Bucked Off

Yep, it was bound to happen.  Sooner or later, Cash would get me off with one of his temper tantrums.

It's probably partly my fault.  I didn't get to the barn until nearly 8pm, and with only an hour at most of ride-able daylight left I thought "I'll just hop on him for a short little walk-only ride, no need to lunge...." Famous last words.

Well, I got on, thinking I'd work on some going right stuff, just keep it nice and easy and relaxing and be done in a jiffy.... except the problem was that he was being a bit of a pill and not wanting to go near the gate for some reason.  Turd.  He would balk, so I'd put leg on, he'd balk more, I'd put more leg on, he'd step backwards, I'd give him a little smack, he'd hop, then begrudgingly go forward.... When we got to our destination I'd stop him, pet and praise him, then walk forward on our circle.  This was great except that when we would go forward he'd try and spin and rush away from the gate... Umm, no.

Then, the ponies out in the dry lot started running around for some reason, just feeling their oats... that was the last straw, and it happened right as we were turning away from the gate.  Cash scooted, bucked, and bolted towards the fence, I had a pretty good grip until he slammed on the brakes as he got to the fence (in other words he ran into the fence...), this launched me onto his neck, I quickly scrambled to get back into the tack but as soon as my butt hit the saddle he turned and leapt away again full tilt, I had no hope of staying off so I bailed while I still had open dirt to land on instead of a fence!  I landed on my feet, for the most part, the forward momentum then landed me ultimately on all fours.  I got a good face-full of dust and a scraped knee, but otherwise I'm none the worse for wear.  Thank God for all those emergency dismount drills in Pony Club.

He ran around at the end of the arena a bit while I went and grabbed my lunge line.  My barn owner, Rosemary, saw the whole thing, and after making sure I was ok, she went to bring the other horses in to give us some peace and quiet.

After lunging a bit I got back on and he was very very very good.  Only went against my right leg once, did a lovely shoulder-fore along the side of the arena leading to the gate, didn't look at the gate once, didn't rush away... was soft and on the bit.  Go figure.

Well, I must say I learned my lesson, I shall always lunge this horse before riding!

Either that or he just didn't like the saddle pad of the day....

Real men wear pink... and rubber duckies.