What Horses Teach Us About Fear and Trust
One of the things I love most about horses is that they have a way of revealing what’s true—not just about themselves, but about us.
One of our horses, Red, has taught me a lot about fear.
Red is a wonderful horse. Sure, he’ a little reactive, but he’s also gentle, willing, and has become a trusted partner in our mentoring program. But like every horse, he was created with a powerful instinct to survive.
When something startles him, he reacts.
A deer jumps from the woods.
A tarp catches the wind.
A flock of birds suddenly takes flight.
Red doesn’t stop to think through his options. He certainly doesn’t look to me and ask what I think he should do.
He reacts first.
Usually his instinct is to turn around and create some room between him and the scary thing; heading for the barn is even better. That’s where the rest of the herd is. In his mind, that’s where safety can be found.
Honestly, I can’t blame him. God designed horses to survive by reacting quickly to danger.
But here’s what’s interesting.
What happens next has a lot to do with whoever is handling him.
If I tense up…
If I panic…
If I start pulling harder on the lead rope…
If I raise my voice…
If I let him rush back toward the barn…
None of those things help.
In fact, they usually make everything worse.
But if I’m able to stay calm…
If I breathe…
If I can interrupt his panic and redirect his attention back to me…
If I ask him to just stop and breathe instead of focusing on the panic…
Something begins to change.
Not because the scary thing disappeared.
But because his focus did.
We React Too
As much as we’d like to believe otherwise, people aren’t all that different.
When life startles us, we react.
A difficult diagnosis.
An unexpected phone call.
Financial pressure.
Conflict in a relationship.
A child making choices we never imagined.
Fear has a way of grabbing our attention before we even realize what’s happening.
We become anxious.
Defensive.
Angry.
Controlling.
Or maybe we simply run toward whatever has made us feel safe in the past.
Fear is a natural response to living in a broken world.
But while fear may be instinctive…
We don’t have to let it remain in the driver’s seat.
Jesus Never Reacted Out of Fear
One of the things that amazes me as I read the Gospels is how calm Jesus remained.
Crowds pressed in around Him.
Religious leaders tried to trap Him.
Storms threatened His disciples.
People brought Him impossible situations.
Yet Jesus never seemed hurried by fear.
That doesn’t mean He ignored people’s pain.
Quite the opposite.
He entered into it with compassion, truth, and peace.
Again and again, His first words were often the same:
“Do not be afraid.”
Jesus wasn’t pretending everything would be easy.
He was inviting people to shift their attention.
Away from what frightened them…
And toward the One who was holding them.
Calm Is Contagious
I’ve learned something at the ranch.
A calm leader doesn’t eliminate fear.
A calm leader gives others confidence they can move through it.
That’s true with horses.
It’s true with children.
It’s true in marriage.
It’s true in churches.
It’s true in every relationship.
People don’t need someone who never faces difficult circumstances.
They need someone whose peace is rooted in something deeper than the circumstances.
That’s one of the beautiful gifts mature Christians offer the people around them.
Not perfection.
Presence.
Not panic.
Peace.
The kind of peace that quietly says,
“We’re going to take the next step together.”
The Shepherd We Need
Psalm 23 begins with some of the most comforting words ever written:
“The Lord is my shepherd.”
A shepherd doesn’t remove every valley.
He walks with his sheep through them.
He doesn’t promise they’ll never be afraid.
He promises they’ll never be alone.
I’ve seen Red walk past things that once terrified him.
Not because the world became less frightening.
But because he learned there was someone trustworthy leading him.
That’s the invitation Jesus gives each of us.
When fear tells us to run…
When anxiety tells us to panic…
When everything in us wants to race back toward whatever feels familiar…
The Good Shepherd gently calls us to look at Him.
And often, that’s enough to help us take the next step.
Because peace isn’t found in the absence of frightening things.
It’s found in the presence of a faithful Shepherd.
If you’d like to read more
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- Building Trust in Relationships: What Horses Teach Us About Authenticity
- How to Build Trust: What Horses Teach Us About Consistency
- Healthy Leadership: What Horses Teach Us About Boundaries, Safety, and Trust