SELMA -- Don Hoglund spent years handling horses for high-profile figures like Disney executive Michael Eisner and shows like Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show at Disneyland Paris.

Recently, the veterinarian and animal advocate came back home to Johnston County, and he is on a mission to teach children the importance of treating animals with gentleness and respect. It’s a concept he helped instill in hundreds of prison inmates who took part in the Wild Horse Prison Inmate Training Program, a project of the Department of the Interior, between 1986 and 1992. Hoglund was the project’s administrator.

“The prison population I was working with out in New Mexico at the time kept asking me if I would come talk to kids about the importance of gentle cooperation,” Hoglund said last week. “It’s taken a while for me to get a project going to do that.”

Last Monday, Hoglund began his mission at the Boys & Girls Club of Johnston County. About three-dozen kids watched as Rocky the Trick Mule and his trainer showed off some of the tricks Rocky will perform May 2-3 at the Hunt Horse Complex in Raleigh.

With mere words, trainer James Lamm of Rolesville coaxed Rocky to pull his canine sidekick Mandy behind him in a wagon. Lamm also showed how Rocky could balance on a large, wooden box and jump in the back of a pickup truck.

Lamm then asked the kids what they thought about Rocky and his abilities.

“He’s smart,” one girl said.

“He’s amazing,” another added.

Eleven-year-old Jonathan Johnson said he most enjoyed seeing Rocky jump in the truck. “I didn’t think he could,” Jonathan admitted.

Johnson also enjoyed listening to Ashley Zachary perform several songs at the Boys & Girls Club. A senior at Cedar Ridge High School in Chapel Hill, Zachary is accompanying Hoglund on his tour of Triangle-area youth groups and will perform at “A Night of Amazing Horses” in Raleigh next month.

“I liked hearing her sing,” Johnson said of Zachary, who won a singing competition in Los Angeles, Calif., last year. “I especially like the last song she sang [from Moulin Rouge].”

Kayla Pearce, 10, of Selma said she looked forward to seeing Zachary perform at the Hunt Horse Complex. She said she was most anxious to hear Zachary sing some of Hannah Montana’s songs, including “Best of Both Worlds” and “Hold on Tight.”

“I think that will be neat,” Pearce said.

Mamie Moore, director of the Boys & Girls Club, said she was thrilled that Hoglund and Zachary saw fit to pay the club a visit. “This is just the kind of thing that we need, for people to come and show the kids things they might not otherwise get to see,” Moore said.