No question, kids these days have it tough. Peer pressure, stress at school and hardships at home can make it difficult for many kids to survive the trials of childhood. However, for Clinton Foster, each day is a challenge. Clinton was born with Cerebral Palsy and a severe lack of oxygen to his brain which affected all of his body parts. He is confined to a wheel chair and is unable to partake in many childhood activities because of his disabilities.

But Clinton always finds ways to adapt. His teacher, Miranda Williams, admires how Clinton maintains a positive attitude.

“I can’t even imagine what he has to go through. He comes in my classroom and he never has a bad day. He’s always smiling and happy and he brightens up my day just having him in class. I can’t imagine what he goes through and still has a good attitude about it.”

According to his mother, Melanie Foster, Clinton is a walking miracle.

“There’s no way he’d be here if God didn’t want him here. It was horrifying seeing your baby boy for the first time in a huge a machine with tubes all in and ready to go to Careflight.”

40 days after he was born, Clinton went home. His angels must have followed him. He continued to beat the odds and worked with his disabilities by adapting to circumstances with creativity and determination. “He has taught me how to adapt and he’s taught me that no matter what, you’ve got to keep going, you can’t let everything get you down,” says Foster. “You try to pick up and start over the next day and no matter what’s going on you can be happy. Just seeing his face every day is a blessing.”

Still, it hasn’t been easy. Clinton has had dozen of surgeries and countless hours of physical therapy to transform his body. But it’s the emotional lift, from a friend named Charlie Brown, that is his real inspiration.

Unlike the Charlie Brown of Peanuts fame, this Charlie Brown is a horse. Clinton rides with an organization called Wings of Hope in Burleson, Texas. This organization provides equine-assisted activities to children and adults with disabilities. There are many benefits to Equitherapy. It provides assistance with body placement and motion as well as improves the cardiovascular and respiratory function. Clinton has been riding for ten years and can speak directly to these benefits.

“It’s changed me by helping me be able to walk because before I couldn’t even get dressed. It’s helped me walk. It’s helped me make more friends. It’s helped me socially, mentally, and physically.”

Another benefit of Equitherapy is the positive psychological uplift that comes from seeing the world from a different vantage point. Clinton agrees, “You see, from my chair, I can only see a small portion of the world. But up here I can see the trees; I can almost touch the trees. I feel like I can touch the sky.”

Not only is the experience therapeutic, but also relational. Clinton considers Charlie Brown one of his best friends. “Me and him go way back,” says Clinton.

“We can tell what each other’s feeling. So if I’m mad, he’ll be mad. If he’s sad than I’ll be sad. It’s basically the bond between rider and horse.”

Unlike the Charlie Brown of Peanuts fame who could never kick the football, this version of Charlie Brown joins Clinton in Victory!

“You know I am a three time gold medalists,” says Clinton. “I’m happy to win them, but the medals don’t mean that much to me. It’s being there – that moment. And without Charlie, I would not be a three-time gold medalist, without him I don’t what I would do.”

Although Charles Schultz’s Charlie Brown had more than his fair share of childhood challenges and insecurities, he also understood the importance of friendship. He once said, “Happiness is anything and anyone that’s loved by you”. It is clear that Clinton and his friend Charlie Brown couldn’t agree more.