Everything Horses and Livestock® Magazine August 2016 Vol 1 Issue 3

Everything Horses and Livestock Magazine

Meet the Living Life Ranch

They say a picture paints a thou- sand words. When you look at the little girl above, what comes to your mind? A picture of love, hope and happiness? Pictures can be deceiving. This little girl’s life is not as it seemed in this picture. The truth is this 4 year old little girl’s moth-

Even at this early age, she felt there was a presence guiding her, giving her knowledge and instructions, instructing her to love. Out of this love, when argu- ments at home became violent between her parents, she was brave enough to seek help for her father and to protect her baby brother. .Taking her baby brother with her instead of hiding, she went door- to-door until she found someone that would call for help. This love also directed her to keep a safe dis- tance and to try never to be alone with her molester. Out of fear that it would destroy and devastate her family, she didn’t tell a soul about him. Even though she loved him, in her heart she knew he was wrong.

er suffered mental illness. The mother is Bi-polar and Schizophrenic, but the complete diagnoses didn’t come until this little girl was 25 years old. So from the beginning, this little girl’s life has been confusing and chaotic. Due to her mother’s illness; there were outbursts of violence which led to both physical and mental abuse which caused her to fear her mother. By the age of 5, she figured out that she couldn’t trust human love and that love came with pain. Nevertheless, she continued to seek love, she loved through the pain of being molested by a trusted family member, which began before this picture was even taken. You see behind that smile and those eyes was a small person with a huge loving heart.

When this little girl turned 16, her healing began with a gift, a horse named Lobo. Her heart swelled with love as she worked to take care of him. She spent many hours alone with him. He became the keeper of all her secrets, her best friend. The love they dustry while keeping this favor- able perspective isn’t easy to do when you make a living showing horse’s. But it definitely can be done, and not much worth doing is easy. This has been an adaption of a chapter in the book Cal Middleton - On Horse’s And Life, published by Whirlybird Press, Available for purchase now at these locations; www.CalMiddleton.com www.BetterEquineOnline.com Continued on Page 26

paid for that particular weekend and to not get overly caught up in the justification and rationale. Remaining competitive in the in-

Continued from Page 9

are in, the foundation will make or break the high level competitions as the horse develops in training and showing. (This is something that has become highly appar- ent to me over the years, as an NRHA judge and competitor.) The merit of competing should be in the work of getting a horse ready. Day in and day out, for months or years, creating a willingness and desire within the horse to perform a task in front of an audience, and maybe even enjoy it a little. We must often remind ourselves that the judging is just an opinion that we

~ Cal Middleton

14 ©Everything Horses and Livestock | August 2016 | EHALmagazine.com