Archie

Fail Friday: Ninja

I fell off my pony. 

There. It's out in the open. Because it's the blog world and we all have perfect ponies and perfect equitation and never make mistakes, I felt extra shameful about my butt losing contact with my saddle. I almost thought about not mentioning it at all. 

So here's how it is: I've introduced trot work back into our lives. Archie barely breaks a sweat. I've been using a tabata program on my phone to time out ten minutes of warm up and then three two-minute sets of trot with two minutes of walking between them. And another ten minutes of walking to cool down. 

We were on our third trot set and I had taken him over some trot poles. I was going down to the far end of the ring to change direction. Wind was blowing the trees between our land and the gunshot house, excuses excuses. I was tapping his right ribcage to get it over and I realize now that I was leaning pretty heavily to the left.

Evidence of our kerfuffle in the sand.
One moment I'm on my pony, the next I'm standing beside him, still holding the reins. He looked at me and I looked at him, both with similar expressions of "Dafuq?"

About this time, my right calf started screaming. My at-home physician assistant thinks I tore it a little bit. Just a little. Nothing a beer, some ibuprofen and horse-grade liniment couldn't fix.  I walked him back to the mounting block and took him back in to the ring. We worked on trot circles in the scary side, with me growling at him when he started to get stupid about the trees blowing. The work he gave me was like we'd never missed a day.

If you look closely, you can see my gymnast-perfect landing.
I think it was good for us, though.  I needed the wake-up call that my old man should be respected just as much as any other horse.  Constant vigilance! (That's HP, non-nerds.) (Mad-Eye is my soulmate.)  And, dudes, I haven't fallen in years, and was due one.  Glad to get that shit out of the way!  Afterwards, I rode up to the BM giggling.  Texted D, who was simply thankful.  Discussed technicalities with L.  Told C and Hill, as C's mare almost refuses to work on that side of the ring.

Tl;dr: I fell off my horse, but landed on my feet like a fucking ninja. 

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    13 comments

    1. Britt at Red on the RightApril 3, 2015 at 10:45 AM

      Props to you for landing on your feet! I think I have landed on every part of my anatomy EXCEPT my feet.... :)

      As I like to say regarding falls- it's a matter of when, not if.

      ReplyDelete
    2. UnknownApril 3, 2015 at 12:19 PM

      #Skillz.

      ReplyDelete
    3. AnonymousApril 3, 2015 at 1:42 PM

      I can definitely say I have never landed on my feet from a fall. Can you say you technically jumped off then? Definitely skilled!

      ReplyDelete
    4. Alli + DinoApril 3, 2015 at 4:31 PM

      I don't see a downside to now being able to tell people YOU'RE A NINJA.

      ReplyDelete
    5. Liz StoutApril 3, 2015 at 4:36 PM

      Hell yeah ninja moves!

      ReplyDelete
    6. CarlyApril 3, 2015 at 5:26 PM

      Ninja dismount ftw.

      ReplyDelete
    7. HeatherApril 3, 2015 at 6:33 PM

      I fail to see how a ninja dismount is a fail! I remember one time when I was in my first year of riding lessons, I somehow managed to slide off the lesson horse and land running beside her still holding the reins. I ended up doing that on another lesson horse over a baby jump later in that same year. I got the Athletic Dismount award at the end of the 4-H year for that and my prize was a pair of tights. I also haven't had an unplanned dismount in awhile so I am DEFINITELY due one! I hope it is as ninja as your when it comes....

      ReplyDelete
    8. Nicku BApril 4, 2015 at 10:44 AM

      Ninja falls = winning. Glad you're both ok!

      ReplyDelete
    9. Achieve1dreamApril 4, 2015 at 4:42 PM

      You didn't want to mention it?? Ninja falls always deserve mentioning! That's awesome! I'm so glad you're okay and I hope your calf heals quickly. My fall in December wasn't bad in the grand scheme of things, but it was worse than yours. I hurt for days and could barely move and even coughed up blood. So yeah don't feel embarrassed about your fall. You did awesome! :)

      ReplyDelete
    10. KateRoseApril 4, 2015 at 5:36 PM

      Nothing wrong with falling off...especially if you land on your feet! :)

      ReplyDelete
    11. SheMovedtoTexasApril 6, 2015 at 1:28 AM

      That sounds like more win than fail to me!

      ReplyDelete
    12. emmaApril 6, 2015 at 11:51 AM

      yay for landing on your feet!! i'm always oddly proud of myself when it happens haha. hope your calf heals up quickly :)

      ReplyDelete
    13. AoifeApril 9, 2015 at 2:16 AM

      Ninja bad assery ftw

      ReplyDelete

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