Gravity check

Mico bucked me off last night, and today I am definitely stiff, achy and whiplashed. I don’t bounce or even land on my feet like I used to. As soon as I put my foot in the stirrup to get on, I knew it was a lost cause. It was my fault for being disorganized, knowing that Mico hadn’t been ridden in a while and tended to be spooky in that corner of the arena with the mounting block. He scooted off as I was swinging my leg over, and I didn’t have control of the reins. Scooting turned to a sidestepping buck, and I was already unbalanced by my attempt at mounting. I said, “Ah, Mico!” and told myself to not get my foot hung up in the stirrup when I hit the ground, which came up a lot sooner than I expected.

I lay on the ground for a bit, at least the wind hadn’t been knocked out of me. I landed full force on my lower back, just above my left butt cheek. It wasn’t nearly a bad a fall as the one I took last year, when Mico bucked me off at the canter and I landed so hard my head bounced off the floor. Still, it was hard enough to worry Christine. She said I did a good job of falling off, though. Something to include among my many talents: taking equine rectal temperatures, administering trace and body clips, falling off horses.