I love horses! Im a slight horse nut who, at the moment, cant get within a mile of them because of money, time and not in God's plan. Im so thankful though that I had the opportunity to ride from elementary school all through high school. And I got to own two of my very own horses and ultimately my best teachers.
What I learned from horses:
- Patience
- Really listening
- Confidence
- Love
- Controlling anger
Yea like him!
Anyways that's not really the point.... Raleigh was a scaredy cat almost everything. Paper towls, a creek, a boat sitting on the road, a rope on the ground scared him (though that could look like a snake) and once he was scared of my mom when she put her hood from her raincoat on her head! How in the world do you get a horse to cross a creek or walk by a rope or something that scares him? Patience and guidance. No, walking a horse up to the object does not fix the problem. "LOOK AT IT NOW!" is basically what you're telling the poor 1+ ton animal that knows you are only 130-200 pounds. "Puny Human" is what that horse is thinking. Anyways guidance and patience....mostly patience. Guidance only in the sense that you show the horse that you are not afraid of it, in fat your not even looking at it. No, now is not the time im comparing horses to humans. DONT IGNORE PEOPLE!! Horses can tell where you are looking (our head is like 25lbs i believe) and they can really feel emotion. Patience in the sense that it might take days or weeks to get a horse past something its afraid of. Like a creek. Raleigh was afraid of the smallest puddles. The problem with this scenario is that I was forced to bring the horse to what it was afraid of because it was the only way to get to the Field arenas. The key to this,a)stay on (not fun to fall in mud but better than falling in the creek or on concrete) and b) act like there is nothing to be afraid. You got to show the horse, you can do this. "IDK why but this might seem really big but you have to trust me that this is only a little creek." Think of how God looks at what we are afraid of. Eventually with constant but calm and patient pressure the horse will cross the creek.
I had another horse, Cha-Cha. She was basically the complete opposite of Raleigh. Not afraid of anything and in the pasture she ruled the field. The first time I heard a horse whimper was from a horse Cat who was being bullied by Cha-Cha. Cha-Cha did not limit her diva self to just the pasture (sadly enough), she made sure to try and take control of every situation. From putting the saddle on to jumping fences, if she didn't feel like doing something or having something done to her then she will let you know. Now this doesn't mean she was a brat about EVERYTHING. Cha-Cha was a really sweet horse and cute at that, just picky about a few things. For example, riding lessons were going great! We were working on higher jumps (almost to three feet) and harder courses which equaled more work on both the horse and the rider. Cha-Cha was getting bored of the same technique, "wheres the next jump, get over next jump, wheres the next jump, get over jump, ect." No where in her mind was: "where does rider want to go, how fast does rider want me to go," Cha-Cha was just focused on getting it over with and got bored with that. Cha-Cha came up with a solution to her boredom as well as providing herself with a break from work. Side note for a paint she was very athletic... Cha-Cha discovered that a turn at a 90 degree angle while cantering is possible for the horse...very seldom was it possible for me especially when I was focused on jump myself. Thus right before the take-off for the jump Cha-Cha quickly turned (always to the left idk why) and I meet the ground. After having this happen constantly and trying many different jumping, correcting techniques (ask me later) Trainer and I decided on teaching Cha-Cha dressage. Dressage is ALL flat work and to any outsider it looks boring and I thought so too...but its not I swear!! Being on top of the horse and getting all the nity gritty details down and knowing that what you are sitting on top of is a graceful gorgeous mover...ITS AMAZING! you feel like you have accomplished something HUGE! and after 3months of trying to understand dressage (i was learning along with Cha-Cha) and building the endurance, I finally made this connection: It really is all in the mind set. In Dressage the horse is constantly listening to you. When he/she stops listening to you then everything becomes clumsy. When your not listening to your horse, your not helping him or her relax or maybe even relieve any pain. Dressage is a cooperative sport (yea its a sport, trust me).
Oky back away from the horses. This is what a real relationship with God should be like, right? For me, in my daily life I am constantly thinking: "Oky get this semester done, get through this test, get through this day." Which is great except I find myself wanting to rush through life. As an example: Im already going to walk at graduation a year earlier then most people who entered in the same year! Im focused on keeping my early graduation too. Does God want us to just focus on getting our life over by only focusing on the completing the next thing? I highly doubt it. When Cha-Cha was simply focused on finishing the course, she would rush through, not taking the time to adjust before each jump, messing up on technique points, and using more energy than needed. When we are just wanting to get things done with we tend to miss the important smaller details. We should take time to reflect before and after each course in our lives, but not just that but reflect with God about it. This is personally what God is teaching me. It is so easy for me to leave God out of situations, school work, plans... God wants our walk in life to be graceful and smooth like a perfect 100 on a dressage test.
I guess its time for me to learn how to listen to God constantly not just in the beginning when I have energy to focus on Him.
I feel like I wrote one of those inspirational christian books.... HAHAHA!
Anyways after about six plus months of dressage we finally went back to the jumping courses and what do you know, its helped. We kept dressage in the courses so that Cha-Cha kept her focus on me but even with out trying to add the dressage form to the course Cha-Cha would wait for my direction. That's another thing....it took 6 months. I guess because we live in such a fast paced society that fast is great. Testimonies of completely changed lives in one day are AMAZING, but also pretty rare. We have to take a step back and take some time six or more months to work on one thing. While working on that one thing (Dressage basics) you will be surprised about all the lil details God will teach you along the way as He sees fit (specific Dressage moves, shoulder in, three or more asked lead changes, extended trot).
Oky so there are so many more things God has taught me by use of horses but I have been working on this post for almost a month now. I do miss riding horses and having to leave the sport is another God teaching moment, but I know God had me where He wanted and has me where He wants me now.
