Day 1-Thoughts on top of a stall.

Wow that was a long day. We have started working our way through a lot of mustangs. We started out going from stall to stall rubbing on each one with a long pole. I will forever add this to my training for untouched horses. It really shows you the nature of the horse, on top of the main reason being we are able to rub them far out of the range that they could kick or strike. As we started with each horse you could tell which ones were lazy, athletic, confidant, or aggressive. Fortunately both of my mares were quiet and docile. It went from a 15 foot stick, to the 12 foot with a bag, to a training flag, and finally my hand. Both girls seemed to be fine outside the normal "mustang jitters". I gave them both every opportunity to kick and neither of them offered. In fact my dun mare, which I am calling "Sunday Drive" has a super funny personality. She is super smart. The black mare that I still haven't named, seems to be super sweet but a little shy and dull. She listens really well and really tries to understand. Today I was able to rub the majority of both of them and we got halters on them. Mark grabbed his saddle horse and dallied their lead ropes and got both of them leading pretty well. I was really excited to see how he used his horse to work them. I now see how much easier it is to have a good horse to rely on during colt starting. I am sure training a saddle horse will be next on my list. That might be Spade's job. I think Manna my barrel horse might be to big of a weenie for that job. By the end of the day I could at least walk in the stall and rub them both. Haltering takes time but they both will let you do it.

So today while sitting on top of a stall wall with long pole in hand I was working with a very flighty mare. I could barely touch her with the pole she was so quick. I thought "Man why would anyone want this spooky thing?" But as I watched her evade the pole she would stop, slide, spin and then take off to the other side of the stall. She was very impressive. She eventually settled down and relaxed, but I was really shocked at how athletic she was. Then I realized sometimes potential can shine through some of our most troublesome moments. How we respond in a trying time shows us and others who we really are. Working with so many mustangs today I got to see many different personalities. The underlying denominator is I love them all just the way they are. Some of them have been really tough like Spade was last year. But we still love them and teach them. I started to understand how God feels on a grander scale about us. He understands that some of us are very compliant and will do what He says and go where He leads, but he also understands the ones that are going to fight His ways all the way until the end and have a tendency to be extremely stubborn. But the underlying denominator is He loves the hard headed ones just as much as the ones that follow him happily. I was fortunate enough to get two great mustangs this year but I can't help but think if I had even gotten a tough one I would still love it and try to teach it. Why because I paid for them. Jesus paid for all of us and it wasn't just a small cost it was a great cost. If I paid for a mustang tough or not I would still want to see it come to his full potential. So now every time I think about why God would choose to deal with me.... I will think about this day... He wants to see everyone of us succeed it just comes down to if we choose to be "trained" by Him.