Ogres are like onions… so am I.
First- a Pete update… Not the best picture, but one of the last ones I took of Pete @ home. Enjoying the sun with his buddy Nez, grass still green, weather still cool. Looks like the sale is going through. I’m happy, his new mom is happy and seems like Pete’s happy.
I’m reading a book that was loaned to me by a friend… finally getting around to it :~) It’s called In the Company of Horses, A Year on the Road with Horesman Mark Rashid. It’s written by Kathleen Lindley and is shaping up to be quite an honest fleshing out of some of her personal trials during a year that she spent as Mark Rashid’s assistant. Things she learned, the things she felt she lacked and how she’s worked on correcting it.
Last night I read a line that has impacted me-
My job as a serious student of horsemanship (…) is to peel my onion. It doesn’t matter how long it takes or what it looks like while I’m doing it, it just matters that I keep peeling. And I can live with that, as it allows me to never have to be perfect, only better than yesterday. That’s not a bad way to be, and it’s a lot easier than trying to reach some imaginary “destination” in my horsemanship.
Of course, the “onion” she’s speaking of refers to they many layers that you go through with each experience with horses. First, getting a mastery on one level and pushing past that layer to continue to improve beyond. Never considering yourself “finished”.
I have shared that in the past few years, my life with horses has been like my relationship with Jesus. It is just not something that affects a singular aspect of life, ignoring the rest of what we do.
Kathleen goes on to talk about how we are who we are- at work, with other people, with horses. She raises a great point here! I know I’m not always soft. I’m not always quiet. I’m not always focussed and have a difficult time talking to one person and focusing on something else.
But I think I have more “try” to be the person I want to be when I’m with my horses than I do in the rest of my life… say, with my kids. Can I really be that soft with 2 rowdy boys? And instead of them becoming out of control, finding small ways to capture their attention so that they end up engaged and interested in what I am saying.
That seems like a tall order when the 2 year old is adventerous in spirit (in ways that lead him up stairs and try to skateboard down, or to climb onto furniture because it is more fun to jump off something high). Obviously there are time when a loud, strong presence is required :~)
Kathleen then says Horses have a funny way of exposing the areas in our lives that need work, and I don’t think that they buy it when we live our lives one way and act another when we’re around them. I think they can see that coming a mile off, and they don’t like it.
I have found that my children mirror these areas, too. I think without my kids and horses, my spiritual growth would be slow.
So today, I will thank God that he gave me horses so that I could find creative ways to deal with my kids. And that he gave me my kids so that I can practice my horsemanship under extreme circumsatances, lol.
Time to go peel my onion…