“I’m sick of learning everything by trial and error!”, I told My business partner after one very frustrated phone call years ago. He laughed and said, “kid, that’s how you know your getting things done.”
I didn’t always see eye to eye with that wise man’s business philosophy but I find myself thinking of him today. As we pull the horse trailer away, I can see from the side mirrors some very happy kids. Excited for their big adventure with their new mini horse. I don’t dare sneak a peak behind me in my own vehicle. Those kids faces I’m not ready to face yet.
Kaleah went to a new home this past weekend. A home with lots of kids who plan to brush her and love her and learn the value of the bond a horse can have with its owner. Although we only had her 6 months, that little mini left a big imprint on our hearts that will be hard to forget.
Trial and error is for the birds, my friend tells me. I can’t help but agree. And sharing that lesson with my kids at this early age is tough, but if we didn’t try than we didn’t learn.
We have to learn what works for us on this farm. We can theorize, plan for worst possible scenarios, dream of ideal situations and plan out each detail. But in the end, we just have to try it out and give it the old trial and error.
Kaleah didn’t work here on our farm. Her eating requirements made have multi species in the same pasture difficult. Her princess attitude didn’t work well when we had the queen bee of farm animals, the family milk cow. And her bond with Big Zipper (though no fault of her own) made Zip a difficult horse to ride off the property. Her little stature made taking her with me on trail rides difficult.
I had seen the writing on the wall for a few months but like all things farm life, became very stubborn and determined to make it work. I listed her for sale several times and showed her twice. Each time I took the ad down and told the families we just weren’t ready. We weren’t. I wasn’t. I wasn’t ready to look into that review mirror to see my own kids faces as we drove away from their first horse. I wasn’t ready to break the heart of my big handsome paint.
I finally got a phone call I couldn’t ignore from a family who was referred to me by a local 4H group. A family looking for a little pasture pet for their daughter to teach her responsibilities of horse ownership. They came out for a visit to meet Kaleah and Madden proudly showed her off. He showed them how to brush her, how to pick her feet, how to lead her with authority and finally how to approach her so that she could see you coming behind that luscious main that almost always covered her eyes. It was the moment I needed to see, the moment I was waiting for. He had learned so much about that little mini in the past 6 months. Showing her with such confidence. He was ready to move on, it was time I was too.
Our herd of mismatches looks a little different these days. 7 goats grazing with one tall and handsome horse bringing in the rear. He’s learning to find new friends. We are all learning together. Trail and error really is for the birds, but unfortunately when your starting out, it really can’t be avoided. And I can’t help but think back to that frustrated phone call years ago, at least I’m getting things done.
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