Catching Pixie

Tonight I took my lesson on Misty.  She’s Paulette’s horse who is the Harmony Horsemanship success story.  Eight-year old girls take lessons on her.   An 87-year old woman was led around on her last fall.  She’s a beautiful Arabian who is usually calm, cool and collected.  But for some reason, tonight she was out of her element.  After about twenty minutes of practicing hind-quarter control on the rail, Misty reared.  Not just a little rear either.  A heart-stopping, eye-popping, five-second, make-me-pee-my-pants rear.  It was pretty crazy.

Somehow I remained cool under pressure (much like the lady in the photo above… ok, not quite that relaxed).  I immediately realized my bra had gotten hooked on the saddle horn, so I said to myself, “Ok, first, unhook your bra.”  And so I did.  Then I looked at Ted, as his face turned from amused to concerned, I started to second guess my composure.  Just as I was about to panic, Misty delicately set her front feet back down on the ground.  I’ve never dismounted so quickly in my life.  Ted reminded me to breathe and we took a few minutes to collect ourselves. I think we were both really scared.    

But the fact is, I didn’t immediately panic.  I didn’t scream.  I didn’t even cry.  Do you want to know what I did?  I got back on the horse.  We kicked around the soccer ball for a few minutes and then I rode her back up to the barn.