Wow, what a day!

I got the greatest gift today from my horse. He showed me just how much he trusts me. He was out in the field as I approached and he was lying down. I figured he would get up as I opened the gate to the field. He stayed lying down. I closed the gate and locked it back thinking he would be standing behind me when I turned back around. He stayed lying down. I walked toward him and made sure to talk to him as I walked just in case he was asleep. I didn't want to get to him and have him starttle and potentially hurt me as I reached him. He stayed lying down. I walked all the way up to him and rubbed on his forehead. I was thrilled but still expected that he would jump up at any minute. I kept talking to him and stroking his face. Soon I got brave and rubbed his neck and back. I was amazed. I stepped back just to look at this giant boy lying on the ground so close. As I moved back, Addy rolled over so that he was fully lying on his side with his neck stretched out and head lying flat on the ground. I approached again and he stayed just like that. WOW! I feel so honored and blessed.

Putting into action

Yesterday G. invited a friend to come out to the barn with us. I must admit so far that has been what our ministry has looked like. Either the girls or I invite someone out to the barn with us we do some cleaning then do some riding. Yesterday however was a bit more focused. The girls did do some cleaning in the stalls and grooming of the horses, then rode, but I was more intentional in helping them ride and talking with them. A. who came with G. has ridden with us and with other people before so she has some skills. She really wanted to trot, so I explained how to ask Addy to trot. She squeezed with her legs and he would not go. I told her that she would have to squeeze harder, but she gave up. I did come along side and jogged next to him to get him to go. She was mostly happy with that.

Another 4-H member was out at the barn practicing and she had brought a friend along too. Since the 4-H member is leasing a horse her friend was unable to ride but like most little girls she wanted to ride too. I talked with her and asked if she would like to ride Addy. She was delighted. She got on and rode around and mostly followed her friend. After walking around for just a lap, she asked if she could trot. I told her that she needed to practice steering and stopping before trotting. After a few more laps she asked again. I told her she could try and ask him for a trot. I explained how to give the cue to trot and she tried, and tried, and tried. Addy for his part said “no”. I explained that Addy was letting her know that she is not yet ready. She has to first learn to steer, and communicate with him before he will trust her, and go faster. I invited her to return and ride with us again and I would help her learn how to ride. She smiled. J

Last night I was looking through the binder we were given at the clinic and trying to figure out what parts I can do while waiting to file articles of incorporation. Shane has drafted a logo for us. It is the letters p, o, p intertwined in a vertical pattern with a rope look. As soon as I can figure out how to put it on the computer I will show you. I want to find someone who can turn the sketch into a real logo, letterhead and brand for the ministry.

I was also trying to figure out a mission statement. I falsely thought that the vision statement I told you about a few days ago was a mission statement, but I was told it is too long. I do believe I may have the mission statement now. Pastures of Peace actively seeks to engage with horses and people where they are, to encourage each to discover their gifts and talents, to empower all to achieve self actualization, but most of all we want all people and horses who come to the ranch to experience the love and peace of Jesus. As I reread the statement, it is still a little rough. There will have to be some sanding and polishing of it.

Giving Birth

I am HOME and so excited. I had a fantastic time at Crystal Peaks. I originally thought it odd that the clinic ended on Saturday, but found it very nice to be able to attend my home church this morning.

I have so much that I would like to share with everyone. The best analogy that I have to describe how I feel is labor. It is as though I have been pregnant for four years (the amount of time from the first time I read Kim’s book and began working with a group that wanted to do a similar horse ministry until now). After attending the clinic this past week I feel as though the doctor has finally said “I can see the baby’s head, it is time to push”. It is exciting and scary all at the same time. I am now feeling the need, the “urge” to tell others about the ministry, what I have been doing, who we want to serve, why we want to serve them and the outcome we are hoping for. It is uncomfortable (what labor isn’t), it hurts a little (especially when a few don’t’ see the dream) but I know that once I push through the pain and fear, there is going to be this wonderful “baby” in the end to love and cherish. Shane added “the sleepless nights are coming”. He makes me laugh and I love him so much.

While I was at the clinic I realized what a blessing Shane is to me. Many were there and shared that their spouse (some wives but mostly husbands) did not share their dream / vision and not only did they not share it they also did encourage the attendee to pursue their “calling”. I have to say that through it all Shane has encouraged me to follow the dream / calling as long as I felt called. Over the last two to three years, he has actively joined me in the dream. He is looking forward to birth and was very sad that he was not able to attend the clinic with my friend and me.

On Friday the name of our ministry finally came to me. I have been wrestling with the name for years. Possible names included Horse Dreams, Hoof Haven, Majestic Manes, and Tuesday’s Child Youth Ranch. However the name is Pastures of Peace Youth Ranch (POPYR). Those attending will be our little poppers. LOL. I shared the name with my friend and she really liked it. I had to share it with Shane too. He had a name that he really liked but it just didn’t seem quite right to me. Once I shared with him the name, he agreed that it was a very good name indeed. I have always said that the barn is where I find peace. It is the one place where nothing can touch me, I am protected there. I pray that the ranch is able to provide that same peace and protection for all who come.

During the clinic we were talked to about the process for setting up our own ranch. Picking a name, having a 13 second blurb that will tell everyone the who, what, why and hows of the ministry. I have also been thinking about these things since talking with a dear friend that gave us pointers on how to apply for grants. However nothing had really gelled or crystallized for me. Well, today while sitting in church it all came to me in a matter of two minutes.

Pastures of Peace Youth Ranch will use its facilities and horses to serve children in foster care, low income children and families and anyone in need of personal, emotional, relational, or physical healing or enrichment. All of this will be provided free of charge. Always, no exceptions! We will share the love and peace of Jesus to all who enter in hopes they will be reached, rescued, and restored for the Lord. We seek others who have a desire to pray for us, participate with us and / or provide for this ministry.

We have our name, our vision and our calling; we even have children already coming and more desiring to come. The next steps for us are to file for Articles of incorporation, obtain EIN, build our board of directors, draft and approve our by laws, draft and approve our Conflict-of-Interest Policy, and file for our 501 ( c ) (3) status. While at the clinic we were introduced to a cpa that has helped many ranches do all of these things quickly and efficiently. It will cost around $1000 for the cpa and $750 for the filing of the non-profit status. So it is clear that we already have financial needs. We have faith that God has called us and will provide.

We also have a need for the permanent location. We believe that we will begin where we are but it won’t be able to be the permanent location. Please pray with us that the Lord shows and brings forth His desired ranch. Then we will know that it is His will and He is the true Director of the ministry.

I hope you all will join me in praying for the birth of our beautiful baby Pastures of Peace Youth Ranch. THANK YOU!

Our Last Day at the Ranch

At Crystal Peaks there is a tree with many, many boots that have been made into birdhouses. I had to take a picture. Nothing at the ranch is over done but NOTHING is left undone or neglected. Everything has a purpose and is kept very nice and respectful. I appreciate the thoughtfulness of every element at the ranch.

Saturday was an optional day and many attendees had to head home right after Friday. There were less than half of us left. I am very glad that we did not elect to not attend. It was the conclusion that I needed. Kim took a few moments to speak with us again. Then many spoke and shared how they feel, or what is going on in their lives. What a time of encouragement.

Afterwards we were treated to a moving testimonial drama on horseback that was "written" by two young ladies (18 and 19 years old). Both of them have a hard time speaking to people but wanted to share their testimonies with others and this is the way they can do it. In this picture death and sin (on the black horse) attacked the other lady. In the end salvation comes in and on a palomino and saves the girl. It moved everyone so much.

For the first time in the history of the clinics, we asked to have a time to pray for Kim, Troy and the staff. They all gathered in the center of the riding arena and we prayed for them. We ended the time by all saying the Lord's Prayer. How awesome to end it in unison.

Before we left, I had to make one last trip through the pasture of horses. This is my dear friend who came with me and is sharing this vision with me. She really liked this one horse but he was apprehensive for whatever reason. He would not come near me, but he went to her. Somehow he knew which one of us to go to.

We left the ranch and headed back home. We were blessed with safe travel all the way home and we made it home in good time.

Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch Information Clinic

Wow, what a day! My friend and I arrived on Tuesday and started our time at the clinic on Wednesday afternoon. The clinic has already been wonderful. We met another participant that is from our town that we did not know before coming. We all three share a similar dream so hopefully we can stay in touch even after returning home.

I can't remember being with such wonderful people. Everyone is gracious, loving, patient and kind. (Sounds familiar? The gifts of the spirit? love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness gentleness and self control) Each person here is open and willing to share their dream and want to hear about yours. What an awesome time.

We started this morning with time of prayer and worship and then went outside for our first session of the day. Clint Surplus came to share with us about TRU horsemanship even though his wife was at home in labor with their 4th child. He did a riding demonstration for us showing nice transitions, lead changes, side passes, haunch turns, forhand turns and stops that were instant. He then moved his horse into the round pen and removed all aids, his spurs, bridle, saddle. Then he remounted (no aid to mount either) and used bailing twine and a bungy cord to repeat all previous manuevers. He also had his horse bow and lay down. I want to do that with Addy.

This is a picture of Clint with his horse Turbo. I am hoping that Clint will come to our All Things Horses clinic in March of 2009.

After Clint's session we had a break then moved into the Heard Management session. We met in the hay barn to help protect us from the wind. The weather is quite beautiful. The weather channel has been calling for rain for the past two days and we have seen none. Thank you Lord. This hay barn is quite wonderful and I wish I could bring some of the hay home with us. During the session I didn't learn much new information but was definitely affirmed. I do have a dream of having the horses "running" together in a field intead of all seperate stalls. Maybe one day we will have a place where the boys can be together. Of course that would require Andy sharing better with Addy. They are such siblings. LOL

During another break, Kim Meeder can be found spending time with the participants getting to know them, laughing with them and sharing in their visions.

This is Hannalei. We first met her 2 years ago when we visited the ranch for the first time. My daughter R. fell in love with her and I promised lots of pictures. The lady in the picture had been spending time with Hannalei and felt her love and magnatism too.

Hannalei is an inquisitive 2 year old. Someone left their backpack close to the pen and Hannalei leaned over and grabbed it.



She pulled it closer . . .

. . . and closer.

Today was an awesome day with affirmation that I do want to follow this dream. I want to help encourage children and families. I want these children and families to feel loved, and capable of more than they ever imagined possible.

Tomorrow we will again have a time of prayer and worship, another session on horsemanship, learn about volunteer programing, common mistakes, lessons, and fundraising. I am so excited to unwrap the gifts of tomorrow.

Today my friend and I left for our trip to Crystal Peaks. We have been looking forward to this week of training for months and now it is finally here. The conference starts tomorrow and I will up date as we go. For now here are pictures of our hotel.

My husband and girls are fending for themselves while I am gone. Thank heavens for Nanas as she is helping get the girls to school. The toughest part is I will miss their second 4-H demonstrations but dad will be there to cheer them on. He'll also have to fill in for me as 4-H leader cheerleader. I know he and the girls would be here too if they could.

Hopefully when we return we will have more ideas of how to do the ministry that we so desire. Thanks for reading and supporting the continuation of our Horse Dreams.

The Unexpected

It is always a good idea to remember that horses ARE unpredictable creatures. On Thursday I took G. out to the barn to ride. Since Andy is still a little swollen we decided that it would be best to ride a different horse. Now this horse is not ours but we have been around him for the past three years, so we are figuring “no problem”.

G. took him into the round pen and worked him a little. He was very responsive. He changed directions nicely, stopped and squared up to her and “hooked on” (this is where the horse turns after stopping and then when asked come in to the handler). I told G. that she could stop and begin grooming him. I stayed at the round pen and pet one of the barn's cats. Soon I decided to join G. at the hitching post to see if she needed any help with putting the horse’s bridle on. On my approach I noticed the horse was pulling back and that the top portion of the hitching post was flying through the air. The scary thing for me was that G. had not yelled and I could not see her at first. The second concerning thing was the top portion of the hitching post is a metal bar.

My pace quickened and I saw G. squatted under the bar not looking at me. She was crying. I grabbed the horse and talked as soothingly as possible. I had G. go sit down near by but out of the way. I tried to hold the horse, the metal bar that was swinging around as the horse moved and call for help from others that were about 50 yards away in the arena. It took a little while for someone to hear me since I was trying to yell loud enough to be heard but not so loud as to frighten the horse. Help arrived and M. took the horse while I took G. and headed for home. I had not yet decided if I was just going to take her to the doctor or if more urgent care would be needed.

The metal bar had been held in place with a very large spike and that spike had caught her on her left arm. I could not immediately tell if it was a puncture wound or just a really bad scratch. The bar had also smacked G. in the head which had left a large goose egg and bruise. I decided it was better to be safe than sorry and took her in to see the doctor. They cleaned up the scratch and checked out her head. All she needed was a tetanus booster since it had been a while since she had her last one.

As we left the doctor’s office G. asked if I would let her try riding this horse again. She must have expected me to say “no” but I said of course she could. Just next time I will stand with her while she is grooming to make sure he doesn’t spook again and cause her harm. G. had not done anything wrong and the horse got scared. Stuff happens. We are all just thankful that she and the horse will be fine. The horse did have a scrape as well from the spike, but nothing that won’t heal.

Spring Fever?

Well, the weather here has been a bit strange this spring. The crops are late and the horses are obviously still experiencing spring fever.

After the show on Saturday we decided it would be nice to let Andy out on the pasture. He is normally kept in a stall and run area but we figured he had earned a rest out on the field where he could move around more and eat grass as God intended. He ran and ran and ran, and played and bucked. He did so much playing that he apparently pulled some muscles. We figure this is the case since he wouldn't move around much after being put back in his stall Sunday morning. His legs swelled to the size of small tree trunks. Actually they were only the size of each hoof but still. We visited yesterday and walked him a little hoping that some movement would help with circulation. Then my husband stood and hosed down each leg, hoping that the cool water would also help. It must have because when I went out this morning his legs looked much better. I figured I would repeat the process. I walked him a little then hosed. I am hoping that tomorrow morning he looks even better.

Andy was not the only one feeling good. Addy also got to spend some time in the field and must have also played too hard. This morning when I got on to ride he was not flexing as easily as normal. I particularly noticed that he would not flex to the right. He also was off in the hind end during our cantering times. I went ahead and cooled him down and put him away. I made a call to the massage therapist that visited last week and asked if he could return. He squeezed us in this afternoon and spent another hour and half working on Addy. Our best guess is that he felt so good from the last massage that he played too hard and ended up hurting his hind end. Neither of us remembered him being anywhere near as sore in the rear end as he demonstrated today. Here's hoping that he too is feeling much better when I go out tomorrow morning to check on him.

I am getting very excited to go to Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch next week. I leave next Tuesday and will be able to spend 3 days at the ranch learning more about how they do what they do. The ranch uses abused and neglected horses to minister to abused and neglected children. Both learn about hope and healing from each other. I SO want to be a part of bringing a similar ranch to our area. Please send your prayers and positive energy my way as I try to begin this ministry that is burning in my heart. There are so many children and families that are hurting and need a place where they feel safe and can experience healing and love. I want to be a part of providing that.

Since it is very late I will end here tonight. I hope the boys (this is how I often refer to Addy and Andy) show improvement when I see them in the morning.

Happy Mother's Day

Today has been a wonderful Mother's Day. I woke up this morning and my wonderful husband made me cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Then we all went to church. After church we went back to the fair grounds for today's award ceremony. G. was surprised with an additional award. She won for her 4-H record book as well as receiving nice stirups for her Hi point award from yesterday.

G. received her Hi-Point award from a fair court princess.

After lunch we went and watched some horse racing at the fair grounds. I love watching the horses run but am finding that I like little else about racing. This is hard for me since I grew up in Kentucky and feel as though horse racing is part of my heritage. As for the girls they love seeing the horses before, during and after the races.

All and all today was a fantastic Mother's Day. I can't think of a better way to spend it than to support my girls, and spend time with horses. I am however exhausted and looking forward to going back to a "normal" routine.

Second 4-H Show of the Season

The past 36 hours have been a whirl wind. Yesterday we went to the barn by 1 pm and cleaned horses, brushes and tack to get ready for the 4-H show today.

G. got to bathe Andy all by herself.

First we brushed the horses, and then bathed them with special shampoo. This includes manes and tails and all white spots even had their own shampoo to help them be as white as possible. After the washing the manes and tails were combed out and then sprayed heavily with Show Sheen. Show sheen is like a leave in conditioner that has the purpose to make the coat as shiny as possible and also a dirt repellent. Once the coat was taken care of we worked on the feet. Each hoof was sanded to make them smoother before putting on hoof clear (horse fingernail polish). Now any respectable horse would not be seen out in public with a five o’clock shadow, so each had their muzzle trimmed, their bridle paths shaved and legs trimmed.

After bathing Pyro, R. had to walk him to help him stay warm and dry off.

Once their horses were clean and ready, each girl cleaned their saddle, saddle pad, and bridle followed by their brushes. You would not want to brush your horse with dirty brushes after working so hard to clean the horse. By the time we finished it was after 6 pm. I can’t remember the last time I spent 5+ hours cleaning my house, yet we spent that much time on two horses. So before we left the barn the trailers were packed with clean tack, and all that would be needed today.

This morning began at 5 am. We arrived at the barn at 6 am and got to the fairgrounds for the show at 6:30 am. On normal days I am not even out of bed by then. We got to the grounds and saved spaces for each member from our 4-H club. It was wonderful to be surrounded by our extended family. We are all there to support each other and we all helped each other. Sharing clippers, hoof polish and smiles; cheering for each other as each gave their best. I couldn’t ask for better members or parents. R. had 4 classes where she took Grand Champion in Novice Western Pleasure, 4th in Novice Trail, a blue ribbon in Showmanship and a red ribbon in Western Equitation. She was very excited to have received a first place and a medal. G. had 7 classes. She placed first in 4 classes, second in two classes and received a blue ribbon in the other class. In the end she was the high point winner for her division; we have to return tomorrow to receive the award.

G. and Andy in Showmanship.

R. and Pryo won a blue ribbon during Showmanship.

G. and Andy practice for bareback class.

R. and Pyro won Western Pleasure! :-) She was SO happy.

Wow, What a day! We took the horses home and got home ourselves at 6:30 pm. I am so tired and exhausted but it was a great day.

In March of this year our 4-H club held a clinic all about horses. During that clinic we had an equine massage therapist come and share with everyone. During the visit he used our horse Addy as one of his demonstration horses. Addy seemed to like the massage and definitely reacted to it in a positive way. However since he was a demo the therapist only worked on one side.

About a month later the therapist was at a local feed store and I went and watched his demo there. During the 4-H horse clinic I was working and only got to watch part of his time. I really enjoyed getting to see his entire presentation. I talked with the therapist and knew I would have to have him out to do a whole massage on Addy.

Before the massage began the therapist did an initial exam. He touched, rubbed and palpated most of Addy’s body. I watched as his skin tensed up and he struck out and even tried to bite the gentleman. He was very sore and uncomfortable. I was just glad that soon he would be feeling better.

Here are a few pictures from his visit yesterday. (I appearently have not sufficiently learned to upload pictures. Hopefully there will be pictures sooner versus later. :-( )

When the therapist found sore spots Addy let him know. This is one area where he struck out and tried to stomp the gentleman.

But he also let him know when he found relief due to the massage.

Addy leaned into this “pressure point”

Given all the hours of pleasure that Addy has given me over the last 3 years and specifically over the last 7 months he deserves an hour and a half of massage. I would have both our horses massaged every month if I could.

This weekend we will go to a local 4-H show and hopefully all the girls from the 4-H club will have a great time and see their hard work pay off.