It's the end of the week and maybe it's been a hard week for you - or you're just tired in general. Sometimes we need something to give our spirits a little lift. Fortunately, God has endowed many of his creatures with a joy for life.
Enjoy the joy-filled bounce in this creature of God. (Be sure and have your sound on as the music is perfect.)
I know, dumb title. We had thought about riding this morning, but it was a little bit too breezy and cold so we'll try again on Friday.
Tomorrow morning, we're going to get up early so we can get down to the Bosque del Apache (Woods of the Apache) nature reserve before dawn. Bosque del Apache is a great bird habitat for Snow Geese, Sandhill Cranes, Bald Eagles, Canada Geese and tons of ducks. It's not uncommon to see coyotes there and some have even seen a cougar and elk there as well.
We'll have our cameras with us so hopefully we'll get some good pictures and maybe a movie as well.
I'll try to have something up by Friday.
We decided to ride Sugar and Morgunn out today. The last time we rode out with them was before Christmas. Since then, we've either done ground work with them or ridden in the back. We rode them over to the open sage area that's South of us. Our neighbor across the street has said it's fine for us to ride down his driveway to get to the open area.
There are dirt roads through the area so we have a choice of where we go. We decided to take the shortest route since it was the first time they were out and it was cold. Plus we had someone coming to the house today to give us an estimate on some landscaping work and he was due at noon.
Both horses did fine, but you could tell between the cold weather and being out for the first time in a while they both were full of energy. I did several serpentines with Sugar to help her keep her mind focused on me. So we were happy with this first ride out.
We cleaned and oiled our saddles this past weekend. I gave my new, squeaky Tucker saddle a good oiling with pure neatsfoot oil and then went back over it again with Bicks Leather Conditioner. Bicks is my favorite conditioner. We first encountered it in Ohio when we went to an Amish saddlery and that's what they used for all of their tack. I figured if it was good enough for the Amish it would work for us. That's what we've used ever since and we haven't been disappointed.
The saddle had very little squeak when I rode in it this morning and the more I rode the better it got. It had hardly any squeak by the time we got home.
We hope to get out again on Wednesday because we're supposed to have rain and snow showers tomorrow.
A good day.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV) There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens...
It's Winter and, of course, that's a season. But God is taking about something else when he says there's a season for every activity under the heavens. He then gives a pretty specific list of activities
A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
Some times are very significant - a time to be born and to die, a time to kill and to heal, a time for war and peace. Some are relational - a time to embrace and refrain from embracing. Some seem inconsequential - a time a keep and to throw away, a time to scatter stones and to gather them. Some are emotional - a time to weep and to laugh, a time to mourn and to dance. Some are daily work - a time to plant and to uproot, a time to tear down and to build.
Sounds a lot like our lives - significance, relational, inconsequential, emotional and daily work in the midst of it all.
The Hebrew word for season is 'zeman' which literally means to fix a time, an appointed occasion.
I believe God fixes a time, appoints each occasion for the seasons of our lives. Some seasons are full and bountiful. Some seasons are struggles, filled with hardship and pain. Some seasons are seasons of waiting.
I believe Betty and I are in a season of waiting. If often feels as if we're disconnected from the things that used to fill us with significance and joy. For me things have changed a lot.
Ever since I was 24 years old I have been in positions of leadership - responsible for people, programs, activities, budgets, etc. It started with my four years as an officer in the Navy. At that tender age I was given far more responsibility for people and things than most young people find in many years in business. Then I joined Procter & Gamble and for the next 27 years I filled various leadership positions as I worked my way up the corporate ladder.
Toward the latter part of my career I became active in church ministries and led many different ministries from small groups to pastoral counseling teams.
As I got older, especially as I entered my 60's, I realized something. My love for God and doing his work is still strong. However, my enthusiasm for leading and being responsible for others and programs has burned out. I no longer have the emotional or physical energy to be responsible for others. It took several years of work to prepare people to take our place in our church ministries, but a little over a year ago Betty and I were finally able to step down from leadership - after over 40 years.
So, what does God have next for us? I don't know. We're content for the moment to work in the background - to be in a season of waiting.
Betty and I worked with Sugar and Morgunn this morning in the back. I wanted to give Sugar another easy ride to be sure the new saddle is working for her and it seems to be fine.
To make it more interesting for everyone, besides doing the normal exercises we do, we added some distractions. We put flags in the cones that flap in the breeze, noodles and hula hoops on the ground that move when stepped on and a couple of wind flowers by the center cone. The hula hoops have beads in them that make a noise when they’re touched.
The cones are set up in a shape where we can work on turns to improve our softness as well as their softness. We use the bridge to work on control and trust. I was in our round pen where we have two large white barrels. We use the round pen to work on turns by doing figure eights around the barrels and to ride circles.
The morning went well and, if the weather permits next week, we’ll take them out for a trail ride.
Here’s a short video of Betty and Morgunn.
There's nothing wrong with buying and using items previously used by others. In many cases, it's the smart way to go.
However, it's always fun to get something new. For a horse person, the only thing better than a new horse is a new saddle. Yesterday, Betty and I went to Dan's Boots and Saddles to pick up the new saddle I ordered for Sugar.
It's a Tucker endurance saddle and our friend from Dan's, Melanie Scholer, came out before Christmas and measured Sugar. She sent the measurements to the folks at Tucker and they made this saddle specifically for her.
Since Betty's riding Morgunn, she's using the Steele Custom saddle we had made for him about four years ago as it still fits him well. It's a good saddle for Betty to ride in. I tried Betty's Steele Custom saddle we bought when we got Gletta, her first horse. That was a great saddle for Gletta, but it never seemed to fit Sugar as well as I wanted.
I used the new saddle this morning as we exercised the horses in the back. The saddle seemed to be a good fit for Sugar and she moved freely and well under it. We'll ride in the back again tomorrow to give her more time to get used to it and then next week we'll take them out for a trail ride to see how she does.
The only problem is being a new saddle it has a lot of new saddle squeaks, but I expect that to go away as it's broken in.
It's a cold, damp day here in New Mexico so I thought this video of a sunny, Fall afternoon delight would cheer us all up.
Enjoy.
