Day 246

Sunday

I really didn't want to post this because of extreme embarrassment, but I figured that I should, as it is a learning lesson.

I brought my cousin out to ride today. She's been out before, when she was little, when we were still at the first farm, so she knows Brie and Nina, but not Harry. So they met and she seemed to click with him right away. It was just her, my brother, and me today, and when we got there, we each got a horse and let them out in the pasture. Good thing too, since Harry went crazy running around and kicking and bucking and flying in the pasture. Glad that wasn't me on him! So they played and my cousin and I went in and chased them around, then we all caught them and brought them back. We groomed and she chose Harry to groom. I helped her tack up Harry, but told her that I wanted her to hold Brie while my brother and I rode Nina and Harry and then she could ride Nina. No problem.

Harry was okay. He could have been better if I felt like I had the time to work with him, but since she was there, I wanted to make sure she got all the riding she wanted. Once Harry settled into an acceptable gait, I got off, my brother got off, and we put my cousin on Nina while I stood there with Harry and Brie on the ground. My brother took my cousin by the pisador around the arena and she was all happy. Then he said that she wanted to go outside, so I followed them out there.

My brother asked, once she got more comfortable, if she wanted to hop over the little ditch in the back and she said sure. So he was running with Nina over the ditch, back and forth, but Nina was just walking through it, but my cousin was laughing and having fun.

Here's the beginning of my stupid mistake. I said, "Hey, Nina isn't jumping, Harry will. Do you want to go on Harry?" And she gets on. My brother takes Harry and he's just running through it too and I say, "Let me take Harry, you're not giving him enough rope to jump. He doesn't want to trample you." So I take Harry. We run over one way and he hops a little. I was going to run back over towards the barn and then go in.

So I turn around and run over the ditch. Harry hops over it just fine. Then my foot catches on a divet in the grass. I stumble, try to regain my balance, but I go down, holding on the rope. I see Harry coming towards me, since I was in front of him, and roll out of the way, still holding on the rope, while my cousin pulls him away from me. He feels the tug of the reins and the pisador and, like a good boy, spins around to face me and wait for me to get up.

But my cousin was not prepared for that sharp of a turn, so she starts to lose her balance, the saddle slips, and she tumbles off, on her butt, thank god. Harry is standing there, slightly shocked, but standing there. I run over to my cousin and she swears she's fine, but I make her stand back up, move her limbs around, and then have her turn her neck and head to make sure there isn't any damage up there. She swears she just landed on her butt and that's all that hurts. She says that the first thing she did when she knew she was going down was pull her wrists in, since she pitches for softball and angled her butt out to catch the fall. After many hugs and asking if she's okay over and over again, I ask her what does she want to do, go back in the barn and get back on.

I was surprised that she wanted to get back on! So I helped her back on Harry after I fixed the saddle. I was mad that it shifted, I had tightened it before I got on too. He's a little buggy eyed, but I pet him and tell him what a good boy he was and then lead him of (AT A WALK!) back over the ditch and up the little hill in back, then around the pond and then back to the barn, where my cousin gets off and helps my brother wash Nina and Harry.

Now a little side note of appreciation: When there are days when I think Harry is the absolute worst, and when he's spooking at stupid little things, and when I'm trying to get him to walk over a tarp for an hour, it's days like today where I see how everything has really paid off. From his calm response, I can tell that he has built up trust in me and gained respect for me, because I can only imagine how terrible everything could have been had this been even a year ago. He would have bolted. I know he would have. But just the fact that when he saw me trip and fall and stepped away from me even before my cousin started to pull and that he turned, looked at me, and waited patiently through all of the commotion after my cousin fell off, it truly means that we are growing as a partnership and that's something I can't forget when I think he's just being a brat.

Afterwards, I hop on Brie and walk with Jane, who asked if my cousin was okay because she saw. She tells me Taco is being nasty so after I walk Brie enough both ways to stretch out her legs, I give her to my brother to wash and then hop on Taco, who is a little challenge, but he ended nicely with a beautiful board.

I can't imagine what my cousin is thinking, since she was still like "Oh I had a great time! It was so much fun" even though it was completely my fault that she fell. I feel absolutely terrible.

So the moral of this lesson is: Let the horse do the walking for me and we won't trip and fall! Guess I better put away my running shoes.