TROUBLE ON THE TRAIL 2
Breaking Out
Tents were set up, numerous trips in and out from base camp packing hay, gear and food had been made uneventfully, the guest tent was ready, and the kitchen organized for efficiency. The only thing left to do before we rode down the next day to meet our first guests was to put up a horse corral.

We had gotten the idea from another outfitter and it sounded like a good one. You use light weight, very strong airplane cable and string it around trees in a circle to make a corral. Simple. Seemed a better idea than the highlines, which were ropes tied high between two trees with the horses tied to them.

One night a few days earlier, I was woke up by thumping on the hard ground from the horse quarters. Taking a flashlight and grabbing a coat I slipped my feet into boots and went out to investigate. It was pitch black under the trees and without the light I could see nothing. There was silence as I neared the horses, all I heard was labored breathing.

Talking softly, I shone the light around the area. Big eyes shone at me in the darkness. Eyes that were up high, too high to be a horse. Lion! My heart stopped! But if it was a lion it was endangering my horses, so I stepped forward, still talking, but now with a bit more authority.

Something was wrong, no sign of the horses being panicked as they should if a lion was after them. I could only hear the harsh breathing. My thought was the lion had one of the horses. But how did it get a 1,000 pound horse up a tree? I kept my light trained on the eyes, which were big, huge, not like a lion’s should be. Then I made out a head. Long, big ears pointing forward, white diamond on the wide forehead. Sunny!

“How did you get up there!” I cried, then swung the light down, there stood Rocket, who was half the weight of the big 16 hand gelding, with Sunny’s front legs over his back. Aww, no lion! What a relief!

Rocket groaned under the great weight and his breathing was loud in the still night. Why didn’t he move out from under Sunny? As I stepped up beside Rocket I saw the rope around his neck. Sunny’s lead rope circled it and was pulling tight making it difficult for Rocket to breath. My heart began pounding again! If Sunny should jump off of him and pull on the lead, Rocket would be strangled. What to do? Should I get John? I did not want to leave the horses that long. I knew Rocket would collapse any time, or Sunny would jump off. I had to act right now.

With my heart in my throat and prayers in my heart, I talked quietly to Sunny, “Easy boy, that’s my Sunshine, easy, easy. Stand.” I reached slowly up to the highline and grabbed the end of the quick release knot we tied and gently pulled on the taunt rope. The knot would not come undone it had been pulled too tight.

Okay another plan. Moving slowly and talking all the time, I reached up to Sunny’s halter, stretching on tip toes, “Come on Sunny put your head down, now, come on Sunshine.” He lowered his head and I grabbed the lead rope hook. Pulling his head down just a little bit lower, I was able to slip the hook off his halter.

Letting out a sigh, I unwound the rope from Rocket’s neck and led him slowly forward. With a heave, Sunny swiveled off Rocket. Both horses were unhurt, thanks to the Lord who watches over us all.

After that close call, the corral seemed a good idea, even though we made sure to tie the horses far enough apart they could not reach each other. So late afternoon found John and I constructing said corral. Just before dark we put all six horses in it and they were happy to have the freedom to move around the small enclosure.

In the middle of the night, I heard thunder. Wait a minute, thunder in November? I sat up, the thunder got closer, the ground shook. Suddenly I knew.

“The horses!” I yelled and jumped up from our mats on our sleeping tent floor and scrambled for my boots. “John, the horses are loose!”

“What?” he mumbled, not one to wake up fast or jump out of bed quickly.

Grabbing my flash light, I unzipped the tent flap, as I yelled over my shoulder, “horses loose!”

The dogs ran out of the tent with me as the thunder rolled by. Gabe, the bloodhound bayed and I yelled. “Whoa!” And whistled again and again.
John stood beside me and we listened to hoof beats thundering down the trail, for a long time. Then silence.

“Guess they’re not coming back,” John said, and I headed for the corral. “Where’re you going?” he asked.

“To see if they all left.”

“Oh,” John said, “they all left, count on it.”

Sure enough the next morning we surveyed the empty corral and saw the airplane cable lying on the ground. John shook his head, “Sure was a good idea. If it would’ve worked. Shoulda kept at least one horse tied up.”

“What are we going to do?” I wailed. Today was the day we were supposed to meet our guests, who were friends, and were driving to our base camp. Friends or not, this first time out I wanted the accommodations, the food and their hunting experience, which included riding, to be perfect.

We walk,” John calmly said as he turned back to the tent, “but first we eat breakfast.”

“But John, how are we going to get everyone back into camp with two saddles at camp?” I asked as we trudged down the trail, with lead ropes looped over our shoulders.

“We’ll go to plan B.”

“Which is?” I asked his back.

“Hmmm, I’ll come up with something.”

“They’ve probably gotten into the hay stack and eaten most of it.” I said, always the pessimist. “What are we going to do for hay later?

“IF they get into the hay, which they may not, we’ll just go to plan C.” Always the optimist is John.
Nine miles later, we trudged tiredly into base camp. And looked around. No horses anywhere. The hay bales were still stacked neatly with a blue tarp over them.

“Must’ve headed for home,” John said. “least they didn’t get into the hay.”
While he got the pickup, I looked for tracks and sure enough saw horse tracks heading down the road. Loading the dogs in the back of the pickup we headed out.

“Yep, Rocket probably herded them all towards home. Wonder how far they think they can get.” I said, home was many miles away with fences, an interstate and a big river in the way. We drove 8 miles or so, when we saw them feeding in a grassy meadow not far from the road. Grabbing grain pans and lead ropes we caught them up and I waited there with the horses safely tied while John went for the trailer.

I had it all figured out, we would have enough time to get back to base camp, get something to eat, have the horses saddled and ready when the guests arrived. Not too much lost. We should get back to camp in time for me to whip up the wonderful supper I had planned.

We were just getting ready to load the horses, when John spotted a flat tire on the trailer. The spare tire and jack were back at base camp, so back went the horse to the trees. John unhooked the trailer and once again I sat waiting with the dogs. At least I was getting some rest.

Before we could get the tire fixed, our guests came along. Oh bother! So much for my well laid plans. So much for everything being perfect. They pitched in to fix the tire and get the horses loaded, then later at base camp we all ate a late lunch.

“Plan B, is,” John said during lunch, “I’ll walk in leading the pack horses with the gear, there’s enough saddles for you three to ride.”

Slightly short of perfect, but it would work and I was glad I didn’t have to walk the nine miles back up that mountain.

Breaking Free
Lamentations 3:2-3, 8-9
“He has led me in darkness and made me walk in darkness and not in light. Surely He has turned His hand against me time and time again through out the day.
Even when I cry and shout He shuts out my prayer. He has blocked my ways with hewn stone. He has made my paths crooked.”

Surely we have all been in a situation when it seems God is far away. Where darkness shuts us in, where there is no light. When it seems things are so bad, the path so steep and rocky that God could not possibly be in this thing. Times when one thing after another goes wrong. Dark times, heavy times, grief ridden times. Or just plain difficult times.

Jeremiah was having such a time. He laments, “Like a bear lying in wait, or like a lion in hiding, He dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help.” (v 10-11) Maybe we can identify with the prophet, maybe we’ve been where it seems God would not trod. In fact it may seem He is against us, and has left us without help.

I know I have. I’ve had the lion of terrible trouble spring on my back without warning. The darkness closed in, the horror of losing my son was almost too much to bear. I was knocked flat, mauled and mangled until my life was left in tatters.

Yet I knew because of the former experience of losing my husband, I knew that God had not forsaken me. That He was there right beside me in the darkness holding my hand, arms wrapped around me, holding me, supporting me, loving me. I remembered, like Jeremiah, that His love is new every morning. His love never goes away, never gets old, never fails. It is renewed every single day! Even the black stormy days.

He is my portion. He is all I need to get through the storm. But not just to get through, to have joy and peace and contentment as I trust in Him. He is in control. He knows when the horses break out, when the sun stops shinning, when the path gets so steep I can not climb. He knows, He loves and He keeps me in the palm of His hand.

Not a thing comes my way that He does not know is coming and that He does not allow. He will not let my foot slip, He who watches over me will not slumber, in fact He who watches over me will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord will keep me from all harm. He will watch over my life. The Lord will indeed watch over my coming and my going both now and forever more. Even through eternity. (from Ps 121)

He is good to those who trust in Him, who rely on Him, who wait on Him. Some may say, “How can it be good when you lose your son? When his children will grow up without their father? When a young life was cut short?” I have no answers to that, but it’s not up to me to know the answers. God has the answers and the plans. His plans stand firm forever. It’s only up to me to trust. When it is darkest of all, that’s when we must trust most of all.

“Taste and see that the Lord is good. Try it, find out for yourself! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him, who hides under the shadow of His wings. Fear the Lord, you His saints, for those who respect and follow Him will lack nothing. The lions, that lion that jumped on my back, grows weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord, in all things, at all times, for all purposes, will LACK NO GOOD THING. The strength, the comfort, the joy, the peace, is there when I need it. (from Ps. 35:8-10)

Lamentations says, “It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” Wait, trust, rely for this too will pass. God always delivers. He always brings us through to the light. He allows us to have trials to grow, to be strengthened, to learn to lean on Him. There is always more we can learn, more ground we can gain in our climb to the sky.

Wait on Him. Praise Him through it. Thank Him for it. Rest in Him. Give it to Him. Sit quietly and believe He is God. He will handle it. He will see you through.

Break free of the darkness. Live in the sunshine.

“For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though He brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love! For He does not willingly bring affliction, or grief to the children of men.” Lam. 3:31-33

The Tree of Faith
Faith stands when fear would run.
Faith fights when common sense would hide.
Faith walks where understanding does not trod.
Faith takes the Saviors hand when blindness would fall.
Faith leans on the Redeemers side when weakness would stumble.
Faith rides in the Deliverer’s arms when helplessness would die.
Faith follows the Shepherd’s footprints when stubbornness would wonder astray.
Faith accepts the climb up the sheer cliff when doubt would surely turn away.
Faith lays it all on the Rock when pride would fall under the load.
Faith clings to the lifeline when the world turns upside down.
Faith trusts even when the darkness closes in.
Faith praises when grief bears down.
Faith waits when turmoil lays us flat.
Faith hopes when the storm assaults.
Faith walks the path that can not be seen even when the climb is steep.
“Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Heb. 11:1

By Wendy Kleker