Trust

As the gate opens it creaks on its hinges like fingernails on a blackboard. A little oil or grease would fix the problem but that's just another thing on the "to do" list that will go undone. There are other things that obviously take priority over a squeaky gate hinge. A young horse of just two years runs through the gate from the alley of portable panels adjoining the working pens to the round corral where his education will begin. In the old days, this would not take place until he was four or five but times have changed. As the gate bangs shut behind the horseman left with the task of instructing this youngster, the sun is starting to heat up the early spring morning to an unseasonable temperature. Just outside the round corral lying on the ground is a saddle made by a man more artist than anything else as is evident from the beautiful floral carving deep in the heavy leather used to cover the wooden tree that is the foundation of the saddle itself. This saddle has seen many years and hundreds of young colts just like the one upon whose back it will soon be placed.

The first thing the young horse does is avoid the human standing before him. He turns away and looks off into the pasture beyond hoping for a line of escape. But escape will not come. He will be a captive audience at least for a while. Captive to the horseman. But his captivity, though he doesn't know it yet, is the best thing that will ever happen to him. Were he still in the wild, he could easily starve on the high desert range he came from or he could be killed by a predator. The human standing in the center of this strange circle is his only chance at survival in a cruel world. The horseman waves his hands in the air to get the young one to step away, first at a trot, then at a full lope around the perimeter. Dust flies as he tries to stop but is coaxed on around and around the corral until, when he IS allowed to stop, he turns his eyes toward the horseman. Slowly the horseman approaches him and reaching out his hand, he lightly touches the horse's face with his fingertips and then walks away. The young horse is shocked. He sees this creature, this predator, who has chased him, but is not "after" him. He has touched him, but has not attacked him. As the horseman walks away the horse licks his lips, sniffs the ground, and light puffs of sand burst forth as the wind blows from his heaving nostrils. Then he follows. He follows the man around the pen. Turning, the horseman places a rawhide leather braided rope called a reata over his head and around his neck loosely hanging over his high withers. He doesn't pull the rope tight but leaves it loose. Holding the coils in his right hand, he begins to rub the reata over the neck, shoulders, and side of the colt, his skin shuddering at its touch as if he were flicking away a fly. But this is no fly and it is not leaving. The rope in the hand of a patient horseman is rubbed over his reddish brown hide until the shuddering subsides and he calms down, licking his lips and sniffing of the loop around his lower neck.

At first he is lead around and this is done several times going through each step over and over again until the horseman is sure he's got it engrained in his mind. The next step is a blanket, slowly rubbing his body with it as he did the coils of the rope. Once his reaction to the blanket is the same calm, collected reaction as with the reata, he is ready for the saddle. Under his arm like a stack of school books, the saddle is lifted to the horse's back. The horseman lifts it back off and on again a couple of times for the pupil to get used to its weight. When it finally sits on his back without response from the horse, it is cinched up, not tight enough for a rider but tight enough to hold it in place. After it is secure the horseman walks away, the reata still hanging loosely around the neck. For a second or two, the horse stands unsure of what is happening. Then as he moves slowly forward, he lunges, crow hops a couple of times and kicks both legs out behind him trying to relieve himself from the load. To no avail, the saddle stays where it is. He settles down a bit and looks over to the horseman for assurance. The horseman slowly but confidently walks to him and touches his face again, walking away. This time he follows the man around the pen as if in some way he was a security blanket. The reata is used as a makeshift halter around the horse's head and nose in order to have a little more control. The horseman's heart speeds up a bit as he tightens the cinch, and with no further negative response from his pupil, he puts the toe of his left boot in the stirrup. Lifting his weight just a little and then bouncing his left foot off the ground a few times to test him out, he raises up in the stirrup. At first he just stands in that stirrup reaching over the horse's neck and rubbing him gently on the neck and shoulder of his off side. Then lifting his leg over the saddle. He sits.

After a short moment he gets off. This will be just the very beginning of many sessions to take place in the life of the young horse. It seems like a lot in and of itself but the surface has barely been scratched. Even so, it could never have been accomplished without one important factor...trust. The natural instinct of the horse would not let any of this happen. But with a small second of trust creeping into his mind in spite of all his heart is telling him, that is, to kick and run, he follows the horseman's guidance. Eventually they will work together and move in a beautiful dance as they sort cattle, rope, or just ride along a trail in the beautiful wilderness. But it is all possible with just a little trust. God's word tells us to trust in Him and not to depend on what we believe or understand to be true, but on what he says and he will guide or way. We have an advantage on the horse, in that while he must gather up for himself the trust it takes for him to work with the horseman, we have been treated to something "not of ourselves". The Bible says that God saves us by His Grace, through our faith, and that in itself is given to us by Him. He gives us an advantage by providing the small bit of faith it takes for us to trust Him. Easy to do if we will accept his gift. The gift of faith. He is a giving God. He gives grace, mercy, faith, and ultimately, eternal salvation through Jesus. But only if we TRUST Him.