Back in the saddle again

After a bad spill off her horse while it denied her a jump session last week, she is now formally back in the saddle again.

Her horse decided to stop just short of the jump, but then changed his mind and began to dart forward. As if in slow motion, our daughter flew off the back end of the horse and just before landing, her horse's hind foot kicked her hard in the hip.

After the initial shock and before realizing the pain in store for her, the instructor pulled her up and hoisted her back into the saddle again. This is what one is supposed to do, right away to prevent fear from creeping up.

With ice packs, massage rubs, achy soreness from hips to neck, it took a few days but she is back in the saddle again for lessons, assisting in leading corporate trail rides on the teacher's property and the chiropractor has given her a thumbs up to ride after treating her for a twisted pelvis.

Sisters riding together

All this came after three years of riding and never a spill, something she happily announced with confidence at the barn just a few days before her fall. Even her little sister has been thrown from a horse long ago, now it was her turn. For a mother's heart, the scene wasn't a happy one for me, of great concern but I understand it's part of the process of learning to ride and handling a horse.

Last week during her little sister's riding lesson, she was hanging around the barn volunteering to perform tasks at hand with some of the other older girls. Two of the girl's mothers who are also beginner riders join in the lessons with them, and on this particular day the unexpected happened. One of the mothers was thrown off her horse and landed with a booming thud, shock filling her shaking body and she lay injured unable to get up at first.

The instructor summoned for our daughter and assigned her the task of "schooling" the horse real good to snap her out of the negative behavior pattern it was displaying during the lesson in progress. As she has become accustomed to keeping her helmet and riding gear stored at the barn, she was able to stand at the plate and come to the rescue by donning her safety riding gear and swiftly straddled the beast, working him hard while the injured woman was being tended to in the ring. Thankfully the poor mother is okay, bruised and sore, shaken up quite a bit naturally, and will be all fine with some TLC over the course of the next few days. With a positive spirit she did say she'll likely be back with her daughter for next week's lesson. That a girl! ouch...

An unexpected call for help got her up
in the saddle again in no time at all.