Get Back on the Horse

Get Back on the Horse

Get Back on the Horse--horses in field behind flowering shrubsGet back on the horse. That’s what we often hear if we fall. The horse may have bucked us, or we may have fallen for other reasons. Whatever the cause, we receive encouragement to try again.

My sister disagrees. As a teenager, she did not like to ride horses. A cousin convinced her to ride behind him. She did. On a trip through our orchard, he lowered his head to miss a tree branch. He forgot to tell her. That was her last horse ride.

Get back on the horse means to try again.

We don’t give up. Instead, we get up. We go another time. One failure does not mean we will always fail.

Life gets difficult for everyone. We all fall. People or circumstances hurt us. Nevertheless, we keep going.

We learn from our mistakes.

Rather than kick ourselves, we try to correct what went wrong. We don’t want to live in fear—with cold feet—all our lives.

Get back on the horse applies to every area of life.

We may:

  • Lose a job
  • Fail a test
  • Suffer from illness
  • Grieve lost friendships
  • Endure persecution

In every circumstance, we decide whether to shake it off  or tie ourselves in knots with worry. If we don’t know how to get back on the horse, we can always rely on God for direction.

 “Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1 NIV).

Thanks to Joe and Ann Klotz for the suggestion.

Do you have an expression you want explained or a thought about this one? If so, please comment below.

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12 thoughts on “Get Back on the Horse

  1. Hi Diana,
    You were the discussion at breakfast this morning! 😊. All good! So, my brother and I were thinking about expressions our grandmother used. Any idea on the phrase “eat’em up snoot raw”? Have a blessed day!
    Chris

  2. You gave me two firsts, Chris: The first time to be told I was breakfast discussion and the first time to hear your grandmother’s expression “eat’em up snoot raw.” What an interesting saying! I have heard “eat’em up.” I have not heard the “snoot raw” addition. Can you help with what that means? Thank you. Blessings on your day.

    1. Hi Diana, glad to be able to provide some firsts for you. 😊. I have two brothers, and we’ve gotten quite a few laughs trying to figure this out. After much discussion among us, our interpretation consensus, if you will, is that “eat’em up, snoot raw” had something to do with mealtime. Specifically, Mom and Granny’s desire for us to eat ALL our meal, or to clean our plates. (We were all 3 picky eaters as young children in the early 60’s.). Our thought is that pigs, or hogs, rub their ‘snoot’s’ to the ground as they eat, perhaps so much so as they eat everything, that the snoot may appear raw afterward (even though it may not be). However, we don’t recall any of Granny’s relatives raising pigs. We did grow up in a small rural community in NC, and farming was prevalent. So, that’s our best guess. Are there any farmers that raise pigs out there?
      Have a blessed day, Diana!

  3. I can’t count the number of times I’ve fallen Ms. Diana, but I can assure you that, to date, I’ve gotten up one time more than I’ve fallen. Let us pray that continues to be the case for us both ma’am. God’s blessings. As to Mr. Chris’ comments, I know what a snoot is (e.g., beef snoots are a treat for dogs to chew on to help clean their teeth, but can’t say I’ve heard “snoot raw” before. They dry snoots before giving them to dogs, but not sure of they’re considered raw then or not.

  4. I loved riding horses as a kid, although I had trouble staying on, and heard the expression ‘get back on the horse’ many times. I have good memories of riding and still love horses!
    Thanks for reminding me of those good times, and for your encouragement to get back up when life knocks us down! Blessings to you!

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