We caught him, and he was fine, and I still had to finish the 2 mile loop back home on him with wet grass all down the back of my riding pants." - Katherine Next thing I knew, I'm watching a $150,000 horse galloping away from me, down a neighbor's driveway. He was tense but managing the group hack pretty well until about half way through, when he stepped on a twig that snapped loudly under his hoof. Faster than I even knew was possible, he let out a series of bucks, rears and spins that only a horse of insane athleticism could pull off. I was surprised when one morning, I was assigned to take him on his FIRST hack. One of the new imports was particularly expensive and for a very important client. "Years ago, I was a working student for a professional rider who imported a lot of horses from Europe. Keena landed in a bit of a huff but didn’t care much and jumped it again." - Amber Keena slammed on the brakes and snorted, then Swampy fully emerged and she went, “ahh I see." To be fair, last time a cat was in those threes by our outdoor, it ran under the triple bar I was 2 strides away from so Keena and I jumped the cat. Last time it was Swampy (the cat) who caught out my mare Keena. "Our outdoor arena is surrounded by trees and sometimes our barn cats decide to go hunt in those trees and randomly emerge. And I’m just happy both of us were totally fine." - Cecily It’s to this day my eventful spook/crazy mare moment ever. And it miraculously worked, she came back to me, and a golf cart full of onlookers escorted us back to the ring and congratulated me. My monkey brain said to plant my dangling feet on the ground, pull and yell “HO!” as if I was asking God herself. I ended up staying on, but she galloped into the parking lot after landing (like three strides away, this event organization.smh) and I ended up basically hanging off her neck because 1) I was scared to let go over concrete and 2) I didn’t know where she’d run to and was concerned for her safety. We approached fine and I got comfortable for one second, when tires screeched and she left out a stride, leaving me behind HARD and basically clearing the standards. We were cantering around the warm up arena - which was separated from an active parking lot by a hedge - and going to a 1.10m oxer. She was 17h and I’m 5’2” so sitting anything big was already hard, and she was really strong. "I was 15 and at my first real jumper event with a great horse, but I was a bit over mounted. To celebrate the beginning of spooky season (you know, when it starts to get chilly, the horses start to get fresher, and the gremlins hang out where you least expect them), we asked the NF community to bring us their funny tales of spooking mishaps and mayhem. It's bound to happen at some point, and even though there are tried and true methods to minimize spooking or anxious horse behavior, if we can't laugh at ourselves once in a while, what can we do? Hang around horses long enough, and you'll rack up some interesting stories of horses sending their riders flying (or nearly doing so).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |