Lessons from the Saddle

February 10, 2015
Are you crazy about horses? If you aren't a big horse person that's ok, I'll forgive you....He He.  For my whole life, I have had a passion for horses! Now Daddy and Mommy thought it would grow out of me but surprisingly it didn't.   I believe that every little girl who loves horses dreams about one day having a ranch and owning dozens of horses, that was my dream too.  I knew that God has given me a passion for these gorgeous animals,  but the problem was....where do I start?

 I had been to horsemanship camps, and read and watched as much as I could get my hands on.  After some time, mommy and I started asking people online if they needed help with their horses in exchange for riding lessons. So we got my resume fired up and waited.  Then I got to work with two different women with their horses.  One woman owned a palomino named Dandy who was 16 hands high! (super tall!)  I got to muck to my hearts content!  Also working with Dandy helped my confidence rise.  After a while, God closed the door on that, and opened a new one! This woman had four horses, I got to work with a pretty dark chestnut mare named Mariah.  She was  real sweet! I got to also feed her herd of goats (that was fun!)  Then after some more time, God closed the door on that one too.  I was really sad... It seems that every horse I meet, and get to know I get attached to! We tried 4-H horse program, (didn't work out) I wanted to know when it would stop! I felt that God kept opening doors then when I got attached, and thought, "Surely this is the one!" "Nope!" God would say and close the door, leaving me with another heartbreak.... I had a lot of questions about trusting God, and what that looked like.   I finally told mommy and daddy that even if God didn't give me a horse, I would still love Him!

Then in October 28, 2015 God answered our prayers,  A woman up in North San Juan (of all places) replied to our request and told mommy that she had six Morgan horses, rode English, and was looking for someone who would be willing to work with her horses.  At first, when mommy told me, I was hesitant and had questions swirling though my mind, "What is she like? Will I lose the horse(s) I get attached to just like all the other opportunity's God flung at us? Will this work out?  Mommy and I went to go check it out, she was kind, not Christian, (believes in mother nature), but her horses were cool!  I found out that one of her horses, Arpeggio (Paige)  was for sale.  I started working with her (even though I knew very little about how to train horses) so she taught me how to earn the horses respect, and wondered if Paige would do the "leap of faith" for me. The leap of faith is when a horse trusts you and accepts you as their "herd" leader.  To all of our surprise, this horse did the "leap of faith" for me on the first day! After I had gotten to know the woman, her Morgan horses, and rode her stallion called Tank for a while, we drove home.  On the way home I had a huge smile on my face and mommy asked, "You've already fallen in love with this horse haven't you?"  "Yea." I answered.  Paigie is super sweet she is a chestnut mare with a white snip here and white snip there on her forehead.  She has an orange double-sided mane and tail, she also has one white sock on her back left leg.  Well, after a lot of thought, work, time, and car gas to get out there, my horse training skills have blown sky high! (We feel that maybe it might be where God is leading me )  My trust in Paigie and the lessons that God is teaching me through her about confidence, trust, and faith.  All of a sudden I have all these amazing horse training/our relationship with God analogies! 

My training as a horse trainer (more importantly my relationship with Him) has improved far greater than imaginable!  Paigie was taken off the market, (without my knowledge) and I had to trust God that no matter what happened, whether she got sold or not, that I would work hard, and trust that He knew what He was doing.  The lease was presented by mommy and daddy at Christmas, and the purchase agreement will be signed this year on March 15th!  After all this trust, and patience, hard work, God has and will continue to answer my prayers!  No matter where God decides to lead me in this passion He has given me, I need to make sure I do it to His honor and glory!  I still continue to train my Pagie, through all the information this woman is giving me, (seriously I can't force another thought in to my brain when I get home!)  She points out things to me about training, gives me horse books, and ALL the ins and outs of EVERYTHING about horses!  I am still horse crazy and will continue to be horse crazy till the day I die!  God has given me a wonderful gift-a connection with these marvelous animals!  Even through all the bumps along the way, all the trust it takes, the prayer, and faith.  But we need to use our gifts for one purpose, to bring Him the honor and glory He deserves!




I LOVE homeschooling! But roadschooling  is  fun too... How would  you like to do school with different scenery each time! We travel in our old but nice camper. And it still works! You may ask well that sounds cool and fun! But what do you do when there's nothing much to see outside, and Daddy says I'll be hours before we get there. What do you have to do? Well I listen to my ipod, read books on my Kindle, OR be on the lookout for Horses, or Horse trailers, "Horse Trailer I called it!" Jacob and Caleb usually play gameboy, read funny Calvin and Hobbes comics, Samuel likes to color in his Dinosaur coloring book, or take a nap. Grace usually plays with her dolls on Mommy and Daddy's bed, or takes a nap as well... And It's pretty funny... sometimes we are on the road and everything is going fine until someone asks where's Grace? And we all look for her except Daddy. (He's driving.) We finally find her on Mommy  and Daddy's bed curled up, ALL of her dolls, favorite blanket, everything! And she is fast asleep... Isn't that cute?  I  love  my  Mommy and her  great  organization skills!  P.S And if you notice on  the main picture of  me  and  my  siblings  you will  see  the  shirt I'm  wearing  has  horses on it!  (I'm a  total HORSE NUT  in case you didn't know!.... But   I don't  have  a  horse......  YET!!!!)