Buckin Broncs

They say you ain't a true cowgirl until you've been thrown off and gotten back on again. I guess I can say that I have had my fair share of being thrown off by horses, and then some. Yesterday was no exception.

I own a young thoroughbred filly. She's in the very beginning stages of her training. We basically have learned walk, trot, lope (canter), turn left, turn right, sort of stop, back up, and a little bit about moving to the side when I apply leg pressure. Well, it was made apparent, by yesterdays episode, that she hadn't learned enough. Or I hadn't been a very good teacher.

There's this one area of the arena that she is deathly afraid of...why? no one knows. She just one day got it into her little thoroughbred horsey brain that it was a scary place and that she wasn't going to go near it. So of course I have made it my goal in life to get her near that scary place and find out that the trees are not going to eat her alive, or that the boogie man is not going to jump out from behind the building there. Ah, the mind of the intelligent horse.

So yesterday, we were doing quite well, and we had walked boldy by that ever so frightful area of the arena. I thought, well heck, she CAN be taught! Things were looking up. So, being the gutsy cowgirl that I am (or think I am), I urged her into a slow lope, except in her case, there is no such thing as a slow lope. She pretty much has one speed...fast and out of control. But I was getting control...slowly. As we neared that part of the arena, I was prepared. I had my right leg in her side to help "push" her over towards the fence. All of a sudden, she remembered that she was supposed to be scared and she veered sharply to the right, into my leg pressure. My right spur dug deeply into her side and I had her head pulled around as well. She began fighting desperately to get away from the horrible danger that lurked beyond the arena fence just waiting for the right moment to pounce upon its helpless prey. The more she fought, the more pressure I put on her. She was literally running sideways now. I thought, "hey, no problem! I've done this before." And then, all of a sudden her legs got tangled up in each other and all 850 lbs of horseflesh careened violently to the ground, taking her helpless rider with her. This cowgirl found herself in no time being slammed recklessly into the hardpacked sandy arena and felt her leg and ankle being crushed under the weight of this four legged, unstable creature. Had it not been for the gruesome snapping of my neck over to the side, pulling all the muscles in my left side of my neck, and the shooting pain in my leg, I would have laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation. Imagine the scene: a rather large 4-legged animal, legs flailing about in the air, with the unfortunate rider rather haphazardly sprawled on the ground. It might actually have been funny! But like I said, the pain was in the way.

She finally managed to heave herself up on her side, while I quickly extricated my body from the wreckage. She got to her feet and kind of stood there in a daze, probably wondering, "What the heck just happened to me? I don't think that was supposed to happen!" In the meantime, I grasped at my leg, which I could no longer feel below the knee, and looked around for help. Of course, there wasn't a soul around. I heard myself calling out for help, but once I realized no one could hear me, I figured I was on my own and would have to get myself up on my feet...somehow. I found that my leg actually worked, although I couldn't feel it, and I could sort of walk...or hobble. I gimped over to my horse, grabbed her reins and headed for the barn. By this time, someone finally saw me and came into the arena. It was one of the hired hands around the stable. He took her reins, while I dealt with the pain that was now coming back in my leg. It was as if someone set my leg on fire! I have been in some good wrecks before, but this one takes the cake for pain....well, maybe not...there was this other time....oh wait, I can save that story for later. That's a good one.

Long story short, I forced myself back up on her, and tried in vain to ride her around and finish the lesson I started. The pain in my right leg was so bad, though, that I eventually had to give up and realize that it would have to wait until another day. I got off and gimped to the barn, sweaty horse in tow.

So today, needless to say, I have severe whiplash in my neck, and my leg is the color of...well, it's lots of colors! It's darn near a rainbow, a dark and dreary rainbow I might add. But I thank God, because I know it could have been much worse. My boss tells me I should take up a less dangerous sport...like motorcycles.