Velvet brought me one step closer to redemption. I don’t believe I’ve ever felt the need to scream outloud my need for Jesus to save me. I’ve had the thought many times, but I kept it internal. I’ve had conversations wtih Jesus and God before, but no one got to listen in. Velvet, the trained cow horse, got me to scream for help for all to hear. Everyone in the cow clinic and all the auditors and probably the neighbors heard me scream, “Lord Help Me Jesus!”
Velvet took over the cow. Velvet is a trained cow horse. She understands being a cutting horse. I’ve watched those cutting horses. I understand the concept. You put your hand and reins down on the horse’s neck because the horse just takes over keeping the cow away from the herd. The cow runs trying to get past you and get back into the herd. Your horse takes off and runs to keep herself between the little cow and it’s cow friends. Your horse blocks the cow.
It was in the 2nd dash and my hands were trying to communicate to Velvet what to do. But Tony pointed out that Velvet knew exactly what to do and to let her do it. This involved me giving total control to my horse. At that moment we were galloping back and forth. The cow ran. Velvet ran to cut the cow off. The cow turned the other way and ran off. Velvet turned and ran to cut her off.
I’ve rode Velvet bridleless before thousands and thousands of times. I’ve ridden her bridleless in front of large crowds of people. But I’ve always been mostly in control of everything she did. Occasionally, she would make a turn thru the middle of the arena that I wanted, but I pretended that cantering around the arena was exactly what I wanted to do. That was nice easy going cantering.
Velvet was in charge of the cow. She was galloping short burst of impulsion, spinning the opposite direction and galloping off again. This was an entire new feeling which might have prompted me to yell out, “LORD HELP ME JESUS”!