More lessons learned

When I was a young teen I spent a lot of time with my horses. Riding brushing, feeding and cleaning stalls. Being a teen I of course was a little more conscious of what I wore. Boots and pants are not cool particulary in the summer. One afternoon I went out to get one of my horses and she was down in a valley near a creek and a swampy area. I did not take the time to put my boots on, I had on flip flops. When I got hold of her and started walking her home I got a little too close and she stepped on my foot. Fortunately we were in the swampy area and my foot with hers on top sunk about a foot into the mud. My foot was not hurt seriously but I lost my flip flop.

Showing horses in western pleasure and trail classes was how I spent my summers from the time I was 9. I was showing my horse in a bare back riding class. In this class you are expected to mount the horse smoothly from the ground. Therefore mounting requires a lot of strength. I had practiced hard for this class. There was a stallion in the class with a young rider on him. My horse was in season (thats a conversation for another time). I rode well and lined up with the stallion next to me. The judge asked me to dismount and mount. I did it perfectly. I was so happy. Just then the stallion next to me decided to sniff my horses behind and the young rider let him. My horse squeeled and kicked the stallion the girl fell of and I was disqualified. Never stand near a stallion particularly if you horse is in season.

I learned a valuable lesson on what not to do when loading a horse in a trailer. My horse was a little hard to load and took some coaxing.My 2 horse trailer had an escape door on the right hand side. My horse did not want to get in the trailer. I got some feed in a bucket and stepped into the trailer. The horse followed me. I had her on a long lung line so in order to be able to handle it I wrapped it around my arm. When she came in the trailer I backed out the escape door. The horse got spooked backed out of the trailer and pulled me back through the escape door and out the back of the trailer because I had the rope wrapped around my arm and could not get it loose. My whole arm and side was scraped up. Never wrap a rope attached to a 1000 pound animal around your arm.