So it’s been quite awhile since I’ve posted – sorry about that! I have a heap of ideas for upcoming posts but they require a bit of research and I’ve been spending lots of time on study, assignments, exams, work, my garden and horse! Whew, that’s a mouthful!

On a side note, I got an invite to join in on Faith Barista’s ‘Unexpected Encouragement’ and thought this would be a perfect opportunity to share and hopefully encourage those of you out there reading this blog and trying to pursue dreams that have been placed on your heart.

I have a few favourite verses in the bible that I keep going back to:

– Proverbs 29:18 – “Where there is no vision, the people perish…”
Do you have a vision in life, something that’s been placed on your heart to achieve?  Can I encourage you, that desire isn’t there as an impossibility or an idea that someone can stamp all over.  It’s there for a reason!  It may not be the season to see it come to pass, but there’s always time to dream bigger and plan how you’re going to achieve your goal!  Consider what your vision is and work out the many steps you may need to take to get there.

– Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
God has these plans for ALL of us.  So perhaps the challenge should be once we’ve found our vision and are striving toward the goal; to help others to determine their vision and encourage them in it?  After all, we all need a vision or dream in life and all deserve to achieve it.  Perhaps the person you help today will play an instrumental part in you achieving your goal down the track.

– Psalm 62:5 – “My soul wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him…”
Fitting in with your vision, now may not be the right time, but if you have a dream or desire in life that seems impossible – great!  Go for it!  There’s a line in the movie Amazing Grace where William Wilberforce is talking with his close friend Billy, talking of being so young and trying to get into parliament.  His friend’s response is, “we are too young to realise that some things are impossible, so we will do them anyway.”

Perhaps something is only impossible because no one has ever done it before, not because it isn’t achievable.  I challenge you today to be encouraged by your dream, not disheartened.  Go for it!

“A horse is the projection of peoples’ dreams about themselves – strong, powerful, beautiful – and it has the capability of giving us escape from our mundane existence.” – Pam Brown

We’ve been covering horse condition scores and equine welfare in class with the students and watched a piece on the show Can We Help? which is run on the ABC, here in Australia.  Some of that night’s episode focused on Second Chance Horse Rescue, run by a young woman in her mid twenties.

As someone that age who has huge aspirations for the rest of my life, I was amazed to see that at 23 years of age she started on this dream to give back to the animals who had given her so much.  Negative words were spoken over her with regards to her lack of experience, age, finances and facilities.  Thankfully, they made no difference!

The end result is Second Chance Horse Rescue, an organisation set up by Jessie Barbour in July, 2006.  Based on the short segment featured on Can We Help?, it takes an average of $5,500 to rehabilitate a horse.

Obviously this would depend on the condition they first arrived in, but doing sums on the 75 horses mentioned that had passed through Second Chance Horse Rescue, this comes to in excess of $400,000!

If I had access to those kinds of funds, I’d eagerly be stepping towards my dream of 300 acres to house horses and educate people.  However, because they are lacking at this point in time, I’m sitting quietly – well, working towards the land in other ways!

A lack of funds didn’t stop Jessie, however and they don’t stop her today.  The large majority of funds utilised to support these gorgeous animals and restore them back to health is donated.

If you have a particular dream or goal for your life – especially one that involves making the world a better place for animals and humans alike – don’t let a lack of funds pull you up!  You may just need to take a different approach to get the desired outcome.

“All I pay my psychiatrist is the cost of feed and hay, and he’ll listen to me any day!”

tag: equine rehabilitation, horse goals, horse welfare, equine organisation