Great Horse Stories by Rebecca E. Ondov

I train horses professionally if I can’t even ride one I’ve trained for years? she wondered. Maybe she wasn’t cut out for this type of a life. Worse yet, she’dforgotten to bring registration papers for one of the horses, so the sale wouldn’t be complete until she mailed them.
    The following morning her phone rang. It was the trainer she’d been working with asking how everything went. Callie shared her disappointment.
    The trainer said, “Well, come by tomorrow. You can ride So What.”
    Callie’s countenance lifted, but the next day turned out to be another disaster. The trainer had tossed the fancy show saddle on So What, and Callie lunged him. He responded well, so she climbed aboard and rode him around the outdoor arena. She cued him to lope. The gelding changed gaits perfectly. Suddenly he dropped his head, hunched up in the middle, and bucked. Unprepared, Callie’s body hammered the saddle. All her bruises and sore muscles screamed in pain. After a few hops, she lost a stirrup and fell out of the saddle. With a puff of dirt, she smacked the ground.
    The trainer and Callie looked the equipment over carefully and determined something was uncomfortable on the saddle that caused both horses to buck. Even knowing that, Callie’s confidence had been thoroughly shattered. She was done working with horses. Finished.
    A few days later Callie sat on her bed going through boxes of old papers. She was looking for the one mare’s registration so she could complete the sale. She dug through her old school assignments. The teachers had asked the students to write about subjects that interested them. Callie’s papers had been about raising and training horses.
    She stopped what she was doing and reminisced about her first horse, Little Bit. She was a short, fat, bay mare that really belonged to her dad. Little Bit was born about the same time as Callie, so they grew up together. By the time Callie was eight, she’d saved up enough money to buy a kid’s saddle. She’d saddle Little Bit, and then climb on a stool to pull herself into the saddle. Once settled in, she would ride around the small pasture. When Little Bit decided she’d had enough, she would hop into the air, curl her body into a “C,” and buck until Callie flew off and landed in a heap. The little girl’s temper would flare! She’d grab the reins, stomp across the pasture, get Little Bit into position, and then use the stool to climb back on the horse. Time after timethe mare dumped Callie. Every time she rode, she would be tossed three or four times. But Callie never gave up. She always got back on.
    Getting back to work, Callie found the mare’s registration and scooped the pile of school papers back into the box. Over the next couple of days she mulled over the persistence Little Bit had taught her. Callie knew God had indeed put horses inside her. It was time to put the lesson she’d learned from Little Bit into practice—to put the bucking behind her and get back on and ride.
    Callie’s challenge of choosing to quit or to persevere resembles our everyday lives. She had to give up two mares she loved in order to move forward toward her next dream. Then everything went haywire. When we get bucked off life, it hurts. We might blame ourselves, others, or even God. We get discouraged and want to quit. But none of those things carry us toward building the life of faith God desires for us.
    Our God knows how tough life can be. That’s why He encourages us through His Word. Hebrews 10:36 says, “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” A happy and fulfilled life is achieved when we strengthen our spirits with the Word of God and then put our foot into the stirrup and get back on. And that is exactly what Callie did. She now owns and is training So What, the horse of her dreams.
    Lord, when life