My First Fall

I’ve been meaning to blog about this for almost a week now, but I never have seemed to get around to it.

Everyone knows that getting thrown or bucked off a horse is a possibility when you ride them, but when your first one hits you, it’s really a big surprise.

On Sunday, I went out to Safe Haven like normal. Gonna take some pictures, gonna clean some pens, gonnna ride a bit. Some of the others there were going to take a short trail ride so that Rena could get a feel for the horse she was adopting, Peanut, in a situation like that around other horses. I could have played it safe and rode Sabre, who I had ridden the day before. But no, I decided that I wanted to ride Freckles. Freckles, I was assured, was a very calm old boy, perfectly suitable for novice riders.

So I went and got Freckles out of his pen. Ran him around the arena a few times to make sure he worked off any excess energy, took him over to the hitching post and groomed him. Not a single problem with all that. He even lifted and held his feet very nicely for me while I cleaned them for him. Put my favorite saddle on him, got the bridle on, still not a single fuss.

Led him to the arena so I could ride him around a bit and get a feel for him before we hit the trail. Got him next to the mounting block, put my left foot in, swung my leg over and sat down in the saddle. Still he never even budged. Leaned over to put my right foot in the stirrup and, when I straightened up, I was in a rodeo. I think I made about 2 bucks before I was out of the saddle and on his rump. Next buck after that, I was airborne. Landed flat on my back on the arena floor. Thankfully, it was in the arena which is sand rather than out on the trail.

Allowed myself to be talked into calling an ambulance and going to the hospital just to be on the safe side. Want to say a big thank you to Rena for making sure my parents were contacted and for waiting with me at the hospital until they arrived.

The doctor poked and prodded me, had some xrays done and determined that nothing was broken and no major damage was done. Just a deep contusion and some strained ligaments. Gave me a prescription for some pain killers and anti-inflammatory meds and a “Get out of work free” card good for Monday and Tuesday and sent me home.

I’ve been taking it easy all week, taking my meds, icing my back and hoping that I heal up soon so that I can go back out there and give Mr Freckles another chance to do the same thing. Only this time I”m hoping to do it without the whole bucking and falling part.