Tuesday, June 10, 2008

God's Hand...



What a journey, eh? Thank you so much, each and every one of you, for sticking with my indecision, whining, crying and celebrating these past few months. Wild ride, wouldn't you say?

Five months ago I wasn't sure if I had what it took to get the job done. I prayed. You prayed with me. God answered with a song, Brooks and Dunn's "God Must Be Busy". In the song there is a line that talks about his prayer being nothing more than a Speck Of Sand in the great scheme of things. That's just how I felt...what was the purpose for praying for something so small when we've got wars being fought, children dying and more in this world? But I told God that if I were accepted into the challenge, I'd name my horse Speck of Sand so that I'd remember that He was the reason behind it all.

When Sandy came home, he lacked even more confidence than I did. I remember telling myself (over and over) that this was God's horse, the horse he'd granted me, so it had to be the right horse despite how it appeared things weren't progressing here in the rain.

Then Curt got hurt. Talk about God's timing! Curt had an annuerysm and no way would he have gone to the doctor (in fact he'd ignored the early symptoms) had his ribs not been in such pain. And had he not been in pain, he wouldn't have needed my help to clean stalls and keep horses legged up. You wouldn't generally think that getting thrown from a horse into a wall would be a good thing, would you? But it could have saved his life and it most definitely got Sandy and I a solid foundation. So solid, in fact, that by the time we ended up in Sacramento last week people teased I'd been telling tall tales here regarding Sandy's progress; he definitely looked like a top ten contender.

And then he was lame. I cried. I couldn't believe that we'd gone from being unsure I'd be able to ride, to knowing we had a shot at the top ten, back to not being able to ride. And some folks hinted that perhaps I was doing this to keep the price down at the adoption so I could keep him. That was hard to swallow. I knew that's what it looked like and I'd considered that when I pulled him, and knew as well that his price would be lower as a result. He was on butte which helped, and it was hard to see the pain if you didn't know him. He looked at me with grumpy eyes and he hadn't rolled since Thursday.

When I called Curt and Linda that afternoon to tell them what I'd done, Linda was watching the Belmont Stakes and was telling me that Big Brown was fighting his jockey. I stayed on the phone until after the race and she heard the interview; "The win wasn't worth risking the horse", she repeated after the jockey. I nearly cried. Big Brown had a shot at the triple crown while the world watched, and I was only doing a small challenge with a few thousand people. But our stories were the same. Sandy was more important than the ride.

City Boy'd said he figured we could go no higher than $1000. That night, despite Patti Colbert announcing to everyone that she'd seen my horse walk, jog and loping plus doing flawless simple changes and that she knew he'd have made the top ten if I hadn't pulled him, people only bid against City Boy until we reached our top price...and then the bidding stopped. God had known I would pull my horse rather than risk injury, and that decision kept the price low enough to send Speck Of Sand home.

Back in the beginning, when Darling learned why I'd named Sandy what I had, she told me that in God's eyes no prayer is as small as a speck of sand, and that all our prayers are equally important to Him. With all I learned these past few months, that was the most important. All our prayers are important to God!

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks. Im Inspired again.

Lady Of Chaos said...

FLT said it all. :)

Katee said...

First of all, if you noticed a spike in visits to your blog in the last couple days you should know I probably count for a big portion of those...I have been checking your site maniacally the last few days, anxious for updates!

Congratulations on your success. You got to hear from respected horse people that you'd done a great job with Sandy, experienced an amazing event, and (I hope) now feel closer to God. That's quite a weekend!

I am super bummed that you didn't get to compete with Sandy, but glad that he wasn't forced to work through pain. I am so excited for you that Sandy was able to come home. You two are going to have such good times together and I'm sure he'll tell your mares how great being a riding horse is.

There's another great song line that says "If you wanna hear God laugh, tell him your plans." You, me, Sandy, Darling...God has a plan for us all and if we put our trust in His plan and remember that He does hear our prayers we can never fail.

Congratulations, Tracey!

Christy said...

You made me cry....I am so inspired by you right now....maybe someday I can do it too!

Congrats to you and Sandy, a match made in Heaven!

Molly said...

A hearty congratulations on all counts. Sandy going home is so much more important than saying top ten. You two are rock solid.

Anonymous said...

Tracey -So happy you brought Sandy home - I see a very long future for both of you together. I looked for you at the Expo, and never did catch up -- darn it, was really looking forward to meeting you - but I did get to love on Sandy a little. Best wishes..Loved reading the reason for his name, I hadn't caught that before. Very special.

Kathy M said...

Tracey you did the right thing, and yes people tease, or be rude but the other trainers all know the truth.

You've done your job right if you do your best with the horse you brought home, and you always consider what is best for the horse.

You did that in spades. Even though you couldn't ride you let people know how wonderful these horses are, and you helped Sandy to become a happy with humans horse!

God does work in seemingly simple or strange ways to point us in new directions.. I have fond that while the road is sometimes a bit rough, it always seem to lead to good places to spend a bit of your life in.

Nuzzling Muzzles said...

It did all come together, didn't it? I don't know if you are aware, but Chris Cox stopped one of his clinics because a horse got hurt and he didn't want to risk further injury. He was showing how to trailer a horse and had been provided a cattle trailer with sharp air slats. The horse tried to stick its head out the slat and cut its jaw. Chris received a loud applause of approval for stopping the clinic in favor of the horse.

Rising Rainbow said...

Words can't express how proud I am of you. It wasn't just a decision made at the expo but right from the start. Each step of this journey you have kept the good of this horse foremost in your mind.

Sandy couldn't be more lucky to have you and that goes for Curt too. This plan turned out best for all parties and that's pretty darn cool.

As for those people saying ugly things, that's their problem. There will always be people like that in the world knocking down what other people do. What they say isn't important any, what matters is what's in your heart.

Shirley said...

What a wonderful story! It proves the old saying, "all things work together for good to them that love God". And I love the story of how you named your horse(doesn't that feel good to call him Your Horse?). I always wondered how a bay horse could be called Sandy!

Callie said...

What a nice post. It's clear that Sandy is in the right home! :)

Weston Murray said...

What a journey Tracey. Is Sandy still lame? Any verdict on what is up?

Gecko said...

That's beautiful! I had no idea there was such a story behind his name. You've made my day with that! Sandy truely is a gift from God, to you. =)

Anonymous said...

It's all in G-d's hands... My horses teach me that every day !!!

happy trails
GP in Montana