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There is something about old horses that is just too good. Maybe it is that they have seen most things and are unfazed by the noise and commotion of life. Or maybe that they have earned their living and are now peacefully enjoying retirement. But what makes them such great horses?!?
Old horses have usually had at least one carrier before they are considered too old and retire, but their life doesn’t stop there. They may have been a ranch horse working long days, or a rodeo horse used to all the noise. Maybe a professional show horse used to hauling and the arena. Maybe they were just the family trail horse who has seen more miles than could be counted.
It is an old horse's past experiences and work that make them so good, especially for beginner riders. They know most of what is up and will take care of their rider as the rider learns. This is the trait that makes them invaluable.
We’ve had two early 20s horses with our family for quite some time. The one showed his age very early. Hank, being an old ranch horse, not much physed him. My husband used him for a few years working and moving cattle, but his age caught up, and he could no longer keep up with cows that broke away. He retired to being the kids' horse. They are merely beginning to ride, but he would pack them along on the ride like it was nothing. You had better believe it was hard to say good-bye this summer when the time came.
The other has had a much easier work life. He has always been a family horse and mainly just trail rode. When I bought Mojo almost 10 years ago he already had a laid back personality, but what not the best trained. I worked with him and found that he wasn’t just laid back, but smart enough to play dumb to get out of work! I literally threw everything I could think of at him that might scare him and he quickly came to expect the weird and out of normal. Why did I do that? Because my vision for him was to be a therapy horse and I needed him bomb proof. He was the beloved mount for many special needs riders while I was teaching lessons. Now he’s my children's favorite.
See older horses may be set in their ways, but when they have good ground manners and experience, they are the perfect teacher for a novice rider.
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A while back we talked about my favorite question “Why”. There is a ‘Why’ that I have not shared with you all. Why do I reach out to others? Why do I share the knowledge I have learned? Short answer. Because the world is confusing and every momma needs a hand.
No one person can learn everything. We each learn from our experiences and then learn from others experiences. If what I have learned over the years about gardening, food, allergies, home toxins, and animal care, can help the next person shorten their learning curve I will.
We are bombarded with information. We can look up anything we want on our phone in our hand. They call it the information age for a reason. But with all that information, a person can easily become confused. If you look for information, you will find it, and all sides of the topic too. All the information and opinions coming in can easily confuse a person who has the time to sort through it. What momma has time to keep the kids alive, house in order, and sort through the massive amounts of information quickly? I sure didn’t and still don’t. As a farm wife, working mom, then stay home mom, keeper of the house and business books, master of the acreage, I have never had a lot of extra time.
What I have learned has been little bits over my life, through my own experiences, pockets of time for research, and my own trial and error. I have taken what I researched, applied it, tweaked it, figured out what worked practically, and what needed to be adjusted. Depending on the stage of life I was in at the time how deep into the research I was able to dig. Many times the research was an ongoing process, or completed over the course of several years.
I want to save the next momma the time it took me and give her the jumpstart to her knowledge and an action plan. We're all busy mommas, and we all need a helping hand every now and then.
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What was the first job you had? Was it a job that helped shape your views?
One of the first ‘jobs’ I had growing up was helping in the lambing barn. After all, I had convinced my dad to keep the ewes, so it was now part of my responsibility to help with the extra work and rewards of breeding them.
We would split lambing checks, with mom and dad doing them during the day, while we were at school, my sisters and I doing them after school and in the evening. I would then do the early 6 am check before school. I was the morning bird and enjoyed the quiet of the barn in the morning. I was also usually late for Spanish class once those checks started. Sorry, Ms. Hofts.
Those years of caring for the ewes taught me a lot about life. The natural cycle of life and death happens readily with sheep. And it is a hard lesson to learn, but one that brings understanding to the rest of life. But it also taught me that life and birth and death is natural. So many times we try to step in and adjust life to make things more convenient for us. But many times all we do is interfere and nature adjusts. The best example of this I can remember was with one of my first ewes (mom sheep).
It was chore time that afternoon, and one of my ewes already had one lamb almost born. We picked up the lamb and led the ewe into the maternity ward, where she would have her own pen to bond with her lamb. I continued to watch her as it finished chores around the barn. I knew she was carrying more than one lamb, but she refused to settle down and have it. Eventually we all left the barn and went back up to the house, deciding to go back in an hour and check her. In that hour she settled down and had another lamb. I made sure it got up and nursed well, and returned to the house. The next check she had another lamb! She ended up with 4 lambs that night, but every time we were in the barn, she would act as if nothing was going on and shut labor down. She needed her space and time.
The biggest lesson I learned in the lambing barn was when to step in and help and when to just leave the ewe alone. 95% of the time the ewes had the lambs just fine on their own. As long as none of the other ewes were bothering them or it wasn’t super cold, they did quite well in the pen until the lamb was up and had nursed. Then they could be moved to their ‘private room’. The other 5% of the time was the critical ones, where the ewe just wasn’t going to have the lamb on her own. Either the lamb was positioned wrong, or the ewe was just too exhausted, usually, but she needed help.
Distinguishing the difference in the two was tricky in the beginning, but with time and practice, it became easy to spot the births that were off, or not progressing as they should.
When I started having my own children, part of me wondered why something so natural was so medicalized. But it was what everyone was doing, so I followed suit. Later I learned there was a different more natural approach, and I was all for it. I just wanted the same space and respect I had given all the animals in my care.
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What is a belief that grounds you? One that not only defines you, but governs your life decisions? Most of my core beliefs center around God and what He has said, about life.
I’ll share two of those with you. The first is that life is precious. God has a high value of human life. As you read through the Bible you can begin to see how many of the laws He set in place in the Old Testament center around the value of life. Some of these are consequences for ending life, some are consequences for harming another person. But they center around God guiding us on how to love and respect each other.
The second belief, I want to share with you, is one I have come to learn little by little in my own journey. God designed our bodies beautifully. They are intricately woven together and function beautifully. Sometimes things go wrong. We live in a fallen and sinful world. Our perfect design is now flawed by sin. However, God still designed the body to preserve and heal itself, if it is given what it needs.
Sometimes this is eliminating things from your life that are slowly poisoning or disrupting your body. Sometimes it is adding key nutrients in, to let the body rebuild. Sometimes it is using nature to simply rebalance the body, giving it what it needs to clean itself. Sometimes it is specific exercises or movements to help the body do what it is designed to do.
There are many different ways to promote the body and care for it. Most of the time it can be accomplished with things God already gave us in nature. The key, as it was for me, is learning how and what to use. And believe me it is a continuing learning process. That is why digging to the root cause is so important. Have I found all the WHYs? No, but I’m still digging and learning. Because for me, just letting something unnatural or not normal go, is not ok.
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One of the jobs of being a parent is to train and prepare your children for their future. There are hundreds of books out there on bring up children and each has a little different take on what is best. The truth is ever y kid is different, even siblings. You must do what works best for each child.
I personally want my children to grow up to be willingly helpful. To see a need and meet it. One of the ways I encourage them to help is by letting them. Yes the job will take at least 2x as long, but in the end they will be able to do it themselves someday, without prompting.
Please hear me here. I am not perfect and have my fair share of just let me do it, and we don’t have time. But when I stop my hustle I remember they are wanting to help, and deep down I want them to help now and in the future. When I slow down and enjoy their help, they want to help more. I want my kids to see our life on the farm as one they were included in, one they dream of coming back to. Besides, as I grow older, I’m going to want someone else to care for my critters when it’s cold (hehe).
In all honesty though I had a very good reminder of this a few weeks back. We had been on the go most of the day and were finally home and both kids wanted to help with supper. All I wanted was peace and the kitchen to myself. The oldest was determined she was going to help (God bless her determination). She went to the dining room and a brought a chair back, since I was not getting the step stool out for her. She and her brother proceeded to stand at the kitchen sink. It took me a while to figure out what was going on. I thought they were just playing in the sink with the water. I finally realized what was going on when I saw the dish soap moving. They were washing the dishes. Over and over. There wasn’t much in the sink to wash, but she was so proud. She even soaked the coffee cups to get the stains out! You should have seen her beam when I thanked her with a hug and praised her.
This particular event reminded me of three things. Number one, they are always watching. I had never actually taught her to wash dishes. She had stood next to me and rinsed before, but I had always washed.
The second, was how happy kids are to help and serve. It had been a busy few weeeks and I honestly had just been dragging the kids along most of the time, just trying to get through the day. My kids needed me to slow down and engage them.
Third, my kids are capable of way more than I often think they are. My oldest does this to me a lot. She decides she’s going to help and she exceeds my expectations. Occasionally I’ll give her a task that I know will be difficult for her, not to be mean, but to help her grow. She has learned to ask for help when she needs it, and we work together to finish the task. It’s moments like this that I remember how much she rises to my expectations. If I set the bar low she doesn’t stretch or grow.
The youngest is quickly following his sister, determined to keep up and do whatever she is doing. He insists he can help dip up feed, nd hold the bottles. He tries to catch chickens lik his sister and leads the horses (with mom or sis holding the other end).
Kids rise to the standard you, as the adult, set. Set the bar reasonable and teach them the thrill of reaching the bar and exceeding it. The joy of accomplishing something they thought they couldn’t. And when they come short, help them get up and go again. That it is ok to find ways that a task didn’t work well. This helps them build resilience and grit. Both of these will help them immensely in the future.
Go raise up strong resilient adults. After all the kids of today are tomorrow’s adults.
Wanting a community to lean into? Join the FREE Courageous + Purposeful Mommas group! This community is for the Mommas, mommas to be, in the midst of raising, and kids grown, looking for tips on building your family up and providing for them through natural methods. Tips include: gardening, bulk buying, caning,/preserving, livestock, homesteading, and home remedies. Your family is precious, and this group is to help you gain the knowledge and tools to keep your family well and not reliant on outside professionals. Remedies and tips are easy and simple for the busy momma, time is precious after all, including pregnancy, birth, young kids, and illness. Trust your Momma gut again! This community offers the resources + community you need to help get started on your journey and prepare for whatever future you envision.
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