Horse Illustrated Magazine

There’s a fair
chance you’ll guess the plotline of this not-quite-three-minute
holiday spot from Purina pretty quickly. There’s also a pretty good
chance that it won’t matter. Sam the horse’s soulful eyes will
melt your heart. His heart wrenching situation—being the last horse
left at the adoption farm on Christmas Eve—will draw those first
signs of watery eyes that you’re pretty sure you can still fight
off.

And then, well, you
already know how it’s going to end, but when Christmas morning
arrives at Sam’s stall, good luck explaining to your coworkers why
you’re sniffling, sobbing and/or bawling at your desk. You may also
experience the overpowering urge to go out and adopt a horse as a
Christmas present for the young horse lover in your life, whether
that’s your own kid or grandkid, your niece or nephew, or that
neighbor kid you sort of know who does chalk drawings of ponies on
the sidewalk. It would seem like an amazing gift for the child, but
you know you’d really be granting a Christmas wish to a deserving
horse.

Of course, you
probably shouldn’t do this unless you know the family on the
receiving end has the knowledge, desire, and wherewithal to own a
horse. A better option would be to find a local equine rescue group
whose work you support, and donate money, supplies, or some time as a
volunteer to help them take care of those horses while they wait for
that perfect forever human of their own.

Leslie Potter is a writer and photographer based in Lexington, Kentucky. www.lesliepotterphoto.com