Change Your Horse (and yourself)...One Step at a Time

      The biggest breakthrough in the riding and training of my horses came from three simple words: control its feet.  The first time it exasperated me.  How could I control my horse's feet when they were constantly moving and I couldn't see where they were from the saddle?  

      It started with correcting my horse for a step forward by moving it back into position.  Then putting a foot back into position when a foot stepped left or right.  Then I started to tell my horse how many steps a foot was allowed to take.  The more I put more thought in this, the more confused and frustrated I became because it took a lot of work and focus.  As I stuck with it, I learned to push aside my fears of doing something wrong, and embrace the opportunity to try.  Once I began seeing changes in my horse's behavior, it was then I began to see how valuable this advice was.  For example if I stopped giving my horse's feet direction, they would stop.  If I corrected a foot  for moving more than what I had asked it to, the horse began to slow down, hesitating to think about my cue before moving.  Granted this didn't happen immediately, but it did as I stayed consistent.  For my athletic and energized pony, the more control I had over her feet the more calm and attentive she became.   For my lazy and easy going horse, the more control I had over his feet the more athletic and respectful he became.  Getting control of my horse's feet and understanding  how the position of their feet affected my horse's movement has enabled me to keep my horse's attention and prevent myself from getting out of balance with my horse.  Eventually this understanding will enable me to do more difficult and advanced maneuvers such as spins and lead changes.      

     This one step at time concept has also applied to making changes in my own life.  As I continue to study God's Word, accept instruction from other wise mature Christians, and desire to live a life that reflects Christ, I see so many areas in which I fall short of God's standards.  Rather than getting discouraged and choosing not to try changing, I can take small steps in the right direction.  For example, choosing to speak with a pleasant, friendly voice when I would rather just be silent because I'm finding it hard to love that person or choosing not to complain or get sullen when a parent is not in favor of my idea.   Instead of getting all anxious and upset about the so many things that I'm not getting done or  want to learn, I am learning to stop and ask Jesus to help me focus on the steps I need to take to get an overwhelming or unpleasant task accomplished.  I am learning that great things are done, one step at a time.

 

"A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps."---Proverbs 16:9

 

"Direct my steps by Your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me."--Psalm 119:133

 

"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way."

--Psalm 37:23

"Does He not see my ways, and count all my steps?"--Job 31:4

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:  Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth, who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed.

1 Peter 2:21-24

Here are the words to a song that continues to be an encouragement to me as I grow up.

Little by Little

by Ron Hamilton

When mountains tower rugged and high,

rise to the challenge look to the sky.

Trust in the Lord and start out to climb;

reach for the goal one step at a time!

Growing in Christ takes work every day;

reading your Bible learning to pray.

Build godly habits, seek help divine;

great things are done one step at a time! 

Chorus:

Little by little inch by inch

By the yard it's hard,

by the inch what a cinch.

Never stair up the stairs;

just step up the steps.

Little by little inch by inch

"It's a cinch!"

 "For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little there a little."   Isaiah 28:10

Reflections

Recently I was looking over this poem I had written several years ago when reading through the book of James.  My inspiration for this poem came from chapter 1 verses 22-25.  Let's take a moment to review this challenging passage of scripture.

"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

James 1:22-25 

The word of God is like a mirror.  It reveals the imperfections in our lives and hidden secrets of our hearts, convicting us of what we have done wrong, and challenging us to do what is right.  Will we change or will we continue on in our selfish ways?  On Sunday, our pastor's message was about judging others.  Often we get so caught up in the problem that someone else has that we are blind to a similar problem in our own lives.  We need to change ourselves before we can change others.

This reminds me of a conversation about horses I had with a friend the other day.   I concluded that we need to change ourselves before we change our horses.  Many of the problems I have with my horses are because of me.  By allowing my horse to do an undesirable behavior, I'm teaching my horse to continue doing the wrong thing.  If I teach my horse how I expect it to behave, the undesirable behavior will disappear.  For example when I was young and naive in my horsemanship skills, my horses had the problem of sneaking out the gate when I would open it.  In reality, I had the problem of letting my horses stand too close to the gate when I opened it.  Once I got in the habit of chasing the horses away from the open gateway when I entered and exited, they began to walk away from the gate when it was opened.  My horses have had the problem of getting nervous when I ride them out in the pasture while being comfortable at home.  The real problem is I feel comfortable at home and nervous out in the pasture.  I also have the problem of riding them casually around the yard and making them work out in the pasture when they acted up.  As I learn to be comfortable and controlled by challenging myself to ride my horses in various locations and making work and casual riding something I do equally wherever I ride, my horse's problems are continuing to diminish.  This mindset has helped me to view problems differently.  It's helped me to look at challenges as "what can I do differently?" rather than "what can they do differently?"  Horses are a mirror of ourselves.  If we're nervous, inconsistent, and insecure, our horses may exhibit those characteristics as well.  

My challenge for those with horses: Get out there and start changing your problems with horses, one step at a time! 

My challenge for all of us:  Desire to be more like Christ.  Ask Jesus to help you be more like Him.  

Now, Go!  Find the Godly character traits you are lacking, be constantly aware of them, and start changing your behavior!  If you're struggling to change, ask someone to remind you.  

I want to be humble here and share some of the challenges I'm seeking to change in my life.  I ask those of you reading this to hold me be accountable for these areas in my life.  Feel free to write me and ask me what steps I am taking to change.

Pray that I would:

Be orderly with my time and activities.

Be consistent in what I say and do--mean what I say and do what I say I will do.

Not become bitter about other people's problems.

Be diligent in praying daily.

 

Wally and the Rabbit

The beginning of this story is a nice friendly account of a rabbit trying to steal a meal from a horse, but takes a rapid turn of events that will disappoint bugs bunny lovers and the writer will suggest those against eating bunny from reading the scrumptious ending.

Now for the humorous and rare incident we witnessed the other day between my curious Quarter horse Wally and one boldly hungry rabbit.  

I was quietly reading an intriguing, inspiring chapter from a book when it was insisted that I come down to the dining room and look out the window at the horse I had just fed.  I sighed and reluctantly left a good read to glance out the window.  I was met with a barrage of comments as I stared in disbelief at the cute, but bold theft.  “Look, the rabbit is sitting there trying to eat hay with the horses!”  “Wally doesn’t even see him!”  “Come on, Wally, chase him away!”  The rabbit nibbled away at the hay while Wally munched.  It took Wally a couple minutes to realize what was happening to his pile of hay.  Then his head raised and he chewed a mouthful of hay staring down the intruder with wide eyes and pricked ears.  He seemed to be contemplating what to do as if he were thinking, “I don’t remember this happening before”.  He stepped towards the rabbit and attempted to sniff it.  The rabbit backed off and Wally snatched up what was left of his hay, leaving the rabbit to finish off the chaff.   

Above was the pleasant ending for those of you who like rabbits.  

The following is the ending for those of you who like rabbits as a delicacy.

Meanwhile the two expert marksmen from the house, grabbed their rabbit execution device, and made their plan.  They returned shortly with a live rabbit!  “How did you do it?”  Was the excited question from the girls in the house.  “Well,” explained my brother (next in birth order to me), “we chased him into a pile of junk right into a tin 2ft cylinder-shaped object.   I blocked the one side with my foot and grabbed him when he ran out the other side.  Then I carried him to the house.”  “Wow, didn’t he try to bite you?” came the disbelieving reply.  “No, I read that rabbits don’t bite…except when protecting their young,” came the educated answer.  Apparently this rabbit didn’t have any babies to protect at the time and my brother had retained his science studies.  I decided that since I didn’t have to work the following day, I would make the rabbit, along with two of its relatives in our freezer, the next night’s supper.  Putting my prairie cooking skills to work, I cut the wild rabbit into serving sized portions and rolled it in a breading of flour, salt, and pepper. 

 Next it was fried in some bacon drippings. 

   

The browned rabbit pieces were put in the crock-pot, a piece of bacon was laid over each one, and gravy was poured over the top.  For side dishes we had green beans, peaches, and what I call fancy potatoes: thinly sliced potatoes with skins placed in a baking dish, sprinkled with salt and pepper, drizzled with butter, and baked to perfection!  

A scrumptious ending to a rather unbelievable story.  As Dad would say, truth is stranger than fiction!!

What is the point of this article?  Um...... here are some suggestions:

*To give you something fun to read.

*Learn to take the time to appreciate the unique details or detours in your day!

*An idea for cooking if surviving off the land. 

*Make sure you've done your homework before hunting.

 

Cooking Cowgirl Style!

What does a cowgirl do when the temperature or weather suggests it would be wiser to work inside?

Head to the kitchen...

to do some baking...

cowgirl style!

 

Put on your riding boots and cover your western shirt with an apron.  You could even wear your hat just for fun!  Then put that imagination to work tweaking recipes to satisfy your taste buds and the hungry stomachs of your hard working farmhands!   Not a cowgirl?  Don't worry!  You can come up with your own cooking style!

 

 

Howdy everybody!  One of my favorite ways to spend a frigid cold wintry day, is filling the house with the delicious aroma of freshly baked bread products.  Home ground wheat flour sweetened with honey enhances the flavor of my breads.  A warm butter melting slice of this bread is one of the best ways to satisfy a food craving!  I often acquire new recipe ideas from farm newspapers, magazines, cookbooks, and sometimes the internet.  I usually end up not following the instructions for a recipe exactly---substituting ingredients and adding new ones.  I like to use whole grains, natural sweeteners, and healthy oils.  Our bodies are better able to digest foods that are closest to their natural form with the least amount of processing.  When we feed our bodies with wholesome foods, we are being good stewards of the bodies God has given us and our bodies are fit to serve God.

 

The following is a meat and cheese filled bread that can be frozen to be thawed later for a quick meal.  I like it because it can be made ahead of time to be used later, but is delicious and filling.  One of my brothers came up with the name.  It's been called football bread too.

 

Zipper Bread

What you'll need:

*bread dough *cream cheese (set out to soften) *cheddar cheese *garlic powder *onion powder *chives

 

 

First take one loaf of bread dough and role it out into a big rectangle on a greased cookie sheet.  Use your favorite bread dough recipe and if you don't have one, go look in a cookbook!  I usually make 6 loaves of bread at a time, so setting aside one of those loaf sized portions for this recipe works out easily for me. 

 

 

 Next, layer ham down the center.  Leave a 1 inch space at the top and bottom and a 2 in space at the sides.  I used 16 slices of ham: 4 rows with 4 in each row.  You can use any kind of meat that you prefer.

 

Now mix up the cream cheese filling: 4 oz. cream cheese, 1/2 t onion powder, 1/4 t garlic powder, 1 c cheddar cheese, and chives.

 

 

Dump the ingredients into the cream cheese that you let soften at room temperature and sprinkle in enough chives to taste good and look pretty.

 

 

Spread the seasoned cream cheese over the ham.  I use my fingers--the best spatulas you'll ever find!  Then take a knife and cut 2-inch long slits at each corner and every 1-1/2 inches along the side.  Fold over the dough at each end in preparation for the next step.

 

 

Now we're going to start braiding the dough.  Don't worry!  It sounds and looks hard, but trust me it's really easy!  All you have to do is take one strip of dough from the side and lay it down at a diagonal with the end crossing the center a bit.  Then take the strip directly opposite it and cross it over the  one lying on top of the filling.

 

 

See?  It's really quite easy and fun! 

 

Doesn't it look cool?  See why we call it zipper bread?

 

 

Let it sit for an hour.  While you're waiting, wash up the dirty dishes!

 

 

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25-30 minutes.  It should look like this!  Now it's ready to eat or be frozen for later.

 

Now that's my kind of cooking.  Simple but professional looking and delicious!

 

I only wish I had taken a picture of a piece of it.  We ate it before I remembered.  It was that good!

 

So long for now!