~Riding Dunny

Hey I rode Dunny today and Tashia came out to take some pix for me!

She did a really good job! I am so happy with these pictures! Thanks Tash!

Although some did get a little blurry or not quite focused but we were moving a bunch so it's understandable.

We ended up taking a bunch!

I started off doing some groundwork with him first since I haven't done it in a while, but mainly just for fun! I do what Clinton Anderson calls "Lunging for respect and roundpenning for respect." It pretty much consists of directing the horse, keeping it's mind on you and disengaging the hindquarters. Since starting to use this method Dunny has really calmed down and started trusting me more. He still doesn't trust much at all but there is progress. He's a very tense horse so I like these exercises to get him relaxed before I ride. I don't do it every time. Just when I feel like it. I'd encourage you to go watch  some of Clinton's stuff. Especially his walkabouts. I've never seen them in person but I watched it on his TV channel.  

I had a bunch of small logs lade out in a circle and lunged him around them. He was a bit dopy though. He doesn't pick up his feet as much as he should.

Good boy!

Working on disengaging the hindquarters. I usually start off by doing this. I learned it from watching some of Clinton's stuff. I start by tipping his head back to me a bit, while encouraging him to move his hindquarters around. I either swing my whip a little or tap him on the rump. It's just like swiveling on the front end instead of the back. Because he they should just pivot on the front end. 

Then on to tacking up. He's such a good boy I don't need to tie him. Unless maybe if we were standing in grass, THEN we might have a bit of a problem. He can't resist eating! (Can't you tell!) When I was cinching him up I was like "You are FAT!"

Dunny knew how to ground tie when we got him so I didn't have to teach him that, but I have been training some of my other horses to. I start off by stopping them and dropping the lead to the ground. Maybe pet on them a bit and tell them to "stay," I like to use a hand signal with it. Usually I just hold up a hand when I say that. Not a limp hand. You need to have it stiff like you are commanding something. Then take a few steps away. If they stay standing, go back and tell them "good", pet them, what ever your reward is. If they do move to follow you or walk away, taker the leadrope and back then up to where you had them and do the same thing again till you can walk away, around, behind, what ever direction you want but that they stay there. Don't get frustrated. I'll take some time but if you keep at it your horse is sure to get it!  

I then warmed him up and did a good bit of cantering.
Yeah I ride forward. He is kinda hard to sit on when he's worked up. His strides are pretty surging until I can get him to collect. He likes to keep his head up though so I do need to work on lowering it a bit. A lot of fine tuning, but isn't that riding for ya?

On to jumping we go!! Nothing big, but I think it's fun! When I was younger a friend taught me how to jump English and ever since then I've been hooked! I can normally just feel when I need to rise and don't really have trouble going along with him. And yes you can jump western just watch out for the horn!

I LOVE JUMPING!!

And a bit more jumping!

Did I mention that I like jumping?? Ok I guess you get the idea!

• Do you like jumping? 
• English or Western?
• Have you taken lessons?
• What riding and training style do you use?

~Broken

  

>Yeah she's a bit dirty. Silly girl has a thing for laying in the worst places.<

  God delights in broken things because it is only when we have nothing left that we can realize the absolute need for Him.

  I'm not talking about a broken heart after a failed relationship. No. I'm talking about realizing that you. are. nothing. (That sounds harsh but please keep reading.) Your goals are insignificant. Your life without Him is useless, and the sin you live in is separating you from God. You trying to do good things on your own, is reeking in His nostrils. (Isaiah 64:6) And He would be completely just in sending you to hell. (all of us)
  But He doesn't want that! (2 Peter 3:9) So He gives you time. What will you do with that time? Go on living the same as you always did, or realize that He wants you. Do you see that? He wants YOU! An all-powerful, all-knowing God wants you! Not just part, not mostly, but all of you!
  So now you can see some of His holiness, His power, His might. Then you take a look at yourself: the pride, the deceit, the wickedness, how could He want you?
  {Psalm 51:17}
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart, O God thou wilt not despise."
God desires a brokenness for sin. That's what He wants from you. Broken, humble, repentant, and then He'll add one- Forgiven!

 

~You can trust Him

  I want to share with you, four little truths that could (should) make a big difference in your life. I heard it from a preacher once and I've never forgotten it.
  These four things I'm about to tell you, are absolutes. They won't change, never have, never will. No matter who you are they apply to you! Whether or not you accept or believe them does not change their validity.

 So here they are:

1. God is older than you. {John 1:1-3}
2. God is wiser than you {Isaiah 55:9}
3. God loves you VERY much {John 3:16}       

And the last one. Are you ready?

     4.  You can trust Him {the Bible}

You can trust Him. 

You don't know and will not know true peace and joy until you can wholeheartedly say "I trust you Lord" and then live it out.

  If you just agreed to the first three things then there really shouldn't be anything keeping you from accepting the last one.

  Maybe you think "If I give God everything and trust Him to lead me, He might ask me to do something crazy like- go to be a missionary to some primitive tribe in Africa, or marry someone that's not very handsome or my type."

  So I have a few questions for you:

• Does God want what's best for you?
• Does He have a plan for you?
• Would God ever allow something that is not good for you?

Yes, humanly speaking, putting your life in someone else's control is scary.

But God is not human.

He does want the best for you. (His best.)

He has a perfect plan for you.

He will never allow something that is bad for you.

You can trust Him.

So the question is: will you trust Him?  

~Being a "one-man-woman" part 2

Click here if you want to see Part 1
What does saving your heart, soul, mind, body, and emotions entail?
Saving you heart.
  It's keeping it so that one day you can present it to your husband. Just think how special it will be to tell {HIM} "I waited completely for you, so now I can give YOU my whole heart. Not just broken pieces or parts of it. The whole thing."
Prov. 4:23 says to "Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." 
Really you have no right to give yourself away at all. (Not until God gives His permission) Are you under God's complete control or not?
Also in Prov. 31:12 it says "She will do {HIM} good and not evil all the days of her life."
Are you doing {HIM} good NOW, even before you're married? Flirting, having close relationships with guys, I don't think {HE'd} consider that being good to {HIM}.
Examine yourself. Are you doing things now that will hurt your future marriage?

Saving you mind. 
   I wrote about that more in THIS POST so I think I'll just let you go read that.

Saving your body.
  The first thing that comes to my mind is 1 Cor. 7:1b "It is good for a man not to touch a woman." If that confuses you a bit by the wording just rephrase it by moving the not in front of the good. It now says "It is not good for a man to touch a woman." Same meaning just a little clearer. And I really DON'T think this is talking about married couples!
  I don't believe it's right or good for a guy to touch me or for me to touch him. That right is saved for our spouses. Guys are set off primarily by seeing things but also by touching.
  You are responsible for how you display your body and possibly making men lust after it because of the way you dress. Do you realize that by wearing that "cute" blouse that fits you "just right", you are drawing men's attention to the shape of your body? That because it is tight they see your form and their minds do the rest? By wearing skirts or pants that show off your legs, you create an eye trap? If you are aware of this and what it is doing, how can you honestly say you are dressing modestly? Simply by not going as far as the world does, does not mean you are dressing modestly. Do you know what modesty is? It is a heart condition that manifests itself in how you appear. It must be in your heart and then lived out in your life. Modesty can NOT be simply in your heart, contrary to what lots of people are saying. Everything about modesty says "I want you to see Jesus through me. Not to notice me for the clothes I wear, but because of the freedom and joy I have in obeying Christ." Modesty will never make a man fall by looking at it. It is also to protect from defrauding one another; to keep yourself pure and the men around you. It's loving them enough to do everything you can to not make them fall. God will hold you accountable one day, for presenting yourself in a way that makes a man sin in his heart or in his mind. Do you know what defrauding is? I looked it up in the dictionary but all it said was "to cheat." Real helpful. So I went and asked my dad about it and he said a good definition to him is "to offer something that does not belong to you." By dressing immodestly you are offering your body to every guy you walk by. Therefore you are offering him something that isn't yours to give. Your body is God's and your future husbands. 1 Cor. 7:4 says "The wife hath not power over her own body, but the husband: and likewise the husband hath not power over his body, but the wife."
Please love God and your future husband enough to save yourself entirely for {HIM}.

Saving your emotions
   This is actually something I struggle with. I'm an outgoing person. But containing our emotions is another thing in saving ourselves completely. You know as well as I do that girls are emotional. We can not be handing them out to everyone that comes along. So easily we become emotionally attached to a young man without even noticing. We are defrauding him by giving him our emotions that we should be saving for our husband and our husband only. Well you may say, he might become my husband. Even so, you need to save yourself for the wedding day then. You do to some extent start giving {HIM} your emotions before the wedding but I don't know how much or when it should happen. (I'm not there yet!)

So all this does come down to saving yourself for your future husband but also saving yourself as set apart for God. He wants you to follow His will for your life. He wants you to save yourself. He want you to stay clean and pure, His precious daughter. 

~God has a plan

I have something very exciting to tell you! You may not realize this but God has very special plans for you! Higher than you could ever imagine. He has a special purpose JUST for you. People may tell you that you're not worth much they may even tell you that you're not very useful- don't get discouraged! That's when you can light up with a smile because you know that God has plans for you. (Isaiah 55:9) You are His special treasure.
  I always liked the second half especially, of Isaiah 43:1. God was talking to Israel but He's also talking to us too. WE are His chosen people.

 "Fear not: for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name; you are mine."

And also John 15:16
  "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever you ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you."

 So now that you KNOW He has a purpose for you, are you prepared to accomplish it?

• do you read your Bible daily seeking God's wisdom
• do you ask Him every day to show you His will for your life
• do you purpose to do whatever He asks, go where ever He sends
• do you spend your day talking with Him

God has a purpose for everyone, but whether or not it is accomplished depends a lot on the effort and emphasis they put into doing it. Don't get me wrong, God can make anything possible, but we need to do our part too.
  If you were to lose a nickel in the grass somewhere how long would you spend looking for it?
  But if you lost a $1000 wouldn't you keep looking till you found it?!! How valuable is knowing God, to you?

~Just been riding

I wrote up this post about a week ago then never did anything about it. So here it is. Just some pictures and an update on what I'm doing with my horses.

All the photos were taken a couple weeks ago by my lovely sister Tashia ;)

Yeah I've been riding! 

Jess was out riding with me too.

And yes I'm wearing sneakers! I like them better for riding bareback. (Don't ask me why)

Doesn't this look cool?

We were having a bunch of fun riding around bareback. As I'm sure you can see! I rarely ride Dunny bareback (except when I bring them in from the pasture) so I thought it would be fun to do it then. And you know then you don't have to tack up! LAZY!! I actually had one near disaster while doing it. I was cantering around and somehow got a bit out of place. So I tried to right myself and must have tensed up while doing it, because he took off! The bad thing was that I still wasn't in place to stop him and he headed right for a corner! As you can imagine I was trying to hang on while pulling back while prepare for a sliding stop or a quick turn. It wasn't looking good. Thankfully he just stopped and I threw myself around his neck to stop from flying over his shoulder. So it ended up OK and yes I went and did more cantering but with no more catastrophes! And also Tashia wasn't watching so no real embarrassing pictures! 

I've been riding Kat too and she's doing great! I started lunging her before I ride and it helps soooo much! A couple days ago I did her first round penning with her and riding her after that was amazing! She was so much more relaxed and was starting to extend a bit more in her canter. When riding, I was having problems with her cantering or lack of it. (before I started lunging and round penning her) She would canter a few steps and that was it. And just those few steps were so bad that I felt like a sack of potatoes flying around. I don't think she knew how to canter with a rider on her back. 

Before I had gotten her she hadn't done any trail riding but I've been taking her out and have never had her try anything! No bolting, no skitzing out, not even any panicky moments. She just takes everything in stride. Thats pretty amazing to me, knowing how little training she has had. She's just so calm! Its not because of me either, she just has such a great temperament. I love my lil gal! 

 

~Am I deceived?

In church today the minister asked a question- "Am I deceived?" Then he went on to ask "Am I being deceived?" I had to think about it.
  Yes, I know I must be deceived in some areas of my life, but the thing about being deceived is that you don't realize it! So how can I know? How can YOU know?
  I came to the conclusion that there is only one way to really find out because there is only one person who can tell you: JESUS! He said "I am the way the TRUTH and the life."
  You can trust Him, He won't deceive you. He wants you to be free from Satan's lies! Completely! But you will never realize them all until you go to Him and ask Him to show you them. Ask Him!