Chapter 3

For answer I received a letter from a debt collection agency in England, trying to get the money from me.

I wrote back explaining why I didn’t owe any money.

The situation had escalated far beyond my expectations and sense of fair play. I hadn’t picked up The Power of Positive Thinkingfor a while, but now I remembered the book and how its principles had helped me once before.

I began to pray daily for the farmer who was trying to wrong me. I decided he must be in some kind of sudden financial difficulty, otherwise why would he have waited a year to come after me for money, if he really believed I owed it to him?

Remembering resentment blocks spiritual power, and understanding the necessity of praying for those who mistreat us, I asked God to resolve the farmer’s financial problems.

I prayed the farmer might be relieved of the need to use such unfair means to get money. I prayed he would receive the money he needed through some honest channel, and no longer feel the need to chase me.

In the beginning it was hard to feel charitable towards this man, whom I considered to be a mean-spirited extortionist. But I persevered. Every night I sent out kind thoughts and wishes to him, and asked God to change his mind about haunting me with debt collectors’ letters.

I believed with all my heart this situation would resolve itself. I refused to accept that such unfairness would prevail. My resolve was tested when a second letter came from the debt collector explaining why the farmer thought I owed the money.

But I refused to give in. My response was firm but polite: I did not owe the money; once again I explained why, and that I was not going to pay it. I then continued on my path of prayer and charitable thoughts.

I never heard from either the collection agency or the farmer again.

I hope he came into the money he needed by some fair means, realized he was acting unjustly towards me, and gave up on his attempts to collect money he wasn’t entitled to.

It’s hard to explain this as mere ‘coincidence,’ isn’t it? 4: Another Farm Tries It On

My horses had lived with me for many years before I had to move to another property which had no barn on it. We were going to have to build one, and in the meantime my horses would have to board elsewhere. This was going to be hard on me and the four of them.

When your horses live with you, as their owner you can be flexible about their routine. You are also automatically more generous with hay, more solicitous about clean stalls, fresh available water, and enough grazing. If it is cold, you bring them in. If it is warm, you take off their blankets, so they don’t sweat and become uncomfortable. If the flies are getting bothersome, you bring them in…. You get the picture—you take much better care of your horses than most boarding barns.

I’d found a barn willing to take all four horses, including my mare. She cribbed, meaning she would chew anything she could lay her teeth on, a habit she’d developed long before I acquired her. Since she was the best horse I’d ever owned and had worked her way out of all her other vices, I allowed her to crib at home. She did it less and less frequently as she became more relaxed around me, but never completely stopped.

One barn agreed to take all four horses, including the cribbing mare. In order to prevent her from chewing the paddock fencing, the owners put a strand of live electric wire around the top and second planks. It ensured she could not damage their property.

The mare was still able to chew the wood in her box, but I had agreed to pay any damages she incurred and the barn owners were fine with that.

Over time I became aware that not only my horses, but the other equines, were not being given enough hay or water. I would show up on a boiling hot day and find all the water troughs empty. One morning I saw a pony of theirs drinking water out of a muddy puddle—it was the only liquid available. Time and time again I would have to fill up those troughs.

My horses did not have enough water in their buckets to drink during the night, so I bought four extra buckets and filled them. A few days later, my extra buckets had been distributed round the barn, so my horses no longer had the two buckets they needed.

There were many other examples of mismanagement. I never made an issue out of it, simply mentioned from time to time that the water needed filling up. Eventually I brought in more hay for my horses, so I could not be accused of ‘stealing’ the barn’s hay. The horses needed it, as they had no grass in their paddock. Whereas the owners’ horses were in a lush field…

One day I don’t care to dwell on, my mare became sick with colic. It was brought on by the stress of being in an unhappy environment and not being given enough hay or water. She was an older mare, which is why she was unable to withstand the bad conditions. I was trying to build a barn as fast as I could, but it was too late for her.