A Wild Ride

On Sunday, some of Josh's extended family came up to BBQ and celebrate Tyler's birthday. Shortly after eating, Jeff's girls started asking if we could catch the horses and give them a ride. We learned that after we bought Sugar, their family had call to inquire about her. I almost feel bad they don't have a horse yet, but I LOVE my horse.

  

Some of the eager riders waiting by the truck.

Doesn't she look so pretty? And calm??

Jazzy has been having foot problems, so Josh put the goop on her hoofs and then turned her out in the corral. Then he saddled Sugar so we could let the kids ride. He went to get on her first to ride her for a minute, but I protested. She is MY horse, I should be the one to ride her.

I am finally feeling more comfortable on a horse. I jumped on and started down the field, with a caution to watch out for the hand lines. As I rode away I thought "Wow, I feel so good up here. I'm so glad I have this figured out and I'm not scared anymore."

We started up the field where she was kind of a pain, until she got even with the other horses that were in the corral. Then she stopped. I got after her and finally got her to go again. We went up the field a little more and then turned around to head back.

Then I'm not sure what happened. Next thing I knew we were RACING down the field. I'm comfortable at a slow walk. At a run, I broke into a panic. I tried to pull back on the reins, but she just kept going. So instead I clung to the saddle horn for dear life.

About then, the adults (who had been looking at the other horses) noticed something was wrong. That was just as Sugar turned and ran behind some trees. She probably hadn't been running for 2 full minutes, but I had had enough. I was suddenly worried we would run into a fence or a sprinkler line, so I ducked down and rolled off the side of her. Half way down, I realized, I should've kept holding on, but it was too late.

I was still behind the tree line, so no one actually saw me fall off. In a way, I'm grateful. I'm glad the young kids didn't see it, I'd hate for them to be scared of horses now.

I landed on my back and wanted to scream out in pain, but I was out of breathe. In my confused state, I was worried Josh would get after me. So before I could even see anyone, I started saying "I'm okay," but it just sounded like a mumbled. I rolled over to my knees and tried to get up, but didn't have the energy yet, so I feel back down on my back and just tried to find my breathe.

When Josh got to me I mumbled, "I'm okay. Find my sunglasses." Their prescription glasses and I didn't want someone stepping on them. I laid for another minute and then was able to get up.

After everyone knew I was ok, Josh hopped on Sugar and took her around for a minute, but we finally decided to get Jazzy back out. After that, Sugar was an almost perfect horse. Josh and I rode the horses down the lane halfway and back. Then we took turns giving all the kids rides. With six kids, I don't know why we didn't start with both horses.

The rides ended with Josh giving Tyler a ride. All the other kids rode by themselves, but Josh hopped on Jazzy and let Tyler ride with him. Tyler LOVES riding and did NOT want to get off, not even to go eat his cake.

Matt asked me if I was going to blog about this, and I told him I didn't have to since the camera got lost in the rush and there were no pictures to prove anything. But Josh keeps telling me I'm a real cowgirl now.

That was definitely a wild rid I never want to go on again.