Slate and Sky
You see, horses are by nature very large scaredy cats. They are prey animals so their first reaction to anything new is "Can that eat me!?!" In most domesticated horses, this instinct has been dulled from disuse. However in some this instinct is still strong. I have two of these. And just to show that horses can be as different as people, one is afraid of new stuff and the other one, who was not handled enough as a young horse, is overly sensitive to what others do. If you stay calm, so will he, but if you get nervous or aggressive, he becomes very nervous and it difficult to calm him back down. The funny thing is, when you put the two of them together, they affect each other.
I have had Sky (the one afraid of stuff) since she was born. She is not bothered by anything you might do but if there's a loose plastic bag blowing around watch out! Slate, on the other hand, I purchased as he turned one. When I first brought him home I could not catch him in the field. The only way I could get Slate to come in to the barn was to get Sky and take her in. He would follow her all the way to the stall. He trusted her. He wasn't so sure about me. That was five years ago. We've come a long way since then.
Sweet babies
Of course, the opposite is also sometimes true. Every now and then, when Sky freaks out about something, that herd survival instinct kicks in and he spooks, too. Tonight that was exactly what happened:
I have my farm set up so that when the horses are out I can put their dinner in their stalls and then just open the gate to the pasture and they will go into their stalls. Sometimes I will put my hand under the jaw of one and walk with them. I use this as practice in case I ever need to catch or lead them and don't have a halter and lead rope.
We had a large cardboard box turned fort for J. Of course, they didn't like it at first but they got used to seeing it before too long. Then it got left in the rain and collapsed sideways and the wind blew it to a whole new part of the yard (changing locations is just as bad as changing shapes to horses).
As I was bringing the horses in tonight, they caught sight of this new scary monster in the front yard and every single one of them spooked (aka freaked out)! The collapsed fort was closer to the barn than they were and they were not going anywhere near it!
I just happened to be walking with Slate tonight. When he yanked his head away from me and ran, I went after him. I don't want him to think it's ok to yank away from me even if he is scared. He did let me catch him again but he still didn't trust me enough to walk past the scary fort monster, at least not by himself. None of the other horses wanted to go past it either.
This time, I went to the barn and got a halter. Instead of putting it on Slate, I put it on Steele. Steele is my "Old Steady." His prey instinct is not as strong as the others' so he doesn't get as upset as they do. I've also had Steele for thirteen years. We have been through a lot together and he trusts me. So when I put the halter on him and told him he was okay, he believed me and followed me willingly. Steele is also the herd leader. The other horses know they can trust him to protect them for he has earned his place. They followed us in just like Slate used to follow Sky.
Steele
Once they were all safely in, I went back to Slate, put his halter on and took him back out to the yard. He was very nervous but he came. I walked with him toward the crumpled fort, stopping every so often to let him look at it and give him time to get used to seeing it. When we got to it, I did something he really didn't like. I stomped on it! It moved. It made noise. He did Not like this. I kept doing it for a few minutes anyway.
And then I saw it.
His demeanor changed as he realized that it wasn't hurting us and I was the one making the noise. And he relaxed a little. I stepped off the cardboard and gave him a good rub and lots of praise and he put his head on my chest. This is something he does both for affection and reassurance (and why he is the favorite with my mom and several students). I stroked his face and told him he was okay. And then I got on the cardboard again. He still didn't like it but he was nowhere near as nervous as he had been. We did this a couple of times and by the end, he actually walked on it for me! What a good, brave boy!
Relaxed with a calm rider
As I thought about all of this afterward, I reflected on how much trust it took for him to approach the thing that scared him and then to stay there and not leave; not that he had much choice since I was holding his lead rope. I thought about how hard I had to work to earn his trust and how careful I have to be not to break the trust of this horse for whom it does not come naturally. He is much like we humans are.
When we see something scary on the horizon of our lives, we want to run. When we feel God urging us to continue on our path even though it brings us to the scary thing, we want to yank away from him. We do not trust God to take care of us through the difficult times in our lives. We live in a fallen world, full of pain and sorrow. It affects everybody. Not one single person will live their whole life without experiencing it. Sometimes, when bad or scary things happen, we blame God rather than trusting him (as Slate could have with me for bringing him closer to the fort).
We need to remember that he cares for us and is there for us and trust him. Think of all of the other times he has helped you or sent someone to go with you as I did for Slate by having Steele go first. Even if no other person is there with you, God is just as I was with Slate while the others were in the barn. I did not make him face his fear by himself. You are never alone when you walk with God. Trust him. Put your head on God's chest first and let him hold you and reassure you if you need to. I promise he won't mind.
I don't know about you, but I want to be a Steele, an "Old Steady" for God. I want to develop so much trust in him that I am willing to follow him all the way on top of the scary stuff and lead others to Him. That takes work and time. It doesn't happen overnight. But I read somewhere that if I'm willing, He can use me.
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