Ask Isis

 

Living

 

So often we want very much to do something or accomplish something but fear of failure stops us from even beginning. The next time fear intrudes on your dreams think of this: What is the worse thing that can happen if you follow your dream? Would you be worse off then you are now? Would you have the satisfaction of knowing you tried? Now what is the best thing that could happen? How would trying, win or lose enrich your life? People who never try stay in the same place and that place becomes a rut. Are you willing to spend your life digging yourself into a hole? Think about it.

 

When I was a young wife and Mother to a 2 year old son I was married to a man that would do his best to see to it that I got anything I asked for. I learned then the valuable lesson of “Be careful what you wish for as you might be so unlucky as to get it.”

 

We were living in El Paso, Texas and planning to move to New Mexico when I decided that it would be fun to ride a horse from Texas to our new home in northern New Mexico. So we bought two riding horses and off we went with our 2 year old son up front of my husband’s saddle to view the wide, wide world on the back of a horse. Nighttime came and we hobbled our horses and unrolled our bedrolls. Unfortunately I must not have done a good job of hobbling my horse because in the morning I was short one horse. Here we are in the middle of nowhere with only one horse, but just before I could panic a young man came riding by and stopped to speak with us. When we told him our problem he said he had just the thing. The ‘thing’ turned out to be a 22-year-old brush-tailed mustang. That mustang was the fastest horse for a short stretch that I had ever seen. Unfortunately I found out just how fast she was when we needed to travel on the highway and truckers blew their air-horns. This scared the mustang so badly that off she would take with me hanging on for dear life. Knowing that the mare and I would soon be wore out if something wasn’t done I gritted my teeth and learned to control her. The first time I pulled on the reins I thought that my arms were being pulled out of my sockets but with time I either became stronger or she tired because I was soon capable of controlling her.

 When we arrived in Silver Springs we were lucky enough to find a place where we could corral the horses. My darling husband was so enamored with riding horses that he bought a buckskin gelding. Now it was my job to feed these horses, so each day I would go to the paddock and get out the hay, which was kept in a shed. The buckskin didn’t like women or at least he didn’t like me so every time I’d go into the shed to get the hay he’d kick the door closed and wouldn’t let me out until he got tired of the game. Needless to say I wasn’t too happy with this game of his and tried to persuade my husband that the gelding would be better off with someone else. But my pleas fell on deaf ears. All he saw was the beauty of the buckskin. Then one day we are out riding with my husband mounted on the buckskin. I was in front, leading the way when his horse decided that I might be good to eat. I had had it up to here with that dang horse and so I pulled my foot out of the stirrup and kicked him square in the face. That gelding stood up on his hind legs and fell over backwards with my husband jumping off just in time.

 

 After a time we were offered an opportunity in Deming so moved there and bought more horses and we opened up a riding school. Oh yes, we also bought male burro. That burro was more popular than all the horses.

 

One day we decided to buy another horse but this one was wild. The owners said we could have it for very little if we could lasso it. Into their corral we went. What I was doing in the corral with wild horses I don’t remember but I certainly walked in to that corral with all the confidence of a stupid person. Now this corral had about 15 other wild horses penned as well as a tiny burro. Every-time my husband tried to lasso the horse we were buying the horse would duck his head and the lasso would fail in its mission and the donkey would give a laughing bray. Soon this commotion agitated the wild horses and they started running. Unfortunately I was in the way and in danger of being stomped but at the last moment I noticed that the pen had been enlarged at one time and there was a piece of wood on the ground that was high enough that the horses would need to jump it. Crossing my fingers I laid down beside this wood and just in time. 15 horses jumped over my trembling body and they didn’t jump just once. It took about three tries before my husband got the horses calmed down enough that I could get up. Oh yes, he finally lassoed that horse but only when I was safely out of the corral.

 

Napoleon Hill said: “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe he can achieve.” I conceived of traveling by horseback. Believed that I could do it and did it.

Did you find my tale interesting? Have you accomplished something unusual in your life? Let me know.

Contact ISIS at: <askisis@isistemple.org >