How Horses React

Top picture is a very pregnat Mt Girl. Bottom picture is L S Mountain Wind Socks with her daughter Mt Girl.

We had an interesting experience several days ago. I have a mare that is about 9 years old. Bob has been admiring her. She has a sweet disposition and is well endowed with beauty and conformation. She is black with three white socks. Her name is L S Mountain Wind Socks. We call her Wind Socks.

Wind Socks has been hard to get into the barn when we needed her for teeth work, vet work or the farrier. Therein lies the problem. We only got her into the barn for teeth work, vet work or the farrier. So when only unpleasant things happen every time she comes in, then why would she want to come into the barn at all?

Bob began to observe her attitude about being in the barn. So he decided that had to change. The first several times he wanted to catch her, he had a hard time. But soon she was in hand and walking with him leading her into the barn. Each time she came into the barn she was rewarded with some tasty feed. She also got some hay. Horses seem to like a little hay every once in a while even with lush grass.

Soon she was the first one at the barn door to get led in for her little treat of grain and hay. We would then turn her back out. I like to groom the horses so I set about untangling her mane and brushing her and combing her thick mane and tail. She loved the attention and it is easier to get her into the barn. So when the vet came to determine if she was pregnant, she didn't mind so much. The farrier came and trimmed her feet and again, it was really not a problem for her. She got her little bit of grain and was once again turned out.

So she now gets a little grain and hay fairly often. As a result, she doesn't mind being caught and brought into the barn.

One day Bob asked me if she had ever been ridden. Of course the answer was yes because a mare has to be certified to breed to be able to register her foal. The same is true for stallions. Certified to breed just means that a horse has to be ridden and show that they have the Rocky Mountain four beat gait.

So Bob started getting ideas. He wanted to ride Wind Socks. One day last week he brought her into the barn and put her into the cross ties. Before long he had her tacked up ready to go. Our arena has been such a blessing. My children were wonderful to build that arena for me. He led her out to the arena and we closed the gate. He ground mounted her. It is safer that way. She tried to back away from the mounting but he stepped off and corrected her and tried again.

Soon he was aboard and riding around the arena. She was doing pretty well. She seemed calm and not at all distressed by the person on her back. But all the sudden she decided to pick up the pace and she almost got away from Bob. He didn't really know what had happened.

I was intently watching and listening. I was a little fearful for him since she hadn't been ridden for several years. She was ridden briefly before I brought her home. I had purchased her for a brood mare from Van Bert Farms just over two years ago. She is a successful brood mare. She loves her babies and her last one didn't leave her side for the first several weeks after her birth.

No horse will dare mess with Wind Socks' baby.

But riding her is a different thing. Let's see how that turned out.

As I said Bob was riding her in the arena and she suddenly wanted to take off and pick up speed. Bob did not know what had happened. But I heard the whole things. We have a lot of birds around the farm, of course and some of them make a noise just like someone clicking to a horse to get them to pick up speed. That is what happened when Wind Socks picked up speed. She heard the birds clicking and thought it was Bob asking her to gait.

It was rather surprising. He was prepared for whatever would happen and did not lose control. But how did Wind Socks make that mistake? Well, Wind Socks did not recognize the difference between the birds making that sound and the rider. She is not familiar with her rider's voice. She just heard the click and picked up speed.

How like that we are. We hear what we think is the voice of God and because we have not learned what his voice sounds like or don't know how to listen for him we take off on some wild ride and we think we have heard his voice but it is an outside force we are hearing. It almost got Bob into trouble and we get into to trouble the same way. Not only do we get into trouble but we also take others with us.

Have you learned what God's voice sounds like? Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Have you confessed your need for a Savior and ask Jesus to forgive you and save you? That is the beginning of being able to listen to God's voice. God doesn't shout at us. He just quietly speaks. You will not know peace until you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. It is a peace that passes understanding.

May God bless you and keep you in his loving care. And may you know the joy of hearing his voice in your life.

Regards

Mary

Thinking vs Reacting

Bob Rogers and Stephen's Blazin Star in the show ring at the April 24 show in Winchester. My friend Sheri Badgett and I had our pictures made with Clinton Anderson during his Walk about Tour in Lexington Kentucky in late Feb.

Bob and Blaze came in last in the Yearling Colt in hand class. In this picture Blaze is calm and looks like a champion. He has a very good conformation. His head is up and showing his nice neck. His ears are set in a nice direction and he is well behaved in this photo and looks like he is on his way to a blue.

So what happened to him on the way from this point to last place in a very nice class of yearling colts. What happened was he went from the thinking side of his brain to the reacting side of his brain. If you have ever heard Clinton Anderson talk about training horses, you know what it means to say "thinking side vs reacting side".

It occurred to me today as we were talking about a certain young lady we know who broke up with her boy friend this week. She was upset about it but she had come to the conclusion that he was not the right person for her to be seeing. He is older than she is but she seems much more mature than most girls her age. She has learned a lesson that will serve her well for the rest of her life. She has learned to use the thinking side of her brain.

Clinton Anderson says that horses being prey animals use the reacting side of their brains until they are taught to use the thinking side of their brains. He teaches people how to use and develop their training skills to teach a horse how to stop reacting so readily and start thinking. Of course a prey animal will react swiftly. I have learned that horses have the fastest reaction time of all domesticated animals. Bet you thought it was a cat. I did.

But if you think about it you will reach that conclusion even if you only know a little about horses. I have learned it several times over when my horse reacted more quickly than I realized she would. Usually I found myself eating dirt when I realized it. So I have become a student of Clinton Anderson's. I try to read his articles in different horse magazines and to watch his training DVD's to better understand how to teach my horses to think instead of reacting.

Let's tie that to our friend who broke up with her boyfriend. I met him. He was really cute. He was sweet and he seemed to like her a lot. This would appeal to many girls the age of my friend. But she was not reacting to his nice looks, good manners and fun loving attitude. She was listening to that inner voice that told her that this was the wrong person for her. She is wise and especially when you think of her age. She is a young teen. Yet she has developed a skill that takes some of us many years to learn to use and sadly some never learn. She has learned to listen for the promptings of the Holy Spirit to guide her.

What happened to Blaze on his way to the blue in the class was that he completely blew his image in the line up. As soon as a judge approached, Blaze started using the reacting side of his brain instead of the thinking side. The judges were strangers to him. His reacting side said "Run these are predators" He had also had some upset as the class was starting when another colt broke loose from his handler and started running loose in the arena. He was upset and thus Blaze started reacting to his upset as something he needed to be concerned about as well. From then on it was a battle of wills. Who would remain in the most control? Sometimes Blaze won and sometimes Bob won. They did get out of the arena with no major disaster but with last place.

How often do we come up in last place because we don't really know how to use the thinking side of our brains. The side that God makes available to his children. When we make a decision to give our lives over to Jesus it doesn't mean we are now perfect or we make all the right decisions. We can still make dreadful mistakes because we disobey God's will for our lives or that we make decisions that we don't consult him on.

We need to listen to him through reading his word found in the Bible and listening for God to speak to us through that word. It is only with practice that we find how it applies to our lives. It is only by listening that we learn his will for us.

When decisions are made following the will of God, it doesn't mean instant wealth or even wealth at all but treasures we lay up in Heaven where they are safely awaiting us. Perhaps you are snorting and thinking what a bunch of nonsense and how will that do me any good here. If that is what you are thinking, let me tell you this. We are here on this earth for such a short time. So what if you live to be a 100 or even 110. That is such a short time compared to eternity. Eternity has no measure of time for it. It is just that. Eternity. A long long time to suffer the pains of hell and the separation from God.

So what will it be. Are you going to use the thinking side of your brain or just continue to use the reacting side?

May God bless and keep you in his loving care. May his face shine on you and may he give you peace.

Regards

Mary

For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son that whosoever should believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

John 3: 16