Ok.. so, it wasn't my first fall ever off a horse's back, that is for damn sure. However, it was my first official fall off MY horse's back, 'sweet sweet Lazar' (another nickname for Lazarus now). Now am I proud to say that in my riding past, I've been bucked off, spooked off, kicked, bit, broke a wrist, got a bloody nose, etc. etc? Noooo..but it happens. I hope and intend to have check that off my list now, but occasional falls will happen and it did today.
I was beginning to really think, "Hey, I've really got it here. I'm sticking and staying on bareback or in saddle, when he blows up and spooks!" Ha! I should have NEVER thought that..no sooner did that thought of myself being impressed with myself go thru my mind, and I was eating sand.
Here was the first fall break down (more to come I'm sure..hopefully not too many more though). Laz spooks a lot, I mean a lot. A rabbit. "A werewolf!" A car driving by playing country music. "Ahhhh, no!!" A car driving by playing country music, again. "Hmmm, ok." The next door neighbor mowing his lawn an acre away. "What the HELL is that?!?!? Lions? Ruuuuun!"
There is a constant question in his eager and curious mind, of "what was that." He can't help that he is a flight vs. fight animal, it is his instinct and his breed of TB, I think is comparable to a weimaraner dog. A bit high strung, BIG heart, energetic and a natural athete...and sensitive. And I love that about him. So, as his 'mom/herd mate/however he views me' it's my job to get him to calm down and assure him that he is safe with me. We get it sometimes, I'm able to get him re-focused and concentrating on the task at hand, most of the time. For every hour of riding, he probably spooks 10 times. Some days are more relaxed with less of that, and some days (insert wind) he is much more spookilicous. With time and more riding, ground work, etc, I hope he gets to a place where he calms down more. He is young (8 yrs old) and is almost a year off the track, so he is coming along quite nicely in my eyes. Patience.
The spook, what is it? For those of you that don't ride horses, sitting thru a spook on a large animal, is like someone pulling a chair out from you and then pushing you with great force. It comes fast and hard and you don't/can't always expect it. Sometimes, you manage to stay on and re-group and push forward. Sometimes, you don't.
Today, Laz pulled some Michael Jackson moonwalk reversal side spook and jump, and I was nicely ejected over his left shoulder and landed on my left cheek, facing him. I do have to say, when it was happening, I thought "Oh shit. I had better not break anything or get caught in this stirrup." Funny how fast you can think. It was an easy fall, into sand and sweet Laz stopped (thank you to Cheryl for the training of pretending to fall off him so he learns to stand still) and looked at me like "Oh.....what are you doing down there?"
So, it happened and was over in a second. I brushed off the sand, and the embarrassment and got right back up. That is one major life lesson I have learned thru HB riding is, when you fall, you get RIGHT back up. It's less scary that way. We carried on for another 1/2 hr and ended on a positive note. Whew.
