EHAL Magazine - August 2016

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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-
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.
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.
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
Everything Horses and Livestock Magazine
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
paid for that particular weekend
and to not get overly caught up
in the justification and rationale.
Remaining competitive in the in-
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;
~ Cal Middleton
Meet the Living Life Ranch
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