About Riding Again

Blue modeling his "helicopter" ears

I was hoping that this weekend I would be able to ride again.  Unfortunately, although I’m much better, I’m still sore.  Seems the muscle and soft tissue injury isn’t healing as quickly as I thought it would.   The day after Thanksgiving we have a tradition of either going on a trail ride, weather permitting or riding in the arena.  So that’s what I’m shooting for.

Some people have asked me if I’m fearful of getting back in the saddle again.  The answer is- not really.  This isn’t my first time off a horse and realistically it won’t be my last.  Although with some wishful thinking I could hope for it not to ever happen again.  It’s important to me to remember that it wasn’t Blue’s fault I came off.   When Blue spooked he was simply being a horse and horses have the flight gene when something startles them.  I feel when a horse spooks it’s my job to try and stay on somehow and help to calm them down.  This particular time I wasn’t being as diligent as I used to be with my horse Erik who was an epic spooker.  He was a horse who could never be trusted completely and also had the fastest spook in the East.  With Dusty I was somewhat cautious just because she is so green.  Blue has on rare occasions spooked with a small jump sideways and one time he actually bucked about half a foot off the ground. Not a big deal really.  The spook that has caused me so much trouble came out of nowhere and I never expected it from him.  Just goes to show you every horse has a great startle reflex in there somewhere.

Unlike most horse people I won’t get back on a horse unless I feel one hundred percent able to handle any situation that may come up.  That’s one of the reasons I took a few months of rehab after my knee replacement to climb aboard Dusty who I hadn’t ridden for a good many years.  If I don’t feel that my legs and seat are properly connected to the horse and saddle I try not to take unnecessary chances. Not to say that I didn’t use to get right back on after a fall because I did, it was just the way things were done way back when.  Now I’ve found that it takes a longer time to heal at my age and I pretty much just proved that to myself recently.  So even though I could ride with the proper medication I’d prefer to wait until I’m totally healed.    Don’t know whether that makes me a wuss or a lesser horse person, but those are my feelings on getting back on after an injury.

Until next time

Quote for Today

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
    - Confucious