Lynn and Shirley went up a hill...and Vicki came tumbling after

For the all the confidence Lynn has in me--I am still just a novice rider. I simply do not have the confidence or skill to do much more than walk on my horse. I guess I do not have enough wet blanket time yet to be a good rider. It's a little embarrassing at times.

Yesterday my prophesy came true: I said I thought I would end up going off in the spring because of running and I did. I thought it would be Brady and I going up the meadow, but it was Jupe and I on the Hoop-de-do trail. It was entirely my fault and probably surprised him the most.

We were on our way back and Jupiter and I were behind everyone. We had trotted and jumped down trees and had a generally good time. On the way in, Jupe had his first real green colt moment going up the steep part of the trail. We were in the lead when he baulked and because I didn't think to, or really know to, slap him with the reins to encourage him to rethink it, we turned around and went back down and then followed Ziggy up. Not a good idea on difficult piece of trail! But we're learning.

Anyway, I do not have a "centered seat" as Sally Swift would call it. I am STILL not a balanced rider! I try to find my pockets and sit deeper in the saddle so I don't bounce around. I know it is hard on the horse and it causes me to be unstable. Well--Lynn says galloping and loping is the most comfortable to ride and I have actually felt it a few times with Brady, but I didn't want him to over tire, so it never lasted long enough to really get the feel. I do like to run uphill, but that is probably part of my problem. Going uphill I lean forward so my weight is easier for the horse to handle, so when Jupiter began to really stretch out into his lope, I had leaned too far ahead. I lost my balance and off I went into the bushes along the trail.

I think I probably looked like I was sliding into home plate. I ended up on my right side with dark, peaty dirt all over my face (and everywhere else--down my bra, etc). I got the wind knocked out of me but that's pretty much it. Bending over and then standing upright is a little painful today, but not too bad. It probably scared Lynn more than me.

I think Jupiter stopped and turned back around because I still had the reins. At some point I did drop them and he stepped on them and just stood there. I am sure no one has ever gone off him before so he was surprised to see me stretched and laying there.

In retrospect, I know my feet are often out of position; that is probably what exacerbated my fall. I need to work really hard on it because I want to be able to ride well.

As for the rest of the day, there were other stories to tell, too. Star and Shirley were in the back of the pack and we were trotting along pretty good and suddenly we heard Shirley yell. I was in the middle, and I turned to see her coming up pretty quick but missed the show. I guess Star was unhappy that everyone was so far ahead of him and he bucked two complete rodeo style bucks--head between his legs, throw up the hind end--bucks! Shirley never missed a beat. Hopefully she is not sore today from being jarred.

For the first time, we put a crupper on Jupiter. He's like Brady, he likes his tail rubbed, so Lynn thought he might not mind it too much. He was fine until coming back and we stepped down kind of sharply on steep part and it pulled up tight. Lynn was behind me and saw it all. She said he clamped his tail down and his butt went up in a small buck. I didn't know what he was doing, so I just talked to him and pulled him up and headed on down the trail. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

The story I promised about Ziggy fits in this story as well. Last week, he once again decided that he did not want to make that turn on the really steep part of the trail. He could not see any reason to turn and turn and turn again to get to the trail so plainly in front of him. Lynn has been fighting him to make that turn for a year. Well, last week she let him just go straight down. And down he went. Down as in on his hiney! His back feet slipped out and he slid down on his butt!

Yesterday he made the turn. (:

Seems like there's more to tell, but I can't think of it right now. We are going again today, so maybe I'll have better stories for tomorrow. (Better as in I stayed on and all the horses were fine, too!)