A New Mexico man is stepping in to help a Texas girl devastated after her pet pony was shot to death in her backyard in Hull, Texas.
“This was a senseless act and it’s something that I can fortunately maybe help repair,” Double J Farm Owner Jeff Lisowski said. “No child should have to go through this.”
Lisowski has a soft spot for miniature horses and people in the horse community. So, when he saw a post on Facebook about someone fatally shooting 5-year-old Rylee Brett’s pony, named Chicken Nugget, last Wednesday, he said he felt an instant attachment to the Texas family and knew he had the means at his miniature horse farm in Belen to help.
“I offered the family Allie to go live with them and make an attempt to have Rylee have a new best friend,” Lisowski.
Allie is a 3-year-old miniature horse on his farm.
He breeds and trains about 20 miniature horses for a living. While Allie is too small for competition, he said she would make the perfect, loving horse for Rylee and her family.
Allie’s breeder agrees.
“I’ve got grandkids about Rylee’s age and they played with her daily and so I think they’re going to be a perfect match,” breeder Linda Kettles said.
While the Brett family still searches for answers in their pony’s senseless death, Lisowski hopes they find comfort in what he says is the best gift he could give this year.
“When I talked with [Rylee’s mother] on the phone, we both broke out in tears,” Lisowski stated. “This has been an emotional last five days. I don’t think I’ve cried this much ever in my life.”
Lisowski’s GoFundMe page to raise money for Allie’s shipping costs exceeded his goal by hundreds of dollars, which he plans to donate to Spirit Horse Rescue in Texas and to the American Miniature Horse Youth Fund.
Allie starts her 1,000-mile journey to Texas this weekend and will make it to Rylee’s home next week. Rylee plans to rename her “Chicken Wing.”
