SONG CHALLENGE WINNER!

This Pony In Panties Ain't No Poser! (Ellensburg, WA) -- You can see some pretty strange things in Ellensburg.  Miniature horses are the first thing visitors notice as they pull up to the house of Cherry King and Jenny Calhoun, but the scene quickly gets even more bizarre.  Out across the yard comes "Fat Butt" the miniature goat, as chickens, macaws, dogs, and a host of other pets begin to stir.  The most unique of them all is Rosie, the two-foot tall miniature horse that has been trained to respond to 23 commands to help King, who is blind.  "At a crosswalk, if a car is coming, she'll block me.  There's nothing she can't do."  That's right, a guide horse for the blind--one of only two in the country, the other is in Pennsylvania.  Rosie goes everywhere--to the grocery store, the hospital, everywhere.  And they get strange looks at every turn.  Before going anywhere, Rosie is fitted with a harness, a blanket, and even specially designed horse panties---yes horse panties.  "She's potty-trained," says King "But as a precaution, she wears panties."  It's not just a diaper or shorts; the horse actually wears silky red panties with a thick lining and a hole for her tail.  Watching a 24-inch tall horse strut her stuff in red panties makes all of the other aspects of the story seem a little more run-of-the-mill.  After all, in a world where tiny horses wear panties...?  By the time Rosie climbs into the back of the Toyota Celica and heads into town, she's dolled up in full regalia, so it's no surprise when people slow down and heads turn when they see her climb out of the car in downtown Ellensburg.  The head spinning is no surprise to King.  The place where people are most shocked by Rosie is in restaurants, where the horse often sits under the table during meals, only to emerge when its time to go, startling patrons in nearby booths.  Like a guide dog, Rosie can legally go everywhere, so when Ellensburg residents see a tiny horse walking up and down the aisles of the local supermarket, check for panties.  It's probably just Rosie.


Silky Red Behind by Amos
(Tune: Always Gentle On My Mind)

I go down the dusty streets and by the crosswalks
Where the dangerous traffic flows
Where the crowds are thick as bedbugs, and there's
little time for those who cannot see;
And it's knowing I'm not threatened
In the crowded aisles of markets
Or the mystery of some artsy store's design
That keeps me gently walking out
In the darkness and the chaos
With my hand on Rosie's silky red behind.

It's not clinging to the silky underwear
Planted on her by some mor'e of the town
Or something that somebody said
Because they thought we fit together walking
It's just knowing that the world will not be hurting
Or confusing when I walk along some crosswalk and I find
That I'm safely standing on the crossroads
By her caring and her seeing,
And I'm grateful for her silken red behind.

Dodging skate boards and the clothes lines
Past the junkyards and the highway to Seattle
And the sounds of people yelling at each other
'Cause the closeness that they knew was gone
I still move on in silence -- tears of joy might stain my face
And her friendship leads to forget I'm blind
For I always see her just ahead along the sidewalks
Talkin' to me with her gentle red behind.

I breathe the mornin sunlight color with my fingers,
Moving into day and wonder from my back yard,
My face a seeking question to the world and
Clean underwear in place for her and me
Through feeling hands upon her withers she speaks to me
I pretend she's speaking plainly, and I find
That her thoughts are flowing kindly
in the darkness of my morning,
Ever brightened by her silken red behind.

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