WRAL: Bond with Horse Teaches a Girl to Trust Again

Hope Reins friend, fellow horse lover and WRAL-TV anchor Gerald Owens spotlights the special friendship Alyssa had with our blind appaloosa, Joey.

“RALEIGH, N.C. — At Hope Reins in north Raleigh rescued horses help hurting children find hope. A 12-year-old girl can attest to that.  Alyssa Hakim found her voice through her relationship with a blind horse named Joey.  She was featured in a book about Joey, written by local author, Jennifer Marshall Bleakley.

‘My name is Aly. I like to draw, paint, play in my pretend kitchen and go on walks with my mom and sister, says Alyssa Hakim. “As you can see, I like to do lots of things, except for one thing. I don’t like talking.’

Ten years ago, Cindee Hakim adopted Alyssa and her older sister from foster care. Their parents were not in the picture, and Alyssa’s sense of abandonment had manifested itself in a self-imposed world of silence.

‘Every time I would bring her into a setting, she would almost crawl into a turtle shell and be so shy and full of anxiety and definitely was not comfortable,’ Cindee Hakim remembered.”

Read more: https://www.wral.com/tonight-at-5-30-a-healing-bond-between-horse-girl/18012049