Testing God - Post Thirteen

It might seem like all our time was taken up by The Unbelievable, but in fact Jerry was mostly occupied dealing with all the other horses. In addition to UB and J. Hamilton, there was Digging Deep (Digger) and Retirement Plus (who would name a horse something like that?) In addition, Lemhi Lightning and Itsaprettyday (both recovering from injuries) were both on our farm, along with Mr. Pegalow, a huge two-year-old who was already a retiree, there to be gelded and shipped south.

Joe had also made quite a long list of horses that he wanted us to take a look at in the September sale at Keeneland and the October sale at Fasig-Tipton. He had indicated that he wanted to purchase four yearlings, which would then come to our farm to be started under tack. The plan was to then bring them up in the spring of their two-year-old year to begin training in earnest at the track.

Our days of looking at horses at the sales started early and ended late. Because Jerry needed to be at the track during training hours, I would head to the sales to start looking, and Jerry would join me as soon as he could. We looked at so many horses our heads were spinning. When we found the ones who had both looks and pedigree that we liked, they were added to our “short list” (a misnomer if ever there was one!) that we discussed with Joe.

To make matters even more complicated, the budget we were given was making our job of finding well-put-together horses with a modicum of pedigree next to impossible.

Because we had formulated a game plan before we even started looking at yearlings, imagine our surprise when we purchased the fourth yearling (which was the mutually agreed-upon number) and Joe kept right on bidding. We thought it best to voice our concerns about upping the number of horses, and Joe quickly filled us in on his philosophy. He felt that racing is all a numbers game—the more horses you had in training, the better the likelihood of having a really good horse.

Sure, that makes sense, especially if funding is unlimited and you are buying well-bred horses that have great conformation. But the cost of keeping not-so-stellar horses in training is exactly the same as training exceptional horses. Both kinds eat and poop. And, horses being a perfect example of Murphy’s Law, if something can go wrong, it usually will.

But, Joe felt that if you threw enough horses into the mix, one horse would prove to be a talented enough individual to support all the others. That, in my humble opinion, is a lot of weight for one horse to carry.

Daily Notes: We received today Kentucky's version of a major snowstorm—in our case, it would seem we’ve gotten about 4 inches of snow. Since I’ve been holed up inside in front of the fire today, I have gotten a few days worth of blogs written. That way, I can just add my daily notes and post them. It’s my hope that by being a little ahead, I won’t miss a day when things get crazy. A.k.a. Springtime.

We have been watching Joyce Meyer’s show Enjoying Everyday Life on TV. I really enjoy her messages, as she seems like she speaks from a very real perspective. Plus she’s a hoot. And I got to wondering—is it wrong to watch Joyce while enjoying a nice glass of shiraz? No, I decided it might be wrong if I was enjoying a couple bottles of shiraz, but I should be fine with a glass. Everything in moderation—that’s my motto. LOL

Anyway, in the show we just watched, she talked about how real Christians must endure God’s pruning. That’s so true…if things never got tough for us, if we never had to trust God and rely on him, we would never grow! If we endure the pain of being pruned, much like plants, we will come back healthier, stronger, and better than before. I found the following in John 15: 1-8:

“I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more.

You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.

“Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me.

“I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.”
The Message

I have learned this lesson over and over through the years, and especially with The Unbelievable. But in my human-ness, I seem to at times fall back on my old ways. But thankfully, God never fails to get out his pruning shears and get my attention again.