The Magnificence Bobby Cannot Yet See

Updated July 30, 2026

At just eighteen months of age, Bobby Bunting should know little more than sunshine, friendship and the simple joy of being a young goat.

Instead, he knows fear.

And that may be the greatest tragedy of all.

With his rich chocolate coat and striking black dorsal stripe, Bobby carries himself with a quiet beauty worthy of an old Stubbs painting. Yet, unlike those who stop to admire him, Bobby has no idea how magnificent he truly is.

For fear has a way of convincing us to make ourselves small. Even when we were always meant to stand tall.

When Bobby first arrived at Edgar’s Mission, his eyes refused to meet ours. He did this not in a shy way, but in a way that stays with you, for he saw us as just another predator ready to claim a piece of him.

Every unfamiliar sound was met with caution and every outstretched hand was something to question before it was ever something to trust.

We do not know everything that happened before Bobby came to us. Sadly, we rarely do. We only know that it cost him his family and cruelly shaped his early life. And whatever it was, it was not kindness.

But this much we do know: someone so young should never carry such old worries.

And sanctuary has taught us something extraordinary: trust does not find its way forward with a fanfare. Rather, it slips back into a life on tiptoeing black hooves.

It is found in the quiet softening of a shoulder and in the precious moment an ear pivots toward your voice rather than pinning low in defence. It is the tiny, courageous decision to let a heavy sigh out instead of holding a breath in, or the choice to chew his cud while a human stands nearby instead of remaining frozen at the fence line.

These shifts are so subtle they are almost invisible to the casual observer.

Yet to our trained hearts, they are seismic.

Bobby still startles more easily than most and his past has not disappeared simply because his postcode has changed. Yet each passing day writes a new memory over an old one, gently teaching him that the world can be a softer place than the one he first came to know.

Perhaps one day Bobby will see what we see every time we look at him. Not a frightened young goat, but someone truly magnificent and worth knowing.

Until then, we will simply keep reminding him.

One gentle day at a time.