That time in which I fall off my horse

My blog titles leave no suspense, do they?

Not my photo

So back at the end of June, I responded to this blog post on Viva Carlos about falling off. I remember thinking I was tempting the "horse falling off gods" and that I needed to knock on wood. I did, if I recall correctly. This weekend I judged a local horse show. A small girl fell off her adorably bad pony when he went from trotting along full steam to itching his leg while they were schooling. She was fine but shaken up. I got her trainer, who tried to convince her to get back on but the child wouldn't. The trainer and I joked a bit and I said I was due for a fall because I hadn't fallen off in years.

Also not mine.

Let's recap: Posted at the end of June that I hadn't fallen off in a while and that I was due. Said on Sunday that I hadn't fallen off in a while and was due. Wrote a blog post on Monday (although I posted in Tuesday morning) about how steady eddy my horse was and that he's been SO GREAT lately.

Yeah.

So anyway, blissfully unaware that I had jinxed myself multiple times in a two week span, I strolled up to the barn on Monday. I helped turn out the horses then got Digby ready. He was a bit miffed that I had turned out the horses before I rode, rather than after, but I convinced him that he was probably going to live by feeding him a few treats. That seemed to help his feeling of impending doom and death and he behaved while I tacked up.

We went into the outdoor. You know, the one I've ridden him in at least 10 times since we moved to the new barn at the end of June. He was a bit tense and decidedly a bit more "looky" than usual. Not spooking, not being bad by any means but just a bit more "what in the hell is that?!" and needing to peer at things. That, my dear Digby, is a pole that has been laying in that same spot for two weeks now. Carry on with your life. Kthx.

Like I've talked about before, he's got some vision problems so I wasn't sure if it was just the weather (overcast, not windy) or if it was darker than normal (I usually get on around 6:15-7 which is when I was riding) or if he was just being a little bit silly, but either way, I proceeded aggressively. I really focused on getting him to pay attention to me, with bending and transitions. We've been upping our trotting amounts so we got some good exercise in. He was doing well, less focused on things to look at and more focused on me.

I personally have been trying to work out more and my legs were a bit tired. I remember thinking "my legs are a bit sore, I'm really glad Digby isn't actually spooking or being bad because I'm not sure if I could stay on."

Definitely not mine, but I love it!

No more than 30 seconds later, Digby decided that something (AKA A NOTHING MONSTER) outside the ring was absolutely terrifying. Cue hard spook to the left, buck, leap straight up in the air and another spook. End scene with me on the ground on my back.

Curse you, horse falling off gods!

I've had some doozies over the years but this one had me getting up pretty darn slowly. Luckily, Digby stood next to me still as a statue. I remember thinking, "no seriously, Becky, you need to sit up NOW because there isn't anyone else by the ring, they're all up at the barn, and if he spooks, he's going to step on you and probably get caught in the reins too. Sit up!" Ugh. I finally managed to sit up, since I had the wind knocked out of me. Once I took a quick assessment that I was 1) alive, 2) nothing was broken and 3) the air was eventually coming back to my lungs, I stood up and hobbled back to the mounting block. I was hesitant to get back on because I was already quite sore in my back and shoulders and I was positive I couldn't sit through any more bad behavior. I didn't want Digby to think that me falling off meant he got out of work though. I got back on and did some more walking and a bit of trotting. He tried to scoot away once in a pretend bolt right after I got on and I basically sat him on his ass. In no way, shape or form, did I want that to occur. Other than that, he was perfect. 

I am fine, albeit sore, and have been totally on "team ibuprofen" Tuesday and today, for the record.