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Here's my Christmas riding story:

This past Tuesday, I checked the weather & realized that the
last day of nice weather for the week was upon me, so I played
hooky to ride.  Of course, I couldn?t find anyone to go with me,
so I set out with my trusty steed & off we went, alone, to Pigeon Mtn.  

For some reason, when I got to the trailhead, I had completely
forgotten that it was a weekday & I was very confused to find
the place deserted.  Oh, well, I told my horse, we?ll have the
place to ourselves.  & we did.  That mountain was desolate. 
Quiet.  Qui - et.  It was nice.  Having left his herd back at
the house, my riding partner was feeling a little insecure.  We
haven?t gotten out much by ourselves lately, but he was brave
enough, & we were having a good time.  Every now & then he would
call out into the silence or stop to listen for the sound of?
anything.  Once, we heard a large group of something hurrying
off away from us.  It sounded large & noisy, not like deer,
maybe wild hogs??  I?m not familiar with that mountain enough to
know what it might have been, but we were just happy that they
were moving away from us.  It sounded like a lot of them.  & only 2 of us.

Otherwise, the trip started out uneventful.  We rode up & up to
the top.  When we got there (only about 3 miles out, I would
say), we came across an area with lots of downed trees all
across the trail.  We weaved(wove?) zig-zagged in & out of these
for a ways, then it became necessary to go around a tight spot
out over the side of the ridge &, being alone, I decided to turn around 
instead.  

Now, since my buddy had been secretly wanting to turn back the
whole time, he began gigging pretty hard, speeding up & up. 
Nothing too bad, just a little annoying, so at one point where
the trail fattened out a bit, I decided to turn away from the
direction of ?home? for a second to bring him down a notch. 
Well, he was so intent on being homeward bound, that my cue to
turn right apparently caused some inner turmoil & when he did
turn right, he lost his balance & just slid to the ground.  We
were going downhill & there were lots of leaves on the ground,
too.  It was really a slow-motion sort of fall.  We just slowly
lowered to the ground.  My elbow took a bump, but otherwise no 
harm to me & I just stepped off, thinking that he could get up
easier if I got out of his way.  

When he got up, he took a couple of steps & he was out of my
reach.  As soon as he noticed that, he trotted off even further,
then he started trotting off ?to the house.?  By himself.

Well now, this scenario had never occurred to me, that my horse,
finding himself riderless, would just decide to go it alone back
to the trailer!  I mean, the nerve!  It was a long way back.  I
noticed that after he got about 10 yards away from me, he
started looking a little unsure of himself, even frightened,
& he speeded up.  He took another sharp turn, slid down again,
scrambled up & really took off, running scared through the woods, down the 
mountain, stirrups flapping, reins thankfully 
still over his neck.  Then he was gone.  & I was walking.  
Running actually, after him, calling him over & over, but he 
never slowed down.  

As you go down the mountain, the trail switches back on itself &
when I got to the top of the next ridge, I could see him below
me, still running full out, ignoring my calls if he ever heard
them.  So, I trekked back out.  Just before I came out of the
woods, I passed a small green pasture & there was no sight of
him.  I knew if he passed grass, he was still very scared.  This
horse is an eater.  He would never pass up a chance at a blade
of grass, under normal circumstances.  

So I was pretty worried about him at this point, but then I came
out of the woods onto the road & there he was, standing beside
the logging road, munching on grass, looking back at me.  I was
so mad that all I could think to do was yell at him, so that?s
what I did for about a minute, checking equipment, which was all
intact, unbelievably.  The rein had come unsnapped on one side,
but was not broken.  I swung up onto him & immediately realized
that, in my anger, I had forgotten to check his body for injury.  

Actually, I had seen him trot a little & he appeared fine & he
is black so nothing jumps out at you unless you look closely,
which I had forgotten to do, so I looked down & his back left
foot was covered in blood.  Damnit!  Actually, it was his boot,
a boa boot, covered in blood.  I got down & took it off & it was
full of blood.  Gross.  He had a good cut on the front of his
pastern.  Probably the only reason he stopped running, deciding
that he might need me after all.  Hmmphf!  

Ok, so, time for the moral of the story.  If you are going it
alone ? take more MORE more stuff than you might usually take ?
like 1st aid!  I had a gun, a whistle, 2 honey oat bars, my
truck key, a (useless) cellphone (on a mountain with no service)
& credit cards (not wanting to leave them in the truck at the
deserted trailhead).  Even if you think it?s just a short,
nothing little ride, if you?re alone & your horse is alone (&
maybe more anxious than he?d be with mates), stuff might
happen.  Stuff that might not ordinarily happen.  A bigger fanny
pack is definitely on my Christmas list of gifts to give myself.

Now back to the story.  So, he looked ok except for all the
blood actually.  He wasn?t missing any steps, walking fine, so
we started out.  Another 2 miles to go, I guess.  I knew he
wasn?t hurt too badly when he still wanted to trot on the lead,
but I still led him.  At a walk.  All the way back.  We didn?t
talk much on that walk.  Got back to the trailer (where there
was still no significant 1st aid ? *idiot*), I tossed him into
the trailer, saddle & all & made a bee line for home, making
calls on the way to have hot water & clean towels ready when I
got there.  He had stopped bleeding & I felt better, just
worried about infection. 

Today he?s on the mend & I?m still sore sore sore, from all that
uphill running!  I?ve learned a lesson & hope someone listening
might learn from my mistakes too, although I?m sure the vast
majority of you are much much more prepared for going it alone than I was.  

I couldn?t tell this story to any of the worry-warts in my
family [?How did it happen??  ?I don?t know.  I looked down & it
was all bloody.?  which is the truth], so I?m sharing this with
all of you instead.  My family would say this proves that I
shouldn?t be riding alone, but I think just the opposite. It
proves that I don?t do it enough.  My horse was nervous about
being out there all alone with just me.  If we did it more
often, he?d be more relaxed about it.

It really was a beautiful day & a beautiful ride up until
the ?unfortunate incident.?  I can never get that kind of
responsiveness when there are other horses anywhere around.  On
the way up the mountain road, this ball-of-anxiety under me was
criss-crossing the road back & forth at the slightest whisper of
a cue.  If you?ve ever played golf, it was like the ?perfect
golf shot? that you hit just often enough to make you keep
playing because now you?ve caught a glimpse of the VAST
potential hidden just beneath the surface.  

I wish each of you at least one of those moments this Christmas
holiday season.

Happy Holidays!  On Happy Horses!





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