Horse Riding.

A Day Beside The Sea.

Not far from where I live there is a large equestrian centre. If I cycle along that road on a Saturday or Sunday then there is nothing surer than my following a number of large horse box trailer vans. At the centre itself it is good to see so many young people preparing their horses for whatever it is they are about take part in, either lesson or competition. 

The young people themselves are immaculately turned outing it is obvious there is a great sense of pride and love in the air. Of course there are also a lot of idolising parents around taking the pictures. 

In many cases there will have been many sacrifices made to assist the youngster in fulfilling the dream of riding a horse. 

This reminds me of a few stories I picked up as I moved among the farming community of my parishes.

One day a man passed by a farm and saw a beautiful horse. Hoping to buy the animal, he said to the farmer: 

"I think your horse looks pretty good, so I'll give you £500 for him."

"He doesn't look so good, and he's not for sale," the farmer said.

The man insisted, "I think he looks just fine and I'll up the price to £1,000."

"He doesn't look so good," the farmer said, "but if you want him that much, he's yours."

The next day the man came back raging mad. He went up to the farmer and screamed, "You sold me a blind horse. You cheated me!"

The farmer calmly replied, "I told you he didn't look so good, didn't I?"

Maybe he allowed his enthusiasm to get in the way of actually listening to what he was being told. 

A city dweller came to a farm and saw a beautiful horse. He decided he had to have the animal.

He bargained with the farmer and the farmer finally sold him the horse. 

The city man jumped on the horse and said, "Giddy-up!" The horse didn't budge.

The farmer explained, "This is a special kind of horse. He'll only move if you say, 'Praise the Lord.' To stop him, you have to say, 'Amen.'"

Keeping this in mind, the new owner yelled, "Praise the Lord!" whereupon the horse took off with great speed. Soon horse and rider were headed for a cliff.

Just in time the rider remembered to say "Amen!" 

The horse came to a screeching halt right at the edge of the cliff. 

Relieved, the rider raised his eyes to heaven and exclaimed, "Praise the Lord"

There is a time and a place for everything and this certainly was not the time to praise anyone other than the horse.

Have a great Saturday.