Ransoming Sunshine
For the Lord hath
redeemed Jacob,
and ransomed him
from the hand of him
that was stronger than he.
Jeremiah
31:11
She was born with red hair and white
feet. A little ornery, but very good bloodlines.
You guessed it: she's a horse. A
very special horse. She gave a friend of mine a chance to show the rest of us
what true love is all about. The story goes like this:
My friend, "Annie," lives in a small
town in eastern Nebraska. She has loved horses all her life. She's great with
them, and they return the favor. When things aren't going well in her life, she
can always make herself feel better by mucking stalls, cleaning tack, grooming
the big, warm bodies, and best of all, feeling the power and joy that comes
from being a good rider on a good horse.
She has spent a lot of time at the
different barns around the area, just hanging out, pitching in, and observing
people and horses, not necessarily in that order. Annie has become a bit of a
horse whisperer or equine psychologist. She loves figuring out why horses act
the way they do, and what to do about it.
She came to know a pretty little
filly, "Sunshine," in one barn. Sunshine was a flashy sorrel with white
feet. Lots of potential there for a show horse. But Annie saw that the filly
was nervous around people, especially big men with booming voices. Like her,
the young horse was skinny and skittish.
One day, Sunshine was old enough for
her feet to be trimmed for the first time. The farrier came to do it. The filly
didn't like the sharp tool that was suddenly biting into her hoof. So she
bucked and kicked and refused to cooperate with the farrier, a big man with a
booming voice.
He is by no means a bad man or a
mean man. He just does things "the cowboy way." Sunshine's owner was OK with
it.
The farrier wanted to teach the
young horse a lesson. So he tied her up with her chin tight to the wall, and
proceeded to beat on her with a big, rough, metal file called a rasp.
Well, he beat her and beat her. All
four of the horse's legs were sliced open. Her hips had welts on them. Her
shoulders gleamed red with blood. But still, she fought him. So he led her out
onto the concrete, and flipped her.
That means he made her rear back so
that she fell on her back. Then he stood on her. Again, the intention wasn't
murderous: it was to establish dominance and exert discipline. "The cowboy
way."
Annie watched the whole horrible,
nightmare scene, her heart in her throat.
The big farrier stepped off the horse. But Sunshine didn't
move. Her eyes rolled back in her head. Blood pooled beneath her.
"Aw, _______," he yelled. "I killed
her!"
Annie rushed to the horse and did
cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Yes, you can do that. Someone called the vet.
Sunshine survived. Annie, shaken and
furious, arranged to buy her on the spot. She didn't have the money, but made a
few calls and sold things and scrounged around to come up with it.
Yes, it was an impulsive reaction.
But a meaningful one.
You see, Annie has been beaten, too.
Shoved, kicked and punched, and some other terrible things.
She knows what physical abuse feels like, and how it's wrong and unfair, brutal
and frightening.
Did she buy the filly to ransom her
away from a violent situation? To save her life, deliver her from evil? Like
Jesus did for all of us, on the Cross?
Sort of. Annie says she just wanted
the horse to be safe and happy. Who wouldn't? Maybe she wishes someone had done
something like that for her, to spare her all that pain and horror. Again . . .
who wouldn't?
But Annie did more than most of us
would, in response to the incident. She even went to farrier school in another
state, to learn to shoe horses for herself. Now she's able to handle them "the
cowGIRL way" gentle, understanding, and yet plenty effective.
Hey, cowboys: "Shoe" unto others as
you would have them "shoe" unto you.
