Conference noted::equitation

    The following story is from a letter I just wrote to a friend of mine
    in Germany.  I had just finished telling him about getting my
    instrument rating (for flying airplanes in clouds) when the horse
    part begins ...
    
         I was all set to start practicing my newly learned skills to allow
    them to sink in and become second nature when I decided to go horseback
    riding the same day I decided to do something stupid (a bad combination
    unfortunately).  We went for a ride on July 4th.  Now you must realize
    that this was the first day of a very much looked forward to four day
    weekend.  As we came back and it was time to get off the horses to
    walk them to start cooling them down, I thought how boring it is to 
    dismount the same old standard way.  That's right at the time I
    decided to do something really dumb.  Of course I didn't say to myself
    "Wow, let's do something incredibly idiotic!"  No, I said "Wow, I can
    grab that branch that's coming up, hang on it as the horse keeps
    walking, and then drop to the ground and run up and grab the reins!"
    I must admit I was quite proud of myself for this mental bit of
    genius, however there were a few hidden problems with the plan ...
    hidden to all but the most casual observer, i.e. me.  A big problem
    was that the horse would not be under control, especially bad because
    it was right next to the road.  Another problem, one that was not so
    obviously bad but that turned out to be what this story is made of,
    was that the branch was not the sturdiest branch that could have been
    chosen that day.  In fact it was rather rotten.
    
         Of course it was not so rotten that it would just break off in my
    hands.  No, it was much more crafty than that.  It let me start to
    pull myself up off the horse before it did its dastardly deed.  And it
    wasn't satisfied with simply breaking either.  It had to announce to
    the neighborhood its act by emitting a loud crack.  The horse, not
    used to hearing trees produce such a report, was very uncomfortable 
    being under such a tree and leapt forward a step.  Therefore when I
    came back down (doing my best to strangle the already dead branch, I
    might add), I landed on the horse's extreme hind quarters rather than
    the middle of its back.  This action further startled the horse, which
    took at least one more leap forward (I can't be sure of how many steps or
    much else for that matter).  Owing to my precarious perch and the fact
    that I was already leaning way back (my legs continued with the horse
    somewhat prior to the branch's task of theoretically pulling them
    back), I proceeded to do a half somersault off the back.  Luckily I
    landed on my shoulder and the collar bone was willing to accept the
    majority of the impact.  Had I landed on my head this story might have
    had a different conclusion.
    
         The resulting pain was the worst that I have probably ever
    experienced.  It was so bad in fact, that I was dazed and felt
    drugged.  Luckily we were between my house and June's.  I shudder
    (ouch, that hurts my shoulder!) to think how long it would have taken
    to reach the hospital had this happened on the trail in the middle of
    the woods.  As it was I only had to wait for her to bring the horses
    back to the barn, remove their saddles, walk them for a while to cool
    them down, fed them, hose them down with cold water because it was such
    a hot day, put them out into the pasture, sweep up the barn floor, get
    the car, and come pick me up.  OK so she didn't do all that, but it
    seemed like she was gone long enough to have.  All right, you caught
    me lieing.  I was half out of it and had no sense of time, so she
    probably was back in a few minutes like she said, but I thought it made
    for a more interesting story.  At any rate June took me to the
    emergency room as quickly as she could.  Despite my dazed condition I
    could tell you where every bump in Route 9 is from Northboro to
    Worcester.  There are a lot of them.  After X-rays, they told me I
    had broken my left clavicle into four pieces.  Do you know how 'they'
    always say "You're not as young as you used to be"?  Well, now I know
    what they mean!  It seems I'd taken many more worse spills than this
    as a kid with nothing more than a few scratches and maybe the wind
    knocked out of me several times.  Amazing how brittle an old timer's
    bones can be.
    
         Well that was all four weeks ago.  They told me I'd be in a sling
    and brace for 6 to 8 weeks.  I go in for a check-up in two weeks.
    Hopefully they'll look at my now misshapen shoulder and say how nicely
    I'm healing.  I'm just afraid of the alternative that goes something
    like this:  "Oh my!  Oh my goodness!  This is not good, not good at
    all!  The bone hasn't healed correctly at all."  (then to a guy in the
    next room)  "BRUNO!  Get in here, will you?  And bring your hammer."
    Six to eight weeks after that I should be healed up just in time for
    the wedding.
    
    
    So that's my story.  What did I learn?  That the standard old way of
    doing things may not be the most exciting way about it, but it's not
    all that bad either.  Also if I ever think about hanging on a branch
    again that we're walking underneath, I'll stop, check the branch for
    sturdiness, hand the reins over to someone else who has come up along
    side, and then tell the horse to walk on.  That would kind of take the
    fun out of it however, so I think I don't need to try grabbing any more
    branches.  I also realized how very bad it is to let go control of a
    horse near the road.  I ran all sorts of scenarios through my mind as
    I sat in my chair for days after the accident (I couldn't lie down
    and I couldn't sleep sitting in a chair, so I had plenty of time to
    think).  In many scenarios the horse got into major trouble in the
    road, so I'll never do that again either.  Finally I learned that a
    human being is too frail of an object to be up on horseback.  Of course
    I'm a slow learner so that fact hasn't sunk in yet, and I'll be back up
    there in another couple of weeks.  I guess the other thing I learned
    is that life is too short to do all the fun things there are to do in
    life.  So next time I do something like this, it's going to be at the
    end of the weekend and not at the beginning!!
    
    --Michael   

    Here's one a friend told me......
    
    She was trying to learn how to sit up in the saddle, hold her shoulders
    back and do what ol' Georgie (Morris) calls 'elegance in repose'.  Her
    remedy was to tie a light rope around her neck and anchor it on her
    back belt loop (cross my heart...this is true!!!!).  She managed
    to trot about 4 strides before it occured to her that strangulation
    was not a pretty way to die.  She wondered what George would've 
    thought of her bulging eyes......
    
    Jan
    

    I had just gotten my new horse (as a previous note states, she doesn't
    like to leave the yard) and in trying to leave she started rearing and
    basically misbehaving.  So that I would get hurt (as I have on quite a
    few occastions), I decided to walk her rather than ride.  So we headed
    down the road into the woods where I tries to mount...She still
    wouldn't cooperate and I was not going to give up, even if I had to
    wade through the stream to get to the corralls to ride.  I had no
    problem leading her and as we went over a creek (set in a little
    crevice between two trees) I was in front of her...I walked across inf
    ront of her...You guessed it....she didn't walk over it she jumped and
    I was her padding when she landed...
    
    She landed with both front hooves on both my calves...Luckily she is
    very athletic and was able to scramble without falling on top of
    me...Although as I layed dazed onthe ground, I did have to ask nicely
    would she please remove her back hoof from the back of my thigh.
    
    There's something to be said about gaining weight...I had just put on
    10 lbs and I swear it helped me!!!!  Got the same reaction from the Dr.
    also...I'm toooo old for that stuff.  Luckily I didn't break anything
    and luckily she only weights 800 lbs and not 1100 like my gelding!!!
    
    So now there's two thing I'll never do ...grab a branch to
    dismount and walk in front of a horse over a creek.
    
    Caryl

    If your horse is really new, I would stick to walking her to the ring
    where you ride (beside her, of course, not in front ;-).  It frequently 
    takes several weeks for a horse to settle in to a new environment and, 
    depending on the individual horse plus his or her background, could 
    take much longer than that.
    
    In the meantime, although they may appear calm on the outside, they are
    in unfamiliar territory being handled by strangers.  A situation
    conducive to fear and misbehavior.
    
    Mary

    Here's one of those " I knew I shouldn't have done it but did it
    anyway!"
    
    I was heading home after a long hot trail ride, I took a side trail and
    the trail was blocked off by big chicken wire fencing (the kind
    that a horses' hoof would fit through perfectly).
    
    Part of the fencing was down, and even though I had that gut feeling
    that it was a BIG NO-NO, I tried to cross over it. My horse being the
    trusting soul that he is, went forward and his front hoof got caught in
    it. Immediatley he began to back up and tried to lift out of it. 
    
    I dismounted, gave the reins to my companion, went banging on the first
    house I saw. No answer. Normally I wouldn't do this but I ran into
    their garage (total strangers, I could have been arrested) and looked 
    for a pair of wire cutters, couldn't find any.....
    
    I ran back to the horse, I was looking down at my poor trusting steed 
    to try to figure out what to do, when, like a blessing from above, he
    lifted his hoof neatly out of the wire !!! 
    
    He only ended up with a small cut but to think that I put him into
    jeopardy like that made me so ashamed. Moral of the story is:
    
    TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS !!
                                 

    This is almost like life's most embarrassing moments.  Although it is
    propably a sign of my own stupidity this is worth telling if for no
    other reason then when I look back now it makes me smile.
    
    A number of years ago, about 15 to be exact, I had a wonderfully
    tempered horse who was more like a ridable dog.  I would take Major out
    every afternoom on a lounge line and let him graze in what I felt was
    the choicest grass.  Since I spent so much time doing this to amuse
    myself I would take a good book, sit on the ground and read while Major
    would very quietly graze around me.  Well, I got too comfortable one
    day and dozed off.  Thats right, sound asleep.  When I woke it was to
    find a 1300 pound thoroughbred standing on my hand.  My initial
    reaction was to SCREAM, he looked loving at me and stood right there. 
    Because I could not stand up I couldn't get the leverage needed to push
    him off.  Finially after what seemed hours, actually only minutes, I
    convinced him to move.  I walked away with only a couple of broken
    fingers, I was lucky. 
    
    The moral to this story, who knows, it must have something to do with
    sleeping dogs though. 
                                          

    re -1  Yow, that must have hurt!  By the way, there's a quick way to
    get a horse to pick up its foot -- lightly twist the chestnut on the
    inside of the leg you want, and the horse will pick up that foot almost
    immediately, and nice and gently, too.  Don't know why, but it's worked
    every time for me.  Learned it from an old (*really* old) farrier.
    
    -ellie

    This is a first for me.....
    
    On a trail ride this weekend, my friend and I were riding along in
    about 4 inches of water, when both our horses spun around to take in
    another horse who was coming up from behind...so we stopped to talk to
    a women on a very attractive palomino..(you know the kind, the rider
    looked great, the horse was spotless, with mane and tail trimmed
    impeccably). As we were conversing, my horse was going deeper in the
    water...probabably a foot of H20, and she was pawing....I was trying to
    get her out of the water and of course not look like a fool, when my
    horse decided it was time to take a bath.  so down we went, had I not
    grabbed her she would have done a complete roll-over, saddle and all.
    
    Luckily, I only got wet up to my knees, (boots and all) and off we went
    laughing down the trail.  At least I thought it was funny, I don't
    think the woman on the palomino did.
    
    This is a new horse and I never had one that loved the water so much!!!
    

    Ray and I spend a lot of time in the woods, and I've been known
    to get lost. Well, once or twice. So in order to be safe, I
    ride with a pack that belts around my waist. And I put in a
    bunch of things I might need - jackknife, hoof pick, leather
    shoelaces, police whistle, compass...you never know!

    Anyhow, I met up with another woman who offered to show me a
    new trail that had some trees over it to jump. Wow! Yes! And
    we got to the first jump which was pretty high, but I knew
    Ray could do it if I could only stay on. I went first. Ray
    made it! And I fell off on the other side. Of course.

    She couldn't see me but she could hear me; and I couldn't get up.
    Ray was standing on my pack, and it was behind me and I couldn't
    reach around to push him off. The poor woman thought I was dying
    over there. 

    The moral? If you meet me in the woods, just nod and continue on
    past me, for your own safety and well-being!

    Then there was the pond - the beautiful pond. And we were thirsty.
    So we got off the trail, headed down toward the pond and were
    suddenly horse-chest deep in mud. That was exciting.

    And being lost 2 towns away with about 6 people and 6 horses for
    6 hours. (Is 6 my lucky number?) There are readers of this notes
    file that can attest to this one. It must have been 100 degrees
    out.

    There's more, but I'm beginning to feel a bit embarrassed...

>    And being lost 2 towns away with about 6 people and 6 horses for
>    6 hours. (Is 6 my lucky number?) There are readers of this notes
>    file that can attest to this one. It must have been 100 degrees
>    out.

	Julie - you forgot about the firecrackers (it was July 4th)....


			one-of-the-six-victims ;-) ;-)