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
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
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