SPIRIT ANIMAL
Meet BB, OSU's new star who helps others in his day job
Meet BB, OSU's new mascot sidekick who helps others in his day job
STILLWATER — Baxter Black prefers the back seats raised to enjoy the view through the windshield.
A trailer, well, that's for other horses not yet famous. Inside Rachel Royston's black Toyota Tundra, that's plenty of room for a miniature horse.
The Still water Milling Company. RCB Bank. Belk department store. Even an occasional trip to a drivethru window. All stops on Baxter Black's tours through Stillwater.
“It's fun to see people's reactions when they see you have a horse in the backseat,” Royston said with a laugh.
On Saturday, a new horse heads to Boone Pick ens Stadium where he's already a star before he debuts.
Meet Baxter Black, known as BB around Oklahoma State, a 6- year-old miniature horse joining the show this fall. He's not Li'l Sebastian from NBC's “Parks and Recreation,” but he's
already gaining that type of following.
“He know she' s a stud muffin,” said Royston, the executive director of Turning Point Ranch. “He needs to be Stillwater's Li'l Sebastian.”
With the curtain raising for another season at Boone Pickens Stadium on Saturday against McNeese State, perhaps the biggest gameday addition is sidekick to OSU's live mascot, Bullet.
BB will parade into the stadium early each game alongside the Pistol Pete's Partner of the Game, a child who will dress like Pistol Pete and help lead BB.
“Just thought he'd be a fun addition to the Pistol Pete's Partner recognition,” OSU assistant athletic director Tia Harring wrote in an email.
But that' s the horse' s weekend gig. He has an important day job.
BB is a therapy horse for Turning Point Ranch, a nonprofit organization founded in 1999 that uses 11 horses — and two mini ones — to build productive futures for individuals with physical, mental, emotional and socioeconomic challenges.
He visits nursing homes and helps children of all ages. In many ways, he's already a star. He and other horses make an impact that cannot be measured.
“There's so much more that happens than the riding skills,” Royston said. “Whether you have a special need or disability or not, every human being can learn coping skills, can learn social skills, can learn so many things you can take outside the arena.
“We firmly believe that all of our riders are a part of our community now, and they will always be a part of our community. If we can help give them the tools to be really fulfilled in their part in the community, we can break down these walls of inclusion and diversity.”
Two years ago, Royston, Turning Point board member Natalea Watkins and instruct or McKenzie Oefelein all ventured outside of Pawnee (not the fiction al Indiana
town) to first visit Baxter Black. They purchased him that day and loaded him into avant ob ring him home. They had a plan.
Five years into the ranch's Literacy Day program, they needed a miniature horse that resembled the pony from the book “Little Black, a Pony.” Children from Highland Park Elementary, who often don't speak English but learn to read with that book, are rewarded with a trip to the ranch.
BB became the center of attention. Students read him the book and then take a photo with him.
Roy st on said B Band another miniature horse, Rosie, will soon take on another mission. They plan to help at a local women's shelter. They'll teach boundaries and how to stay safe to women and children.
It's there that BB might be the most help.
“With people who have been through trauma and abuse it's really, really helpful,” Royston said.
BB also has other skills. He can lunge and he can jump. He's currently learning how to bow. Teaching him to paint is next on BB's syllabus to add to his star power.
Though he might become the “World Famous BB” and bring more attention to the nonprofit organization, the mission remains the same.
“No matter what kind of publicity BB brings to us, our focus is serving people and as many people as we can serve,” Royston said. “If more people know about us so that we can serve them, great. That would be the best.”