Lynn Baber… for love of God and horses

Category Archives: Understanding Life

It’s all good…

September 2, 2010

After a sweltering summer and vicious schedule I finally had the opportunity to spend an extended period of time with my horses yesterday.

The Training Plan

What a delightful time we had. Bo and I enjoyed both warming up and cooling down without a bridle and Swizzle was finally saddled again after I don’t know how many weeks without seeing a girth. Swizzle and I had an glorious ride. Bo and Swizzle are my amazing grays. [Click HERE for more on them...]

Bo

I spend a little time with the horses every day, but we haven’t had a chance to play or really maintain our sturdy training foundations, much less build upon them. Yesterday was the day we were going to begin a routine once again that included under-saddle activities. After my rides on Bo and Swizzle I got Shiner out and we played together. I’ll share more about Shiner’s special role in our family and in our barn when my next book gets a bit closer to its publication date.

Swizzle

The plan began well. All were blessed.

The last time we started a training schedule I got two days in and then the rains came. At the moment I have no all-weather place to work so got shut down pretty quickly. Oh, well. I don’t run up and down the roads to shows anymore, so it’s all good.

The Plan Interrupted

About 3:15 this morning I awoke to the crack of thunder, quick flashes of lightning, and the sound of rain pummeling the glass window above our headboard. I pulled on a slicker and rubber boots and headed to the barn. The three horses in the pasture were under the shelter, but I do not like them out when there is frequent lightning. During an oh-so-brief instant when a flash of lightening lit up the pasture light daylight, Swizzle caught sight of me up at the barn. She cried (and I mean cried…. she did not whinny and she did not holler) all the way to the barn as fast as her little legs could carry her.

Bo made sure that Shiner followed Swizzle and within a moment or two they were all tucked into their cozy stalls.

The past month or so has seen the lush green pastures and road sides of north central Texas begin to burn from a lack of rain. We sorely needed rain. We got it. One of our rain gauges read 2.60 inches and the other between 4 and 5 inches. Having two rain gauges is like having two watches; you never really know what time it is and you never really know how much it rained. But, what a blessing to the parched land and trees!

Well, there goes my training schedule again. There is a lake of mud where my arena should be. Bo, Swizzle and Shiner will be getting the day off.

But you know what? It’s all good…

Also posted in For the love of Horses – 0 Comments

When Authorship Turns to Doubt

August 30, 2010

The path to authorship is paved with inspiration, editing, good intentions, drafts, editing, myriads of empty printer ink cartridges, editing, too much confidence in what we write and then too much doubt about the value of our words.

Teetering Between Confidence and Doubt

These last two are like the two ends of a teeter-totter. Let me ask all the other authors out there – and there must be a bunch, because there were more than 1,000,000 individuals titles published last year alone – if you, too, suffer from this almost vertigo-inducing swing from confidence to doubt. So, do you?

There must be some fraternity or sorority for writers that allow us to share our word-ly insecurities with each other. As each successive email arrives at my inbox promising ways to make $100,000 in book sales if I buy their deal, or get booked on Good Morning America or Oprah if I sign up for their seminar, my doubt quotient begins to rise.

Doubt is a Uniquely Human Quality

Have you ever seen a dog made immobile with indecision as it looks first to a plate of hamburger and then to a dish of dry kibble, wondering just which would best satisfy its culinary desire of the moment? Nope. Sure haven’t.

Have you ever noticed your horse staring at the rack of saddle pads trying in consternation to decide just which would best suit them today? Would the black wool be better, or the gray felt? Nope. Sure haven’t.

Disabled by Doubt

The task of marketing books can become a disabling force in the lives of authors who make the mistake of comparing their experience with that of a more ‘successful’ author. Popularity and quality are not synonymous.

For the non-fiction writers out there, popularity and truth do not necessarily describe the same thing either. As an inspirational writer my goal is to inspire. If I was just after a big paycheck you can bet I wouldn’t have picked “author” as a career goal. The probability of success is far less than becoming an astronaut. So, the benchmark is one of “Do I inspire?”

If you write to serve, to help, to inspire, to teach – then the only question you need to answer is the one relevant to your purpose. Do you serve? Do you help? Do you inspire? Do you teach?

Choose Inspiration over Defeat

Failure Deserved

If your only goal in authorship is to gain fame and fortune then the benchmarks are clear. You will learn to adjust your prose, poetry, and style to meet market demand. You are a commercial writer.

If you have a different purpose, one of service, assistance, or inspiration, then you deserve to fail should you leave what you know to be of value and stray instead into the “message for dollars” camp.

Stay true to your vision. When inspiration fails walk away from the computer and go back to reality. True blessing seldom arrives with a dollar sign attached.
Remember the first time a reader said this to you, “Your words changed my life.”? Take that to the bank of blessings and push hard with both feet to send that confidence/doubt teeter-totter back up to a place of vision.

Heading to the Barn

I believe I could use a little inspiration myself about now. So, I am folding up the keyboard and heading out to the barn to spend some time with my amazing grays, Bo and Swizzle. Blessing awaits there.

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Did the puppy learn respect today?

August 12, 2010

Our very bold and independent dog, Squeak, may have had her first major lesson in respect today. Thankfully she still lives…

Teaching Respect

Over the decades we have had quite a few dogs and hundreds of horses. One of my biggest challenges is little Squeak. Both parents and pet owners know the head-scratching challenge when the tips and practices that have worked for years fail with the one little child (two- or four-legged) that just doesn’t respond like all the rest.

No Fear, No Respect

Squeak has insisted on running at the hooves of the horses, yapping as she goes. I have given the horses permission to defend themselves. Until today Squeak harassed them without incident; respect not being even a glimmer on the horizon.

This lack of respect is evident wherever Squeak goes. I can change her demeanor in the same way I do horses, by controlling her feet and body. But she never quits. She never learns. She is persistently a pain.

Respect: a new concept

As usual, Swizzle was first to go into her stall this morning from the pasture. Swizzle always makes sure she gets my first attention. Bo and Shiner followed a bit behind her and Ace currently spends the night in the barn. Squeak was in the pasture being her usual irritating self as I pulled a long cobweb off Swizzle’s eyelash. Suddently I heard a YIP and turned to see Squeak running at full speed away from Bo and Shiner, making a beeline out of the pasture. Squeak disappeared in the direction of the house and did not return.

Whether today’s instructor in the finer points of respect was Bo or Shiner I don’t know. But the lesson appears to have taken, at least for the moment. Squeak is holding up her right front paw and looking for sympathy. Nothing appears to be broken and the sympathy account is empty. She still ran for the front door a moment ago when a visitor arrived.

Squeak the Formerly Fearless

Education always has a cost; time, money, or pain. Squeak read the part in the book that says respect must be earned. I think she may have connected the concept with reality today.

So, is fear a bad thing? Not necessarily. Fear that leads to healthy respect is a good thing in my book. I hope Squeak masters that chapter today. If she does, we’ll link it to other aspects of her little life, like having respect for her elders and siblings.

Did Squeak learn respect today? We’ll find out tomorrow…

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Why is being simple so complex?

July 29, 2010

Everyone has an Achille’s heel; a stumbling point they continue to jam their toes into time and time again. One of mine is simply forgetting to be simple. I won’t share the details of my week, but assembled these quotes on simplicity to remind myself and to entertain you. Enjoy.

Simplicity Quotes

If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.~Albert Einstein

We humans lost our simplicity as we become more educated in worldly things. – Lynn Baber, Amazing Grays, Amazing Grace

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. – Annie Dillard

Horses and children, I often think, have a lot of the good sense there is in the world. -Josephine Demott Robinson

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope. – Winston Churchill

Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated. – Lou Holtz

Educators take something simple and make it complicated. Communicators take something complicated and make it simple. – John C. Maxwell

Lynn traveling in the simpler days.

They criticize me for harping on the obvious; if all the folks in the United States would do the few simple things they know they ought to do, most of our big problems would take care of themselves. – Calvin Coolidge

Like many intellectuals, he was incapable of saying a simple thing in a simple way. – Marcel Proust

My pitching philosophy is simple – keep the ball way from the bat. – Satchel Paige

Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read. – Leo Burnett

And on that note, I hope that Mr. Burnett would consider this post simple and fun to read.

Have a wonderfully blessed and simple day!

Also posted in Business Excellence, Christian Relationships, For the love of Horses – 0 Comments

A thought about obstacles…

July 23, 2010

We have been trying to buy a particular piece of property. Our goal? Downsize just one more time. I know, I said that last time. It’s been a little over three years since we started over from scratch which must be just enough time to have forgotten how difficult such a project can be.

Obstacles

There are two reasons we encounter obstacles; to overcome or to be re-directed.

Overcome it or change directions?

The sticky part is knowing which situation you face as you encounter the latest roadblock. Well, we were supposed to close the deal on the new piece of ground last week. We didn’t. Without going in to all the details I might offer this analogy (after all, I am known as the Analogy Queen…)

We have been standing in a crowded room. There is a huge rogue elephant in the middle. Everyone says, “There is no elephant present.” We reply, “Look at the elephant. There it is.” The response is, “Our records indicate there can be no elephant in the room.” Sure, they see it, but there “can be no elephant in the room.”

"It can't be an elephant."

Our ‘elephant’ is a gas pipeline(s). It may be dangerous. Yet, it does not seem to exist. YET – we can see it!

Re-Direct or Overcome?

We figured, okay, this obstacle pretty much seems like we are being asked to change course. But, we continued to try and find something that has been completely elusive: a fact. Today we found a fact. I could almost throw a party. In fact, I may, I just don’t want to do it prematurely.

So, now it looks like we will not only overcome, but come out the other side in a much better position than we thought initially. I see a party in the future…

Blessings Will Follow

Regardless if we actually build on this property or another, we know that the blessings of relationship will follow us no matter what our physical address. There isn’t a single piece of ground for us. We will use our new place to serve Amazing Grays Ministry wherever we are led.

In the meantime, I hear the band tuning up… party time after all? I’ll let you know.

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Roy Rogers Museum Collection Auction This Week

July 12, 2010

Christie’s in New York will be auctioning off the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans museum collection on July 14th and 15th, 2010. This is the end of an era and the final opportunity for fans to appreciate the man who was Roy Rogers.

King of the Cowboys

My own personal hero, Roy Rogers was a great horseman, eternal good guy, faithful family man, and the epitome of white-hat heroes of silver screen and television.

Roy Rogers was a Friend of Mine

If one believes that ‘the friend of my friend is my friend,’ then he was. One of my dearest friends grew up in the Roger’s neighborhood. Dale Evans actually sang at her wedding! I loved to hear her stories of how Dale would pile all of the kids (including her) into the old station wagon and head out for a hamburger.

Words Escape Me

I would love to be able to write a heart-grabbing paragraph that would encompass all that Roy Rogers stood for in my life. My hero, the best role model, Trigger’s dad, and always a gentleman. But today, words fail.

Trigger

The only beef I ever had with Roy was about Trigger. I always thought he deserved better than a trip to the taxidermist and enshrinement in the museum. I hope whoever buys Trigger this week will treat him with the respect he deserves.

Trigger post mortem, Washington Times

And so it goes…

Time marches on. As Dusty (Roy Jr.) Rogers told Fox and Friends this morning, we only have our history for so long, then time moves along. Time has indeed moved on.

How many children today care about fair play and helping others? How many video games put kindness and truth on a pedestal? How many of today’s top celebrities deserve the love and loyalty of a horse or dog?

Have we really moved on so far? What do you think? Is Roy Rogers only a memory – or is there still evidence of his lasting legacy?

View Roy Rogers ecatalogue at Christies by clicking HERE

Also posted in For the love of Horses – 0 Comments

Inclusiveness and Freedom

July 8, 2010

Watching the news it becomes obvious that the subject of inclusiveness has become a political football; different factions vying for the right to define it.
Both major political parties are competing for the title of being the most inclusive.

Unfortunately for my fellow citizens, and depending on whether you see a glass as half-empty or half-full, both parties are either doing a fine job of achieving the politically correct form of the term, or failing with equal excellence if one actually understands English and the proper meaning of inclusiveness.

Definition of Inclusiveness

Dictionary.com defines the term as, “including the stated limit; including everything concerned.”

The definition includes a limit; everything within and everything concerned. Being inclusive requires boundaries or it is a useless concept.

Related Searches

The miracle of search engines offers these major searches common to the term ‘inclusiveness’ on Dictionary.com:

Diversity – synonymous with ‘miscellaneous’
Liberalism – synonymous with ‘indulgent or broad’
Integrity – synonymous with ‘unity’

Every Umbrella has Defined Limits

That a significant number of our citizens believe these three concepts to be synonymous with ‘inclusiveness’ is a problem. Here are the definitions for each; you be the judge.

Diversity: the state or fact of being different; unlikeness
Liberalism: philosophy advocating the freedom of the individual
Integrity: adherence to principles; state of being whole or undimished

Only one of these terms actually lends itself well when you consider the definition of inclusiveness, and that is ‘integrity’. Diversity concentrates on what is different, inclusiveness on what is alike. Limitless liberalism is closer to anarchy than connectedness.

My freedom ends…

From an early age my mother taught me that, “My freedom ends where yours begins.” This is a lesson in getting along with each other. Taken to its extreme, one who has total liberal freedom may murder at random thus taking away all freedom of even life itself from his or her victims. Any expansion of one individual’s freedom will cause an equal contraction of the freedom of another.

The concept of society is that of distinguishing where the margins of my freedom and yours intersect. A nation of laws then establishes statutes so each citizen enjoys the greatest possible individual freedom while protecting the freedoms of his neighbor. The topic of freedom of speech also requires societies to determine where the margins of personal freedom should be.

Tolerance or Hypocrisy?

Tolerance is similar to inclusiveness in that it requires establishing limits in order to be meaningful. Inclusive of what? Tolerant of what? To include everything or tolerate everything defines anarchy. There is no order, no guaranteed freedoms, and no society.

Being tolerant only to the extent that you require others to allow you to exercise your freedom without limits is hardly an example of being tolerant; it is an illustration of hypocrisy. Taking away my freedom so that you may enjoy yours is not tolerance. Margins and limits must be established.

A Rose

Also a Rose?

Labels and Faces

Quit looking at the labels and faces of social and political debate; they lie. *** Instead look at the impact on freedoms. Our government is charged with providing for the common good. Not everyone will agree on what the common good is, but recognize the consequences of social and legislative changes before you stand up for them.

Action and Reaction

In physics we learn that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The same is true of freedom.

Imagine a bucket filled to the brim of water. The bucket represents freedom. If you want more freedom you add more water. By adding more of your water you cause other water to flow out over the top of the bucket where it will be lost.

There is no Limitless Capacity

Inclusiveness isn’t limitless. Freedom isn’t limitless. It is not possible to provide everything to everybody. This isn’t a political opinion, it’s just a simple fact.

Limit Freedom?

Only by establishing limits on freedom will we retain the freedoms we presently enjoy. It doesn’t matter to me which political party you affiliate with, I’m just trying to help folks visualize the issues we face realistically.

I’m a horse trainer. One of my jobs is to help horse owners understand how horses think so they can be more effective in creating great relationships with them. If an owner thinks a horse should be other than what it is they will always be in conflict with their horse. A horse will always be a horse.

Societies of humans have already experimented with every possible ideology. Search history, including the Bible, and you will discover that just as horses have not changed, neither has mankind.

Every freedom you enjoy will by both practice and definition limit the freedom of someone else. Choose your representatives wisely and remember to look at how each proposed change will affect all our freedoms.

*** This is a blackberry, not a rose.

Also posted in Christian Relationships, Politics - the real world – 0 Comments

NRA endorsing Harry Reid?

July 6, 2010

After listening to the official recorded message on the NRA website about the rumors about a Reid endorsement that are streaking across the Web and airwaves I just had to chime in.

Bait and Switch?

For the record, this post neither approves or disapproves of either the NRA or Harry Reid. Okay, my husband is a lifetime member of the NRA and my eighty year old father just got back from their national convention.

And you're endorsing whom?

The point I hope to make is to draw your attention to the blatant rationalization the NRA is using to justify their possible/probable endorsement of Harry Reid. It is yet another example of a group gone rogue without noticing the point where their wheels left the road well traveled for one that leads to ruin. [See definition of "hypocrisy."]

Conservative Base

The NRA is a one-agenda organization. I get that. They plan to justify their endorsement of Reid by perusing his entire record only as it affects gun ownership. I get that.

Here’s the problem. They market almost exclusively to conservatives. Their national convention was a Who’s-Who of the top conservative voices in the nation: Newt Gingrich; Sarah Palin; Glenn Beck, etc.

Now they may endorse a sworn enemy of the majority of their membership in the name of political expediency.

Sign of the Times?

Another one bites the dust. Just listening to the recorded message on the NRA website made me sad. I’m not a big fan of guns. Most of my immediate family have concealed carry permits. I don’t.

I absolutely support the Second Amendment. I support a lot of things that I don’t actually participate in.

However, I am disgusted by two things:

The NRA is no longer the organization we thought it was. It is now purely political for the organization’s benefit alone and not for the benefit of it’s members.
The NRA thinks it may be able to snow many of its members into going along with this line of “reasoning.” Whether or not the members buy it will go a long way in describing where our nation truly stands.

NRA: Then and Now?

Patriots

Harry Reid and his fellows are the poster children for gutting the Constitution with their desire to let it morph and grow into something newer and, in their eyes, better. Fine.

The NRA is all about the Constitution. They wave the flag of patriotism at every opportunity.

If you’re a conservative member of the NRA you are facing one whale of a big decision. What’s more important, your membership in the NRA or your principles?

Listen to the NRA recording yourself at 1-800-392-8683, option number one.

Also posted in Politics - the real world – 1 Comment

Does the end justify the means?

June 18, 2010

Today’s news headlines just scream out to me “Temptation”!

How so? Temptation is defined as taking a shortcut to a destination that in itself may be desirable. Synonyms for temptation include bait, lure, and seduction.
From the US government’s reaction to the BP oil spill in the Gulf to the methods horse trainers use to win championships, each uses the same excuse, “To deliver a right and beneficial result.”

Well, okay. In other words, it doesn’t matter HOW we get something done as long as we get the right RESULT.

Judgment Requires Vision

Now how could a Christian take issue with this? Aren’t we told in the Bible that all things are properly judged by their fruit? Yes, and rightly so.

However, the vision of the one judging the fruit must be expansive. Temptation encourages rationalization which is the epitome’ of narrow vision.

The cruel tactics used to produce world championships in horses have morphed through the decades as the stink from the bad fruit of the practices finally overcame the polished fruit of the victories at the expense of the horse. In many cases, as one practice was outlawed another rose up to take its place.

Such practices were outlawed because the vision of those watching was expanded to see not only the “right and beneficial result” of the win, but finally widened enough to see the pain, sacrifice, and cruelty the horses had to endure in order to deliver.

Temptation by any other name…

“I am going to resist the temptation to resort to the most graphic example of an end as justification for the means by citing the case of Nazi Germany .”

How many of you caught the lie in that sentence? ** I told you I wasn’t going to go there and by telling you that took you there immediately.

That was illustration number one. Here’s the second, a very, very simple example of temptation without vision.

The Promise

Weed killer. Your lawn is full of weeds. Your neighbor tells you of a great product that will kill every weed in your yard. He used it and it seems to have worked beautifully. You apply it to your grass. The result is immediate and delightful. Your lawn is free of weeds.

Fast forward two springs from now… the neighbor’s lawn is dead and your lawn is dead. The long term effect of the weed killer was soil sterilization. Looked good in the short term, but ultimately destroyed everything – permanently.

The Result

Can you say “Goose that laid the golden egg?”

This tendency of mankind to grab for the nearest temptation to solve immediate problems has been around since the Garden gate slammed behind Adam and Eve upon their exit.

As you watch the news tonight, think about it. Will you judge with vision or simply take the bait?

** This sentence is in quotation marks and footnoted to make it CLEAR that this is not a statement but an illustration. I am not admitting lying. I was just making a point.

Also posted in For the love of Horses, Politics - the real world – 2 Comments

Uncommon Character

June 15, 2010

Once we have experienced a high of any nature we immediately want to recreate the experience or seek a way to live in that state of euphoria. Whether spiritual or physical, mankind was not made to live in a perpetual state of excitement or nirvana.

There are times when our flames burn so brightly we no longer see our circumstances beyond the brilliance of their light. When we experience a supernatural communion with God in those rare mountain-peak moments we may feel a bit deflated when our feet return to earth and our spirit to this plane alone.

Consuming Flame

Consumed by Addiction

Physical highs are much the same whether induced by alcohol or chemicals. Addicts gradually lose their ‘try’ as they seek again and again to find the place of ecstasy. The flames of their unnatural experience burn so brightly they are unable to see the true state of their lives. Observers watch them and note with an emotion somewhere on a scale between pity and disgust as the one on a perpetual high slowly shrivels and is consumed up by the constant fueling of their flame.

Mankind was not made to live on a high. Rare moments of maximum experience are gifts. They are not meant to be commonplace. The path that seeks this constant flame of experience is the path that leads to eventual cremation.

Life isn't built at the top.

The hottest romances have the shortest history. Rich marriages are built on the stuff of every day. The most beloved memories are cumulative, not of any one instant. The partnership that produces gold medal performances by a horse and rider are formed by their daily routine, not by the heights of competition.

Inspiration is received in moments. Character comes from building day-after-day habits and by finding excellence in the commonplace.

Uncommon Character

The level planes of daily life between the mountain peaks of exhilaration are what allow us to form habits and prevent us from an early flame-out. Be grateful for the commonplace. Our lives are built on the solid foundation of the commonplace world. Without this firm support we would be in danger of falling off one of those peaks we desire.

Develop character. Build solid foundations. Take a lesson from the wise horse; revel in routine.

King of the Hill

On the top of the mountain there is only room for one. All our human relationships play out on the broad plains of life. Take a lesson from the childhood game King of the Hill. There is only room at the top for one. And once the peak is achieved, everyone else tries to push you off.

Of course God can be found on the peak of the mountain. But then, He is everywhere.

Also posted in Christian Relationships, For the love of Horses – 0 Comments