The first time someone tried to hop on Dusty bareback he bucked them off and broke a few ribs. Yeah, ouch and oops. That person was my horse lover aunt. Yeah, double oops. Luckily she's horse knowledgeable, so she didn't get angry with him. That was last June. (She is better now)
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| Just took this! Isn't my boy adorable? |
So this past week I've been working with him on that. Needless to say the first time I started to get up I about had a heart-attack. I slowly and painfully inched my foot over his back, then even more slowly sat up. Every time I moved slightly his head would come up, which for those of you who don't know horses, that means he was freaking out. So I would bend his head. Which lessens the tension in his poll. Which is right behind his ears. It would be the point you rub on the back of your neck when you have a head-ache. (Like mine at the moment)
Okay to make clear what I've just told you:
If you are freaking out, you will tense up. Which means you are ready to either make a break for it or fight. If you want your horse to calm down when he is scared, you make it so he is not tense. With a horse to do this you either 1) bend his neck or 2) disengage. It makes them stretch, and we all know that stretching is a tension reliever.
So I was finally able to sit straight up on him, in the right position. After two days of work.
Let me tell you it was like sitting at the top of Pike's Peak after only taking a few short hours of climbing. Pike's Peak is 14,115 ft. above sea level. I live within sight of it and can tell you it is no small mountain.
After coming inside thrilled, I thought some about what I had just witnessed. I realized that we had just shown each other complete trust. He trusted me not to eat him while I was on his back. And I trusted him not to take off on me like he already has five other times.
That was a lot of trust. Humans are predators and horses are prey. Their eyes are on the sides of their heads, ours in the front. They know it, we know it.
Then I thought, what if we trusted God like that? Let him sit up on top, in the control zone, and let him lead us? What if we trusted him not to take advantage of his powerful position? What if we didn't try to take flight or fight? We would have such a greater relationship with him if we would. Dusty trusts me more than he does any other human on this planet.
God doesn't want to hurt us anymore than I want to hurt Dusty. He just wants to teach how to be the best that we can be. We just need to let him take control without bucking him off first.
Writing this out has really helped me understand this even more fully. And I hope that you guys got something out of it. :)
Brookie
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