By: Deb Kitchenmaster
In the album, THE GREAT ADVENTURE, Steven Curtis Chapman sings the following words:
Saddle up your horses
Started out this morning in the usual way
Chasing thoughts inside my head
I thought I had to do today
Another time around the circle
Try to make it better than the last
I opened up the Bible
And I read about me
Said I’d been a prisoner
And God’s Grace had set me free
And somewhere between the pages
It hit me like a lightning bolt
I saw a big frontier in front of me
And I heard somebody say “Let’s go!”
Saddle up your horses
We’ve got a trail to blaze
Through the yonder of God’s Amazing grace
Let’s follow our leader into the Glorious unknown
This is the life like no other whoa whoa
This is the Great Adventure
Yeah…
Come on, get ready for the ride of your life
Gonna leave long faced religion
In a cloud of dust behind
And discover all the new horizons
Just waiting to be explored
This is what we were created for, yeah
Saddle up your horses
We’ve got a trail to blaze
Through the yonder of God’s Amazing Grace
Let’s follow our leader into the Glorious unknown
This is the life like no other whoa whoa
This is the Great Adventure
We’ll travel on, over mountains so high
We’ll go through valleys below
Still through it all we’ll find that
This is the greatest journey
That the human heart will ever see
The love of God will take us far
Beyond our wildest dreams
Yeah, oh saddle up your horses
Come on get ready to ride
Saddle up your horses
We’ve got a trail to blaze
Through the yonder of God’s Amazing Grace
Let’s follow our leader into the Glorious unknown
This is the life like no other whoa whoa
This is the Great Adventure
Adventure is described as an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous experience or activity. Adventure is to engage in hazardous and exciting activity, especially the exploration of unknown territory. Let’s put the riding helmet of salvation on and let the love of God take us far.
The number one reason riders use saddles is that saddles provide an anchor point for the stirrups. The stirrups make it easier to balance, to stay on a horse that changes direction rapidly, and to get the rider up and out of the way when racing or jumping.
Horses that are 3 to 4 years old are at the prime time to start riding. However, there is no perfect age. It depends on the horse.
When saddling a horse, the first thing to do is to put the saddle blanket or pad on the horse’s back. Lift the saddle up and over the horse’s back just in front of the withers. The saddle should sit just behind the horse’s shoulder, over the withers, and no further back than its last rib. Before lifting the saddle on the horses back, it’s good to have the stirrup over the horn of the saddle and the girth (cinch) over the seat of the saddle. Release your girth under the barrel of your horse and cinch up. If the saddle has a back cinch, make that connection. You want your back cinch to be loose but not loose enough for it to make it to the flank area. You want the saddle secure enough on the horse’s back that it will not slide under the barrel of the horse, but you do not want it tight at this point. Bring your horse to a place where your horse can make a circle around you while you’re standing on the ground. Ask the horse to move one or two circles around you at a gentle trot. Stop the horse and tighten up the cinch. That movement from the horse allows the horse to position the saddle in a place that is comfortable for the horse. Remember, simply tighten the girth, but not too tight. Next, ask the horse to circle around you a couple of times in the opposite direction and stop your horse to tighten the cinch one more time. You are allowing your horse to position the saddle on its back, through movement, by taking the time to cinch up little by little instead all at one time.
Let’s Go!
May 3, 2024
