A client of mine, who has become a close friend, bought himself a new horse. It had always been a childhood dream of Martin’s to have his own horse, and his business had become solid enough that he felt he could afford the time. Being a methodical person, he thought long and hard about the type of horse he wanted; what color it should be, how old and how big it should be. He really took his time deciding. He checked all the newspaper listings and looked at all the horses listed at the barn where he rode. He was really looking forward to becoming a horse owner and getting down to work.
In the back of his mind he sort of had a picture of himself loping over the prairie, looking a bit like the Marlboro Man (without the cigarette part).
Well, after a few months of looking, he finally found what he wanted in the newspaper - Buster, a 4 year old paint gelding, 1.55 at the withers, healthy and sound. Without much ado, he bought the horse and had him transported to his stable.
And what a gorgeous horse Buster was! Dark brown and white markings, with one blue eye. But, as wonderfully nice as he was to look at, Buster was a handful to manage. It seems that Buster had indeed noticed that his new owner only weighed about 85 kilos, where he himself weighed easily 600.
The first few weeks were exciting, especially for Buster. Martin was dragged through the pastures, his feet were stomped on, he was bit twice and thrown off once. Buster was really living it up.
Martin began to get nervous. He didn’t want to get dragged any more, he didn’t want his feet stomped on, his fingers bit or get his face rubbed in the dirt. He started avoiding working with Buster and finding excuses why he couldn’t drive out to the barn.
His Clint Eastwood dreams were waning, his hopes were fading fast. This horse seemed just too big and too scary for him to make it work.
After a few months he decided it was best to forget it and to sell Buster. His dream just wasn’t working out. The horse was too big, too rambunctious - simply too much horse. He was scared and he didn’t want to go on.
Martin found a good home for the horse with a professional rider and figured it was best. Somebody else should deal with him, and that somebody had to be pretty solid and tough.
The day Buster was to be picked up by the transporter, Martin went out to the pasture to bring him in. He looked at the grazing horse and knew that with him went his dream, but that’s how life worked some times. He sighed, nervously slipped the halter over his ears and lead Buster carefully in.
Oh, I’d say as they were about half way to the gate, the horses in the other pasture suddenly began to run and buck, having a good, wild time. Buster’s head shot into the air, nostrils flaring, eyes wide. What was this? Playing without me? He gathered himself and prepared to take off - in a straight line over the top of his horrified owner.
Martin saw it coming and knew that this was going to hurt. But finally, in a moment of clarity, he suddenly knew what he had to do. He quickly turned toward Buster and stood his ground, trying to look big. He squared his shoulders and looked that horse straight in the eye. “Stop right there, Buster. Don’t you move. I’ve had it. It’s you or me.”
Buster stopped immediately and dropped his head. This was something new. This took all the fun out of it. He relaxed his muscles and chewed. Hmmm. ‘Well’, he seemed to think, ‘I guess that was a bad idea. We’ll just walk in then, we two.’
Martin stood there with Buster’s lead in his hand; larger, stronger and tougher than ever before. Buster was no longer a scary horse, just a big, powerful and beautiful dream and now he knew that he held that dream right in his hand.
Aren’t all big scary situations just like big scary horses? They often seem so insurmountable and bigger than life that we get all caught up in their magnitude. We get all caught up in the fact that this could hurt. We forget that big scary situations, like big scary horses, are just being big and scary because we’re being small and frightened. If you just stand up tall, square your shoulders, look those scary things straight in the eye, you see that they’re not really as big, as scary or as insurmountable as you thought.
Big things are only big if you are small.
Have you got any big scary horses? Don’t forget that the more powerful the dream, the more scary it seems if you let it make you feel small. So remember Martin and Buster the horse with one blue eye. Scary horses are only scary until you get big.
Happy horsing,
Lisa
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