The Horses

My father loved horses. He collected them like I collect sheep. I believe the most he had was 14 at once. Unless a horse is expensive, a race horse or rodeo horse or fancy riding horse they mostly consume hay or grass and aren't worth much except to their owner. Daddy's horses were his horses. Only two were trained to ride and the others were mostly red, brown and white wild things that might allow petting them or maybe even currying but we didn't try to ride them.

The horses were a beautiful sight in the pastures, especially when they would run back and forth or around the fence lines, manes and tails flowing gracefully in the wind. I loved watching them and feeding them a handful of green grass that was out of their reach.

Living History Farms horses

One day I decided I would ride a horse the two miles to a neighbor's house. I chose "Chip," a brown and white husky pony, to ride. He was Daddy's horse and I should have known better. But the neighbor brought over her horse so I was going to ride back with her and then come home alone. Surprisingly, Chip cooperated pretty well in following the other horse to her home. It was a long afternoon and when I decided to head home, Chip wasn't happy about it. I ended up leading (tugging) Chip away from the neighbor's house, until the other horse was out of sight. The tall corn in the fields
helped.

I decided to try riding Chip home once I got him distracted from the neighbors. I got on and coaxed Chip to move ahead. I struggled a quarter mile with him stubbornly trying to turn around or stand still. Finally we got close to our back property line, unbeknownst to me, and Chip became ready to go home. In a sudden burst of energy Chip took off down the driveway and through the cornfield. There was no controlling him or slowing him down. I hung on for dear life, all the while my bare legs were being sliced by the corn leaves slapping me, left and right. He ran the full half mile through the field, reached the barnyard and ran directly to his pen in the barn in one fell swoop. I'm pretty sure I must have been crying, probably sobbing from fear and pain, but I stayed on, that was the main thing.

Horses are mentioned in the Bible. Zechariah has a dream about horses.

"During the night I had a vision and there before me was a man riding a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses. I asked, "What are these, my lord?" The angel who was talking with me answered, "I will show you what they are." Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, "They are the ones the Lord has sent to go throughout the earth." (Zechariah 1:8-9 NIV).

Here God uses horses to represent His involvement in world governments and the angel announces that all nations were at peace except Israel, still oppressed and despised. But God planned a change. His people were free and they would return and rebuild his temple.

I'm pretty sure I've had a dream about riding Chip through the cornfield, many times over the past 50 years! God was teaching me a lesson, too.