Hard Decisions.

Have you ever had a horse that you loved but didn’t click with and just could not figure out? I have had a few. But this last one, well, I raised him and God kept telling me “do what Is best for the horse”. I was perplexed.

So at first, I decided to invest some money into training and see how we could do as a team. It wasn’t working out. I put him up for sale and when I had to talk to someone about him….I immediately took down the ad. I could not do it. Nope. God told me again….do what’s best for the horse!

Round two, this horse and I had some arguments and some medical bills….I decided to sell him…..this was 5 years later? I even had people “try him”. Once again…..I brought him home with no offers and took down the ad. I cried. Ugly tears. See, the folks that tried him were from Florida area. One of his issues is humidity, allergies and the general “I can’t breathe” situation. Again, God said “ do what is right for the horse”. I took down the ad. I decided I would put a lot of effort into working out our issues, finding out how to keep his body happy (and mine), and really really tried! We pulled our first check almost exactly a year ago today! 2nd in the 1D! I was pumped! Well, then he started having a hard time again……I decided that he needed to go North.

I have some Facebook friends that have loved Goose for many many years and things just never worked out for them to buy him when I had him for sale the two times… Keep in mind, I KNEW he needed to be in a different environment. His allergies are horrible where we live. To the point that from March 1- October 1, he was in a dry lot to keep him away from eating things in the pasture he was allergic too (never could 💯 pinpoint what it was) and he was miserable between snot and heat as well as being “alone”. God again said “do what is right for the horse”. So we made the drive to Wyoming! I have to say that trusting my gut and my God, once again, was the right thing to do! After being in the trailer for 17 or so hours, he unloaded and I could already tell he could BREATHE. The next day we took him to the arena for his new mama to ride with help from me…..he was great! I mean….long haul, new EVERYTHING, AND HE WAS GREAT!

This decision was hard. Really hard. But at the same time, I felt at peace as soon as I set it in my brain. I was washed over with Grace. I don’t know how to explain the feeling. I just knew it was finally the RIGHT decision and I was doing what was best for the horse! I thought I would cry. I thought I would have a hard time telling him bye. I love this horse. I do. He is so full of personality that you can’t help but love him! But, I haven’t cried yet. It’s not that I’m like “thank God he is gone”. I would have kept him forever if he was comfortable here. Nope. This is a “Wow! He looks so much happier where he is now! He really likes his new jockey! He is finally comfortable and happy!”

I look forward to seeing him and his new jockey reach all kinds of new levels! She is a really awesome kid with some mad skills riding horses! I saw them as a team from the first five minutes of her riding him! Once she goes pro, I’m sure her and Goose will have already climbed all the ranks!

I guess my point is pretty simple. Sometimes we have to make hard decisions about our lives, horses, dogs, kiddos etc. But when you pray on it and get an answer, try to find out what God is saying. Sometimes He can be really vague. But I promise, if you keep praying about it, He will guide you to your answer! And that answer will bring you so much peace!