I once wrote a scholarship essay about stewardship. Well, the prompt may not have been directly about stewardship, but stewardship applied and was the point of my essay. Stewardship of the land. I think I was awarded that scholarship. That is not the point of this post though.

The point is, we are stewards. Have you ever thought about it? Stewards of ourselves. Stewards of the land. Stewards of our animals. We are care takers. AHA moment. To me, it is my most important job to be a good steward of my animals and their land. It is not always easy and it is not always fun. It is the price we pay for the great things they give us.

Yesterday, after work, I drove out to the farm in blistering, strong winds to throw extra feed to the horses and cows and to blanket the old man, Apache. I do this every night it gets really cold. Luckily for me, I live in the southern half of Texas and we do not have ‘real’ winters. Did I want to drive out there in less than favorable conditions to be cold and dirty? Then to wake up at 5 AM to feed again and get back to town before traffic and work. Pick hay out of my hair all day at work. Not really. Especially because I could not ride (how selfish of me). I will turn around after work today and do the same thing. However, it did me more than good to see them and know that they were alright, would be comfortable through the night. They needed me. They depend on me, and to be honest, I depend on them.

I am so grateful for Apache. He has taught me so much in my life. Lessons I am not sure I would have learned from any other horse I have come in contact with. He is the one that really ‘got my goat’ when I was younger. He has the attitude and personality of a naughty pony, just in horse size. Anyway, now that he is 30+ years old, I am having a hard time watching him age. We do not know much about his life before he came to be with us. He has been a great horse. He has really started to show his age since we lost Mansebo and that is the hardest part for me. I do not want to think about when his time comes. He will let me know what that is, just like Mr. Man did. Until then, I am happy to do whatever it is he needs. I will blanket him when it gets cold and feed him to his heart’s content. Get the burrs out of his mane and tail. Do whatever I can to make him comfortable and will not always be easy.

What is the most important thing to you that you are a steward of and why? What sacrifices do you make?

Walk in love, dear readers, and stay warm.

Farm weekend with the horses and dog for me. Christmas festivities with the nephew and niece Sunday!