Gwendolyn and Little Star have an awesome connection. He is her buddy for sure, but what I am coming to realize is that Little Star loves Gwendolyn just as much as she loves him. He is so gentle with her and so eager to be by her side. She loves to feed him carrots and he has never so much as nicked a finger. He bravely parades past much, much larger horses as Gwendolyn walks him back and forth and back and forth through the stable (her favorite thing to do). And this week a few extra special things happened. At one point Little Star didn't want to keep walking, frustrating Gwendolyn completely. He stopped and side stepped closer and closer toward me to get snuggles and a big hug. And then his sweet nose searched for Gwendolyn's hand to get some extra love from her, too. Sigh!
And for the first time we got help take Little Star out to pasture — a big fenced in grass area. Apparently he usually rolls around and eats the grass. But with Gwendolyn watching, he began rolling on the ground — practically doing somersaults, only stopping to look up and see if Gwendolyn was watching. He then started running as fast as his tiny little legs would take him around and around. But the darling part was each time he neared where Gwendolyn was he would slow down and look toward her, shake his head, and then charge on. And he was so proud of himself afterward and wanted lots of praise and rubs from his butterfly girl.
And something else has happened. Little Star and his friendship with Gwendolyn has become a conduit to connect with other children. One of Gwendolyn's teachers created an awesome little book for Gwendolyn to carry around with her so that she has something to show her peers, encouraging them to get to know her more. And the book is, of course, all about Little Star with photos of Gwendolyn with him. And the children, some of whom we've never really interacted with, are really responding to hearing about Gwendolyn's special little pony friend.
Little Star is a love and he has Gwendolyn's heart!