2011 Ranch Hand Guide: #4. Ride The Horse in The Direction It’s Goin’

It’s true. Two summers ago I literally did not follow this rule; the horse went left and I went right…and down. I did a complete flip (well, almost) and landed on the rock hard ground as dust billowed up around me. My insides gelled together while I checked for feeling in my legs. This rule is not really about horses, but rather the fact that our world is constantly changing; we need to make sure we are changing with it.

Julie on horseback — Here I am in the saddle where I am supposed to be. These are Judy's horses in Chickasha. It's almost certain that if I go for a visit, we are going to find time for a ride. Riding used to be scary too. But if I am going to keep up Judy, I knew I had to overcome my fear and move on.

The Seed

Change is constant. Do you remember when you first encountered a new piece of technology for the first time? A few years younger than I, my graduate school project partner insisted that the way to eject a disk from a Macintosh computer was to drag the disk to the trash. Really. Does that make sense? No. I know it doesn’t. I was so very far out of my comfort zone on that day. I eventually realized that this thing called the Internet might be sticking around for a little while, and I probably better get it figured out.

Germination

Change is constant. My example of the change in technology over the years is just one tiny little blip on the world radar. It’s true that just a few years after I watched the virtual disk drop into the virtual trash can and then watched the actual disk pop out of the computer, I was teaching others to create web pages. But then the world as I know it changed again. I moved wwaaaayyyy out into the country. I could barely get an Internet connection. WiFi? Not out here!

Growth

Change is constant.

Greg on a horse — Just minutes before this picture was taken on the banks of the Washita River, Greg's saddle rolled to the side with him in it. He could have thrown in his spurs right then, but he didn't. We did a little rearranging and got him back on and down to the river. There may be some hope with him and the iPhone afterall.

Now I’ve got an iPhone. I sometimes think I couldn’t live without it, but I know I could. I mean, my husband has one too. I asked him to share a contact with me. He hung up, called me back, and gave me a number that was off by one digit. I tried to explain to him how he could just send me the information while he was on the phone with me. He wasn’t interested in learning that skill. He will never be interested in learning that skill. So, maybe you can see in which direction his horse is goin’. I intend on riding into the sunset with him, so in the future I’ll just make sure I have a pencil and paper nearby so I can get that number written down correctly.

To read Ranch Hand Guide Week 5 click here. ~ For Ranch Hand Guide Week 3 click here.

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2011 Ranch Hand Guide: #4. Ride The Horse in The Direction It’s Goin’

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