Developing Horizons Magazine (2).pdf Spring 2017 DHM A | Page 8

Rescued
Written by Irma Flanagan
T
he earth squished with mud
beneath horses’ and riders’ feet as a
mild wind blew away the guilt-lad-
en clouds above
Fairmount,
Georgia. The
Cowboy Church
would still hold
its third Sat-
urday meeting
regardless of the
weather. “We change our clothes,
not our plans,” Rebecca Hampton
later explained. The kids nor the
horses seemed to mind. Quite the
contrary!
Black cowboy hats, light blue
hooded sweatshirts, horses and po-
nies dotted the barnyard as twelve
or more youth prepared their ani-
mals to be ridden for the wel-
coming lineup and the Drill
Team exhibition. Eliza-
beth combed Nevada,
the paint horse’s
tail; Tori brushed
Montana, her
“Rocky
Mountain”
pony; and
Abbey cleaned
Sun-
dance’s hooves. Vic-
toria, a
pre-teen, lifted a light brown saddle
with a red cross hanging from its
side over a bay horse and six-year-
old Jayda tied the girth around her
white palomino pony.
Having been properly groomed,
the line of mounted equine, one
behind the other around the school,
gave way to a side-by-side line-
up along the hillside where riders
waved at the incoming church
attendees as their cars passed and
turned onto the graveled driveway.
In the meantime, people
walked through the barn-
yard and around the back
to the meeting place at
the back of the barn.
Metal folding
chairs were
lined in
rows over
floor
a
of
wood
shavings;
rough boards
formed the
walls, and open
beams held the roof.
A cheerful woman
wearing a black cowboy
hat and blue sweatshirt stood
on a stage at the front as youth
in matching attire gathered around
her. Having obviously tethered
their horses appropriately, they who
had ridden the horses were ready
for the church service. She led
them in songs of faith and praise.
Having finished the music portion
and prayed for their safety, she in-
vited the congregation to go outside
to watch the drill team perform
in the Brandon Miller Arena. The
inside service would continue as
soon as the youth filed back into
the Cow-
boy Church and
crowded
into the seats
around Re-
becca, the
youngest
sitting in her
lap with a gray
cat in her arms. The
cat jumped down and
wandered under the pul-
pit as the Reverend Steve
from the Joy House in Jasper
delivered the sermon.
The lady, Rebecca Hampton, is the
founder and the visionary of this
triune ministry: the Double HH
Ranch, the Cowboy Church and
the Christian School. Volunteers
describe her as “the heart” of it all.
The Heart
The ranch
had come first
after the build-
ing of the house.
Following the
economic down-
turn of 2008, she rescued as many
ill-fed and mistreated horses as she
could. After the kids began coming
and she agreed to “let them help
me at the barn and teach them how
to rope and ride, to build relation-
ships with them, and to talk to them
about the importance of Christ in
our lives,” she became a certified
equine therapist. “I realized what a
wonderful tool the horse is to work
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8 Spring