Free Riding. Free Love

Recently I've learned of a new way of riding.  It has been an idea in my mind for a while but I hadn't learned how to carry it out until just recently.  I found it best described in a chapter of C.S. Lewis's book The Screwtape Letters.  Yet C.S. isn't speaking about horses and training, he's speaking about God and 'free' love.  "Desiring their freedom, He therefore refuses to carry them, by their mere affections and habits, to any of the goals which He sets before them: He leaves them to 'do it on their own'." Because of this freedom to not only choose how we are going to go about things or if we are even going to try at all there is an element of honesty that enters that gives way to power and a beautiful truth.  By the grace of God I'm actually seeing this in my training and my riding.  This more tangibly in my riding looks like not forcing Gabe into a "headset" and letting him look at a jump.  I've found that Gabe has been over-jumping and launching himself at everything because he wasn't even looking at it! Now on one side that is incredibly scary...luckily for us he's a powerful launcher.  On the other hand it means that I have a very willing horse. So, we're finally working past some of his fear issues.  But now he jumps because he knows what he's doing not just because I'm asking him.  This makes me so grateful for the honesty and the heart of my horse and the wisdom and caring of my God that allows me to CHOOSE to love and serve him.