YIELD

First, let me just say that I can't believe it's snowing...isn't it gorgeous? Makes me want to make cookies or wrap Christmas presents or something. Anyway, so I thought I'd share- I have so many "ah-ha" moments at the barn. I had one this morning so I thought I'd share. One of the things you are suppose to teach a horse is to "yield" to pressure. Basically, you make them uncomfortable so that they move away from the pressure.The idea is to make the right choice easy and the wrong choice hard or uncomfortable. We've really been working with Star on this the past few weeks, because days it seems that she was never taught anything at all...She's made huge improvements with backing up especially and moving over...you poke her firmly in the ribs if you want her to move over and she moves either left or right, away from your finger which is poking her, away from the pressure. She's yielding to the pressure. If Hannah sticks her finger in her chest, she backs up really well. She's yielding to the pressure. That's exactly what we want her to do...of course she does have a mind of her own and is very smart. This morning, I dumped her food in her bucket in her stall (where she's been all night because of the rain and cold), then I commenced to shoveling manure (don't want to hear anyone complaining about changing diapers!). She was making it very difficult for me to move around in the stall. Essentially, she was in my way. So, I poked her in the ribs with my finger...remember that's her cue to "yield" and move her can over so I can get by. Well, she laid her ears back (not good) and slung her head at me. I poked her again and she did the same thing. Basically she wasn't going to budge. In horse language she was probably doing the equivalent of flipping me off. In horse-ese she was hacked off that she'd been locked up all night and was asserting herself...something she can control. She was being very disrespectful & stubborn and if I'd been out in the open and not confined to the stall, I'd probably have shoved her over and been more aggressive, but having nowhere to go, I let her stand where she wanted to. I squirmed past her a half dozen times with a rake full of manure to throw in the wheelbarrow, thinking the entire time how much easier it would be if she'd have just moved over out of my way. So here was where I had my "ah-ha" moment (I think it might be the fumes from the sewer pond beside the barn that causes these); so I was thinking...how many times a day do we refuse to yield to God or to the Holy Spirit? He pokes us in the ribs and the chest daily and how many times do we respond with obedience? It's our nature, just like it's Star's nature, to refuse, to be stubborn, to choose to ignore the urgency to yield. I'll be the first to admit that 99% of the time, I want things to be my idea...doesn't that make it so much easier to "yield"? Who wants to admit that someone else's idea and another timetable is better than their own? Not me. So I'm pondering today this whole "yielding" thing and I'm going to make a conscious effort to be aware when I'm am being prodded by the Holy Spirit..to pick up the phone (which I hate to do), to drop a card in the mail, to lend a hand, to offer a word of encouragement, to do something out of selfish ambition, to take initiative and most importantly to witness to others.
On another note, I cannot believe you guys would rather fold laundry than pull weeds! Pulling weeds is one of my favorite things to do. Yes really!