I will never fully understand it. For some reason, my daughter, like so many young girls, fell in love with horses at a very early age. She spent many out-of-school hours at the barn. She loved to ride her horses, groom and braid her horses; she even liked to clean her horses' stables. If her horse acted in a way she did not want, this usually gentle young lady would stand him down with her voice, a stare and the use of the reins that leaving no doubt about who was in charge.

I must admit I was wrong. I was certain that when I quit paying the bills for her horses, her interest in horses would diminish. Not so! Now that she pays the bills she is even more attentive to her horse and his needs. Speaking of horses. John Wesley was an amazing horseman. He was even convinced that horses were not only a good form of transportation, but they were also good for you. Let me show you want I mean. For five months Wesley traveled across middle England, up to Epworth, on to Newcastle, then into Scotland and finally back to western England, to Wales and to Bristol. It was a typical journey, as he often preached three times a day and often spent nights in roadhouses.

On his way through Liverpool he wrote a letter to his friend Ebenezer Blackwell. His brother Charles had informed him that Blackwell had been very ill and had taken to traveling in a carriage. "I am really under apprehensions lest that chariot should cost you your life," Wesley wrote. "If, after having been accustomed to ride on horseback for many years, you should now exchange a horse for a carriage, it cannot be that you should have good health. It is a vain thing to expect it."

Wesley believed that riding a horse promoted his health. He did occasionally "rest" by riding a carriage but preferred being on horseback (he was 61 years old when he wrote the letter to Blackwell). Maybe my daughter understands this better than I. As a matter of fact, she has always been pretty healthy … that is, since she was old enough to ride a horse.