This is a story and short bio I wrote a little over a year ago…you can now read it and several other encouraging short stories written by ladies all over the world in “Tough times don’t last ~ Tough women do” Now available on www.teafortheheart.com!

(Copyright © 2011 by A Cup of Tea for the Heart, LLC. All rights reserved.)

About five years ago I met one of the loves of my life— Breezy, a bay six-year-old Quarter Horse mare.She was nothing but a trail horse at the time and quite frankly not much to look at. Her coat wasn’t particularly shiny, she wasn’t all that strong and there had been a time in her life when she had been mistreated, and as a result she had  some trust issues … but none  of this mattered to me. In  fact,  at  the  time  I  didn’t  even  notice  how  unattractive she was physically. See, Breezy may have been “just a trail horse” but  when  I rode  her for the  first time, she and I  had  an  instant  bond that  even  my professional  trainers were amazed at. Horse crazy, starry-eyed, and with a passion for training horses, I was able to look right past her dull, shaggy hair, and  I saw something special in Breezy.  I wanted to help her become the best she could be.

The following fall we started making payments on Breezy  and  with  that,  I  started setting  goals  for her  and for both  of us as a team. With the help of my trainer, I was going to bring out Breezy’s inner barrel racer!

Just like in most things, there are many views on how to go  about training a barrel horse. I wanted a sure way, not  a fast  way or an  easy way,  but  a sure way.  I wanted to set her up for long-term success. Thankfully, I was blessed to know a very good trainer and friend to guide me along the way. So began the long process of building  a successful  barrel  horse!  It  started with  getting  her as healthy as possible—adding supplements to her feed, having the appropriate health professionals work on her, and exercising her every day. The next step was getting her  as “broke”  as possible … meaning,  making  sure she was a master at responding to all of the very basic cues I’d give her while on and off her back. Little did Breezy know, with each ride she was one step closer to becoming an equine athlete.

Once Breezy was in top physical condition  and well broke, it was time for the skill drills! Skill drills are exercises to practice different components of the barrel pattern before trying to master the entire pattern all at once. At a glance, barrel racing is simply 4 straight lines and  3 turns, but when the timer is counting down to the hundredth of each second, every tiny detail of those lines and circles count! Rather than trying to shove all the information for the entire pattern into both my horse’s and my head at  once, we  did  skill  drills.  And  skill  drills  we  did! There was a drill that  taught us how to line up for the first barrel turn, another drill taught us how to leave a barrel turn, yet another drill that taught us how to quickly pick up speed and then quickly slow down again for another tight turn. The list goes on. Some of the drills came naturally, and we mastered them in little time. Other drills took weeks and weeks before Breezy understood and we did them  once correctly. Always, the more  calm, trusting, and focused on me that Breezy was, the quicker we were able to move  on.  With each ride, Breezy  and  I became closer and a better working team. Over time, Breezy learned that she could totally trust me and that if she simply tried what I asked, there  would be a reward. With each of these drills I was teaching Breezy  something, a small piece of the big pattern that was to come. Of course, she was learning these small components along the way without any idea that  they’d  all  be  fitting  together someday. I  purposely kept Breezy from seeing the big picture of the full pattern until she had mastered all of the pieces (including trust) first.

Where am I going with this anyway? The analogy didn’t really  dawn  on  me  until  this  year,  but  I  think  God  has a few  skill  drills  up  His  sleeve!  I  have  often  found  myself in a situation that seemed like it had no point other than frustration, only to find out later it had  a lesson to learn or reminder in it.I’m sure you’ve had  many  of these experiences as well. Sometimes it’s just a little thing you learn about yourself; sometimes it’s a huge  lesson about life. I like to think this means God is training us the sure way. He’s setting us up for long-term success! Even recently I’ve been in situations full of frustration and heartache that I still have  yet to understand what  I’m supposed to learn from  them, but  here’s the exciting  thing  about  that—it means God  isn’t  done with  me  yet!  It  means God  sees past all the dirt, horse hair, and more importantly—the sin that  I’m constantly covered in. He’s looking into my heart and He is seeing something special. God is sending all these ‘skill drills’ my way to see how I handle them,  for me to learn life skills, and most of all for me to learn to trust Him  completely  so that  He can  train  me  to be  the  best I can be. How exciting! No matter how confusing and tough the situation is, it gives me such a peace knowing God is my trainer!  Just like  I kept  Breezy  from seeing  the  barrel pattern until she was ready, God is keeping me from being able  to  see His  life  plan  for me  until  I’m  ready.  If  I  keep calm, trusting, and focused on Him through all of the skill drills, with God as my trainer … how can  I go wrong?!

So what happened? Today, Breezy is a successful barrel horse, and she continues to stay consistent and move forward.  Not  only  that,  but  she’s  gorgeous!  I  constantly get comments on her beauty, her shiny coat, long soft mane and tail, and beautiful head. She’s not always the fastest horse in the arena but she’s a crowd favorite wherever we go.

Breezy is a constant reminder to me. Occasionally she’ll  think  she now  has barrel  racing  mastered—I  can just see it in her eyes when she’s thinking, Kelci, I could win this race by myself. I don’t need your help! Well she’s probably right, but her attitude isn’t very nice. Since we do have to work as a team, if she goes into the arena with that  attitude, we aren’t going to succeed. It’s those days that I see Breezy as a good  reminder to check my attitude. I’m afraid all too often  I find I have  the same disrespectful attitude: God, I can handle this situation by myself. I don’t need your help this time! Wow. How dare  I?!  There  is  no way with that  attitude I’m going to succeed in the  ‘arena of life.’ Now, when Breezy is willing, trusting, and runs her heart out for me at a race, she’s a perfect example of the complete  trust and  willingness  I  should  have  in  and  for the Lord. Her heart and determination are an inspiration to me.  I pray  that  I run the  race  of life determined and  with my whole heart in it for the Lord!

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge Him,

and He will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5

Kelci L. Goad

I’m nineteen years old and  blessed with strong Christian parents, three brothers, one  ‘sister-in-love’  and  two  horses. Homeschooling  all  the way through high school has been one  of the  biggest blessings in my life thus far. I was able to discover and  explore my passion for training horses and  training people to train horses in much more  detail because of the  flexible schedule of studying from home. Along with training and competing on my own  horse, I had  several horse-related jobs through my high school years, including everything from mucking out  stalls to being a training apprentice my senior year with one  of the  leading professional trainers and  barrel racers in the Northwest. Now with a dream to turn  my passion  into  a career, I’m  going  to continue  my education studying equine business. I can’t wait to introduce more  people both young  and  old to the  wonderful world of horses!

This story is from Tough Times Don’t Last ~ Tough Women Do, now available on www.teafortheheart.com.

Copyright © 2011 by A Cup of Tea for the Heart, LLC. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in
any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the
prior permission of the authors except as provided by USA copyright law.

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New
International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.
Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.