This is Liberty Belle...my red, white and blue eyed girl.

She loves to give kisses...in fact she will follow you around and sneak up over your shoulder and plant one right on your cheek.

She wasn't always like that. When I came across Libby, she had had 5 homes in 6 years. Her last home was a wonderful one...but the others I am not sure about. I do know that she never stayed anywhere long enough to really call home.

She came to live with us on Christmas Eve one year. After all these years, I finally got a pony for Christmas. My dream come true.

She was quite fearful about pretty much everything. She would flinch when I touched her and was terrified of the water hose. This went on for months. I mostly just let her be and over time she realized she could trust me. And that I was the chick with the food...that didn't hurt either.

Pretty soon she was the first one to greet you at the gate with a big loud nicker. She would follow me everywhere and let me groom her...although you could still tell she was nervous to trust anyone...she really, really wanted love. We spent a lot of time learning to listen to each other.

Libby taught me that we can all learn to heal and with enough time...we can learn to let someone in and love again. Now if I can just get her to stop trying to kiss everyone she meets. She will plant one right on you when you're not looking.