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This summer has been a busy one! The barn has been in action from Sunrise to long past Sunset most days. Each week we host campers who learn to ride and interact with the horses, in order to ensure everyone gets the most from the experience, we invite some of our riders to help out. Every morning we have a quick meeting and devotion with our staff and volunteers. The following is Katie Hughes’ devotion from earlier in the week:
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As some of you may know, I spend a good bit of my time at my cousin’s house (David Gaskin’s Circle G Farms). At the farm, I ride a 4 year old quarter horse name Coal. If you look at the barn horse show class sheet, you will notice that I am bringing Coal to the show. So, for last month, I have been practicing for the show on him. With practicing, I have taught him a lot of new things. Some of those things are: leg yielding, timed/smooth transitions, barrels, pole bending, allowing me get on him without backing up and how to open a gate. Many of these things we are learning how to do together.
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Yesterday Coal let me get on him just fine, so we made our way up to the arena. When we got up there, my wonderful mom had set up the timed trail course for us to practice. When we started the course, I showed Coal the motions to open up the gate. Once I showed him the motions of the course, we did the course for real. He did everything perfectly the first 2 times, so we took a little break. When we got to the gate the 3rd time, he let me open and go through the gate just fine. I picked up the rope and we went to close the gate, he would not stop and pulled the standard down. We walked a lap and started over. He did the same thing all over again. I did a small circle, as my mom picked the standard back up. At the end of the circle, Coal did a small rear, so I stopped him, and made him do the circle again even though I was frustrated with him. When we completed the circle, he did a small buck. At that point I was scared and frustrated. My mom told me to walk a lap around the arena and breathe. While taking our lap, I made him stop every 5 steps. When we started the course again, he did the gate perfectly. We trotted through the cones and over the bridge, then stopped. I hopped off and led him through the maze. I tried to make him trot but he wouldn’t, and I didn’t realize I was dragging him through the maze. When we got to the mounting bucket, he wouldn’t let me hop on him. I pulled him up to the bucket and tried it again and he still was acting funky. Again, I was scared and frustrated and started pulling on his reins hard. He was not very happy and would not move because of what I was doing. I loosened up his reins and let him and myself calm down. After we did that, he let me hop right on and we finished the course. We did the course all over again. When we got to the gate, I was very patient with him and he did it perfectly. We moved on through the course. I led him through the maze and I stayed by his side the whole time and he let me get back on him perfectly. We finished the course, with Coal getting a bunch of praises. To make Coal happy, I let him canter around the arena 2 times. That’s what he had been wanting to do all night.
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This night taught me a lot about patience, because to finish the course as well as we did, we both had to have lots of patience. Patience is not just waiting on something to happen, it’s being determined for something to be finished without getting frustrated but staying confident, taking your time and never giving up. So next time you ride, remember to be patient and if you are patient, your horse will be patient too.
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By, Katie Hughes
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Proverbs 14:29 — “Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.’
Categories: Barn News
