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This sequence of photos was shot by photographer Art Burkart. All photos were taken in less than one minute. The rider is me. This incident completely ruined my confidence and made me totally terrified of riding my horse. This happened on May 22, 2010. It was not Spice's fault. What happened is we were having a training for mounted patrol. The woman in the first photo had draped a twine over her horses saddle that was attached to several empty milk jugs. Her horse panicked and she could not control him. He bolted around the arena with the milk jugs attached to him.
Back up, a little history... I had a ski accident in February, tearing the MCL in my knee, making it impossible to walk without crutches and a brace until April. I finally had the courage to ride my 4 year old Foxtrotter, equipped with my knee brace, I dutifully did my ground work before mounting. Well, mounting was a problem because it was my left knee. So....I tried mounting on the right side. (Never taught Spice you could get on both sides!) When my left leg hit the cantle on the way over, Spice panicked when she saw my leg and bolted. I hung on long enough to gracefully fly off and land hard, but thankfully not on my knee!
This was the first ride since that happened. That horse came at us so fast and Spice really had nowhere to go but up. My instinct was to grab her neck and lean forward, however my left leg was weak and I had trouble releasing my left foot from the stirrup. I hung on long enough to release my foot and after what seemed like forever.....I hit the ground. And so began a long journey of recovery.
The fear was so paralyzing even I couldn't believe it was happening to me. People who know me couldn't believe it either. I was not going to let this get to me. I had to fix the problem. That very week, the Midwest Horsemen's News came out and I saw they were having a Confidence Building Clinic in Minnesota with Dennis Auslum. I wasted no time, called and registered. The clinic was on May 30th. It was so HARD TO DO THAT! I was terrified. The trip over was an emotional roller coaster. Mind you, there is NOTHING wrong with my horse, she is just young, but I was terrified of her. At the clinic, I wasted no time explaining why I was there and over the course of the weekend, I was riding Spice through their extreme obstacle course and playing with the calves. Did that solve the fear problem, NO, but it was a good start. At least I knew my horse would help me overcome the fear. More to come.......Cindy
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