We Fell in a Hole!

Today Cherry and I took a nice walk down the grassy side of the road with my friend and her green mare. This is the closest we've come to an actual trail ride in 3 years. Sad, I know, but that's how life goes.

The first obstacle in our way was the creek. Well, I say creek, but it's really more of a muddy, grassy drainage ditch. I got Cherry to walk across the creek on the way out, where she promptly sank past her hocks in murky sludge. She did this weird bounding hop to get out, and I remembered to duck to the side and didn't get smashed in the face when she made the leap out of the water. My friend dismounted and jumped the creek with her mare, which was really cute, by the way.

We tool along the grassy shoulder for awhile, just walking and seeing where the road will take us. The ground is a little wet, but it's nice and soft. We walked through a marshy spot with no problems, got to the end of the shoulder and turned around.

Suddenly, the marshy ground gave way and Cherry's (I think) left hind sunk flank deep! Her front end went up, she scrambled a moment, and we went down. Thankfully I rolled off before she hit the ground, and only my right foot was trapped underneath her.

I remember looking up and seeing her body continue to rotate towards me, and I thought, "Don't roll on me! You're big and heavy!" She didn't, and was able to scramble back to her feet. My friend caught her reins even though she wasn't going anywhere, and I got up, a little shaken, to look her over.

Aside from needing to readjust the saddle, Cherry was fine. A little shaken, maybe, but fine. I know I was a bit shaky as I rebuckled the girth. My friend was thrilled at how well her greenie handled the incident. She didn't panic at all, and appeared to be unfazed by my horse suddenly going up and going down.

I climbed back on and we headed back to the barn. Cherry was a little jazzed up, but she settled down quickly. I've always loved that about Cherry, she's so damn sensible. She doesn't lose her head and freak out in scary situations. This trait is probably why I'm alive today. We've done much more, um, exciting things out on the trail and she's gotten us safely though tighter spots than that.

Crossing back over the creek, I knew there was no way in hell she was getting in the water this time. Since my jumping skills are rusty and I was not quite relaxed yet, I opted to lead her over the creek. Just as I suspected, she cleared the creek with a huge jump. It was really cool looking, actually. I crossed first, and then asked her to follow. I wasn't directly in front of her, just off to the side a little, but I could see nearly head-on as she gathered herself and jumped across. I was momentarily in awe of the power she has when she chooses to use it. I love it, it's like rediscovering why horses are so awesome all over again.

All in all, it was quite a surreal experience. When I fall, I'm used to it hurting. This fall didn't hurt at all. The ground was so soft and we fell rather slowly, so the fall was the easiest one I've ever had. It's strange when something doesn't happen when you're expecting it to. Nothing hurt, nobody was injured, and Cherry seemed to get over it before I did. Not that I wanted to be hurt, it was just weird that I wasn't.

Again, let me say: I love my horse! This is why I didn't sell her ass 10 years ago, and I'm so glad I didn't. She got in a pickle, didn't panic, and everyone came out unscathed.