My Baby--Lucky
Horses teach us lessons! Lessons about life, about God, and about ourselves that are most incredible...if we'll only listen!
S.O. BLESSED!!!My life has been so enriched by the horses God has made a part of it, and sometimes it's not until we're father down the path God has called us to walk that we catch a glimpse of the bigger picture!
It is through an aggressive and strong willed half Thoroughbred half Paint filly named Lily that I've found myself glimpsing "the bigger picture" lately and the view has taken my breath away!
It was totally God how me and Lily met, and a week after we met her owners contacted me asking me if I'd be willing to teach Lily some manners if I was paid a reasonable price. I was really excited!
For me a challenge when it comes to horses causes my mind to race, my heartbeat to spike with excitement, and my imagination to run wild contemplating how I can work with the challenge to turn it into a victory! In other words I was DYING to take on the project of training Lily but I was hesitant wanting to be sure it was the Holy Spirit turning my heart in this direction and not my own emotions!
In my horse crazy mind there is absolutely nothing more appealing then being paid to do what I love!
(Barrel Racing with "My Boy" 4 County Fair 2009)So I took Lily before the Lord and consulted my parents on the matter. There was much thought and consideration that went into this because the first time I laid my hands on Lily at her owner's house she literally tried to kill me!
OH YEAH!:-DThough she is only a one year old it was QUITE painfully clear that she was used to getting her way ALL THE TIME when she wouldn't even allow me to simply lead her without attempting to kick me with both back legs at once, and angrily reaching for my arm and hand with her strong teeth. I didn't have my normal natural horsemanship training tools that would have assisted me in controlling Lily and so I was crying out to the Lord to protect me and give me wisdom.
Ripping Up Some Turf!:)One time when Lily tried to kick me I took the lead rope and snapped her on the nose as hard as I could just as she reared slightly into the air, to my shock and surprise she lost her balance and continued sailing unsteadily backwards toppling over and landing on her back. Truly though this sounds HORRIBLE this was God hearing my cry and answering my plea! Every bit of discipline I'd attempted to administer up to this point had fallen on deaf ears, Lily was paying no heed to me. But when she scrambled shakily to her feet after her fall she was a changed horse! Her head dropped humbly beside me and she walked quietly at my side....a battle had been won!
Both In Braids!;)After much prayer and peace from the Lord to move forward Lily arrived at the Rehm Ranch on August 17th.
Love "My Boy" SO MUCH!!!Lily was orphaned at birth and raised by herself with no other horses around. This was not to my advantage at all because Lily was convinced that she was top dog never having been told what to do by another horse. If you've ever watched how horses behave around one another you will soon learn that they teach each other many lessons and establish who's the boss daily. Lily had never even had her mother administer a stern nip for willful behavior on her part and thus she was of the opinion that she would be the one to administer all nipping and kicking putting those around her in their place! I was very excited that Lily would be staying at our place for two months! This would provide me with the opportunity to put her in with my two horses who would quickly teach Lily what it means to be the "underdog!" :)
Cheyenne (Chey) THE BOSS and also Noble's mother!;)I consulted a good friend who's amazing with horses as to what would be wise as far as how to "ease" the three horses together. Horses can be very aggressive with a new "pasture mate" when they're established as a herd already and I didn't want anything violent to happen. She suggested I put them in pastures right next to each other and see how they did, and if they did well to then put them in the same pasture. I prepared for Lily's arrival by moving my horses to the pasture adjoining to the one Lily would be staying in, and then anxiously anticipated her arrival.
FINALLY she arrived and was unloaded into her pen. I was thrilled, excited, and giddy all at once! Lily seemed unsure of how to feel and simply started nibbling on the leftover scraps of hay laying on the ground. I stood by the fence and studied her beautiful build. Lily is a well muscled, dark brown filly with light brown marbling. On one front leg she has a small band of white above her hoof, and on one back leg she has a short white sock. A circle of white is centered nicely on her forehead and it runs in a streak down her face tapering and dwindling into nothing at the tip of her nose. Her mane and tail is what I just can't get over....it's a thick, wild, free, majestic black and light brown beautiful mess! Her mane that must of been cut this summer can't decide whether to stand straight up or fall obediently over, and her tail is the thickest tail I've ever seen on a horse and such a perfect sassy length! As I stood there and studied her I had NO clue what the upcoming weeks would hold....much less the next day!
After supper and a piano lesson I went out to spend a little time with Lily at dusk. She was quiet and polite in her manners to me and I couldn't decide if a storm was brewing underneath her dark hide or if she was remembering the tumble she took the last time we were together.....only time would tell.
My GORGEOUS, Playful, life lesson giver--Noble!;)As the next morning dawned I jumped out of bed excited for what this day would hold! My excitement was oozing out all over the place as I raced out to the pasture to see how Lily had fared through the night. Lily was standing peacefully in the pasture unconcerned about her new surroundings and only interested in scrounging for food. This was it....the big morning I was going to put Lily and my horses together!
"Noble, I will NEVER forget you!"They had investigated each other across the fence the night before and had not minded each other at all so I thought that the event of putting them together was going be quite uneventful. I figured my horses wouldn't mind Lily at all, but that when it came to feeding time Lily better watch out because they'd teach her a thing or two about deferring to those older than her!
"You changed my life little guy with a big heart!"Heading across the pasture I opened the gate between the pasture and watched curiously as my Quarter Horse gelding Lucky and the family's Paint mare Chey pranced towards Lily with the tips of their ears pointing inward and their nostrils flared in suspicion of this new pasture mate. As they got closer their excitement escalated into a run, Lily turned and ran gracefully in the other direction not to concerned at this point. I wasn't to concerned either, normally horses will run a new horse for a while just to make sure they know who's boss. I stood by the fence expecting to see Lily get beat up a little bit, but not to badly.
"You taught me perseverance and dependance on God!"Lucky and Chey weren't to happy about this complete stranger imposing on their territory both of them pinned back their ears and took off after Lily. Lily had never seen the like of it before! Before she knew what was happening she was being chased and kicked and nipped in large doses instead of handing out the dosage like she was accustomed to. Chasing and kicking and nipping never hurt a horse and I was rather happy to see Lily be on the other end of the teeth and hooves for once....horses are tough she'd survive, but what came next was like a nightmare in slow motion.
The victories were SO SWEET, because they were long in coming!:)I watched helplessly as my gentle giant Lucky become more and more passionate and intense in his jealous pursuit of Lily. Chey had slacked off now and was standing breathing heavily in the middle of the pasture. I stood in disbelief as Lucky's pursuit of Lily continued to intensify! He'd NEVER acted this way before, he was always the underdog himself, the passive one....Chey was ALWAYS the boss, and now she stood in the middle of the pasture as Lucky refused to quit! I felt SO HELPLESS as I stood and watched Lucky run alongside Lily grabbing her side viciously in his teeth and holding on as she sped around the pasture. Once Lily lost her footing and fell down and then scrambled back to her feet courageously and whirled away as Lucky bore down on her. You can't really come between two horses once they're in a fight without risking great injury to yourself...and thus I stood watching in horror and disbelief. Lucky continued to stretch his long body out, pin his ears back, and effortlessly wear Lily out as her shorter legs beat out a desperate rhythm in front of his long stride. Lily began to become reckless in her desperation ramming into the fence she tried to go through, when the fence held she ran around the pasture even faster. This time as she flew past me I saw that she was beaten, broken and bruised... her legs were cut up and bleeding in several places, flaps of skin were hanging lifelessly below exposed skin muscle and tissue. I gasped inwardly, my stomach took a dive and I suddenly felt sick "Lord please make Lucky stop chasing Lily...He's going to kill her!!!" Two minutes later Lucky gave up the chase and Lily retreated to the furthest corner of the pasture and stood with her head hanging painfully low.
"When God gave me you He knew what He was doing!"I about cried when I reached her side Lily just stood with her head hanging low and allowed me to examine her. As I stood there feeling miserable wondering if I was going to spend my training money paying vet bills for damage my horse had administered the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart. "Now she's ready to be used! It's just like how I work in your life. When you've come to the end of yourself, when you've tried but you've failed miserably, when you're standing in the corner dejected and forgotten that's when I come and rescue you....that's when you're ready and willing to be used! There are times that you have to be beaten, broken, and bruised BEFORE you are ready to be used!" I must confess....Lily's whole attitude had changed....now I was her "savior" and all she wanted was to be near me because she KNEW I would take care of her wounds and keep her safe from the other horses. Although I hated that she had to go through this I trusted God with His choice for Lily's training process! I really do believe what happened sped her training up! However I was still very discouraged! I couldn't decide whether to call the vet or not so I started praying! Lily had some major cuts, she had a ball of fluid above one leg and was barely walking on that leg, and she was acting lethargic and unresponsive. God led me to wait on calling the vet and to call a friend for advice instead. I put Lily on some natural antibiotics and starting praying for the swelling to go down in her leg as well as "icing" it with cold water 15 minutes a day two times a day. What I witnessed in the next three days was a literal MIRACLE! The next morning the swelling had gone down a TON in Lily's leg and she was putting a LOT more weight on it, her cuts started healing up, and she got sassy again!:) Within three days the swelling had completely subsided in her leg and she was running around her pasture! I ended up spending $30 on some suave that completely healed up her cuts with NO SCARRING! It's truly a miracle! I wish I had before and after pictures! So I learned a lesson on trusting the Lord and Lily REALLY got put in her place.
"Thank-you God for using horses so incredibly in my life!"Now for the "glimpsing the bigger picture" as I mentioned earlier! When I was 14 years old my parents allowed me to breed our breeding stock paint mare and have my own little foal. I prayed and asked God for a palomino filly....He gave me a palomino colt! It really was AMAZING though because when I consulted the owner of the stallion he told me that my horse was the ONLY horse who threw a palomino from that stallion! God is SO GOOD, but sometimes we don't understand His goodness! I was SO PROUD and I named the little beauty Noble Flaming Star (which I got much grief over from friends for giving my horse SUCH A LONG NAME)!!!:) Give me a break!! I liked the name Flame, but I LOVED the name Noble, because to me he was royalty, and he had a star on his forehead, but EVERYBODY names their horse star...so thus the name Noble Flaming Star!!;) Anyways...I seriously doubted God's goodness to me in years to come in giving me a colt! Noble was as FIREY as they come and he caused me no end of "brain aches" and frustrations!!!:-P There were days I would cry and ask God what I was going to do! He bit, he kicked, he sassed, he threatened, and I was an inexperienced horse lover spoiling him and trying to figure out what on earth to do with him! I watched DVDS, I consulted experienced horse trainers, I worked and worked and worked with him and I cried out to God to show me what to do! When he was four years old I FINALLY had a decent horse on my hands with only a few small things he still needed work on. I ended up selling my Noble baby because I didn't have time for two horses and he was smaller...and I still miss him to this day! He was an awesome horse...smarter than smart, and so responsive once I learned how to work with him instead of against him! The story of how he sold and who he sold to was also miraculous! As far as I know Noble is now a rodeo horse and lives on an awesome farm in Cherokee, IA! Oh how I miss that gorgeous boy....but back to the point. The other night as I was walking in from training Lily I was marveling and praising the Lord at how far she's come. This horse who when I first had her came at me several times with mouth wide open and death in her eyes....this horse who in one day of training tried to kick me probably thirty times...this horse who'd squealed angrily at me for asking her to do something she didn't want to had just ended a training session with me by resting her head in my arm and letting me stroke her nose gently for probably ten minutes!!! As I stared at the star studded sky and meandered towards the house I heard the Holy Spirit again..."All that pain and struggle with Noble was not in vain! See.... I had a plan! I had a plan to make you a better horse trainer! I had a plan to teach you to persevere, to not give up, to be as firm as necessary, but as gentle as possible! Where would you be without the things Noble taught you?!" WOW! I was speechless to respond to the truth I'd just heard! I thought of all the times I was angry at God for giving me such a naughty first horse to figure out and train! I thought of all the times I wanted to give up, to quit, and I didn't! I thought of all the people I met, all the things I learned through working through Noble's issues! As I continued towards the house I marveled silently at what God did in my life through owning that fiery, sassy, wild, headstrong little guy who stole my heart, my time, my energy, and impacted my life FOREVER! All I can say is thank-you to the King of my life who holds the reins and directs my footsteps! Aren't you SO GLAD that God knows what He's doing?! Because even though we think we do, we don't!!!! These are only some of the lessons horses have taught me! God HAS enriched, deepened, widened, and blessed my life by the horses He's made a part of my life! Thank-you Lord! My heart overflows!
--So I will try to upload some pictures of Lily on here soon! I've been asking my AMAZING photographer sis' Anna to get out and take some pictures of her for a while and she's been "uh hem" preoccupied with other matters!;) I'm kind of disappointed because Lily's got her winter coat now, and all horse people out there know that N.O. horses looks as stunningly beautiful with their winter coat on....but anyways I know some of you would still probably like to see pictures so hopefully they're coming soon!:) She won't look exactly the way I described her because her winter coat is pitch black, but she's still so stinkin' cute!;) Also all the pictures displayed on this post are taken by my INCREDIBLE sis' Anna.....Thank-you Anna your God given talent is displayed through your work! You're amazing!--
For all the promises of God in Him are Yes,
and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.
2 Corinthians 1:20
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