Grace for Our Kiddos

During a session this week, I was taken aback by an interaction between a horse and rider. A young man was attending his second session riding T.J. His task was to complete an obstacle course without the help of his volunteer leader. His horse, T.J., was presenting some challenging behavior, mainly not wanting to MOVE! There was lots of encouraging and correct signals from this rider with no appropriate response.

As T.J. continued to be difficult, this rider began considering reasons for this poor behavior- “maybe he’s hungry”, “maybe he wants to go back to his girlfriend”, “he’s not listening, he must be tired”. After a little help and continued perseverance from his rider, we got T.J. to walk forward and complete his obstacle course. His rider IMMEDIATELY praised him and told him he was going to get him a treat at the end of their session! He doted over him being such a good boy and seemed to forget the last 10 minutes of struggle T.J. had provided him.

WOW. What incredible empathy and grace this young rider offered his horse. When his horse was being incredibly challenging, not listening, and not being much fun- his rider looked behind the behavior, didn’t give up offering him clear instructions on what he was wanting, and provided immediate praise when he finally completed the task! If only we, including myself, were always this gracious to our children when they present challenging behaviors!

What a beautiful representation of handling one another gently, with grace, and encouragement. What an amazing learning opportunity for myself and our volunteers this week. <3

In Expectation of Great Things,

Allie