Flair for Fury

OK I am frustrated. I uploaded a picture of Flair and I don't know where it went. It was a beautiful picture of her in the show ring with S T on board in an under saddle class this past show season.

This is about Flair and me and our trail ride. We finally caught a good day to ride this past week.
Leigh was here and she wanted to ride Velvet. Velvet is her favorite horse right now. She canters across the field with Leigh "in the irons" as they say at the shows. I had never been on Flair for Fury but I was told that she was my kind of horse.

As if there was an explanation needed, Bob went on to tell me how easy to ride she is and just how laid back and sweet. I got on her and rode her in the round pen while everyone else was getting their horses ready to ride. She wasn't real fond of riding in there because we had pulled shoes for the winter and there were a lot of rocks that had not been smoothed down enough.

I started to get a feel for her and found that she is very laid back. To the point of being a little lazy. Yes she is my kind of horse. Unlike J R that has a stubborn streak, Flair is a willing filly. I did have to urge her on some in the round pen but out in the open she was really easy to ride.

We rode up through the fields and down in the woods. I sometimes get uneasy in the woods because J R will get a little eager to go down the hills and he is not careful to pick his way along the trail. If you don't watch him he will scrub legs against trees. He pretty much has to be ridden all the time. He is a gentle soul and will not do anything really stupid but he likes to test the rider once in awhile.

I remember when I was trying to get comfortable riding again after some spills, we were riding in the woods. I like to follow instead of lead and Bob had ridden across a creek. I followed and when we turned to cross the creek again, J R started doing little crow hops. It scared me. I wasn't expecting him to do it. So he had one over on me. He did it several times to me after that and I was totally frustrated. I was too scared to do what I needed to do to show him I was the herd leader in our little herd of two.

One day we were riding in the bottoms along the river and he decided he would do his little crow hops. He made me think he was going to rear up. I knew in my head he was too lazy but my heart was not convinced. And so it went with my riding. Some days I was ok and others I was almost terrified.

Then came May 28, 2010. I was not on a horse. I was leading one of my weanlings and I fell and broke my arm. It took me several months to heal and all the time the surgeon who operated on me was telling me to stay off of the horses. I was ok with that. I finally got to get back on in October. I started riding J R again and I found that I wasn't afraid anymore. If J R wanted to run down the hill, I was able to hold him back. I made him understand what walk meant. If he wanted to crow hop, I made his feet move. If he wanted to eat, I wouldn't let him put his head down while I was on him. He started being more obedient. I in turn got more at ease on him.

One day I decided to ride a mare, Rocky Top Rebel. Rebel is bred and she is not a happy pregnant mare. But it was early on when I rode her. I don't ride her now. She is not due until May but she is a very unhappy pregnant mare.

So the last time I rode a horse was last week and I rode Flair for Fury. Flair is two years old. She has had ten months of training. S T rode her in all the shows last season and she hardly knew what it meant if she was in a class and didn't go to the winner's circle. She won the prestigious Breeder's Cup for two year olds. Breeder's Cup for a two year old is both under saddle and under halter in the same class. The horse displays her or (his) talent with a rider. The saddle is then pulled off and she is shown in hand. It takes a good horse to win. Some horses do well under saddle and then come up short in conformation. So Flair is a good two year old without a doubt.

Not every two year old, even in the Rocky Mountain breed is right for a rider like I am. But Flair is a good horse for me. She proved it to me last week.

She didn't feel like she was going to take off and run with me to stay up with the other horses. I like my horse to walk. If she did feel like she was going to go a little faster than I wanted her to go I pulled her up a little and she immediately dropped back down to a walk. The woods was a beautiful experience. There is a lot of down hill trails and Flair so carefully picked her way down the trails. She didn't always walk on the exact same path the other horses walked on. The trails were muddy because of the rain we have had. She would often walk to the side of where the other horses had walked. She was avoiding the mud and the slippery slopes.

So on the first ride on Flair for Fury (she is out of Rebel's Rocks Ann and by Venture's Black Fury) I have come to trust her because I can see she is trustworthy. Isn't that the way our walk with Jesus is.

I learned to trust Jesus when I opened my heart to him and told him I needed him because I couldn't do this thing called life by myself. First of all, I needed him to save me. I couldn't do enough good to save myself. After all he had already paid the price for my salvation. He died on the cross for me and you. His precious blood paid our sin debt. He now leads us on our life's path.

Sometimes we do walk off the path and try to go it on our own. But he comes looking for us like in the parable of the lost sheep. There were 99 sheep safely in the fold. But one was lost. The shepherd went to look for that one. Like sheep we go astray. We don't have to try to find our way back, we just need to call out to Jesus to help us.

Like Flair who chose the safest path for us Friday, Jesus will lead us on the safest path. He may take us places we wouldn't choose ourselves but he is showing us the best way home. When we are in his care we can't be any where that we are safer.

When Mike was in Iraq, my customers in the post office would ask me how I slept at night. First, I couldn't take care of Mike in Iraq That would be ridiculous if I tried. But there was one who was with him at all times. He was in God's hands. And all that is the safest place anyone can be. So that is how I could lay down and not lay awake all night worrying. I prayed of course. I would have rather he was back in the states but I could not do anything about that. But I knew with God's care he was in good hands.

I am praying you are safely in the Good Shepherd's fold tonight. I pray you are walking the path beside Jesus and following his will for your life. If you have wondered off the path, ask him to lead you back to safety. It is his good pleasure to walk with each of us.

May God bless and keep you in his loving care and may your new year be abundantly provided for by the one who died for us all, Jesus Christ.

Regards,

Mary

"And Jesus said unto them 'What man of you having an hundred sheep; if he lose one of them doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost, until he finds it.'"

Luke 15: 4