Moses

Moses is a beautiful, and TALL, bay Oldenburg gelding. His previous job was in Eventing (dressage, show jumping and cross country). After he sustained a suspensory injury and was no longer able to show, his owner donated him to a residential school for boys with challenges. While at that school, he re-injured himself because he was being used for cantering and jumping lessons. He would be limited in what he could do going forward after the second injury. The school did not have room for him to let him rest and heal and needed to find a home ASAP or he would be sent to auction.

The Powhatan Equine Rescue League (where we previously adopted Paxton) had rescued Moses from being sent to auction/potential slaughter and allowed him to rest and heal for 8 months. After the vet cleared him for light riding, PERL posted him on their Facebook page where we saw him, visited, and brought him home within a couple weeks. He settled into the herd well, is friendly to everyone (2 and 4 legged) and lets his big personality shine. We have seen him and Samson nibble each other in the withers and even saw Moses lick Paxton’s face as if to say, “Hello, friend!”. Moses has proven to be a great addition to the ministry program as he carries riders of all sizes calmly and securely during our sessions.

Moses was not originally named Moses, in fact his name was “Stewie”, a play on his registered Oldenburg name, “Catch 22”.

After a few months of getting to know him, we wanted to find a Bible name for him relating to a Bible character who found themselves in a “Catch 22” situation. The definition of a Catch 22 is “a dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions.” It’s been fun sharing Moses’ story with the children and using it as a teaching opportunity.

When Moses was leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt during the Exodus…(did you know that experts estimate that was about 2.4 MILLION people?) Moses found himself in a Catch 22…he had mountain ranges to the right and left, the Red Sea in front of him and the Egyptian army behind. All his choices were bad…Moses could lead the people back to Egypt to return to slavery, lead them into the mountains, that were essentially impassable so they would be sitting ducks for the Egyptian army, or go forward in to the Red Sea. The Israelites cried out to Moses and he replied “Do not be afraid, stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14:13) Moses called on the Lord for help! The Lord answered “Tell the Israelites to move on! Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.” (Exodus 14:15-16) Moses called on God to provide a new option, a great and mighty solution to his Catch 22 situation. Something that we, in our human minds could not comprehend or think of, like parting the Red Sea in front of them and walking through.

Moses was also in a Catch 22, no longer able to perform his job as a show and then lesson horse. He didn’t have any good options left. But GOD- who “works all things together for good for those that love Him and are called according to His purposes” (Romans 8:28) showed up and provided him the miraculous opportunity to become a ministry horse at the Ranch. The lesson we hope our Moses will remind us of daily is that we can always call on God and He will fight for us, provide for us, and provide great and mighty solutions to our problems that we could not perceive or imagine!

Moses' Bible verse is Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to Me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.”