I used to ride horses when I lived on the prairies. It was fun….they are kind of like dogs only a billion times bigger…..unless you rode a pony and then it is the equivalent of a great Dane….I wonder if you put a saddle on a great Dane if it would gallop? I guess it depends on how much YOU as the human weighs…..maybe that is why jockeys are so little….they are kind of like hobbits, only thinner….(these are the thoughts that keep me up at night..)
At one point I had a little german woman training me. She was great! Feisty and full of curses in english and german….(I later found out she was drinking most of the time…which really explains some of her training methods) but I liked her!
The horse I was originally riding was a nice slow horse….you had to give your legs a real work out by kicking at her sides to get her to go….and by go, I mean speed up to catch up with senior drivers who feel that 5km per hour is really being “crazy!” I loved that horse….until I found out that she got hit by lightning and died….(I know sad…I cried….you can too….I won’t judge)
Determined to continue riding, I took on another horse but I still had the mentality of what it would take to get the first horse going and shortly after I mounted my new horse, I kicked his sides as hard as I could and he shot of like a rocket!!! You gotta get, in all the time I had been riding, I never once got shot out of a cannon like this!
My little German woman trainer screaming at me to grab the reigns and for me to stop screaming….(yeah, good luck with that….I think I peed my pants too!!) Did you know that if you surprise a horse and you start screaming while still on this said horse, that it spooks them even more? Yeah, me neither until this whole incident occurred!
The last thing I remember was laying on the ground in the arena and my little german trainer screaming at me to “get up! Get up! YOU ARE FINE!”
Really? First I think I need to check if I am still alive…is this a dream? Did that REALLY happen? Why yes it did….
“Get up and get back on that horse!!” she wailed.
Umm….did she just say get back on the horse? I think I must have misheard her?
“NOW!” she screamed and jumped up and down…
Oh! Umm….no she was serious….so I limped my way back to a standing position and greeted my already spooked horse.
Me to the horse: “ I think we got off on the wrong foot….my name is Tammy…I like long walks on the beach…going to the movies….how about you?
Horse to me: <blank horse stare> and then a big huff of snotty horse goodness right in the face.
Yup! Moment to treasure right there….
I slowly climbed back up onto the horse with the little german woman pushing my butt up and cursing at me for kicking the horse….and she walked me around the stable on the horse for about 5 minutes before she let me off.
Trainer: “See! You can fall and get back up!”
Me: “Okay, lesson learned. Can we go to emergency now? I think I broke my butt….
Trainer: “Yes, you are done.”
I will never forget her lesson…no matter how in shock I was at the time. When you fall, you can always get back up. Between all her cursing and drinking, there was a wise woman in there!
I did some damage to my tailbone (and pride) but have lived to tell about it so…… all good!
It was all seriously SHOCKING!
Crazy Canadian Girl Adventures 