The sunrise service at Punk Carter’s horse farm in Celina, includes a pasture of mares, their babies, and the man himself sharply dressed in a plaid shirt, a belt buckle and his cowboy hat.
“I don’t go to church like most people do, but my church is when you go up on that hill with a good horse and just sit there,” Punk said.
Punk is not his given name, but rather his acquired name. “Everybody says, ‘does it bother you when they call you Punk?’ I say it just depends on how they say it,” he answered with a laugh.
The cutting horse trainer is a man of many talents, which includes wit. “I tell everybody, ‘I’m an entrepreneur in the manure stage,’ if you want to know the truth,” Punk said while chuckling.
He’s known for offering a helping hand long before it’s requested, especially when it comes to horses.
“They’re tools for us to use, but we got to take care of our tools,” Punk said.
So when he got word that a group of mares and their colts from Southeast Texas needed a dry place to land—he offered it.
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“They would do the same for us,” Punk said—the horses, and their owners.
“You’re dirty,” said Aizlynn Roark while petting her barrel horse, Tequila, who is temporarily staying in Punk’s horse barn.
“I like that she’s really nice, and she loves me, and she wins me stuff,” Aizlynn said with a smile while talking about her horse.
When they first arrived from Texas City to Punk’s home, it was their first time meeting the kindness of this stranger.
“We know God planted us here,” said Aizlynn’s mom, Shannon Roark. “We know that He kept us safe, He kept our horse safe, and that He has a plan for my daughter. And Punk is definitely a big part of that plan and I can feel that.”
“Horses bring people together, animals bring people together, you know that. That’s just—that’s the best part of what we do,” Punk said.
Punk’s spirit of giving has also been touched after he too was spontaneously helped by someone in the horse community.
“One of our daughters got sick, we really didn’t have the money to do what we wanted to do for her,” Punk said with a quiver of emotion in his voice. “A guy walks up and gives me a $20,000 check and said, ‘take care of that baby,’ no strings attached.”
Friends and strangers alike—offering what resources they have to look out for one another in their time of greatest need, simply by asking, what can I do to help?
Ya,” Punk said. “I just wish I could do it more, you know?”
