Latest / Imagine Media Podcast Network / God’s Goodness | Christian Testimonies, Hearing ... - What If Angels Are Closer Than You Think? | Tammy Holsey | Ep. 164

Transcript

God’s Goodness | Christian Testimonies, Hearing ... - What If Angels Are Closer Than You Think? | Tammy Holsey | Ep. 164 · Imagine Media Podcast Network

0:00
A few months later, the same lady, it's this
0:03
really strange look comes across her face and
0:06
she goes, Tammy, Checote just got another angel.
0:10
Wow. I've heard. And I said, okay, is this instead
0:15
of or in addition to? She goes, no, no, the other
0:18
two never even and never will. They will be with
0:21
him for the rest of his life. This angel has
0:25
come in for a specific purpose because Chakoti
0:29
is going to have to help someone. And this angel
0:33
is going to guide him in that. Well, I had like
0:37
a million questions then, who, what, where, when,
0:40
how. Yeah. Tell me more. And she said, I can't
0:44
see any of that. All I know is that it's going
0:48
to be soon and it's going to be important. This
0:52
is going to really matter. Hey there. Welcome
0:57
to the God's Goodness podcast. We are your hosts,
1:00
Josh and Shelly Hankins, and we're here to share
1:02
real stories of God's power. stories of hope,
1:06
healing, and miracles that will strengthen your
1:08
faith. No matter what you're walking through,
1:10
we want to remind you that God is good and He's
1:13
still moving today. Let's dive in. When you're
1:18
praying desperately for God to do something,
1:20
how much of what you believe about Him starts
1:22
riding on what happens next. You're watching,
1:25
waiting, looking for some indication that He's
1:28
there. And when nothing looks the way you expected,
1:31
you can start wondering, God, where are you in
1:34
this? Our guest, Tammy Holsey, author of Chacodi's
1:38
Angels, faced that question when her beloved
1:40
horse, Chacodi, suffered with a catastrophic
1:43
injury and she had no idea how it would turn
1:46
out. But what if the outcome isn't the only place
1:49
to look for evidence that God is there? Tammy,
1:52
thank you so much for joining us today. Do you
1:54
mind opening us up in a prayer to welcome in
1:57
the Holy Spirit? I definitely will be happy to
2:01
do that. And thank you for having me. Heavenly
2:04
Father, you know Chakoti's story better than
2:07
anyone. You were there for all of it. Please
2:11
guide me today and help me tell the parts of
2:13
our story that you weren't told in the way you
2:16
want me to tell them. If there's someone listening
2:19
who needs to hear something from Chakoti's story,
2:22
please help me reach them. Thank you for giving
2:25
me that little horse and for everything he brought
2:28
into my life. Help me make you and Chakoti proud
2:32
today. Amen. Amen. Amen. Tammy, before we prayed,
2:38
I mentioned this incredible relationship you
2:40
had with Chakoti. Before we get to that moment
2:43
when everything changed, take us back to the
2:45
beginning. How did Chakoti come into your life
2:48
and what made your relationship with him so special?
2:52
Chakoti was actually born in a wild herd and
2:56
he was captured when he was around two or three
2:59
years old by a good friend of mine. His name
3:02
is George. call an Indian George because he's
3:06
Comanche Indian and he's very proud of his heritage.
3:10
So the moniker does not bother him in the least.
3:13
He's pretty proud of it. And George is actually
3:16
the one that put the first 30 days of gendling
3:18
on Chakoti. And Chakoti was then ultimately sold
3:23
at a charity auction and another friend of mine
3:27
actually bought it. I had a course for many years
3:32
as a quarter horse and she had gone lame. And
3:36
I was looking for another riding horse when my
3:39
friend that bought Chikoti at the auction offered
3:43
him up to me for sale. The reason that he offered
3:46
him to me is because Chikoti was so little and
3:50
he's only 14 and a half hands. Explain to everybody
3:53
what that means. And so he was quite short for,
3:57
you know, he was a full grown horse, obviously,
3:59
but he was, he was still quite short. And my
4:02
friend owns a 6 ,000 acre working cattle ranch.
4:06
So his men, you know, were big men, the cowboys
4:08
that worked the ranch. And Chikoti was just small.
4:12
So he was offering up to me because I'm only
4:16
almost four foot 11. I'm not very tall. And Chikoti
4:20
was absolutely perfect in the size for me. And
4:24
when I met him, it was an instantaneous bond.
4:28
It's like both of us knew. that we were meant
4:31
to be together. We had six years in the beginning
4:35
before his accident. We had six years of amazing
4:38
adventures. Our bonds just strengthened every
4:42
day. All kinds of really fun things together.
4:45
He loved to run and he was incredibly fast, even
4:49
those sides especially. He was incredibly fast.
4:52
I also loved the swim. And he never lost that.
4:56
Either one of those things, he loved to run and
4:58
swim. And he loved just to be with me. His two
5:03
favorite things outside of me was babies, human
5:07
babies, and cats. He loved cats. Cats would sometimes
5:13
get on his back and he'd carry them around. It
5:16
was kind of crazy. I mean, if he'd see a baby
5:18
stroller, he would head straight for it. and
5:21
put his head down in the stroller with the baby.
5:25
And I mean, babies could grab his face, pull
5:28
on his whiskers and he just wouldn't move. He
5:31
just loved kids. And so he was really special
5:36
in that way. And, you know, if he met someone
5:39
that was afraid of horses, he would just somehow
5:42
make himself smaller and more quiet and he would
5:47
not make any sudden movements to frighten them.
5:50
and he would just kind of mezzle up two people
5:53
that were afraid just to show him that he was
5:55
not dangerous and he was such a gentle horse.
6:00
He was a pinto and his predominant color was
6:03
dark brown and he had the most beautiful white
6:09
brown eyes I've ever seen of a horse. And you
6:14
just get lost in his eyes. When you look into
6:16
his eyes, it's like you were looking at an old
6:17
soul. That's what we were. It sounds like a really
6:22
interesting personality for a horse. Yes, especially
6:26
one born white. So my friend, Indian George,
6:31
gentles him when they first put a saddle on him
6:34
and then first put a rider on him. He never bucked.
6:37
And in all the years I had him, he never bucked.
6:40
I never had any unexpected separations from the
6:44
saddle with him. I never came out. And he took...
6:50
perfect care of me always. So he was an amazing
6:55
boy. That's awesome. I looked up to Cody's Angels
6:58
on YouTube and I heard one story about him and
7:02
carrots. Do you want to share about just a fun
7:05
story about that? Yes. So I had another horse
7:10
as well after a number of years and she was a
7:13
beautiful Appaloosa named Coco. And we'd gone
7:16
out on a ride, Cody and Coco were both on the
7:19
trail with me and when we got back on the way
7:22
to the bar and I'd heard I'd stopped at the grocery
7:24
store and I bought those carrots that have those
7:27
big long green leaves out of the land. And that
7:30
was his favorite. And so I had them in a grocery
7:33
sack and I was walking Coco on a lead rope back
7:37
to their turnout and Chakoti and never had to
7:41
put a lead rope on him. I would just throw it
7:44
over his back and wherever I went, he followed
7:46
me. I didn't have to have a hand on him. So he
7:49
was tagging along behind and I had Coco in one
7:52
hand, those carrots in another. And somebody
7:55
hollered at me, you've got a thief behind you.
7:58
And I turned around and he had one of those carrots
8:02
sticking out his mouth. He had snagged it out
8:04
of the grocery store, out of the grocery sack
8:06
and was trying to hide it. And he had this huge
8:08
look of innocence. I didn't do it. And so when
8:15
we finally got to the turnout and Coco was just
8:19
losing her mind because she thought, if Chikoti
8:22
gets a treat, I get a treat, you know? And so
8:25
she's just really angry that he's got a carrot
8:27
and she doesn't. So I turned them out into their
8:30
turnout and then, you know, fair is fair. So
8:32
I gave Coco the first carrot and I handed Chikoti
8:36
another carrot and he's got the leafy green part
8:39
hanging out of his mouth and Coco reached over
8:43
and snatched the green leaves from that carrot
8:45
out of his mouth, just bit it off. And from then
8:50
on, every carrot that I gave to, to Cody, he
8:56
offered her the leafy green leaves off of it
8:59
every single one. I have never seen a horse feed
9:04
another horse like that ever. Not before, not
9:08
since. It was just crazy. I just couldn't believe
9:10
it. Yeah, because they're not, their instinct
9:13
isn't really to share resources, right? No. Like,
9:18
this is mine. Yes. Yeah, they're herd animals,
9:22
but not pack animals. Exactly. They'll graze
9:26
together, but they won't share the meal. Exactly.
9:30
That's exactly right. I just couldn't believe
9:31
my eyes when I watched him do that. Yeah, so
9:36
he stands out as... very special horse with his
9:39
own great personality from the beginning that
9:43
he was that he was just more proof that God puts
9:46
a little bit more thought into everything he
9:48
put on this planet than most people give him
9:50
credit for. You know, from every animal to every
9:54
plant to everything. Absolutely. And the thing
9:57
about it is sometimes you have to stand still
10:00
and watch and just wait for I feel like there's
10:04
a Bible for that. This could be wrong. There
10:09
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10:14
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11:02
Now, back to more of God's goodness. So he had
11:05
an accident after, did you say six years? With
11:09
you. Yes, yes. At the time I was married to a
11:13
man that was not into living in the country.
11:15
So we lived in the city and therefore my horses
11:18
were boarded at a boarding facility. And the
11:23
boarding facility was really nice. It was big
11:25
30 acre pasture, very clean, wonderful people.
11:30
But one night in late June in Houston area that's
11:36
really hot part of time of the year. about 11
11:39
p .m. at night, the helicopter buzzed the pasture
11:41
with its searchlights, obviously looking for
11:44
someone. And it just sent the whole entire herd
11:47
into a panic. And not long after that helicopter
11:51
went over, the owners of the boarding facility
11:54
went out to catch a mare they had recently acquired
11:58
to ride her after dark because it just hot. And
12:02
as they were walking out to catch this horse,
12:06
They noticed that Chakoti was in the middle of
12:08
the pasture with his favorite companion horse,
12:12
which was this huge black draft mare named Star.
12:17
And they were really kind of funny together.
12:19
They look like Mutt and Jeff because she was
12:21
so big and he was so little. But he just adored
12:26
her. But anyway, so they noticed that Star and
12:29
Chakoti are in the middle. And Star made this
12:32
unbelievable maneuver. They could not even explain
12:36
it to me. But they stopped dead in their tracks
12:39
and they said that they said to one another,
12:42
did she just do that? And it caught their attention.
12:46
So they're staring at her. And then Star went
12:49
into what they described as bird dog point position.
12:55
And she was pointing at Chakoti's leg, which
12:58
was his injured body part. And they decided that
13:03
they they were very compelled to go over there
13:05
and investigate exactly what Star was pointing
13:08
at because they couldn't see his leg from where
13:11
they were standing. They were too far away. And
13:13
when they got there, it was just catastrophic.
13:16
Injury was catastrophic. They instantly called
13:19
the vet and they called me, did a hundred miles
13:22
an hour getting to him, praying the entire way
13:26
to please save him. And it was because of that
13:31
horse that Chikoti was able to be in surgery
13:35
within an hour of his accident and that saved
13:38
his life. So that horse, Star, saved his life
13:44
that night. And her bizarre, you know, out of
13:49
this world behavior was just inexplicable, you
13:54
know? And it wasn't until about two years later
13:59
that we were able to explain it. So after, you
14:04
know, Chakoti started a long, long road to recovery.
14:09
It was over a year. He had multiple surgeries,
14:13
a lot of rehab, and he had chiropractors. He
14:18
had massage therapists. He had everything that
14:22
I could think of to help him recover. One of
14:25
the things that helped save his writing career
14:29
was my farrier, who's a horseshoer, if you're
14:32
not familiar with the term, when the first time
14:35
that he came out to see Chikoti after his devastating
14:38
accident, he invented and built on the spot a
14:44
physical therapy shoe. And he wore that shoe
14:48
for two years. Just a second, like when you describe
14:52
the catastrophic injury, it's not just a broken
14:55
leg or something. Like describe this injury,
14:58
like this is extensive recovery that needs to
15:00
happen. So like what all happened to him? It
15:04
was his back right leg and it was what's called
15:08
a degloving injury. So she's... leg was lacerated,
15:15
the perimeter of his leg, and everything was
15:18
ripped down to the bone about four inches, four
15:21
to six inches, some place it was four inches,
15:24
some place it was six. And it was just his raw
15:26
leg bone. He says stents or tendons were gone.
15:31
That's the tendons that's needed to flex the
15:35
slits that allows you, you know, if you are looking
15:38
at your own foot, when you bring your toes up
15:40
toward you, That's your extensor tendons that
15:43
allow that motion. His were gone. They don't
15:46
regrow. So the rest of his life, he had to learn
15:50
how to compensate without them. Wow. Josh is
15:53
showing me on his arm what this all looks like.
15:57
Yes, yes. I wish everyone could - I'm an EMT,
16:00
so I know what degloving is, and I know what
16:03
extensors and reflexors are. And so I'm showing
16:06
her my forearm and my flexor extenders and my
16:09
flexor reflex - You know, showing her how I retractors
16:12
work and how they ball up when you move my wrist.
16:15
I can't use my hand or move my wrist at all without
16:18
them. That's exactly right. And it was his back
16:22
right foot, back right leg. His flexor tendons
16:26
were intact, which is one of the things that
16:29
saved his life. But everything around it was
16:32
destroyed. So the fact that they survived was
16:38
a miracle. The fact that he was found was a miracle
16:42
that we were able to get him into surgery so
16:45
quickly. My farrier built this physical therapy
16:49
shoe. And what that did was when the scar tissue
16:54
began filling in, it filled in short. So it held
16:59
his foot in its normal position instead of just
17:04
being flopping at the end of his leg like a dead
17:06
thing. it held it in a normal position so the
17:11
physical therapy shoe had a like the end of it
17:15
it stuck out past his actual foot and then curled
17:20
up like the edge of a rocking chair leg and so
17:25
what it did is it didn't allow him to knuckle
17:29
over so his foot could stay in the position that
17:33
it was meant to be in and because in the beginning
17:37
he would knuckle over and walk on the front of
17:39
his ankle and that stopped it and the walking
17:43
on the front of the angle it was going to you
17:46
know cause more damage and that stopped it. So
17:51
my farrier was a genius and so we did a lot of
17:56
things. One of the things that we did is we wrapped
18:00
his other back leg To offer it support as you
18:04
know horses are large animals They're heavy animals
18:06
and even though he was a small horse his legs
18:09
were built to hold his weight and They stand
18:14
on four pillars Now if one leg goes down the
18:18
other three legs will take over, but they can't
18:21
last for long so That's why we wrapped the other
18:26
back leg to offer it support so it could hold
18:29
more weight while the injured one was recovering.
18:32
I mean, there was just a ton of things that we
18:34
did. And then once he was able to, you know,
18:37
start walking more normally, I, you know, started
18:40
him out on, you know, hand walking him over low
18:44
cavalettes, teaching him how, again, how to lift
18:47
that leg without extensor tendons. And, you know,
18:50
it was a long, slow recovery, but Let me tell
18:53
you that little horse had no quit in him none
18:57
and I moved him to another barn a boarding facility
19:04
That was closer to my work because I just wanted
19:07
to spend more time with him So I didn't have
19:10
so much drive time if you live in a big city,
19:12
you know, you know traffic can be a problem So
19:16
I just wanted less drive time to spend more time
19:19
with him And this new boarding facility is beautiful
19:24
as well. It was much larger than the other one.
19:27
And they were also very willing, as was the first
19:30
one, to accommodate his special needs. So we
19:32
had very small turnout for a few years, actually,
19:36
just being very careful. I would only allow him
19:39
to be turned out with my other horse, the apple,
19:41
as I mentioned in the previous story, Coco, because
19:44
she became his angel in watching out for him.
19:49
And she would let me know if there was something
19:53
wrong. She was amazing. But it was at this new
19:57
boarding facility. And then I began to ride him
20:00
again. And, you know, we started off super slow.
20:04
We built that up slowly. And then, you know,
20:07
that just increased. Then a new lady moved into
20:10
the barn and her name was Lindsay. And there
20:13
was a rumor going around the barn that she was
20:16
an animal communicator. And, you know, you don't,
20:19
I don't really pay attention to rumors about
20:22
people too much. Not that I disbelieved in animal
20:25
communicators, but I'm kind of like, yeah, whatever.
20:28
And we had been out on a Saturday morning ride
20:32
and then afterward Lindsey and I were just kind
20:34
of hanging around and hand grazing our horses.
20:37
And she asked me how Chikoti hurt his leg. Now
20:42
she had never seen his injury because I always
20:45
kept the protective wrap on it. And I said, well,
20:50
you know, we're not really sure how he actually
20:53
heard it. He was found in the pasture with that
20:56
injury. And she said, he's showing me what's
21:01
happening. There were a lot of horses in the
21:04
pasture and he's running and he ran through the
21:09
middle of a broken tree. His leg gets caught
21:14
in the tree. And he falls to the ground and Tammy,
21:19
there's just so much pain. And that made total
21:24
sense to me. Chakoti was found right next to
21:28
a tree that forks really close to the ground.
21:32
We knew the fork of the tree had done the damage
21:34
to his leg. We just didn't know how his leg got
21:36
in the tree. And the grass was crushed at the
21:41
base of that tree. So we knew he had been laying
21:43
down. So it finally made sense. you know, how
21:49
his leg ended up in the fork of that tree. And
21:54
I don't know what drove me to ask this question,
22:01
but I said, does Jacody know who saved him that
22:05
night? You know, and I'm thinking Star, right?
22:08
The horse that got the attention of the owners
22:11
of the property. And Lindsay, my new friend,
22:18
we're standing outside again, it's another hot
22:19
summer day, in goosebumps. come up on her arms.
22:24
And she said, well, I'm not sure what your belief
22:27
system is, so I'm not sure if I should tell you
22:30
what she said. I said, oh, you're not stopping
22:33
there. You're absolutely not stopping there.
22:37
My belief system is irrelevant. Tell me what
22:39
he said. She said, Chakoti says that there were
22:45
two angels in the pasture that night that told
22:49
the other horse what to do to get him help. Wow.
22:55
And finally, stars, unbelievable behavior made
23:03
sense. I mean, if you're familiar at all with
23:08
hunting dogs, bird dogs in particular, this is
23:13
a very specific point position that a bird dog
23:17
goes into that I've never seen in any other animal,
23:21
especially not a draft horse. Wow. They don't
23:28
point. No, no, no, not at all. So after I got
23:35
all over the, you know, astonishment. Yeah. Wait,
23:40
did she share anything else? Like any other details
23:42
or is that it? She shared a lot of information
23:46
about Cody himself. Some of it I knew, most of
23:51
it I knew. Now, does she keep asking questions
23:53
or did he tell you things that... He had been
23:56
wondering and just didn't ask her, like, how
23:58
did the information, like, come to? Outside of
24:01
the angels, you mean, or with, about the angels?
24:03
I didn't ask her any more, anything more about
24:05
the angels. So when Chacoda was relaying this
24:08
information to her to share with you, like, what
24:10
all did he share? He told her about his childhood,
24:16
more or less, when he was in the wild herd and
24:19
what he would do to get the older horses in the
24:23
herd running. And what I found completely bizarre
24:29
is I had seen that exact behavior after I got
24:34
him, when he was in that big herd pasture, the
24:37
one he got injured in, he did the exact same
24:40
things that he was describing to her to get all
24:43
the horses running. He liked that. He thought
24:45
it was funny. He also told her how much he loved
24:53
me. We kept going on and on about how much he
24:57
loves me. And I would just say, I know, but I
25:00
love me the same. And that was comforting to
25:07
know that that's what she wanted me to know,
25:10
you know what I'm saying? And we already had
25:13
that super close bond, but I couldn't hear his
25:18
words per se. And now Lindsay moved away after
25:24
a few months and she rest the state. I live in
25:27
Texas. a couple of months after that, another
25:31
lady moves into the barn. And I'm walking towards
25:35
Chikoti's stall and I see a new face and I'm
25:37
friendly. And so I introduce myself and this
25:42
lady asks me which horse is mine. And so I point
25:46
to Chikoti's stall. I said, this horse right
25:49
here, Chikoti is mine. And then the one behind
25:51
him is also mine. She gets this really weird
25:54
look on her face. And she said, this horse in
25:57
this stall is yours. And I said, yes Sam, why?
26:02
She said, well, I don't want you to think I'm
26:04
crazy, but I have the ability to see angels and
26:09
there are two angels in the stall with this horse
26:11
that never leave him. And they're in there with
26:14
him now. She said, the bizarre thing is that
26:20
I have rarely seen an animal with its own angel.
26:25
I've never seen an animal with two ever. Now
26:30
did you ask her like what kind of angels like
26:32
what they look like because there's there's different
26:35
angels like there's warrior angels They'll have
26:37
weapons, you know, and they're all different.
26:40
So did you ask her what they look like? I did
26:43
not it didn't even dawn on me to ask I just felt
26:46
like a sense of peace knowing that they were
26:48
still there protecting them. Yeah, that's so
26:51
neat Wow, and a few weeks later I was in the
26:55
wash rack with Cody changing his wrap The rest
26:59
of his life, they might change this rap twice
27:01
a week. I kept it wrapped to protect that, you
27:05
know, vulnerable skin. And the same lady walks
27:10
by me and she stops and she's staring at me and
27:14
she said, you know, the bond between you and
27:18
that horse is so strong. I can visibly see it.
27:22
There's a thread of white that goes between war,
27:25
four head and fizz. She said, It's so bright.
27:31
It's vibrant. And it looks alive. And that's
27:36
a soul connection. Wow. So that was really what
27:42
I said to her was, you know, that makes sense
27:45
to me because I feel that, you know, I feel what
27:50
he wants, what he needs. And he gets me, you
27:54
know, I'd write in and I barely had to do anything
27:57
to choose just my intention. You know, if I wanted
28:02
him to stop, he'd just stop. If I wanted him
28:05
to turn, he'd just turn. I hardly had to do anything.
28:07
I was basically up for a long for the ride on
28:10
him, you know? And it just made sense to me.
28:16
So a few months later, the same lady, it's this
28:21
really strange look comes across her face and
28:23
she goes, Tani Chakoti just got another angel.
28:27
Wow. I've heard. And I said, Okay, is this instead
28:33
of or in addition to? And she goes, no, no, the
28:35
other two never will even and never will. They
28:37
will be with him for the rest of his life. This
28:41
angel has come in for a specific purpose because
28:46
Chakoti is going to have to help someone. And
28:50
this angel is going to guide him in that. Well,
28:54
I had like a million questions then. Who, what,
28:56
where, when, how? Yeah. Tell me more. She said,
29:01
I can't see any of that. All I know is that it's
29:05
going to be soon and it's going to be important.
29:09
This is going to really matter. I said, okay.
29:16
Last spring, I came across something I honestly
29:18
didn't expect to pay this much attention to.
29:20
At first, I was just interested in the idea of
29:23
saving money on everyday wellness products I
29:25
was already buying anyway. But then I started
29:27
noticing people I personally know getting paid
29:30
weekly from a membership they were simply sharing
29:32
with others. That's what made me really pay attention.
29:36
Because it's not about stocking inventory, pressuring
29:39
friends, or chasing customers around. It's a
29:41
membership that gives people access to high quality
29:44
products at lower prices. And if you decide to
29:46
share it, there's a compensation side attached
29:49
to it too. After seeing real people get results
29:52
from it consistently, I realized this could genuinely
29:55
become a long -term income vehicle for the right
29:57
person. If you've been looking for something
29:59
simple that actually makes sense in today's economy,
30:02
you should at least take a look at why so many
30:04
people are paying attention to this right now.
30:06
The info's in our about section. So 10 days later,
30:13
I went out to the barn after work and I had no
30:15
intention of riding that day. I'm just in shorts
30:17
and tennis shoes and I'm starting to pull Chikoti
30:22
out of the stall, and I see two incoming horses
30:25
from the trailhead. And these horses were tacked
30:29
up, but riderless, and they were coming in in
30:31
a dead run, and they belonged to my friends Jean
30:34
and Berghetta. So I caught them and handed them
30:39
off to somebody, and I threw a bridle on Chikoti
30:44
and jumped on and bare back. I knew in my heart
30:48
with every fiber of my being that my friend Jean
30:51
was hurt, and I knew she was hurt bad. The problem
30:55
was this trailhead led to a labyrinth of trails.
31:01
There were literally miles of trails and there
31:05
were tons of ways that we could go out there.
31:10
It was just a spider web of trails and they were
31:12
beautiful, all of them. These two friends knew
31:15
those trails as well as I did and they were as
31:18
likely have gone down one as another. And I didn't
31:23
know how long they'd been out there. because
31:25
I wasn't there when they left. Well, I didn't
31:28
even know how far away they were. So I just did
31:33
the only thing that I could think of to do. And
31:35
that was to trust the one thing in my life that
31:37
had never let me down. And that was Chakot. Outside
31:42
of God himself. And I laid the reins down on
31:46
Chakot's neck and I said, Chakot, Gene is hurt.
31:50
Take me to Gene, find Gene. And that horse took
31:55
off in a run. And He took a right off the trailhead.
32:02
He ran down there and then he took a left and
32:04
he went down this really steep embankment to
32:06
cross the creek. And it was so steep that you
32:09
had to snake your way down, you know. We crossed
32:11
the creek and we'll get on the other side. Again,
32:13
you can go right or left. He took a left, which
32:16
is where we went most of the time. And then we
32:18
came to another fork in the trail. 100 % of the
32:23
time we had taken the left fork. 100 % of the
32:27
time. He took the right fork. The reason I never
32:33
taken him down that trail is I knew where it
32:35
went. It went straight into a gravel court, which
32:38
was heavy machinery, men working, big heavy tractors,
32:45
loud noises, vibration of the ground, you know,
32:48
from the big heavy machinery. This is not a place
32:51
you take a horse. They don't want you in there
32:55
for one. Yeah. And I started to stop him. And
32:59
then I thought, no. I trusted him this far. I'm
33:02
going to keep trusting him. Then I just laid
33:04
the reins down and let him have his head. We
33:07
get into the gravel quarry and then he takes
33:09
a left and heads for the gravel pit. That's that
33:14
deep industrial bowl where they'd been mining
33:17
the dirt and gravel. It was a huge pit. I mean,
33:23
huge and very deep. He hit the rim of that pit
33:30
at a dead run. He flattened out into a run harder
33:35
than he'd run since before his accident. And
33:38
I looked up in front of him and there was the
33:40
angel in front of him. And we followed that angel
33:44
halfway across or halfway around the pit. The
33:48
angel disappeared and Chakotish stopped. Dead
33:51
stopped. I'm looking around and I don't see anyone
33:56
or anything. So I pulled out my cell phone and
34:01
I called Brigetta. That was one of the ladies
34:03
whose horse had come back without her. And she
34:06
answered me on the first ring and she said, we're
34:09
right below you. And I looked at the bottom of
34:12
the pit and that's where they were. He'd taken
34:14
me straight to them. Wow. Reminds me of Lassie
34:19
with Timmy fell in the well. That's exactly right.
34:25
Now we had ridden around that pit. you know,
34:30
dozens and dozens of times, but we'd always gotten
34:33
to the rim of the pit by taking that left fork
34:36
and then wound our way through the woods. And
34:40
it would have taken me 20 minutes to get to where
34:43
it took us five. He took me the most direct route
34:47
to get to Gene. And it was a route he'd never
34:51
been on. So I wanted to see what I could do to
34:57
help. Gene was obviously very hurt. We slid down
35:01
the wall of that pit and I asked Brigetta what
35:05
I could do. And she said, well, I've called for
35:06
rescue. They can't find us. I need you to ride
35:09
to the road and flag them down and bring them
35:12
in here. Jean was on the ground. She was so injured.
35:16
She was not even really very aware that Chakobi
35:18
and I were there. But I could hear the sirens
35:22
way off in the distance. And they kept like passing
35:26
the entrance of the gravel quarry. They couldn't
35:29
find it because there was no signage and the
35:33
entrance was overgrown. So unless you knew exactly
35:37
where you were going, you would not see it easily.
35:41
So Chakothe and I scrambled up the wall of that
35:45
pit. I mean, he hit the wall like in an explosion
35:48
of emotion and scrambled back up and we started
35:52
off again in our dead run back toward the quarry.
35:55
We got into the quarry and as I described before,
35:59
I mean, just big heavy machinery, heavy equipment,
36:03
tractors. There was a conveyor belt that was
36:06
taking sand and gravel and it was operating.
36:09
Sand and gravel, probably two stories high. And
36:14
it was dumping it into a ginormous metal bin
36:17
and the bin was over our heads. We were under
36:20
it. It was deafening. Absolutely deafening. And
36:24
he went under it like it was nothing. He was
36:26
on a mission. On a mission. And so We continued
36:31
along the trail, you know, toward the road. I
36:33
mean, there's excavators and big tractors working.
36:36
And then we get to an area where there's a pond
36:40
of water on either side of us. And we're on the
36:43
trail in between the two ponds and we're high
36:46
up between the two ponds. There's a diesel engine
36:49
running a water pump and it's pumping water from
36:52
one pond to the other. The hose that's carrying
36:56
the water from one pond to the other is the size
37:00
of a fire hose and it's stretched across the
37:04
trail and it's got such a volume of water going
37:08
through it that the hose is bouncing on the trail.
37:14
He steps over it like it's nothing. That should
37:17
have been a horse -eating monster for him and
37:22
he didn't care. He just went right over it. We
37:25
went out to the road and flagged down the first
37:27
truck and you know, we're leading them back.
37:31
The ground in there was just, you know, very
37:34
potholed and very uneven. And they couldn't drive
37:38
very fast. So, and Chakoti kept outrunning them
37:41
and I kept holding back, you know, because I
37:44
didn't want them to lose us. And took them back
37:47
to, you know, the rim of the pit where that was
37:50
closest to get down to Gene. And the driver said,
37:54
I've got two more vehicles coming. Will you please
37:57
go? flag them down. So we made two more trips
38:00
through the quarry to bring in two more rescue
38:04
vehicles for a total of three. The reason that
38:08
Chakoti never hesitated in that gravel quarry
38:14
is every single time we were going through there
38:16
I saw the angel. Now had you ever seen angels
38:19
before that day? No man I had not. I've had a
38:26
lot of people ask me what it looked like and
38:29
It didn't seem very dramatic. You know, it was
38:33
not quite see -through, but not quite, you know,
38:37
fully formed. You see what I mean? I can definitely
38:39
see it with the naked eye, but it was more of
38:43
a gold color. You know, it wasn't anything that
38:47
I could really make out. You know, what kind
38:50
of an angel is this? I mean, I could see kind
38:52
of the outline of wings, but nothing dramatic.
38:55
And it just stayed right there. in front of us
38:59
the same distance. And it brought such a sense
39:02
of comfort to me because the first time I saw
39:06
it, I thought, oh good, you're there. This is
39:09
the mission. Chikoti's going to have to find
39:11
Jean. I know we're on the right track because
39:13
we're following you. That's what I thought. And
39:16
it just felt this big comfort. Most of the time
39:20
I wasn't staring at it because I'm bareback on
39:24
a running horse. Yeah, in shorts and tennis shoes.
39:27
Exactly. You are not prepared for this. And I'm
39:31
watching for his footing too, right? Because
39:34
this is not like a racetrack kind of ground,
39:38
you know? Yeah, you said there are potholes and
39:40
stuff. Yes, everywhere. And there's, you know,
39:43
rocks and there's, you know, things I needed
39:46
to watch where he's going to so I could help
39:49
guide him around it. And plus I didn't want him
39:54
making some sudden movement and then, you know,
39:56
him go one way and me another. which he had never
39:59
done, but still you want to be careful. And so
40:02
that's really where my focus was, was trying
40:04
to stay on and watch where we're going. And I
40:09
just felt comforted by the fact that the angel
40:12
was there. Chikoti certainly must have, because
40:15
he sure didn't react to anything that should
40:18
have been very scary. You know, horses have a
40:21
very, very sensitive nervous system in that they
40:26
sense vibrations in the air and in the ground.
40:31
They're very grounded animals, right? To the
40:34
ground is what I mean. And there was so much
40:38
vibration in that quarry that should have been
40:42
nerve wracking for him. But it wasn't. None of
40:46
it was. Nothing bothered him. Wow. So that's
40:51
why I named my book, Chikoti's Angels. Chikoti
40:55
had three kinds of angels, spiritual ones for
40:59
sure. But he also had human angels, people that
41:05
stepped into our lives when we needed them the
41:08
most. The veterinarians that took care of him.
41:12
My amazing sparrier that invented on the spot
41:15
that physical therapy shoe. Lindsay helped him
41:19
in many ways that I haven't described. And the
41:23
lady that could see angels. And that just happened
41:26
throughout our entire life together. I got to
41:32
Cody when he was four years old and he passed
41:36
when he was 27. So for 23 years, he was my best
41:42
friend. And he was an absolute gift from God.
41:50
I always knew that he was a gift from God and
41:54
that my responsibility was to be a good steward
41:58
of that gift. And Jacody taught me how to be
42:03
a good steward. It doesn't mean I was perfect.
42:06
I didn't always make the exact right decision,
42:09
but I tried. You know, I did the very best I
42:13
could at the time with the information that I
42:15
had. I learned to show up. I learned to listen.
42:23
And that's what I learned from him. I also learned
42:29
that even though he had an injury that should
42:35
have been career ending, you know, as a riding
42:40
horse. He didn't think so. So I just went with
42:44
his thoughts, you know. Phenomenal. That is so
42:48
cool. So was that the last day you saw the third
42:50
angel then after the mission was complete? Wow.
42:55
That's intense. What a gift that you got to see
42:58
the angel in action and to know like what was
43:02
going on. And then to be able to help save Jean
43:05
and her friend. Yes. I can see why. Didn't I
43:09
hear that they're going to make a movie out of
43:11
this? Yes, ma 'am. Awesome. Yeah, I would go
43:16
see it for sure. We'll have all the spoilers.
43:23
Wow, what a blessing. It's at number one, have
43:27
the animal, and then that connection, that spiritual.
43:31
the mind connection because I hear in heaven
43:34
that we won't even be able to we won't even have
43:37
to open our mouths to talk we'll just know what
43:39
each other is thinking without speaking so that's
43:43
really bad for everybody's shirt having with
43:44
me well I had that with him yeah like it's like
43:52
you had a little piece of heaven on earth with
43:54
him I did I absolutely did and I can still occasionally
44:00
hear other up my animals, you know, not all the
44:05
time. Not like what we'd call an animal communicator,
44:09
but I hear their thoughts sometimes. And when
44:15
Chakoti reached a retirement age, he let me know
44:19
that he wasn't going to be able to do something
44:21
longer by telling me, and I heard him. We had
44:25
decided that we were going to go to South Dakota.
44:27
There were 22 of us that were going to take our
44:29
horses to South Dakota. And it's a two -day drive
44:32
from South Texas to South Dakota with horses.
44:36
And I was just so excited. We were going to ride
44:38
up in the hills, more black hills, and just,
44:41
it was going to be so amazing. And I'm telling
44:42
Chacota all about it. And then I heard him just
44:48
say, I can't, I can't do that anymore. I now
44:51
live out in the country and I have a small little
44:53
15 acres out here. Small 15. Yeah. Swamp's your
45:00
own fight. I'm surrounded by big branches of
45:04
what feels small. I feel very little compared
45:08
to everybody around me. I have six horses and
45:11
I have a horse named Gemini that I rescued out
45:15
of a kill pen a number of years ago. And I'd
45:18
had Gemini about two years when Chikoti told
45:21
me he couldn't do that anymore. And it took me
45:25
a while to process that and come to terms with
45:28
it because I was so looking forward to this amazing
45:32
trip with my best friend because he'd done other
45:35
trips with me before, but never one that far.
45:39
And finally decided, you know, he's telling me
45:42
this for a reason. I have to accept that, you
45:44
know? And so I decided I was going to tell him
45:50
that I was going to take my other horse Gemini
45:53
instead. And so I had him in their hands. eating
46:01
dinner one night and it just so happened that
46:04
Chikoti and Gemini were on stalls next to one
46:07
another and they're eating. And I walk up to
46:10
the panel in front of Chikoti and I said, I heard
46:14
you and I agree that you can't see this anymore.
46:19
So I'm going to take Gemini instead. And he pulled
46:24
his head out of his feed bucket and there was
46:27
still feed in there. And he looked at me and
46:30
straightened the eye and it was like, I felt
46:34
his acknowledgement that I said that, and he
46:38
turned to the panel that separated him and Gemini,
46:42
and he put his head inside of Gemini's stall.
46:46
Gemini left his feed bucket with feed still in
46:50
it and turned and faced Chakoti, and they met
46:53
nose to nose. And I heard Chakoti as loudly as
47:00
if you were talking to me say, you better take
47:04
good care of my girl. He made my wife cry. Yep.
47:11
There they are. And then I heard Jim and I reply,
47:16
I got this. I don't know. So if that was me,
47:19
I was Jim. And I was like, what are you going
47:20
to do about it? He won't be there. It was the
47:25
most profound exhibit of love by passing the
47:32
torch and passing the responsibility of taking
47:36
care of me. to someone else. And let me tell
47:43
you, Gemini's lived up to it. He and I have been
47:48
all over the country together, and he's lived
47:53
up to it. He's not Chicote. He's Gemini, but
48:00
he's lived up to it. He had some pretty big shoes
48:03
to fill, you know? Yeah. Wow. Yeah, he's a totally
48:07
separate personality, totally separate animal,
48:10
totally separate everything. So yeah, he's definitely
48:12
not the same. It doesn't mean the missions different,
48:15
you know I spent some time in the military and
48:18
I got trained to do a task and I got trained
48:20
to do it tired and I got trained to do it hungry
48:22
and I got trying to do it in the dark and do
48:24
it in water and you know and do it in all sorts
48:27
of places and when I left somebody else got trained
48:29
to do all the same things that I did and So it's
48:33
different personality. It's the same mission
48:36
Exactly, and he does it he takes perfect care
48:40
of me to the best of his ability Wow. What a
48:45
story. Thank you for sharing that with us, Tammy.
48:49
You're welcome. My book is full of those kinds
48:52
of stories about Chikoti. It is available on
48:56
Amazon and Walmart also picked it up now. But
49:01
hopefully we'll start filming this fall and we'll
49:07
have a movie. Wow. Stay tuned everybody. That
49:10
is so cool. Wow. I know there's a lot of stories
49:14
you could be telling. Like there was that campfire
49:17
one, wasn't there? Wasn't a campfire. He was
49:22
trying to get himself on fire. Yeah, he huddled
49:25
up to, we were on a trail ride and it was cold
49:31
and he was blanketed, but he hated to be cold.
49:34
Of course, hated the cold. Me too. tied up to
49:40
a trailer, but there was a camper on the other
49:42
side of us and they had their heater on. And
49:46
so their exhaust from their heater was blown
49:48
out the side of their camper. And he huddled
49:51
up to that and he caught except on fire. Oh my.
49:57
Bet he was warmed in. His only horse I ever know
50:02
that caught themselves on fire. They burned a
50:06
perfect circle hole right, right through his
50:08
blanket and singed the hair off of him. But it
50:11
wasn't the permanent scar. Oh my gosh. I freaked
50:15
out that night It's like a little kid Cats do
50:21
that Wow, so yeah, he had a lot of personality
50:27
my boy So Wow, I thought it's so cool that you've
50:32
got to see the angels hear about the angels see
50:35
the angel the one angel and then just to know
50:38
that all the things that he was thinking, and
50:42
then what happened to him. I had to give you
50:45
some closure, too, to know all of that. I did
50:48
have another encounter with the angels, but it
50:51
was with Gemini. Really? So does he have two
50:56
angels? Like, did somebody tell you? Like, tell
50:58
us more. I know we're at the end of our normal
51:00
time, but like, tell us more, because this is
51:03
fun. No, they ain't. According to the lady that
51:06
could see the angels, the angels were also connected
51:09
to me, not just to him, but to me as well. So
51:13
when Chakoti passed, they're still here with
51:15
me. And Jim and I weren't in Bryce Canyon, Utah.
51:23
And we were there with 20 -something people,
51:26
I don't know. And we were riding through the
51:31
slot canyons, and we just left the slots. and
51:35
we were making our way up another incline, but
51:41
it was pretty steep in that it had switchbacks.
51:46
So you were riding switchbacks. Jim and I were
51:50
toward the back. The only other person behind
51:53
me was my partner and my other horse, Cash. He
51:58
was behind me. The horse in front of us, there
52:02
was a big distance between us and the horse in
52:06
front of us. And they appeared on the switchback
52:09
above us on our right. And for some reason, Jim
52:14
and I decided, oh, that's where he needed to
52:17
be. And he whipped around to the right and started
52:22
scrambling up that near vertical wall. I was
52:29
on him and the wall was well over my head. So
52:32
that's how tall it was. And it was near vertical.
52:37
And I was not expecting it at all. I was relaxed
52:41
in the saddle. And when he went up, I started
52:45
tipping backwards so much so that my cowboy hat
52:48
came off and took the trail below. And I was
52:52
losing my balance and I was coming off course
52:57
and I felt the hand in the middle of my back
53:00
and it pushed me back into the saddle and pushed
53:03
me forward. And I leaned forward over his neck,
53:07
grabbing the saddle horn. We centered myself
53:09
and Jim and I was able to continue the scramble,
53:13
but I felt the hands on my back. That was a rock
53:17
trail beneath me. So if I had come off, that
53:23
would have been a heck of a fall on rocks. And,
53:27
you know, that could have been a horrible outcome,
53:31
especially if Jim and I had fallen with me and
53:33
on top of me. Oh, yeah, absolutely. You wouldn't
53:36
need rocks if the horse had fallen on top of
53:38
you. No. It was a miracle filling those hands
53:42
on me without question. It was hands. Yeah. Did
53:45
I miss the part like why the angel was on there?
53:47
Was there some like what was on the alternate
53:49
path that he decided that this was the path?
53:52
You know, the angel said, Hey, she's the Pashistifah.
53:55
No, it wasn't bad. It was the horse in front
53:58
of us had there was too much distance between
54:00
us. He could see the horse on the switchback
54:03
above us and he thought oh I've that's where
54:06
I'm supposed to go because there was instead
54:09
of going on on the following the trail He decided
54:13
to climb the wall to catch the horse in front
54:14
of us Armin has the shortest distance between
54:18
two things as you know, two points is straight
54:20
line No switchbacks for him She's gonna climb
54:27
the wall and make the best of it That scared
54:30
the daylights out of me, let me tell you. Yeah,
54:33
for sure. The hand of the angels were there.
54:37
I felt it push me back into the saddle. It was
54:41
just pressure. I know some people, if they get
54:45
healed, they feel a warm sensation. So I didn't
54:47
know if that was similar. Wow, this is incredible.
54:52
I love angels. My hat was still down at the bottom
54:55
of the trail. My partner Richard had it. Get
54:59
off and get my hat for me. And he took the long
55:02
way, right? He didn't go straight up. He took
55:04
the long way. Took his time. He did not have
55:07
an angel. He did not have a Gemini. He was yelling
55:10
at me, what are you doing? And I got to the top
55:13
and I said, trying not to die. Tested these angels
55:18
out. That's all I'm doing. Wow. What a blessing.
55:25
Between Chikoti and me and Gemini, we've kept
55:28
angels busy. What an incredible story Tammy,
55:31
thank you so much for coming on to our show and
55:34
sharing Thank you the love that you had for these
55:38
animals the love that God displayed to you through
55:41
these animals and for the vulnerability of being
55:44
able to talk about such a precious soul to you
55:47
and For illustrating to our guests our listeners
55:50
that animals are dear to the Lord Animals are
55:53
something that that he uses to communicate with
55:56
us that he uses to reach us that isn't just person
56:00
-to -person or looking at a billboard. Thank
56:02
you so much for sharing just how important this
56:04
animal was to you and how important it was for
56:07
God to reach that animal and you. Thanks for
56:10
just being a part of our show. Thank you for
56:13
having me. I certainly appreciate it. We'll put
56:17
the links in the show notes so everyone can check
56:19
everything out and then they can stay tuned for
56:23
the movie and that'll be great to see. The book
56:26
is always better than a movie. So then they'll
56:29
be able to compare. Awesome. I hope this has
56:34
been a blessing to you, the listener, because
56:36
it was to me. And if you want to partner with
56:39
us to help us keep the show going, we have a
56:41
link in the About section with all the links.
56:43
It has multiple options to give. And then that
56:45
helps us get this into more people's lives and
56:48
just build their faith as well. And with that,
56:52
we'll talk to you next week. Before you go, if
56:57
this episode encouraged you or made you think
56:59
of someone in your life, Share it with them.
57:01
You never know how God might use one story at
57:04
the right moment. Thanks for spending this time
57:06
with us today. And don't forget, God is always
57:09
working, miracles still happen, and your story
57:11
matters too. We'll talk to you next week.