STABLE COMPANIONS

Jon is our gentle giant, he has ADD and dyslexia. His adaptive program requires repetition of responsibilities and interpretation of images. We discovered he has a natural ability to do math, and he is very good at looking at an image and implementing the idea. His disabilities make reading hard for him, even a simple trip to the grocery store to get a list can raise a lot of questions. I think we all take for granted being able to identify items on their packaging, but when numbers and letters get mixed together it makes spelling difficult. He is 6'8" and he exceeds the weight limit for most of our equipment, but other than that he is ready to tackle any task.
When Jon first joined us, we often found him alone in the office. It took us a while to figure out that in spite of Jon's impressive size, he's actually very shy around new faces. But in the weeks that followed, he befriended a few of the college students and he has grown more comfortable around new faces, especially girls. We partner with Jon to accomplish his goals around the farm, and we have found out that baby animals form a special bond with him. Jon's size makes him as asset, because he is capable of doing things most of us can only dream of.  He can pick up a young foal and carry him with ease, when noone else can. Jon is constantly reminded of how grateful we are to have him, and what a special role he plays at the farm. He identifies with orphaned companion animals, and he has a gift for bottle-feeding our frightened confused little babies. Jon has found out how to work around his limitations and his persistence is part of his success.