May be Time for A New Helmet...

So....I was kind of waiting for something interesting to blog about. Then figured I would just update the usual when I got a chance to breathe...And then my horse and I had a first this morning: our first fall. I've come off my older guy in lessons, about 3 months into riding him. It only took close to 10 years for Bubby and I, haha. Oh, and we made it good too. FACEPLANT. Yep. You see, we've been doing cavaletti work for the last month or so, to get him to pick UP his feet, specifically his right hind (he tends to "drag" it). Well, we were being lazier than usual today (and it was SO nice out, of course) and didn't want to walk properly through them. Translation: we spent 20 minutes walking through them until he was doing them decently. We picked up the trot and got over them a couple times FANTASTIC...... And then......I can't even tell you what happened to his feet. As many riders know, when you fall, there are phases:

1. you question whether you're actually in trouble ~ example: "Did he trip?"


2. you think you can save it ~ Try to rebalance him or you, pull him up or give him rein, etc...


3. you question again whether you have a problem. Also a denial phase ~ "Can we recover???" "Duh, of course..."


4. you resign to your fate ~ "oh, shit. we're goin down"

Yeah. And it all happens in milliseconds. He had tripped over them earlier, so I sat up and continued to ride it........ Until I felt his front end completely buckle. I looked down in time to see him faceplant. And then I followed in similiar fashion. And I am no lightweight. My chest landed on his occipital bone. Ouch. Thought for a second I bruised my sternum. That immediate adrenaline rush, haha. Overall, not a bad fall. And it reaffirms that I made a great albeit uneducated decision to buy him 10 years ago. I thought for sure he would panic and flip me. Nope. I slid down his head, he righted himself and then waited for me. Totally calm. I heart my horse :D

Injury report: minimal. I have some bruises sort of all over. I do need a new helmet even though I think I just tapped it. I think this is fall 5 or 6 now...... Better safe than sorry. I'm sure I'll have more to report tomorrow morning, haha.

Bubby did get scraped up. A good one on his right front, small one on the left front. And it looks like he caught his hind legs on a cavaletti too. I think the front legs are the ones that got caught up in them. We ended there. I always get back on after a fall BUT I know that I can definitely get back on in a few days, no issue. And, his legs needed to be cold hosed just to be sure they didn't swell. He kept trying to give me his right front leg when I looked him over :( poor boy. Betchya we pick those feet up next time!

Situations like these really make me appreciate my horse. I've gotten flack over the years for having a Standardbred and recently for training him in dressage. But you know what? At the end of the day, we're partners. We're a team. You can take your minimal intelligent, prepackaged warmblood, and keep it. I have a horse that would go to the end of the earth with me and give me his all no matter what. You cann't buy the trust we have for on another. THAT is the horse I want to work with and compete with. Warmbloods in dressage....thats just too easy ;)