Flat On My Back

Well.

There's not much to report, but the mare has rendered me somewhat laid up.

Yesterday after a nice grooming session I threw her into the ring to run and get her wiggles out before tacking up and lunging.

When I got on she was tense, but eager and wasn't acting stupid (defined by my ability to wrap my legs around her and push her around the ring).  This was a good sign.

So was the fact that she moved right up into a trot when asked (no balking) and marched happily around the ring without feeling stuck.  When I circled, our usually "sticky" open side of the circle resulted in a slight hesitation, but not a full on stop.  I added my leg and a slight flick of the whip which was all it took to move the mare forward.

On our second pass she stopped.  I kicked and clucked, and she moved on.

On our third pass she stopped, I kicked and clicked and she did nothing.  I kicked once more and flicked the whip (nothing). Which led me to the final full smack of the whip.

Which resulted in a sky-clawing-black-beauty-style rear. 

"No problem" I thought to myself as I grabbed her martingale strapped and tried to coax her down with loud shouts of "MAAAAARE."

And P politely put her feet down just long enough for me to relax before she went skyward again.  This time she stayed there and started to stagger backward, which made me have visions of us going over backward. 

But we didn't, and P launched from rear into full buck within a split second.

The combo was enough to leave me totally unseated, so as I flopped around on her back attempted to grab reins and get my stirrups back I knew that I was going off. 

So... as we approached the wall I desperately tried to remember the last time I successfully completed an emergency dismount, but then I just sorted slipped/flopped/flung myself off pre-wall smashing.

The Good News? I'm fine.  I heard about a million cracks when I landed on the back of my shoulder blades, but mostly I think I just stretched and sprained some connective tissue.  My hip hurts like a mother, but its fine.  No broken ribs, somehow my head never hit the ground... and aside from not being able to raise my arms above my head... I'm dandy. 

The Bad News? I hate rearing.  hate, hate, HATE  rearing.  I am pretty confident and somehow don't usually get rattled bt falls.  But rearing terrifies me.  One of the things I've said with P's objections is "at least she isn't rearing..."  but apparently she learned that trick.  which is not ideal for me.

The Embarrassing News?  It's on video.  I thought a "first ride of the year" would be good video to have, so I've got the whole damn thing on tape.  The monster rears are just off camera (damn), but you can see the shadow... but the full flopping, flinging, squealing rest of it is captured forever on film.  I'll also have you know that my angry/panicked SCREAMS are right there too (charming).  I'll file that under things my father is never allowed to see, but I'll probably end up putting on the blog...

Anyway, I'm on pills and on the couch.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll be coherent enough to get that video up and offer some slightly more worthwhile discussion of what my next steps are.

For the record I DID get back on (although briefly, almost fainted) and walked around.  Then I handed the Mare off to the BO for an ass kicking and talking to.  Apparently the Bo caught a glimpse of the rear from her living room window... and came out.  Thank god for that.

back to drug induced napping!!!