Blessings and disappointments…
Proverbs 21:31 “The horse is prepared for the day of battle, But deliverance and victory belong to the Lord.”
Proverbs 21:31 AMP
https://bible.com/bible/1588/pro.21.31.AMP
The whole chapter of Proverbs 21 is guidance for the Christian people in life and conduct. This last week for us around here has been a week of blessing and disappointments and edifications as well as some gut check moments. It’s truly amazing to me personally to see how God is working in our lives and where he will choose to show up and give us the smallest hint that he is with us and we are in his plans.
Although I rises the entire chapter the main theme this week is the horses. As many of you know Kyndal and I are attempting to purchase the property that we live in on in Oklahoma. As part of our commitment and our faith with God we agreed that we would sacrifice “whatever” it took to secure this land for our family’s legacy. To Kyndal and myself that meant we had to place our horses in his hands and commit them to sell if that’s what it took to get this done.
Our goals and dreams in the horse industry revolve around competing and that takes horses and extremely good ones as we all know. In the last few years we have put together some horses for both her and I that excel in the arena and are truly a pleasure to be around. In our world that means we’ve achieved our goals and so why would we sell them and have to start over.
That’s exactly what Kyndal did. Several years ago on Mother’s Day Kyndal found a horse on FB. That she wanted and had to have. I never even thought twice about it. I called and made the deal and so he was her’s. This was going to be the first one she trained herself fully for barrel competition. After going through some colt starters Kyndal got her 3yo Futurity hopeful home and went to work On him. There were a lot of days in the arena putting the hours and doing the work As a 4yo Futurity colt he did not disappoint winning nearly $30k as a 4 yo Futurity horse That in its own rite is affirmation that you have trained and ridden you horse to success. After Futurity work was done Kyndal headed to the rodeo arena with Aggie and they were taking the first step toward her dreams of qualifying for the NFR some day. It’s so very difficult to put your hopes and dreams for sale and not want to hold on to them so tightly, especially when you are well on your way headed in the right direction. Once again we committed anything and everything we weren’t holding anything back from God’s command. She sold Aggie to a wonderful home in California to a woman who had been gone from the completion arena for a few years and was now praying for the right horse to bring her back. Aggie happened to fit her bill and after a flight and a couple hours in the arena the deal was done and 2 days later he was on a trailer headed to California. We all know how hard it is to place our hopes and dreams in the hands of God and truly have faith that he is an abundance for us on the other side of it. Anyone can talk the talk but let me just say there is faith and strength in walking the walk. For that I want to take a moment right here to say as a husband I am so proud of the wife and woman of Gods that I have and she is truly inspiring to our children and to myself.
Now it’s my turn to fulfill my commitment to God and to hold up my faith. Two years ago this month a friend of mine called me and asked how much money I had to buy a head horse. I told him I had $3,000 on hand and he said let me see if I can make a deal for you. My $3,000 and a gift of another $2,000 got me White Dogg, the word on him was, he’s bad minded you can run 40 a day on him and he can mortally fly. But he was a head horse and I didn’t have one so why not roll the dice. After about 6 month of riding White Dogg proved he wasn’t at all bad minded and he just needed a chance ti be a good one. For the last 3 months I’ve been trying to sell White Dogg and I’ve called all my friends and buddies and told them I truly believe he’s a winner if they would just give him a chance. My friend Keven has been riding him since November and has told me the horse has gotten better and better. Still I can’t get anyone to really try him or give him a chance. Several guys have ridden him in the practice pen and said he’s really nice but none have made an offer. Friday before the US finals open roping about 9:30 in the morning a guy called me that had run 6 practice steers on White Dogg 2 weeks before called and asked if he could take White Dogg to the roping Sunday and compete in the open roping. It was the opportunity that I have been hoping for for him and I was blown away that he got the call. I hauled him to Fort Worth Sunday morning with so much excitement and anxiety that I could barely stand it. I was scared he might not do the job or that maybe I was wrong he’s not as good as I think and he wouldn’t be able to compete with the best of the best. The first round was a bit shaky but after a minor jockey adjustment the rest of the roping went well and at every turn I felt like White Dogg rose to the occasion and showed his quality. In the short round White Dogg and his rider were 3rd high call and made a good run to set the bar and go to the lead in the roping. I couldn’t have been more proud that he handled the day and completed the course without a bobble. After 2nd and high call teams had some difficulty all of the sudden our guy and our horse were the winners of the US Open one of the prize wins of the professional team roping world. I can’t even begin to express the range of emotions that came on the heels of that run as I was walking back out to the trailer but let me just say it was a relief. Now comes the part where I get to sell mine in faith that God has better wants better and will proved better for us because he know the plans he us for us. I said all of this to say Kyndal and I may have prepared our horses for “battle”, but in the end I think all the glory and the victory goes to God our Heavenly Father.