And it happened. Again.

On Wednesday, I was going to do a quick photo session for a horse someone is wanting to sell and then do another awesome trail ride/run.  I got out there and the owner begged me to ride the horse because she had a chiropractor appointment and her hip hurt still.  Ride a horse for a sales video that I have never ridden and who isn't super talented?  Eh, sure why not.  So I did.  He was a bit pissy when we started but an introduction to Mr Spur got him to move a little more willingly.  And then he tried to buck me off.  And failed. And got a spanking as a "thank you for the effort"!  And then he refused to pick up the right lead.  I gave him a good workout and won all of the arguments in the end, the owner was pleased and we got a sales video.  But, as a result, Mia got a day off.

One of the paths.  Ride to the road at the VERY top of the pic
as warmup, then start the fun part. 

On Saturday, I ducked out for a quick ride and no one was at the barn.  Of course.  By the time I had tacked up, 3 boarders had shown up but, of course, no one was ready to ride and no one wanted to ride the trails because it was buggy.  Okay, fine I will do it myself.  SO was with me and took some pics, yay!  I walked around the "xc area" as a warm up, each time I ride out there, I am walking her over the ditches since she doesn't like them.  Improvement is happening, slowly but surely!  After not wanting to walk over the "big" ditch (not really big), she hopped over it and was trotting away quickly, par for her course.  I was bringing her up via a circle to the left when a deer leapt out of the tall grass to our left and suddenly Mia transported sideways.  I was already in two point, leaning to the left as I was dragging her to the circle to slow, when suddenly my right leg was over her back.  I stayed there for about 3 strides, trying to save it before I knew I couldn't and simply stepped off her.  I *almost* didn't even hit the ground but I did end up sitting on my butt for about a half second on the landing.  Really?  The second time I ever fall off of my horse is over a ditch, the same reason I fell off the first time?  ARGH!!  No one was hurt and I hopped back on with no issues.

4 off the floor!

We had a quick gallop through the fields and at first Mia was spooky, startling at things that she shouldn't even look at, but by the time we reached the halfway point she was all business.  We ran around for about 10 minutes before calling it a day and walked around to cool off.  I chatted with the boarders and shared my mishap with the damn ditch and waited for Mia to cool, she didn't really.

Da Gallops

Since she was still breathing hard and hot after 5 minutes of walking, I dismounted, untacked and threw her in the wash rack.  After some nice cool water, Mia's breathing immediately calmed down and she cooled down.  She almost didn't even care that I was spraying her head!  Almost lol.  She got some good grazing time before being kicked out to the pasture where she rolled.  Oh well, I didn't want fly spray on her anyway lol.  I slathered some SWAT on App's sheath bc the flies are eating it so badly that he has blood splatter on his hind hooves, called it a day and headed home.

Stretch and go!

I am still shaking my head over the fact that I fell off.  Again.  And a ditch was involved.  At least this time, she was being obedient and I wasn't the least bit hurt despite her tall size. How about we don't make this a new ritual, okay Mia?