A funny story heard at a bluegrass festival helped blogger Kelli Neubert keep a better perspective on both horses and life in general.
Unlike many of you who grew up ranching and riding on family places, I spent a lot of my formative years at bluegrass festivals.
It was a great group of guys, my dad being the mandolin player, and I can easily recall the fun times we had — meat grilling on the barbecue, laughs and stories circulating and old-timey music in the background.
One story in particular jumps out at me and has been riding alongside my psyche since the moment I heard it. The stand-up bass player, Billy, told us about a family from Germany who came to visit him in Santa Cruz, California. The details escape me — I don’t know where in Germany or why they were visiting, but that’s not really that important.
The visiting family and hosts were enjoying a beautiful coastal California afternoon in Billy’s backyard. While sitting there, one of the Germans’ faces changed from placid to a wide-eyed, terrified expression. He choked on his words as he pointed to the red flowers in the garden and tried to explain to the others what he was looking at. Soon, the other couple of Germans saw the same thing and became just as scared. They yelled at Billy, “WHAT IS THAT INSECT?!! OH MY GOSH!” “KILL IT! KILL IT!”
Billy looked, and sure enough, there was a big ol’ creature buzzing around the red flowers. But it wasn’t an insect at all.
It was a hummingbird. Sidenote: It was at this moment that I learned that hummingbirds are restricted geographically to the Western Hemisphere and not in Germany at all. They had never seen one. Of course, they thought it was a bug.
Billy quickly corrected their mistake. He said, “That’s not a giant bug. That’s a tiny bird.”
Instantly, their faces softened from horror-stricken expressions to ones of adoration. Nothing else had changed. Same spooky, buzzing, hovering animal.
But now it’s a little bird.
“Ohhhhh…. Wow!!!!! Goodness! How cute!”
“Take a picture!”
I share this because it’s relevant on so many levels in my life and my world. We can take a single object — a horse, a show, a mistake, an embarrassing moment — and shift it to a whole other perspective in our minds when we know the truth. Sometimes a horse that we don’t enjoy, admire or even get along with at all might be the best one in someone else’s string. Sometimes we miss the level of craftsmanship that goes into a hackamore, saddle or pair of spurs just because it’s not “our taste.” Sometimes, a person we don’t appreciate, or with whom we have some sort of disagreement, might end up being the one who teaches us the most.
So go forth, my friends, into this season with an open mind and a search for the truth. Try looking at the fierce negative and the overly positive for what it is — something in the middle. Try to spot the hummingbirds in your life that you suspected were insects.
And whenever possible, even if you’re busy ranching, riding and being a cowboy, go ahead and attend that local bluegrass festival. You never know what kind of wisdom you might stumble upon.
