By China Cassidy A Mississippi boy has had a dream come true thanks to Alan Palmer, the owner of The Farm on Route 66 in Joseph City. Palmer has a YouTube channel where he and his family document their adventures and showcase their livestock. When Palmer advertised some of his horses ahead of the holiday season, he received a message from 12-year-old Marzavious Bradford from Midway, Mississippi, whose Christmas wish was to have a horse of his own. That wish kicked off a national effort to make sure it came true. Marzavious has been wanting a horse since his older brother, Marquavious got one just over a year ago. Marzavious’ mother, Chiquita Meyers shared, “That was the main thing he wanted. So far everything he’s wanted for Christmas, was for a horse.” Determined to make his wish come true, Marzavious took it upon himself to reach out to Palmer to find out how he could go about getting a horse for himself. Upon reading the message, Palmer decided he wanted to try to help the boy out, and after a call to his wife, set a plan in motion. “I had the thought, I was like you know what, I want to give this kid a horse for Christmas. I just kind of have this impression that it would just be a cool thing because this 12-year-old boy just really wanted a horse and had the courage to call me and kind of had this dream that he could get one across the United States, not really realizing what it would cost,” recalled Palmer. Palmer made a call to set the plan in motion. “I called the boy back and I told him I needed to talk to his mom and that I had an idea. I didn’t tell him I was going to give him a horse for Christmas, but I kind of wondered if his mom would call me back because if my 12-year-old would have told me, ‘hey dad, I’m talking to some stranger across the United States and they want you to call them,’ I would probably ground them, and I don’t know that I would return the phone call,” laughed Palmer. Skeptical but curious, Meyers returned Palmer’s phone call. “He told me that he wanted to do something for him (Marzavious), he said, ‘I want to give him this horse for Christmas.’ I didn’t believe it at first. I was like what? Then I talked to him on the phone and we got to be friends and I realized he was real. But I still didn’t believe it until the horse actually got to my house.” After getting Meyers’ approval, Palmer explained his plan. “I said here’s the deal, we have a YouTube channel, The Farm on Route 66, and I want to throw it out to our friends on YouTube and see if anyone wants to help us pay for the shipping out there.” The effort gained immediate nationwide attention from viewers wanting to help raise the funding to ship the horse. Palmer shared, “We got on a YouTube Live and pitched the idea on YouTube and immediately we started getting a dollar here and two dollars there, five dollars. It was just so awesome. We had a 15-year-old boy who donated $12. I just thought, that’s pretty cool that a kid his age would want to help out a 12-year-old. We actually had to tell them after a little bit, hey we’re good, we don’t need anymore.” Not only did they receive an outpouring of support from viewers who wanted to help Palmer get the horse across the country, local Holbrook veterinarian Abby Reidhead gave him half off the cost of the exam required to certify the horse to cross state lines. In addition, the shipping company deducted $100 from the final cost after learning the story. After the horse was proclaimed to be healthy and fit enough to cross state lines, the Palmers shipped the horse they dubbed “Rudolph” off to his new home in Mississippi. Since Rudolph arrived at his new home, Meyers said that Marzavious is happy to have him and she is still shocked by the gift from Palmer. “He’s been wanting a horse ever since his brother had a horse. He’s doing great with the horse he loves him. I would have never thought in a million years that this would happen to one of my sons.” Palmer shared his amazement and gratitude for those who pitched in to help a stranger grant another stranger’s Christmas wish. “It’s just been so cool. There’s been a lot of tough stuff going in 2020 but this is just a great reminder that there are good people everywhere and sometimes Christmas wishes do come true. Thanks to our friends and The Farm on Route 66 channel fans.”
