Last week's lesson left me pretty sore, but not because I fell off. AJ was being a jerk, and no matter how well I kept my leg on toward the end of the lesson, he was flipping me off. And, he was chipping fences. Coming up to the last fence of the lesson, he faked me out perfectly. He felt like he was going to get my distance. At the last possible second--I had started to come up off his back and release--he sucked back, and then popped over it. As a result, I was ahead of him, and when he hit the ground, my neck sort of jerked back.
I was feeling better over the weekend, but by the time Thursday rolled around, it was no longer soreness. It was pain. And, despite my high pain tolerance, I was in agony. I think I must have slept funny or something, on top of the lingering soreness, because I decided that I needed to cancel my lesson and go to the chiropractor instead.
So, C and I rescheduled for Saturday morning, and I went and got adjusted. Immediate relief. Apparently my tailbone was pretty out, too, which explains the remainder of the low back pain!
On Saturday morning, I get to the barn and C says I'm riding Viktor. I get him ready and we warm up on the flat and then over some poles. Then she has us do some small courses. He was really loving it and is a fairly easy ride. His pace is consistent, and he has a much bigger stride than AJ.
After reminding me to keep my leg on, he even stopped sucking back. Until we got to the crossrail that cut through the middle of the arena. He apparently hadn't seen it before, so he hesitated, looking at it. Then he decided he was going to launch over it. I got left behind, he took it like it was a 4 ft oxer...and when he landed, of course I was off balance. I thought it was going to be ok, and then he started turning to the left.
So,all of a sudden I am suspended in midair to the right of the horse, both feet still in the stirrups, trying to calmly say "Whoa" and reach for some mane to pull myself back onto him. I almost righted myself, but the whole situation seemed to scare him a little (I wonder why?! lol) and he zigged, while I zagged a little more. Since shifting my weight to the left to get back on the saddle hadn't worked, I opted for plan b: get my left foot out of the stirrup and dismount to the right. Somehow, I landed on my feet, and didn't lose the horse.
I gathered him back up, patted him and apologized, told him it wasn't his fault. I remounted, and the woman that had just come in and gotten on her horse was like, "Wow, that was really pretty graceful. Bet you couldn't do it again!"
She's right, I couldn't do it again! But, after almost a year of taking weekly lessons, I had my long overdue fall. I think I can get back in the club now.
I can never fall off stylishly like that!
ReplyDeleteTrust me, it is not the norm! The last time I fell off, I was on a well-broke ranch horse outside of Dallas. We were cruising around at a nice lope in an arena, while some cowboys practiced roping at the other end, and he tripped. We both went ass over tea kettle, I bashed my abdomen on the horn of the saddle, and landed face down in the sand! The horse and I were both ok, and I got right back on. But, my pride was pretty well bruised, and so was I, from my belly button down into my left leg.
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