​Merry Christmas from Still Creek Equestrian! As we begin to look back on 2019, I'd like to share some highlights from our year in horse class.

Everything we do at Still Creek revolves around relationships. Our kids have been hurt in their pasts by prior relationships. The only way to heal those hurts is by pursuing healthy and loving relationships, and ultimately a perfect relationship with Jesus Christ. 
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Over this semester, we have seen students' relationships with their horses grow! One of our students, S, struggles with shutting down when she feels out of control or angry. When working with a relatively new horse, her frustrations got the best of her. Our gentle giant, Angel, is a 16.2 hh grey Irish Sporthorse who has found her calling in teaching beginner students to ride. S was having a hard time steering Angel, who responded to the excess pulling with slightly tossing her head. 

S was ready to quit. She said she didn't like Angel and that she didn't listen. After S began to calm down, a staff member began to tell S about Angel's need to trust her rider. When a horse feels like their rider is nervous, or doesn't like them, they are also nervous. S came to realize that riding was a team effort, and that she needed to help Angel do her best by being calm and treating her like the good girl that she is. In a one hour class, S learned a lesson that she has used to improve her riding with any horse over the last few months. Last week, S told me, "I think my horse is confused, I'm just going to give him a minute." She took a deep breath, waited for the horse to take a deep breath, and then said, "Ok, we're ready now!" This was a HUGE victory for S! From a frustrated, closed-off student, she is now excited every day to help her horse by being a leader and believing in her. What better way to teach positive relationships than looking at how horses reflect ourselves?

While we love the comments and discussions that our elementary kids bring up, like, "If I had a million dollars, I would buy Opie!," there are some major changes happening in the hearts of our middle and high school students.

This semester, we gave our students a taste of competition away from home. Seven of our students and horses hauled down to Bastrop for a small ranch sorting, which was many of the students' first time working cattle from horseback! The trip was an absolute blast. Our guys and girls faced fears of riding in front of strangers. They worked as teammates and were so encouraging to each other while competing. They were kind, respectful, grateful, and competitive! Anyone who has worked with any youth ministry or raised teenagers knows this is a unique occurrence. Some days, we really struggle! As our students work through their hurts, we (educators, house parents, "safe" people) often take the brunt of their frustrations. 

Our kids have dealt with some major ups and downs this year. However, we can still see their growth. A fun little trip showed many of our kids the rewards of their hard work feeding, cleaning stalls, hauling hay out of the field, and so much more. Some days, our girls just need the smell of horse hair and a long grooming session. Some days, our boys need to shovel out frustrations and process their feelings in the fresh air.  

As your year comes to a close, we ask you to join us in our fight to love our kids. We exist to lead kids to Christs' love, and we believe horses have proven to be a wonderful way to do that. Whether you join us in prayer, financially, or by attending our events, this program is a way to be a part of something that matters! Please be in prayer for our kids as most of them head home for the holidays. For our educators, who do everything in their power to meet our children where they are academically and emotionally. For our houseparents, who fight in the trenches and often see the toughest sides of our kids in their own homes. To find out more about what Still Creek is doing, please explore our needs page and visit our main site stillcreekranch.org. You are a huge part of our childrens' stories!

Isaiah 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

Howdy, friends of Still Creek! 

I know many of you have been long time supporters, arena patrons, horse show exhibitors, and volunteers for our program over time. While we love to share our facility with our fellow horsemen, I would like to share in more detail what goes on in our arena on a day-to-day basis. The main purpose of the amazing facility God has blessed us with is to invest in the lives of kids that have come from crisis situations. 

Each day when our students come down for their "Horses" elective class, we share laughter, tears, frustrations, goofiness, accomplishments, and so much more. I want to share these significant moments with you through this blog! 

Here is one of my favorite moments from the start of this school year:

I had a brand new rider join our class. She had been at Still Creek for only a few weeks. She had just started a new school, was adjusting to living with a new family, new schedule, new rules... one can imagine how overwhelming this can be for a child. This story includes a horse many know and love, the one and only "Opie." 

M told me what a horrible day she was having. She had a classmate hurt her feelings, and felt that no one in the world wanted to listen to her, or cared about her... and that she really didn't matter. All of this she was mumbling as we are brushing, saddling and chatting. I was doing my best to listen intently, and focus positive energy on our task of riding. At this point, she had yet to look me in the eyes, or show any type of true interest in Opie.

The closer we got to being ready to ride, the more nervous she became. Deeper emotions were coming up as she realized her fear. More words of self doubt, distrust, and confusion. We spent a very long time talking about it, but she finally worked up to climbing up on his back. 

As soon as she sat down, her facial expression instantly changed. She was still scared, but she was present. She looked to me for reassurance, for the first time. She heard my words of encouragement. She is definitely a talker... but it was so cool to hear her train of thoughts through this whole process. She slowly began to relax and smile! She was saying things like, "Wow! This is nothing like what I expected," and "that worked! He listened to me!" 

We continued to take things very slow and build her confidence walking, stopping, and steering Opie. Her words, verbatim from the end of our ride:

"Wow. I feel happy now. I can't believe this horse actually made me have a better day. This feels so weird..." and my favorite... "When do I have you again for class?"

We put Opie away and she was a different child. She was actually in awe of the fact that the horse made her feel better. She showed him affection, continued to listen to my instruction, and gave me a big hug at the end of class. This child who was angry, confused, and shut down had been touched in a matter of minutes by Opie.

These are the reasons we do what we do at Still Creek. And I will say, since this day M and I have still had ups and downs, but questions have already opened up about Jesus's love, who God is, and so much more.

I believe there is so much power to heal in a simple horse. We do not claim to be a "therapeutic" riding program, we simply use riding and teaching as a means to reach our kids who may feel so lost. 

We would love to include you in our daily journey here. If you or anyone you know is interested in supporting our program, please visit our current needs page or contact a staff member about how you can help. We would also love your continued support in prayer for our staff and our students. Thanks for reading, I look forward to sharing more with you!

​Morgan