The Wreck

Clint's Pre-Wreck Ear

Hopefully there are many times in a woman’s life when she thinks how blessed she is to have a husband.  Last October brought me one of those days. If Clint were writing this you’d get quite a story I have no doubt, but you have Shawnele.  While my story won’t be nearly as entertaining (and will lack many details), at least it will be true.

The real story is that while Clint was working with a young horse last fall, it fell on him, kicking him in the head and back a number of times. This woman still thanks God that, considering how serious the accident was, the injuries were minor compared to what they could have been. No one who knows Clint will be surprised to hear that he wouldn’t let the horse’s owner bring him into the house immediately after the accident because he didn’t want to scare the children or me. If you know Clint you won’t be surprised, either, to learn that he did all of his medical care himself (earning the approval, later, of our family physician as well as our wonderful neighboring MD) – including taping the lobe of his ear back to his head with electrical tape. (Next time you see him, see if you can figure out which ear it was.)

Let me tell you that that was the first time in our married life I was grateful for that hard Surplus head!

While Clint’s brain is still adjusting to the changes that took place – giving him a lingering bout of vertigo – Clint has healed up very nicely. I have been surprised at how good he has been to protect his head and to not take on horses that may not be a good fit for his present condition. I know that has been disappointing to some clients who were really hoping to have Clint work with their young horses or horses that were having some other challenges that aren’t a good fit for a rider with vertigo, but I also know that everyone who knows about his situation – including disappointed clients – is glad that he’s taking good care of his head.

So, there you have it: the boring but true story of what happened to Clint last fall. You’d think with as long as we made you wait for the story it would have been more interesting than that!

Punctuality-Challenged

Ever wondered why Clint is sometimes late? Being perennially late myself, I don’t wonder so much, but you might. (Actually once, before we were married, we had a competition based on our New Year’s Resolutions. Clint was resolved to be on time and I was resolved to quit Mt. Dew. If you’ve noticed either of our records on those scores, it won’t surprise you that we’ve resolved to quit making resolutions!) I have always considered that Clint’s punctuality-challenged personality had to do with trying to do as much as possible in whatever time he has and, to be honest, that is a great deal of it…but over time I’ve learned that there’s more to it.

If you’ve ever watched Clint work a horse then you know that he is a firm believer that there are times when you just cannot leave a horse where he’s at. To do so, in many situations, would be detrimental to the overall goal of progressing the horse. For instance, I have seen Clint work a horse into a positive place for stopping  beyond the time that he needed to be somewhere else – or well past the time his supper was cold on the table.

It’s not always (okay, it’s rarely) convenient to work with our horses (or our children, our spouses, our friends for that matter) on their timetable, but it is always worth it.  I don’t get to watch Clint work horses as often as I’d like, but one thing I know is that he is doggedly consistent about is not quitting a project until the time is right.  If he is loading a horse, or encouraging one encountering a  new obstacle, he never leaves the job while the horse is still adamantly refusing.  He may not have the time to take a horse all the way to the end goal during this session, but he doesn’t stop until the horse is giving a try at it.

So, the next time Clint’s late meeting you trust me, it’s not because he doesn’t value your time – he just wants to give each horse his best possible opportunity to get along.