What does God 

SEE when He looks

at YOU?

"For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

(1 Peter 3: 12) 

Eyes Of A Horse

"There is no disconnect between the eyes and the ears of a horse. A good horseman learns to watch the eye of the horse. Where the eye goes, the ear shows!"

(Susan Klaudt)  

The eyes have often been referred to as the "windows" to the soul. Oftentimes, we can look in the face of a person, or even our animals, and their eyes will clearly convey the message of their heart. Today I want to talk to you about eyes, but not just any eyes. I want to talk to you about the eyes of God, and what He sees when He looks at you. But first, let's take a look at the horse and how he "sees" his world.

You can never fully understand the nature of the horse, or his actions and reactions, if you do not understand how he "views" the world. I'm not talking about his philosophical viewpoint, of course. I'm talking about his natural visual perception, and what he actually sees. In the same way, you can never fully understand the nature of God, or His actions or reactions, without first understanding His Word, and how He views the world.  

As a prey animal, a horse has monocular vision and binocular vision. Once you understand this, then the world, as seen through the horse's eyes, as well as his behavior, becomes clearer. We can use our own eyes to visually observe whether a horse is using binocular or monocular vision. When a horse is using binocular vision, his ears are often pricked forward with interest, and he can also see things straight ahead of him in the distance. When using his binocular vision, a horse can also see width, and some (perhaps small) degree of depth.

A horse's eyes and ears are always connected. This horse is using binocular vision. Both his eyes and his ears are focused straight ahead.  

When a horse's ears are moving or twitching from left to right, then he is using his monocular vision. Monocular vision allows a horse to see things on his left and right side independently from one another. In other words, what the horse sees on his left side does not necessarily mean that he has seen it on his right side. It's this strange visual phenomenon that has prompted trainers and clinicians to encourage us to "train both sides of the horse". Let me give you an example. Let's say you are riding a horse down a dirt trail, and he is walking along steadily with no problems. On your left, there is a wooden fence post. Your horse suddenly twitches his left ear. This indicates that he is using his monocular vision, and he is telling you that he is seeing the fence post out of his left eye. At this point, your horse walks by the post with no problem. But once your horse passes the fence post, it suddenly comes back into his view. However, this time, the view of the fence post appears over his opposite shoulder, or his right side. Now he is seeing the fence post out of his right eye. His reaction may be to "jump or spook" as if he had never seen the fence post before. In reality, his perception is absolutely correct. Why? Because each eye (the left and the right) sees and processes the visual information (i.e. what he sees) separately!

Because of the way a horse "views" his world, what he knows and recognizes on his left side is not what he knows or recognizes on his right side. This is why we have to train both sides of the horse! 

Note the ears on this horse. They indicate that he is using his monocular vision. Monocular vision allows him to see things on his left and right side independently from one another. As a prey animal, this unique way of "seeing" the world helps to keep horses safe from predators, and off the lunch menu!

BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE

OF THE BEHOLDER 

"Every eye will see Him."

(Revelation 1: 7)   

If you look closely at this picture, you will see Jesus Christ on the cross reflected in the center of the eye.  

When I was a little girl, I would sometimes go to my mother and ask her if she thought I was pretty. She would then stroke my hair while looking me in the eyes, and tell me, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Her words were over my head. A simple yes would have sufficed, and no doubt, built my confidence, if only on a physical level. But mom had a way of taking things to a higher level. Clearly, she wanted me to think about what I was asking, and so I did. Many years later, I began working in the fashion industry in Atlanta, and I quickly learned that beauty was a "subjective" thing. In other words, it depended on one's personal opinion. It wasn't until I gave my heart and my life to Christ that I learned to view myself the way God saw me. And how did God see me? God saw me "objectively"!

Webster's dictionary has a fascinating definition of the word "objective". According to Webster, the term objective means to be impartial, unprejudiced, and just.

Have you ever stopped to consider what God sees when He looks at you? Does He see a person who is pretty or ugly? If you believe some people, you might be tempted to think that God is completely subjective when it comes to how He views you. After all, people are certainly subjective! But when it comes to God, nothing could be further from the truth. God is never subjective when He looks at you. In fact, He is just the opposite. When God looks at you, He is always objective, impartial, unprejudiced, and just. Why? Because God doesn't look at your outer appearance. He looks at your heart. And why does He look at your heart? He looks at your heart because that is where Jesus lives, and that is the beauty He sees!

But he Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

(1 Samuel 16: 7, NIV)

I have a challenge for those of you who are born-again. Talk about motivational, - I'll even do it with you! Every time we look at ourselves in the mirror, let's forget about pumping ourselves up with the self-serving "I'm fabulous" hype that's being promoted out there in TV land. Instead, let's try to look beyond the physical image staring back at us in the mirror. Impossible? Not if we're willing to look deep. We will need our spiritual eyes here, - spiritual eyes that can look beyond our physical reflection, and deep into our heart where Jesus lives. When you look in the mirror, can you see Jesus alive in you? If you can, then you are beautiful, and that is what God sees every time He looks at you. Never forget, beauty really is in the eye of the beholder! 

 OLD COWGIRLS

AND

HORSES

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

Are you strong enough to bend?

When I was growing up, I used to hear people refer to my dad as "old iron head". For years, I wondered what that meant, and didn't know if I should congratulate my dad, or defend him! Finally, in total innocence, one day I asked him, "Why do some people call you old iron head?"  To which he replied, "I guess they call me that because I don't "give" and I don't "bend." That sounded like a reasonable explanation to me back then, and for years afterwards, I tried to be just like my dad, - I didn't give an inch, and I was unbendable. It wasn't until years later when I started working with horses that I realized not "giving" and being unbendable was not a sign of strength. In fact, it was a sure sign of weakness.

Sometimes the methods I use to train my horses seem to be in complete contradiction to what I am actually trying to teach them. But they are tried and true methods, none the less. Let me give you an example. Whether I'm working with my horse on the ground with just a halter and a lead rope, or whether I'm in the saddle, I'm religious about "bending" my horse, and asking him to "give" to me. In the horse world, this bending is sometimes called lateral flexion. Now, here is the irony. I don't teach my horse to bend (flex laterally) just because I want him to be good at bending! After all, you can't get anywhere when you're in a bent position, right? This is a good time to interject that the bend is only a means to an end. I teach my horse to bend because I want him to travel straight! So, how does bending exercises help to make my horse travel straight? Bending (or lateral flexion) helps to strengthen my horse's neck and shoulder muscles, - muscles that he might not use otherwise. And once a horse has developed strength in his neck and shoulders, the straighter and better he is able to travel forward! In fact, the more a horse is supple and able to bend/flex, the better he's able to do just about anything you ask of him. Alas, my dad's in heaven now, but I wish he was around to watch me work with the horses. Hopefully, he's got a front row seat with a bird's eye view. And of course, I wish I'd known way back then what I know now. Sometimes it just takes experience to learn a lesson or two about life. I've learned my strength isn't in my hard-headedness or my unwillingness to bend. My strength is in the Lord. And wouldn't you know it? He's always asking me to "give" and bend.   

     Q & A

Each month I receive emails filled with interesting and great questions. In this segment of our newsletter, I will share some of the special letters I've received. All names have been changed

to protect the individual's privacy. 

Susan - I'm a new convert to Christianity. People find it hard to believe when I tell them that I didn't grow up hearing about the Lord and had never been to church before. I guess it's easy to take things for granted when you grow up in church like understanding the Bible. I'm not a stupid man but just uneducated I guess in many things about the Lord that others seem to just know. Sometimes what I hear in church is over my head and I just feel kind of ignorant and immature. That's where you come in and my reason for writing you. I read your newsletters all the time. I grew up riding horses and that's still the life I understand best. The first time I read one of your newsletters I thought someone must be pulling the wool over my eyes because it seemed like you were talking straight to me. I know you probably get a lot of letters but I wanted to thank you for what you do. Week after week you put it down in words this old boy can relate to and every time I come away from reading them feeling like I've been to church. 

(Jay, Montana)

My Response To Jay

 Hi Jay - First off, welcome to your "new" life! The Bible says that when you are born-again, you become a new creation in Christ! That means that you are now brand new in Christ, an adopted heir with Him, and you have been given a clean slate, and a new beginning. Right now, the Word of God to you is like fresh, new milk to a newborn. If you try to give a newborn solid food, he will be unable to digest it properly.

Unfortunately, what often happens to new converts when they begin their church experience is that they find themselves unable to digest everything that is being fed to them, - not because it is wrong teaching, but because they are not mature enough in their walk with God to handle the "meat" of the Word. This is one of the reasons it's important for churches to offer Bible studies for new converts in order to take them step by step and grow them up into mature Christians who are then able to understand, digest, and put into practice the Word of God in their lives.

Even if you do not attend a church that has a designated program for new believers, the good news is that none of us stay babies for long! Every day that you attend church, and surround yourself with God's wonderful people, you will continue to grow in the things of the Lord, and your understanding of God's Word will become clearer. As for my newsletter, I've said it before, but you are the kind of person that inspires me to do what I do, and I appreciate that reading my newsletters makes you feel like you've been to church. Nevertheless, my anointing is that of an evangelist and a teacher, and not that of a pastor. I encourage you, Jay, to stay in church, listen to your pastor, read God's Word, enjoy the fellowship of good Christian people, and of course, continue to read my ministry newsletters. And before you know it, you will have grown into the wonderful and mature man of faith that God created you to be right from the beginning!

Natural Horse

Faith-Man-Ship

(Teaching biblical faith using horses)

ARE YOU READY FOR THE FAITH RIDE OF

 YOUR LIFE?  

To Learn More... 

WRITE or EMAIL

Susan Klaudt Horse Ministry

P. O. Box 4994

Cleveland, TN 37320

or  

ksworldmin@aol.com