Backin’ up Horses
Copyright Jamie Zenteno 2023
A little over two years ago I purchased my horse CoJo. He is a beautiful, strong, wonderful animal. When he first came to live with his soft handed mama (aka me) there was a period of time that we had to take in order to work some things out.
I was new to him – he didn’t trust me. Instead of him going forward when I had him on a lead rope he liked to go backwards. And let me tell ya – backwards is where we went all over that dang back pasture.
He didn’t want to move forward and go through the barn gate at all. So, for a short time just like when we walked backwards in the pasture, I turned him around and backed him out of the gate to the front of my property.
Incredibly frustrated I was about ready to give him. We had been working on a few things for what seemed for forever. Finally, after all of that repetition he started to trust and respect me. One forward stride at a time.
The next step was working with me in the saddle and building that trust. When one works with horses, ground work is just as important as saddle time. My personal opinion is, it is more so. Whatever you do on the ground will transfer into the saddle.
He wanted to walk forward when mounting but he needed to stand still. He wanted to go when I said whoa. Again, after months of work, by the end of last summer we had finally gotten into a good riding rhythm, his head was relaxed and we were in a good spot. I needed to toughen up, rise to the challenge to push me past my anxiety of the unforeseen future of just riding. And in return, he needed to trust and respect a softer handed rider.
Life can certainly feel like it is 1 step forward and a whole big backwards stroll around a back pasture. It is tiring, frustrating and at times extremely exhausting. I ended up using gloves at one point because I had calluses and rope burn. I even remember after making progress from the barn to the washing tree (which took about an hour or so to get to) that I sat on the ground feeling proud, happy and so tired that I cried for a good twenty minutes. That was all we did that day but man we made it there!!!
To give you some perspective that walk should have only taken at maximum two minutes if that. But I can look back on that growth period with my horse and say wow look where we are now.
Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Though we may be fearful of the unknown the Lord tells us to remember God’s got our back. He’s going to send encouragement from that person with that text. He’s going to let that particular song play on the radio to engage us into worship to reset our minds. He is going to send you prayer warriors who are going to stand in agreement with you in that situation. And He is going to fight this battle and take back from the enemy’s camp what was taken from you.
Keep praying for me and I’ll keep praying for you. In Jesus name these battles will be won!!
