Skip to main content

You Have to Saddle Your Horse if You Are Going with Us


A friend on facebook shared a cute picture with me.  The picture instantly took me back to an old homestead house turned tack shed.

 With six girls, some ranchers might have mistakenly suspected that our Dad saddled our horses and coddled us but you would be wrong.  His seeming goal for all of us...was to be independent and able to take care of ourselves.  So at a certain point in our lives, he would tell us that if we wanted to go we had to  saddle our own horse.  

 He checked our cinches and off we would go.  The process was ugly but we were very proud.

 We learned these things:
Tie the horse so he is still.
Have everything ready before (cinches over the saddle etc.)
The blankets went first up the horse. (might need a five gallon bucket to stand on)
Finally with the styrup over the saddle, we would slide the saddle up on the horse's back using our individual strengths. Usually pushing the blanket off to the other side.  
Try to adjust the blanket and the saddle.
Go around the horse and back about a dozen times to get all of the leather in place.
Untie the horse and lead out of the tack shed with head held high!

What it means for me today:
Be still and focus.  I can't do everything at once.
Get ready first.
Use my own strengths to get the job done.
I will have to adjust, adjust and adjust.
It will not be perfect at first.
Ask for some help AFTER giving it a good try.
Celebrate the success.

My life is up to me and if I'm going to have to learn to saddle my own horse.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Starting a Journey

September 3, 2010 Originally posted How to Begin a Journey 1. Pick a destination or simply start. 2. Plan a detailed itinerary or just take the first step. 3. Pack everything or travel lightly. I am choosing to just begin. To leave behind the baggage, pick up a day pack, and go. Several nights before we moved to Ogallala, I was praying about the transition when I heard that still, small voice of God. In that moment, I knew He heard my Heart's Cry. He hears every whispered plea, every unspoken longing. If I truly sit with that truth, it humbles me. What courage, boldness, passion, and decisiveness I have when I remember: He never leaves or forsakes me. He provides for my every need according to His riches in glory. My hope is to encourage you He hears your Heart's Cry too.
2 comments
Read more

1940 Canned Apple Butter: Family Root Cellar

I loved exploration as a child.  From opening the door and going down the stairs to get something from my Grandma's root cellar or exploring old homesteads while checking cows.  I credit my Mom with teaching us to appreciate those things that represented the people who had gone before us. When I moved with my husband and boys to a house on the family ranch-I began exploring immediately.  This was the house my Aunt and Uncle lived in during my childhood.  My Grandparents had lived there and many other families dating back to 1900 when it was built.   With two little boys in tow, I made my way to the root cellar and found a treasure cove.  Old text books belonging to the original family who had been a teacher, the original medicine cupboard, tools, trash and memorabilia.   I felt like an archeologist sifting through layers of debris representing generations and culture.  And I was.  I hauled truckloads of trash to the dump (some...
4 comments
Read more

Diabetes-Opened to Disease OR Open to Connecting to my Strengths

I've tried living in denial for two years after the big D diagnoses was handed over.  Honestly, I just don't want to talk about it.  Outwardly seemly calm and disconnected from it.  Inwardly terrified. As a plant that is stressed is open to disease, injury and death so to our bodies are.  I opened myself up to this.  Stress, lack of sleep, bad nutrition, overweight and lack of exercise.  For some reason I believed that if I ran fast enough and worked hard enough, I would outrun my family genes.  The tiny room in the back of my brain locked with a key has kept the fear of this disease at bay even though I could hear its screaming when life quieted down. My Aunt died piece by piece to this disease.  First a heart attack and quadruple by-pass.  Then a toe.  Next a foot.  Legs came next along with more heart attacks.  Kidneys shutting down.  She died very young. When I was little, my Aunt Ally gave herself s...
4 comments
Read more