Barrel Racing Through Life

A couple weeks ago I was down at an arena practicing barrel racing with my pony sapphire. we went through our normal warm up, then set up the pattern and started to walk the pattern. we walked it a few times, and then trotted the pattern several times. finally i felt like sapphire was ready to bump up to a good lope which turned into a hand gallop because she just wanted to go faster, and faster. she started our pretty good. correct lead for the left barrel, slid into the turn, switched into the left lead for the second barrel she was a little ahead of my cues but not to much. we headed for the last barrel and as we got closer and closer I felt like I had last sapphires mind. she seemed to say "i'll take over from here" and with that she turned into the barrel WAY to soon... smashing my leg into the hard cornered rim of the barrel. OUCH i had coveralls on and it STILL totally skinned my leg. what in the world? why did my baby girl do that? after i recovered from my throbingly painful leg.. i turned her around to try it again. 2 more times sapphire did the same thing. stop listening to my cues around the last barrel because she was so excited to run home. she kept smashing my right leg into the barrel. .. beyond painful! let me tell ya! finally after a LOTS of correction we were able to make a nice little run with OUT smashing my leg. but let me tell ya. i was quite frustrated. as i loaded the horses up into the trailer i was fuming. what had been wrong with sapphire? why did she do that? (the pain in my leg was a constant reminder!) but as i drove home God shifted my thinking into a spiritual sense.

we as humans do exactly what sapphire did. we start out going through life fine and dandy. but as we near home we say "I'll take over from here". we can get so excited about making that last turn that we stop listining to the Lord and his direction. Which only causes pain for the Lord. It hurts Him when we stop listining to his guidence. Just like it hurt me when sapphire stoped listening.

Just like running around barrels is a race... Paul tells us that running through Life is a race. and we must run for the prize. but we cant do it with out the Lord. no matter where we are in our race, we need to be listening to his voice... the guidence that he gives us. it will save us a lot of chastisment.. and the Lord a lot of pain.

so there you have it... thoughts from a cowgirl! (this post was especially to please Bekah ;) but i hope you all enjoyed it... and i pray you let the Lord guide and direct you through the race of life.

Piano and Barrel Racing

would you believe me if i told you that learning a really hard/fast song on the piano... is exactly like training a horse for barrel racing? yeah i know... crazy hu?? but REALLY!!! this makes so much sence to me!

so im learning this really difficult song on the piano... a TON of notes, supposed to be really fast... very challenging. but this is where its so neat! before you can play a difficult speedy song like that you have to learn the notes first. (the fundementals) you have to teach your fingers where to go.. and most importantly before you play really fast.... it has to be smooth.

well teaching my horse (or any horse) to barrel race. you have to work on fundamentals first. teach them the ground work. show them where their feet should go! and most importantly... get it smooth before speed. you practice slow... slow.. and slow some more... just like learning a song on the piano... once you finally get it down slow, speed comes!! its so cool...

so thats just what i was thinkin about :D