August 14, 2020

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My Dearest God,

Grant me patience, for horses are harnessed wind and wind can be flighty. Let me not frighten or harm them, instead show me ways to understand them. 

 

If you are fearful, a horse will back off. If you are calm and confident, it will come forward. For those who are often flattered or feared, the horse can be a welcome mirror of the best in human nature.– Clare Balding

 

Horses are beautiful, big, strong and wonderful animals that I truly love with my whole heart.  I have studied and trained them for many, many years and am still learning new and exciting things about them every time I come into contact with them.  Just this weekend, Louie reminded me he can count!  I put 4 cookies in my pocket and only gave him 3, silly Carrie!

 

Horses also have a built in protection mode as a prey animal, it is fight or flight.  Generally they will flee whatever is scaring them, which at times seems like almost everything scares them.  They can see and hear much better than we can and are very perceptive and aware of their surroundings.  I have seen horses that have stared down a mad momma cow in the field not 5 minutes before, suddenly be terrified of a little flower blowing in the breeze (and dump me over it!)

 

Did you know that we also have a built in fight or flight response just like horses?  It is called Hyperarousal or Acute Stress Response.  It is a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived (or actual) threat to your survival.  The fear that activates this response can be perceived or real.  There is a couple of other responses that can be connected to the Fight or Flight response known as Freezing or Sacrifice. 

 

How I handle fear and stress can be very different from how you handle fear and stress.  Do you face it head on?  Move away from it and then face it?  Hide from it?  Think, ponder and pray?  I tend to do a little of all of the methods.  I am a little like a mule; kick it, run then turn ponder on it, if it doesn’t eat me, investigate it.  God has given us all coping mechanisms to deal with fear and stress, how you handle that fear and stress is built into you. 

 

2 Timothy 1:7 

For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

 Carrie


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