This was the high point of my afternoon at the barn:
The greeting committeeMy horses never meet me at the gate, so right away that should have been a red flag. I just thought, "Aw, how cute!"
I rode P first, thinking I better get the young one out of the way while I had plenty of daylight. After yesterday, I was geared to have a great ride. I figured both our insecurities would be mitigated, if not completely cured. Ha! I should have known better.
The low point of our ride probably looked something like this:
A random pic I swiped off Google image search
I rode P first, thinking I better get the young one out of the way while I had plenty of daylight. After yesterday, I was geared to have a great ride. I figured both our insecurities would be mitigated, if not completely cured. Ha! I should have known better.
The low point of our ride probably looked something like this:
A random pic I swiped off Google image searchNo, I didn't actually fall off of her. I don't know how I managed to stay on, as I had a quantifiable amount of hang time off her left side. This is not the first time she has pulled the disappearing horse stunt, but it was the closest I've come to eating dirt from it. What's most frustrating is that she had such a melodramatic spook at seemingly nothing. It must have been those invisible horse-eating monsters again.
Believe it or not, we managed to have a decent ride after that point. We fit in a lot more trot work than yesterday. She never completely relaxed to my liking, but at least she was listening to me. And, she was being awfully cute after we got back to the barn.
I'm sorry for nearly making you eat dirt, Mom!
Believe it or not, we managed to have a decent ride after that point. We fit in a lot more trot work than yesterday. She never completely relaxed to my liking, but at least she was listening to me. And, she was being awfully cute after we got back to the barn.
I'm sorry for nearly making you eat dirt, Mom!You'd think by default, there's no way a ride on my 22 year old packer could be worse that almost coming off.
B was in rare form this evening. Jigging, spooking, crow-hopping, trying to bolt back to the barn... I don't know what got into him. He can have his thoroughbred moments, but he's usually a fairly sensible guy. I mean, I let 5 year old kids ride him for cripes sake!
I was trotting him on a circle, trying to get him to relax and come down into the bridle. I was my usual calm and collected self (this nervousness on P is honestly a new thing for me), although I'll admit I was peeved my old schoolmaster was acting so asinine for no clear reason. Then, the most bizarre thing happened.
There is no way you could even recreate this if you tried. In my nearly 20 years of riding, nothing like this has ever happened to me.
As we were trotting, B saw lord-only-knows-what that set him off. Right in the standing part of my post, he stopped hard and rocked back on his haunches to wheel around (not something he has ever done). I was still moving forward in my posting position and his NECK smacked me in the face with so much force that IT CRACKED MY HELMET.
He also split my lip open. It literally felt like I had been punched in the face. I even heard my own neck pop upon impact. All while I'm sitting in the saddle.
Immediately after it happened, before I even realized I was bleeding and my helmet was cracked, I just lost my temper. Not my finest moment as a rider... but gosh dang it, it freaking HURT. And he knows better. How the heck did he get his neck so high that it smacked me in the darn face??? He didn't rear-- his front feet never got a chance to leave the ground. It's not like my balance was even thrown that far forward.
After my anger subsided, we both regained our wits and continued with our ride.
The damage:
That chunk of the visor ended up falling off and there's a little crack you can't really see that goes from the visor up to the vent above it. Never in my life have I wrecked a helmet without even falling off!
Oh, and if you're concerned, B's neck is fine after its concussion with my hard head. I checked him out to make sure I did no permanent damage. My neck, on the other hand... well, I have a feeling I'll be hitting the Advil bottle first thing in the morning. Maybe sooner.
I almost don't even want to know what tomorrow will bring.
B was in rare form this evening. Jigging, spooking, crow-hopping, trying to bolt back to the barn... I don't know what got into him. He can have his thoroughbred moments, but he's usually a fairly sensible guy. I mean, I let 5 year old kids ride him for cripes sake!
I was trotting him on a circle, trying to get him to relax and come down into the bridle. I was my usual calm and collected self (this nervousness on P is honestly a new thing for me), although I'll admit I was peeved my old schoolmaster was acting so asinine for no clear reason. Then, the most bizarre thing happened.
There is no way you could even recreate this if you tried. In my nearly 20 years of riding, nothing like this has ever happened to me.
As we were trotting, B saw lord-only-knows-what that set him off. Right in the standing part of my post, he stopped hard and rocked back on his haunches to wheel around (not something he has ever done). I was still moving forward in my posting position and his NECK smacked me in the face with so much force that IT CRACKED MY HELMET.
He also split my lip open. It literally felt like I had been punched in the face. I even heard my own neck pop upon impact. All while I'm sitting in the saddle.
Immediately after it happened, before I even realized I was bleeding and my helmet was cracked, I just lost my temper. Not my finest moment as a rider... but gosh dang it, it freaking HURT. And he knows better. How the heck did he get his neck so high that it smacked me in the darn face??? He didn't rear-- his front feet never got a chance to leave the ground. It's not like my balance was even thrown that far forward.
After my anger subsided, we both regained our wits and continued with our ride.
The damage:
That chunk of the visor ended up falling off and there's a little crack you can't really see that goes from the visor up to the vent above it. Never in my life have I wrecked a helmet without even falling off!
Oh, and if you're concerned, B's neck is fine after its concussion with my hard head. I checked him out to make sure I did no permanent damage. My neck, on the other hand... well, I have a feeling I'll be hitting the Advil bottle first thing in the morning. Maybe sooner.
I almost don't even want to know what tomorrow will bring.
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