About the Author
Paul "Buck" Kalinowski, Jr. was born in a small New England town in the State of Connecticut in the Spring of 1958. At a very young age, he discovered that he had a great affection and respect for horses. While growing up, he worked at a neighborhood farm, learning all he could about handling and understanding these beautiful animals.
Paul still resides in Wolcott, the small town he grew up in. Through hard work and diligence, he is now the proud owner of a 50-acre farm that stables nearly 90 horses, as well as cows, llamas, goats, chickens and even a peacock.
Feeling blessed by what he has, he feels a need to give back to the community. Even with his very busy schedule, he finds time to work with mentally and physically challenged individuals through therapeutic riding lessons. At any given time, you will also find him working extensively with inner city children who do not have the privilege of country living. Through spending time with these children, he hopes that they too will find the affection and respect he has for his horses, but also for each other by learning responsibility and teamwork.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Farmer Buck looked at his watch. "Good," he thought. "It's only four o'clock. I still have plenty of time to fix this broken fence and make it to the horse auction by seven." He liked going to the auction. As he busily repaired the fence, he reminded himself that he really didn't need any more horses. Ninety horses were certainly enough and he had no intentions of purchasing any horses that night.
The auction had already started by the time he arrived. Some of the sale horses were show horses, and others were work horses. Some were former family pets that were no longer cared for and others were so sickly that no one dared to buy them.
Farmer Buck walked through the large auction barn. Many horses were standing in closed pens, like big cages with barely enough room to walk around or lie down. He looked at the horses and noticed how some of them tried to get his attention. "Pet me, I'm a good horse" said a black horse silently as he nuzzled Farmer Buck's hand. "Wow you're a beauty," said the farmer to the proud looking black thoroughbred. "Don't you know it!" said the horse to himself. Farmer Buck noticed a matched pair of work horses standing together in a large stall and said, "You guys don't look too happy." "Ha!" they both thought. "Would you be happy if you knew that tonight you'd be separated from your best friend? Someone who you have played and worked with all your life? We're only here because our owner died and no one can care for us any longer."
In the next pen stood a small sickly horse. She was brown with a black mane and tail and stood with her back toward the farmer. He noticed that her ribs protruded through her skinny frame. Gently he kicked some hay into her pen. She turned and sadly glanced at him. "Poor little horse. She's probably too frightened and sick to eat," he thought.
"You hoo, over here," neighed a fat little pony. "Don't look at that ugly thing. Look at me. Bet you don't know why I'm here," he whinnied. "I wish I could tell you how a little boy hit me with a stick. When I kicked him, he told on me. I'm really sweet though," continued the pony whose eyes pleaded for attention. But Farmer Buck did not understand. He continued past the little pony and looked for an empty seat inside the crowded auction area.
It was getting late and by ten o'clock many horses had already been sold and were on their way to new homes. Some of the fancy show horses sold for thousands of dollars. Some of the young horses sold for only hundreds of dollars because they still needed training. There were so many horses, all sizes, dispositions and colors. Nice family horses were sold to other nice families, or at least they hoped so.
Some of the horses seemed confident and pranced proudly in front of the many onlookers. Others seemed frightened by all the noises coming from the large gathering of people. "I should probably buy some of these horses," thought Farmer Buck. But he quickly reminded himself that it was winter and all of the stalls were filled back at his farm.
