Paul Daily, the "dad" of the bunch, takes young colts who are sometimes wild and headstrong, colts who have no path set before them, and uses his keen horse sense combined with his faith in God to gentle these animals without nary a hand placed on them.
He works WITH the horse, not against it.
Paul takes a colt and puts it in a round pen, not knowing a thing about it or having any previous experience with it beforehand. Now, when you're a wild colt, you're going to flee and fight to stay wild and free. You're going to run AWAY from resistance. That's all very well for some, "but wild and free", says Paul Daily in his deep southern drawl, "means the horse has no real purpose in life, just as with people. What is this horses purpose?" he asks the crowd.
Paul would work this horse in circles, letting him feel the need to run away and stay free. 'Round and around he went in that round pen, staying away from Paul and desperate to keep his carefree life just the way it is.
But there's just one little problem for this horse..."you see," explains Paul, "in the path of life there is Satan".
And there he was, Satan himself was right there in that round pen with that horse (literally).... but THIS Satan was in the shape of a large black lab. "Satan" the labrador would chase the young colt, stay at its heels, circling him, trying to keep the colt under HIS control. "Satan is here cuz he wants to cause problems".
After many circles and getting a bit tired, the colt decides to stop, and when the colt stops, so does Paul. The colt moves out again, and so does Paul. After awhile, the colt stops, and so does Paul. The colt turns his head in towards Paul to face him, and that's what Paul was waiting for.
"You see there?" he says. "This colt is deciding 'Hey, maybe if I can accept you in my life, I can stop running and see what kind of purpose you have for me'". explains Paul. "Same with accepting God into OUR lives, we have purpose, and He can guide us to what that purpose is, if we stop running and hand ourselves over to Him."
Now, one thing Paul makes very clear to his audience, he is merely a tool of God, he is not playing the role of God. He is only using a reference pertaining to the horse for the message he is trying to spread.
Then Paul got out a long "stick" with a glove attached to the end of it, and used this for an outstretched hand to try and stroke the horse. The horse, of course, was fearful of this and ran away. Paul followed the horse wherever he went, trying to stroke him with the glove. Eventually, the horse decided to stop. Still scared, the horse tucked his rump under him as the "hand" touched him. After awhile, the hand became...not so scary to the horse...and the horse began to accept it. It actually turned into a good thing, as the colt started to relax and accept this strange hand that was reaching out to him. "Just like God's hand, " says Paul.
After awhile, Pauls' young and beautiful daughter, Lenora Daily, stepped in to continue where Paul left off.
If sweet tea had a voice, it would sound like Lenora Daily's. That southern drawl and gentle nature mesmorized the horse, AND the audience. She started ground working the colt, getting it used to giving in to pressure points when and where she applied them.
Lenora would keep applying pressure until the horse eased in to her touch. "Now he's real confused at what I want outta him, but he's startin' to give in to my touch cuz he's uh learnin' it's easier that way. Same with God, if ya just let him into yer life, things become clearer and less confusing over time."
She stroked the horse, charming it under her magical spell, and prepared it for its first ever saddling.
She rubbed the horses belly. "Whut you doin' thar darlin'?" asks her daddy atop his horse.
"Wail daddy, I'm uh rubbin' this horses' belly so's thar's no dried mud'er cockleburr's thar...so when I saddle'im he doesn't go uh buckin'". She then looked at the audience "Any of you ever have a cockleburr in yer life?", which was met with rounds of laughter.
Dan Daiy brought out the saddle for Lenora, and after little refusal from the colt, had the cinch tightened up and ready to go. A few rounds were made as the horse settled in to the feel of the saddle.
Dan got on his horse, and with daddy Paul also inside the corral on his horse, Lenora stepped in the stirrup and gave one big bounce, testing the colt for acceptance. In one swift motion she was astride the horse, who had a bewildred but otherwise "ok" look about him.
With Dan and Paul to keep close to Lenora, the colt took his first steps with Lenora on him. First a walk...then a trot...then a good lope. The colt started to get a little ornery, and Lenora was beared down and ready for a good buckin'. Paul was in the colt's way, and a deep southern accent she hollers "Here I come DADDY!!" as the colt was about to blow. But...it didn't blow. It settled back down in a lope and all was well.
It was a glorious and successful first ride. The colt was already a more well rounded animal, accepting of the human hand, and having direction in his life. He was no longer resisting the hand that he was once feared....and would ya know it, after handing his trust over to what he once fought against...
...that pesky Satan was nowhere to be found in the corral bothering that horse anymore.
A life lesson to think about.
The training lesson ended in a beautiful prayer, just as it hand opened with. I was moved and touched by the whole experience.
I took many photo's during the entire session, and was unaware that anyone was paying attention to me. But at the end of the prayer, I overheard the pastor say over the intercom mumble soething like "you might wanna grab that young lady takin' the photo's and see if ya can get her to sned some". I heard it but had no idea he was speaking about me.
I went with Elyssa to buy a few of the t-shirts. They were $10 each but I only had enough to buy 3, and I wanted 4. Putting the 4th back, I handed the $30 over to the sweet lady selling them. Strangely, she only took $20 and pushed the other 10 back at me, AND let me have the fourth t-shirt.
She says sweetly, "you take that 4th shirt, and you take the money, and how 'bout ya mail me some of them pictures you got today? Is it a deal?"
I was floored that they would want MY pictures, but they did. They really DID! They didn't even know if I was a GOOD photographer or not! I struck the deal and away we went, humbled and proud to be a part of such a great community of people. I will get their photo's in the mail for them (I also opened their own photo account so they can see them sooner).
Opening prayer:
Dan Daily:
Paul, the colt, and "Satan"
That darn Satan makin' a mess of everything, and keepin' this horse wound up!
Lenora works her southern charms over horse and crowd..
Saddle time..
"Here I come DADDY!!"
Lenora, sending her calming energy..
This horse was so relaxed after she was done with him, she couldn't get him on his feet! Took her dad and brother to rock him back to his feet!
Ending prayer..
This one moved me to pert'near tears, when members of the Cowboy Church joined in the prayer circle..
