Sunday, January 11, 2009

Gentle Wisdom from my Horse

I love my horse! I say this a lot. I have to. She is a lot of work, needs more time than I have, and is a constant source of guilt. If I am sewing, I am not spending time with her. I need to sew to earn cash for her care... hence the guilt.
I have spent 2 years taking a wild, disrespectful, retired barrel racer and trying to make her into a solid, unspooking, going for a "WALK" down the road, companion. It has taken a long time... but she is learning that she can walk... running is NOT the only option.


She has her wonderful sides too. She nickers when I walk up to her stall. She nuzzles me when I am ready to go.... melting my heart. She is gentle and careful with children. And she trusts me.

Today I had Geoff walk her out to the arena so she cold stretch her legs and maybe roll if she wished. I stayed at the stall and worked on picking up poo. She immediately ran to her favorite spot to roll and went down... a little too close to the fence.
"JENNIFER COME... HURRY!!" I was called... Oh no! What happened!

Twister rolled and caught up her front legs in the bars of the fence when she tried to right herself.
Usually a horse will fight and thrash till freed, often causing injury... and the dreaded vet bill. But Twister waited. She knew she was stuck, and it was of no use to fight it... she just needed help.
A fellow horsie woman was there to help rope her hind leg while I pushed her front legs through the bars. (This would be dangerous with a freaked and kicking horse.) We got her over, Twister jumped up and shook herself. No problem.

I have decided that there is a lesson in this. I need to see that I can't get myself out of every problem. Sometimes I need to wait for help.... even if only divine intervention is strong enough to work through my troubles. I just need to learn patience and wisdom to see the difference between something I can handle... and something that I need to wait on.... for trying to muddle through alone will just cause bigger problems.

I can't wait to go spend the day with her tomorrow... I have alot more mud to work out of her coat.

4 comments:

Sara said...

Horses can teach us so much! I love my guy, just have too much snow to do much with him!

Kathy said...

Thank you for viisting my blog!

I have a friend with a photography business (www.marinamoorephotography.com)who wanted to plump up her portfolio. I got REAALLY lucky.

YOUR kids are really old! I still have two in diapers.

I wish I was more computer savvy and could improve the aesthetics of my blog. I cant even change the background without erasing everything!

I also wish I could sew, Even a little. I am in awe of your talent. Always have been. ALL the way back to when we were 14 and you'd for your mom to go to sleep, sneak her sewing machine and make yourself something to wear to school the next day....WOW.

Lets catch up sometime! It's been awhile.

Jennifer MacNeill said...

Just found your wonderful blog. I managed a few horse farms in the past and there is nothing worse that a horse gettting caught up under fence or gates. A horse that will patiently wait to be helped is worth her weight.

Kathy said...

Hope your birthday was good! Happy Birthday!!

<3
kathy