Our youngest daughter started riding horses when she was ten years old. I enjoyed watching her and certainly appreciated the beauty of the horses in motion, but I didn't want to get close to them because, deep down, I was terrified of them.
Then, one day, I saw someone hand-walking the most elegant horse I'd ever seen, an American Saddlebred. On the spot, I knew that someday I would learn to ride and show a horse like this one. That's what sparked my decision later on, at the age of 50, to do one of the most exciting and rewarding things I've ever done.
The only problem was that I was still afraid of horses! But with God's help, I overcame this fear. It didn't happen overnight, or in a week, or even a month, but I didn't let fear stop me. There were other problems, too, like the frustration and discouragement that often come with beginning an activity as an adult that most people start as children. More than once I left the barn in tears of disappointment with myself.
