To Be Guided By The Eye

Almost daily, I battle against the "old ways" of horse training.  Old ways declared a horse had to be overpowered and his spirit "broken" in order to have a 1200 pound animal that would obediently obey its rider.

New ways declare that through communication within our new understanding of horse language, we can gain a horses trust and become their leader.  

There are horses who must be ridden with saddle and bridle.  Some often are ridden with a more intense bit.  Others develop the communication and trust to allow their rider to guide them with small cues, using no tack.  This kind of a relationship requires focus and a heart that is fully "joined-up."

A couple months ago I started with a miniature horse gelding named Chazz.  This little guy has been around the block quite a few times.  He has been shown halter and has been started driving.  I started working with him because he wouldn't stand patiently in a show ring and if he spooked he would bolt with absolutly no concern for his human partner.  The first couple sessions were rough. Leading was torture as this guy tried to just pull me around and grass-dive constantly.  Pulling through cues and just being quite disrespectful.The interesting thing is he KNEW all the cues-quite well!  But he had no focus and I almost had to bully him to get him to pay attention.  I started focusing on keeping his eye on me...and not just one eye but two eyes.  Whenever we'd be working and he'd start falling apart again, I'd stop him and start having him keep his eyes on me.  This little guy turned around and amazed me.  I've never had a horse lock his eyes on me like this guy.  He didn't just lock his eyes on me, but on MY eyes! And he started WORKING for me.  It was awesome to watch the switch and experience the connection.

God reminded me of Isaiah 32.  In verse 8 it talks of Him TEACHING us and GUIDING us with His EYE.  Verse 9 goes on to instruct us not to be like a horse, needing to be bridled to be guided-much like the old way of handling horses. It hit me that in our new covenant we have opportunity for a connection like no other.  And the more we take time to keep our eye, or even eyes, on HIS, the better the connection.  It takes focus and time.  The connection is AMAZING!!!!

As I delighted in watching Chazz transform and feeling the connection, the scriptures say God delights in us!!!!

I want to learn to delight in Him as much as He delights in us!  Because I know that if the connection between Chazz and I can be created by focus, time and delight in each other can be as awesome as it is, God and the connection He has created for US is ours for the receiving and is SO  many more times as great as that I've developed with Chazz.