You Can Have

PEACE 

In Times Of Trouble

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows."

(Psalm 23: 1-6)

Horses are prey animals, and as a result, the world can often be a scary place for them. I want my presence to be the "go to" place where they find comfort and peace.

Horses are prey animals. And prey animals are instinctive and reactive by nature. That means they are mentally and emotionally hard-wired to run whenever they feel threatened or fearful. Any hesitation, second-guessing, or failure to act promptly, could and usually does cost them their lives in the wild. One of the major responsibilities we have as horse owners is to teach our horse to trust us, and to use the "thinking side" of his brain, instead of the "reactive side". And how do we do that? It's not so much what we do, as what we don't do. Strangely enough, we don't teach our horse to trust us by creating a perfect environment where there are no scary things, or "spooks", or troubles to overcome. In other words, we don't remove the scary stuff in order to create a braver horse. Instead, we allow our horse to see and sometimes even come into contact with scary stuff that would normally send him into flight mode. In the horse world, this type of training is called desensitization. The more our horse becomes desensitized to "scary stuff", the more he begins to use the thinking side of his brain, instead of the reactive side. And why is that important? The reactive side of a horse's brain is always rooted in fear. The thinking side of a horse's brain is always rooted in trust. The more our horse comes to trust us with the scary stuff, the more he is at peace. Remember - trust equals peace.

Today, you and I live in an ever-increasingly scary world where there is very little peace. All we have to do is turn on the national news, and we realize that the world is changing quickly into a place we no longer recognize. When I was a little girl, my grandma told me about Bible scriptures that prophesied a time when there would be wars, and rumors of war, pestilence and famine, and even terrible earthquakes in diver's places. My imagination was fueled at the thought of such a strange and scary world. Today, we no longer have to entertain a vivid imagination to believe in Bible prophecy. Things that were foretold thousands of years ago are quickly becoming the "new normal". And it is some scary stuff, indeed! So, is God going to take away the scary stuff that is happening all around us? Chances are, He's not. And why not? It is a fulfillment of His Word. A Word that is always past, present, and future. A Word that knows no boundaries of time. A Word that is never circumstantial, but always providential. So, wait a minute - does that mean that we, as humans, do not have free will, and cannot change the course of history? Absolutely not! In fact, quite the contrary is true. God is the One who gave us our free will, and the ability to change the world through our choices. The fulfillment of God's prophetic Word simply means that He is not bound by time, and He knows the choices we will make, even before we make them. And how is it possible for God to foretell the future and our choices? Quite simply, He is already there! For you and me, knowing that God is always there (ever-present in time) brings us peace. For the one who is born again, it is a peace that passes understanding. It's not a peace that comes from having been desensitized to all the scary stuff around us, like with the horse. Rather, it is a peace that lives in our heart "in spite of" all the scary stuff happening all around us. It is a special kind of peace that guards our heart, and promises to keep us. It is a peace that God gives us, even in times of trouble.

OLD COWGIRLS

AND

HORSES

A blog/diary of my life with horses, and a few other adventures along the way.

"Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead..."

(Phillipians 3: 13)

It's a funny thing how yesterday has a tendency to get in the way of today, especially if we let it. This morning, I tried to "rejoice" in the new day the Lord had made. But the truth was, it was a half-hearted effort on my behalf. That's because I was still stuck in yesterday. It had rained most of yesterday, and that meant no riding. Now, today, the roundpen and arena were still saturated from all the rain, and I couldn't risk a possible accident or leg injury to my horse. So, once again, no riding. 

To make matters worse, part of the horse's pasture was now flooded out, thanks to yesterdays downpour. That meant that the horses would have to stay in their stalls today. And of course, that meant extra stall cleaning for me. Bah-humbug! Completely frustrated, I finally sat down on an old wooden chair in the barn, sipped on a bottled water, pouted some (okay, alot), and listened to the horses quietly munching on hay in their stalls. They were completely "okay" with their circumstance, not to mention their maid-service! As for me, all I could think of was that today was now ruined, and all because of yesterday! Then, somewhere in the back of my head, I could hear my dearly departed mother's voice loud and clear, "You'll get nowhere looking in the rear-view mirror. Keep your eyes straight ahead, and focus on today."

In the midst of my pity-party, I thought about Phillipians 3: 13. This scripture tells us to forget what is behind, while "straining" towards what is ahead. I've always thought the word "strain" was a pretty weird and strong choice of description. I mean, why not use the words, moving, or advancing, or progressing ahead? Those words are certainly easier on the ear, don't you think? Turns out, some translations do use more user-friendly words in place of "straining". But according to Bible scholars, the closest rendering we have to the original biblical translation about moving forward is found in the word, strain. Hmmm...

This morning, as I sat in the barn "straining like crazy", I suddenly had an epiphany, and realized my mom had been right all along. Rear-view mirrors really aren't much help, unless we want to go backwards. As for today, nope, I didn't get to ride - thanks to yesterdays torrential rain, and all the ground problems it created. But suddenly, that was alright. "Buck up, old cowgirl." I encouraged myself. "A new day calls for a new plan!" Today I decided to make good use of my time. I clipped, bathed, and groomed 3 very dirty horses, cleaned out the entire barn, and then rearranged my messy tack room. I even oiled up some old saddles and bridles that were beginning to show their age. In fact, I got so much accomplished today, that somehow I feel like I've won a major battle. And wouldn't you know it? Now, the sun is coming out again!

Q & A

Each month I receive emails filled with interesting and great questions. I try to answer each email with a personal response. In this segment of our newsletter, I will share some of the special emails I've received. Some emails have been shortened, and all names changed to protect individual privacy. 

Godly Morning! I love animals and had a little App mare, Princess War Whoop, years ago. I bought her at 10 months old and having never trained a horse, I "broke" her with a bossel rather a bit. I trained her, loved her and rode her and had 1 colt from her. They were like big puppies! Then I went to the dogs! I now after 40 plus years have my "phony ponies", Chinese Cresteds. I also have 1 Xoloitzcuintle who I love too. She is so primitive and smart! Still would love to ride, but presently I am overcoming a stroke that hit me in December! I think it would help me overcome better and faster if I knew someone near who helps people with difficulties ride. It would retrain my brain better than anything else I believe. Two questions please: 1. Do you know of anyone in the ____ area who does that? 2. Do you believe animals will be in heaven? I do because earth was created in the image of heaven and God does use animals to teach us, especially dogs and horses to teach us love and patience and perseverance! Thank you and bless you exceedingly abundantly.

(Terry, Alabama)

My Response To Terry

Hi Terry - Great to hear from you! I'm glad to hear you love animals, too! I enjoyed your email and hearing all about your App mare, Princess War Whoop, and also about your wonderful dogs. It's simply amazing what all we can learn from our relationships with these amazing animals. I'm sorry to hear about your stroke in December, but the good news is that God can and does make all things new! In Jesus name, I am standing in faith with you that every day you will become stronger and stronger, and you will enjoy perfect health. I agree with you that riding horses can have many health benefits. As for your first question, I'm sorry that I don't know of anyone in the ____ area who uses horses for rehabilitative or therapy purposes. I would suggest doing a Google search online to find someone near you who does that kind of work or ministry, and then be sure to check out their references to make sure they are reputable. As for your second question about animals going to heaven - I certainly believe they do! And we have many scriptures to back that up. Among them are Romans 8: 19 which tells us, "The lesser creatures await Christ's return to redeem the sons of God so they, too, will be released from physical death to eternal life." If this scripture were talking about newly created animals in heaven, it would not have said that they will be released from physical death. Only earthly animals die a physical death. Another wonderful scripture is found in Psalm 145: 9-10, 13, and 15-21 in the amplified Bible. It says, "Though all creatures are subject to man's cruelty, God loves all His creation and has made plans for all His children and the lesser creatures to enjoy His eternal kingdom." To learn more about this subject, just click on the ARCHIVE BUTTON in the left hand column of my newsletter, scroll through the titles and look for the newsletter title, DO ANIMALS GO TO HEAVEN? It was sent out on 11-22-2013. Hope it blesses you!     

Natural Horse

Faith-Man-Ship

(Teaching biblical faith using horses)

ARE YOU READY FOR THE FAITH RIDE OF

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Susan Klaudt Horse Ministry

P. O. Box 4994

Cleveland, TN 37320

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