Saturday, January 21, 2017

First fall

AGH I hate falling off!

I was having such a nice time, riding with Marie on Sleipner (the dark red horse with pale highlights that was in a photo in my blog yesterday). Marie is a teenager and still has the ability to listen when people talk, but I got her talking about what she was working on. Another lady joined us on her Appy named Joker and they are both very zen riders, the atmosphere was pure peace.

They both spent an hour warming up at a walk! I followed Marie around on Sleipner letting his rhythm steady Mag's. But I needn't, Mag was nearly perfect today in his forward rhythm. I don't like that he glares when they ride too close to him but that's just a lack of arena experience.

I saw one of the cats sitting on the wall and took Mag over to show him the kitty. HA, I honestly thought that would help?

There's no way to prepare your horse for a cat leaping off the wall directly in front of him, which happened a few minutes later.

I came off in slow motion and thought I could save it but failed. Halfway down I realized *I* was scaring Mag by falling off, well, nothing to be done about that, and I hit the ground hip first helmet second and just lay there for a few moments. Marie jumped off Sleipy and grabbed Mag who was standing a few feet away from me. I sat up and Joker's owner came over and told me to be still. I sat up and she started patting the dirt off my back.

I had a headache for a few minutes but I'm fine now, no dizziness. If I'd not had a helmet on, I would probably be a little more than dizzy right now I think.

I shakily got up and took Mag directly to the mounting block and with weak legs I got back on him. I was overcome by the urge to get right back on, so paranoid that I would let fear develop.

The ladies kept an eye on me and when I paused in the middle to rest and reward Mag, they asked if I needed help.

Embarrassing as it is, I'm glad they were there.

Then I rode and rode and rode and rode and rode, I think I rode a full hour AFTER I fell. I surprised myself with how relaxed I was, perhaps I thought there's no way something bad can happen twice in one day *lol*

Walking, trotting, bending, circling, we did everything, even trotting between the others as they walked. Then I dismounted, rubbed Mag, and then took him to the mounting block to mount a third time for the day. Gotta make some more good memories: )

As I was letting him rest again, he grabbed the rein in his mouth and would not let me have it back. That is such an uncomfortable feeling! I laughed and said to Marie "What do I do now?" She said, "Try letting the rein go completely and see if he'll drop it." That worked. Geez, do I need to ride him in a sidepull or S-hack to keep the reins away from his lips? Well, he only seems to do that when he's standing still, so that's good.

I finally was done but wanted him to have more exposure as they were both trotting by now. I sat on a bench after removing his bit, loosening the saddle, and giving him a full face massage. Mag picked up everything within reach in his mouth. In fact when I went to scoop my poop, he took the rake out of my hands and held it. So freaking cute!!!

As Sleipner and Joker trotted right behind him repeatedly, he stopped pinning his ears as much.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, Marie hadn't seen me ride lately, and she said, "This is remarkable, you've come so far with him since I last saw you, last time you were just doing ground work! How many times have you ridden him?" I said I didn't count, but told her I've received a lot of help from boarders.

It felt so wonderful to be riding him in a group of experienced, serious riders, and kind of fitting right in. An audience might not have known which one was the baby. Well, not until I got off and Mag had to catch himself, lurching to the side suddenly. Marie laughed, she saw it, "He doesn't know how to balance when you dismount!"

I thanked them both for their help and went back to the barn where Eike apologized that her PRE Diego knocked over my grooming box. Gabi was hitching up one of her horses to a kiddie sled with a sack of feed on it. (Boy did that get the boarded horses looking today!)  I told Eike I fell off and she started to tell me all about her last falls, and how she couldn't ride for 2 years out of fear, and and and, yah, she likes to talk.

Gabi asked how Mag was today and Eike yelled at her, "She just said she fell off!" "Oh, how?" "Cat." "Oh, well, there's no way to prepare them for that." She's right, it probably won't happen again the rest of my life.

I hurt at my left hip where I hit the ground, and very oddly, the inside of my left knee is bruised and scratched - how is that possible to hurt both sides of a leg? J said I probably hit the saddle too. My head feels fine, no worries, and I'm going to stay home tomorrow and take it easy.

Marie said, "Look how your horse just stood there after you fell, he recovered very well from spooking." I said, "Oh, I suppose you're right, he could have ran away and jumped the gate and left town!"

I'm doing fine mentally, and still as fond of Mag as yesterday, but I have to ask myself if a better rider would have been able to stay on. Probably. It sucks to doubt myself. But more practice falling off makes it less of a big deal, huh? I don't know. I'll just spend the evening going over that zen arena experience with those ladies, riding over an hour in relaxation.

11 comments:

Camryn said...
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Nuzzling Muzzles said...
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Achieve1dream said...

Don't even go down that road of a better rider would have stayed on. Even the most experienced riders fall off all the time. Don't compare yourself to them. You did fine and I'm so proud of you for getting back on. I didn't get back on Chrome when I fell because I was so winded and coughing up blood. It was hard to get on again days later... It was sort of the same thing with him though. I was riding bareback in the pasture in a halter and something spooked him. Instead of going forward or sideways, he spun in one spot to face the opposite direction and took off cantering. I managed to sit the spin, but when he jumped forward into the canter I started slipping. Me slipping freaked him out and he started cantering sideways which made me come off. There was literally no way to catch myself. I landed flat on my back. I was completely winded and couldn't take a breath for what felt like an eternity. I think that was the first time in my life I fell off a cantering horse... or the second. Most of the time it was the trot or a bucking horse that got me off when I was younger. Spooks happen though and there is nothing we can do about it. I'm glad you're okay and that you had a good ride afterward. You're doing so awesome with him!!