Blinders
(Reflection - September 1999)
Once when I was riding my horse Yankee a duck suddenly flew out of the weeds close to his feet. Yankee shied so violently, jumping sideways, that I pulled a muscle trying to stay in the saddle. I couldn’t blame him, because it was his nature.
Horses are prey animals and only keep alive in the wilds by their wits and speed. That characteristic stays with them even through generations of domesticity, and is probably the hardest thing to overcome in their training. A spooky horse is an unpleasant creature to ride. He sees danger all around. A fluttering plastic bag becomes an object of terror, and shadow shapes become monsters. With patience in training and a bond created by trust, the horse can relax and these panic sessions are at a minimum.
When people had to use horses every day, they used blinders to cut down on what their horses could see out of the corner of their eyes. A horse has wonderful peripheral vision; he can see almost all the way around himself, even when his head is pointed forward. He was designed that way so that he has a good chance of seeing predators coming up from behind. Horses that were going to pull a wagon with a family in it shouldn’t worry about what might be going on in the world around them, but focus on the road ahead. That’s what the blinders do. Racehorses often wear them, too, so they only concentrate on what is in front of them and winning the race.
I read about a woman who was hiking down the Grand Canyon trail and became so terrified by the height that she was almost paralyzed. She said the only way she could go on was to rig blinders of sorts with her sweater, so she could only see the path directly in front of her. By shutting out the vast emptiness to one side and concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, she was able to finish the trail.
Often, we need blinders, too. It would be useful to block out all the things that distract us from our path. The world around us can frighten us or allure us, and either one can be harmful to our walk in the Truth. Peter was walking on the water to Christ until he started noticing the wind and the waves around him. They frightened him, and he started to sink. He did well, as long as his focus was straight ahead toward his Lord. It is the same with us. If we keep our eyes forward to the goal ahead and block out the distractions and terrors to the side, then we will reach our destination safely.
Annette Haltom