Horse Whisperer

I have been sitting here at my desk for the past hour, working on the Primary Program and Sharing Time for Sunday and continuously gazing out the window. Off in the distance there are three beautiful horses in a pasture, surrounded by a little girl who cares for them and loves them as if they were her own. She has been out there for almost an hour - they follow her to the barn for a treat, they follow her to the creek for a drink, they follow her wherever she walks in the pasture. One hand clutches an old ice cream bucket filled with the apples from our orchard tree, and the other hand takes turns stroking each horse. She walks around these horses, touching and petting them, and talking to them. It is her little passion, her little getaway, her little piece of heaven.

I carefully watch her mothering them, nurturing them, and building a relationship of trust with them. They recognize that she is their friend and is far from a threat to them. They know she will care for them, feed them, and love them. It is a beautiful relationship that they have. She has no fear, whatsoever, with these horses - animals that are three times her size.

So, yesterday one of the horses got out in the morning. I am a chicken when it comes to horses and Jason was gone to work, so I got the job of putting the horse back in the pasture. I was a little panicked because as I had the horse follow me over to the gate, the other horses came quickly to the gate to greet us. I just knew that if I opened the gate, the other two would bolt out. My husband, via phone, kept reassuring me that they would not do this, but I had my doubts. I told Kimberly (who has gone in the pasture with Megan many times to the horse barn) to go get a horse treat and a lead rope and I could lure the horse into the pasture. She was panicked to go into there by herself. She was afraid that the horses would follow her, which is exactly what I wanted them to do. That way they wouldn't be right next to the gate, so I could put the other horse in. Well, thanks to Kimberly's small moment of braveness, the plan worked. Weouuuuu!

The afternoon came and now there were two horses out. What? Where were they getting out? Nevermind that. I had to get them back in! Afterall, they don't belong to me and I wouldn't want to see a dead horse on the highway. Again, fear came over me. This time the two horses had made it to the big alfalfa fields, which was going to take a bit to get to, and gave them plenty of room to run without me being able to catch them. I started walking toward them and Scott was in the pickup on the side of them. As I was walking the field, I felt like an old prarie girl, treading the farm to capture the stray animals. They were trotting along the fence line, which I was hoping that they wouldn't find the opening in the fence line and bolt for the road. I sent Megan to go get some treats and a lead rope, so we could try the trick again.

If I had been smarter and thought faster, I would have saved myself some treading time on the 80-acre ranch that we live on. The horses really are friendly... and they like to be fed... and they love a special little girl. Yep. That was it. About 150 yards in front of me, I witnessed a little girl running across the alfalfa fields, lead rope in hand, towards one of the horses. The horse didn't even budge when he saw her coming. She walked right up to it, clipped the lead rope onto his harness (bridle or whatever its called, I don't really know all the horse lingo), and led him back to the pasture like she owned the horse. No fear involved. What I was watching was pure magic to me.

I definitely think that some people have a gift with horses. They are the kind of people that aren't intimidated by their size. They love animals. They recognize the power and capability that a horse has. They can sense the emotions of the animal. My daughter, Megan, loves the horses. It is almost like she just molds them to her, at least with these horses, that seems to be the case. I love to see her passion and love for something other than herself. She got kitties for her birthday, and don't get me wrong, she really does love them. But, not quite like she loves those horses. They give her so much satisfaction and joy. And it makes my heart happy to see her heart happy. She is my little horse whisperer.