Come With Me

This week I learnt that Betty Staley, from the "Buck" movie, tells her young horses, "Come with me. I will go with you. We will go together." Now that is true leadership and I loved it. I pondered it as it rang softly in my head. I thought, "Wow, that sounds biblical." There is a hymn titled "You Are Mine" that says "Come and follow me I will lead you home" and there are many variations on this. Matthew 11:28 begins with "Come to me..." . The bible is full of leadership quotes after all, God just wants to lead us in life and to Him in Heaven.

All this week as I rode The Big Brass, when ever he became anxious or hesitant I said to him, "Come with me, we'll go together." Now you are saying horses don't understand those words. If they don't, it doesn't matter. It is our voice of confidence they recognize, they connect with our voice. Our reactions and touch can calm them. Horses crave leadership and our confidence provides that reassuring touch that gives them leadership. The bonus is that the words worked on me too. So I stayed relaxed and Brass could feel that.

Horses have been my teachers throughout my lifetime. Although I haven't always reflected on those lessons or written them down. I'm thinking I need to do more of that. I was given a great gift years ago when I recovered from two bad wrecks, one horse and one not. I never thought I'd be able to really ride again after either one, but here I am doing just that. The injuries needed to heal  and the accidents were only part of the things I needed to fix. Those major wrecks in my life were followed by a reaffirmation of my faith as I was baptized for the second time in life. This time in the cold waters of the Owyhee Reservoir, June 2008, after the Lord spoke to my heart. Perhaps he said "Come with me" I don't remember exactly. I just knew it was time for a new beginning. I always say "but for the Grace of God go I." And now it is a with a new horse giving me new lessons. We'll do it together.