I was cleaning out some old files when I came across a picture from 1985. It shows Jennifer riding Codweed, with me on Rascal, and Jerry in front. Codweed was the inspiration for two of my poems. He was quite a character. And Rascal was the best horse that ever lived, in my humble opinion.

(Click on the picture for a larger image.)

The farrier has come and gone, and Amigo now has all four hooves nicely trimmed. I had hoped he would be good with his feet for her, but I was a bit concerned about how spooky he gets around new things… like a short, loud German lady in heavy leather chaps with big iron tools approaching him.  Sure enough, when she first walked up to him, he panicked, and backed away from her about 10 feet with head raised, eyes big, and trembling.

So, we took about ten minutes to do some “approach and retreat” training. I had her walk up to him at normal speed (don’t slow down), let him back up, and when his feet stop moving, rub him all over. As soon as he shows a sign of relaxing, I had her turn and walk away from him. Repeat… and repeat… and repeat. In about 10 minutes, she could walk up to him with no reaction whatsoever.  When he finally cocked a back foot, I told her he was ready for her to do his feet.

And so she trimmed all four feet without any pulling or kicking. (Two weeks ago he tried to kick her into the next county.)

Good boy, Amigo!

That is the latest command I’ve been teaching Amigo. He is very good with both front feet and his rear right foot. But the rear left leg has been injured sometime in the past, and it is taking a good deal of patience and persistence to get him to hold it still long enough to work on his hoof.

As far as the training goes, he is an excellent learner. I have been rubbing a leg, then saying “hoof” and he is beginning to pick it up with little or no effort from me.  He even picks up the “bad” foot initially, but soon pulls away as I work on it.  We’ll keep on plugging away. He is improving.

Frank

Last night, I worked quite a bit with Amigo. We started 2 new training exercises, slapping the ground with the stick and string, and the 4 methods of backing up. He reacted in opposite ways for the two exercises. When starting to slap the ground with the string from the front position, he was bonkers. But when I moved up close, and slapped the ground near his hind feet, it was as if he had done this all his life. Then, when I went back to the front, he was stoic and yet relaxed. Then we started the back up exercise. I don’t think this horse has ever hit reverse gear. There are increasing levels of pressure to get the horse to move his feet backwards: with the stick in front of him, tap the air; if he doesn’t move, tap the string; if he doesn’t move, whack the clip under his chin; if he doesn’t move, whack his nose.  Most horses starting out will move on step 2 or 3. Not this boy. I had to whack his nose 4 times to get a half step backwards. Not only that, I had to do it several times before he started moving with me whacking the clip. That went on for several minutes before he started moving with tapping the string. After a good 10-15 minutes, he finally started backing up very tentatively by tapping the air. When I was satisfied that he had the concept, we started the “wiggle, wave, walk, and whack” method.  Once again, he ignored the first 3 levels of pressure, and required the whack to get his feet to move. Only this time, he figured out that it was easier to move than to get whacked each time!  So he progressed quickly through the “wave” step, and started backing up on the wiggle.  Finally, the last method yields his hindquarters, then moves him backward on just a light touch of the lead rope under his chin. He said “I’ve got this, boss!” and did it like a champ.  That was a lot of work, but Amigo can now go in reverse!  I continue to work with his feet. Modest improvement each day. We just finished the 2nd day of “approach and retreat” trying to scare him while tied. I am at the arm-waving stage of approach. He’s doing better than I expected him to.  He seems to be more fearful from his left side while standing, and his right side while moving.

Okay, we named the new guy “Amigo”. He is a very willing horse, though still pretty timid. He has been particularly stubborn to yield his hind feet for cleaning or trimming. Our farrier came out to look at him, and when she picked up his hind (left) foot, he kicked and bolted twice.  So, I had her quit trying so no one would get hurt, and scheduled her to come back in 2 weeks. Meanwhile, guess who is getting about 15 minutes of foot training every morning AND evening…  It is now Monday night, and we have graduated from the cotton lead rope stage. I use the soft rope to safely pick up his foot, and stretch it forward and backward without him being able to kick me. He is now letting me pick it up with my hands. Still too nervous for my liking, but a vast improvement over just a few days ago!  Either he has been previously trained, or he is a fast learner. He can yield his hindquarters with little cue on my part. We’ll see how he reacts to slapping the ground with the stick and string next. That usually is a fun one to train, chasing them around till they stop moving their feet!

Frank

Today was a good day with the new horse. We still haven’t named him yet, but we’re working on it.

I got up early this morning before sun-up, and took him out of the stall to get a few minutes on the grass. Then I tied him, and worked with his feet. I was surprised that he let me clean all 4 feet with the hoof pick!  This evening, we did our second round penning exercise, and it went much better than last night. He is starting to get more consistent turning in to me, rather than turning away from me, and he is beginning to walk slowly toward me when I release the driving pressure. I got him to follow me, at a distance of about 4 feet. He’s not comfortable getting all the way up to me on his own, but we’re real close.  Then we walked the perimeter of the field to introduce him to his new home. He couldn’t believe this whole field was just for him and Holly. Of course, it will be 2-3 weeks before we think about turning him out. Several things must happen first. (Quarantine, Negative Coggins, and spending more time each day eating grass). I need to make sure he doesn’t founder or colic by eating too much all at once. I’m not sure when the last time was when he got to eat green grass.

Then I got a bunch more hair off of him, particularly on his belly. I picked up all his feet, and found out he is really scared of a cotton lead rope. So he got rubbed a lot with it. When he relaxed, I quit rubbing and praised him. This went on for about 15 minutes. Soon, I could pick up his feet with the rope.

He now has his farrier and vet appointments. All in all, it was a good day.
Frank

Yesterday, I drove down to the Meadow Haven Horse Rescue, and picked out a horse to rehabilitate. He is a 6 year old with lots of fear issues. Marla and Kay were amazing, caring for over 170 horses, and knowing every single one of them by name and history.

We have not named him yet. He had been broken to ride by a group of charros on the south side of San Antonio. Their horse-breaking methods are quite severe, and so this boy is scared of people, particularly men. After looking at dozens of potential horses needing ground work, I chose this one because he was the only one to look me right in the eye with a look that said, “take me”.  He proved he was ready to go when he loaded in the trailer without hesitation.

My goal is to have him able to do the ground work from Clinton Anderson’s method through the intermediate level with a saddle on, so that he will be ready to be gentle broke by the gals at Meadow Haven.

Frank

Update (4/5/16): Last night we did round-penning for an hour. He became fairly consistent turning in towards me, and would draw towards me with lots of gentle coaxing. He was not up to following me with just the first lesson. With the desensitizing to the lead rope, he would kick strongly with his back feet, but soon accepted the rope around his back legs. He was very responsive to pressure on the poll to lower his head for the halter.  Picking up his feet was unique. He had a different strategy for each foot: Left front, no problem. Left rear, kicked aggressively. Right front, he would stiffen his leg and not bend his knee. Once I had his knee bent, then no problem. Right rear, he would swing back and forth, but not kick. We worked about 15 minutes on holding his feet.  In the morning, I let him graze on grass for awhile, then tied him and picked up his feet again. This time, no kicking, but he was still tense in the rear.  His right front leg was still stiff at first, but he let me clean all 4 feet with the hoof pick – a real improvement over last night!

In these uncertain times, a lot of people question their faith in whatever it is they believe. My faith will not be shaken. I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.  Amen.

I believe that it matters greatly what you believe about the origins of mankind, because whatever you believe about our origins will either strengthen or weaken your faith in and understanding of God, and how you view the authority of the Bible.

I believe that God is in charge – not that He controls every aspect of what goes on. Bad things happen because mankind has rebelled against God, not because God is vengeful. I believe that bad things happen to cause us to repent and seek His forgiveness, and that good things happen so we can praise and glorify God. It’s all about Him, not all about us.

I believe that we are rapidly approaching the times Jesus spoke of in Matthew chapter 24, and other places in the Bible.

I believe that the Christian life is to be lived as a separate culture within our surrounding worldly culture. That the Christian life is to be so distinct, so pure, that the outside world sees our sharing, caring, and humility – and they ask us for the reason. I believe that is biblical evangelism. Not big programs, not knocking on doors, but love lived daily and consistently.

I believe that there is an evil in this world that is far worse than anything we have seen or can imagine, and that it is just now beginning to flex its muscle. I believe it is going to be increasingly more difficult to live the Christian life, but that God will multiply His church in the coming days.

I believe that God is pure love, pure righteousness, pure justice, and that He has adopted me into His family through Jesus Christ, His Son.  Allelujah!

So let me ask once more, what do you believe?

Frank

Although it seems that our world is coming apart at the seams, we can rest assured that the Lord is in control of all things. Romans 13: 1 tells us that the authorities that exist have been established by God, and then Paul continues to give further explanation. We also know that God is delaying the end of the world until the full number of souls have believed in Christ. (2 Peter 3: 9).  God exists outside of time, so he knows everything that has happened and will happen, as if he is looking into the bubble of time from the outside. Nothing can happen in that bubble of time without his direct knowledge, and nothing can happen outside of his control and will.

People who don’t know God see this as a cruel, hateful God, but truly, he is a loving, caring God who wants to give everyone a chance to repent and turn to him. The violence and tragedies that we experience were brought on by ourselves – rebelling from God and rejecting his guidance and love.

So as the world winds seemingly out of control, I can rest calmly knowing that it is not out of God’s control, and at the right time he will save his own. In the meantime, God is with us every moment of our lives. There is no greater peace than to rest in that knowledge.

Frank

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about a very common question: “Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?” or for the atheist, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

I would take the person asking to the same conclusion, but would likely approach it a bit differently depending on who is asking.

For the atheist, I would ask on what do they base their judgement of good and bad? In a world where we are nothing more than the result of millions of years of chemical reactions, there is no such thing as good and bad. Morality makes no sense, other than “survival of the fittest.” There could be no universal “good” or universal “bad” in their worldview. So ultimately, to the atheist, it should not matter what happens to anyone.  In fact, their version of natural selection requires that the weak, sick, or otherwise undesirable ones should die off, leaving the strong and healthy ones to continue the species.

For anyone who believes in a god, I would ask “What do you believe is the origin of suffering and death?” Because the answer to that reveals who they think God is, and what is man’s relationship to God. Anyone who believes in millions of years (whether they claim to be Christian or not) has an invalid view of God. I can say that because in that worldview, the fossil record shows suffering and death before man came on the scene. Therefore, man cannot be blamed for those things, and the only one who could be blamed is the god who started it all. So that god is not seen as loving, or caring, or even holy or righteous in their eyes.

But the God of the Bible is emphatically and repeatedly described as a just and holy God, intolerant of evil, yet loving toward his creation and particularly mankind, whom He created in His own image.

So now, let’s consider where suffering and death really came from. According to Genesis chapters 2 and 3, when God created Adam, he only gave him one rule: Don’t eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  Then God formed Eve, the first woman, and she was deceived into eating the fruit of that tree – and Adam did so deliberately. The ensuing punishment from God for this evil (remember, He is totally holy and righteous, and cannot tolerate evil in His presence) was that man should suffer and die. This was one of the greatest acts of love God could have done, because had He not demanded death for our sins, we would live forever in a sinful state. But in His great plan for us, he sent His own Son to take the ultimate penalty for all our sins, defeat both sin and death, and restore us to a righteous condition before Him.

Now for the answer to the question, “How could a good a loving God allow suffering and tragedy?”  First of all, no one is “good” in God’s eyes. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” and “No one is righteous, no not one.” The Bible makes it clear we all are destined to die (physically) for our sins. (For it is appointed for man to die once, and after that to face judgment.) So the question being asked is the wrong question in the first place. The better question is “Why has God not destroyed us all already?” – That is what we deserve.  For the Christian, death is merely the transition into the presence of God.  Like Paul in Romans 7, we look forward to that day.  Jesus made it clear that tragedy is not tied to specific sins of specific people, however, tragedies are tied to our sinful condition and the judgement God imposed on the original sin. Tragedies result in bringing us into God’s presence, fully restored and free from sin. People who die in tragedies (or any other way, for that matter) who have not believed in Jesus as the Son of God, will be cut off from God for eternity. But those who believe in Him will be covered by the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross, and will be ushered into God’s presence for eternity. This is why it is so urgent to spread God’s message of forgiveness and restoration.

So when bad things happen, there is a strong element of love from God, in bringing those dear ones to Himself. It is hard on us, yes, because we love them and miss them. But ultimately, we all will die and go to meet our Maker. Personally, I am looking forward to that day on one hand, but longing to stay in this life with my loved ones as long as I can.

Frank