The Tragic week!

Last week was absolutely awful.  Everything went down hill and continued to steam roll downwards. The only thing that truly thrilled me was my raspberry cheesecake Starbucks drink :). Although it is not on the menu, you can still order fun tasting drinks that aren't featured. The only people that know these drinks are the Starbucks aficionados :).  The raspberry cheesecake is a white chocolate mocha with a few pumps of raspberry syrup. If you enjoy a sweet savory drink, this is a great choice. I think I'm going to start ordering a new secret drink each week and tell you a little about it.  Well, the time of truth has come and I must tell you of my horrible week.

Tuesday, Jan. 17th wasn't too bad except for the cold weather. It was our first time back on the track since Christmas break and I was extremely out of shape. Trying to hold Lady, the filly I was riding, to a trot was somewhat difficult because all she wanted to do was go. However, I was able to carry out the instructions quite nicely.

Wednesday started the snowball effect of a series of tragedies. At11:30 AM, I departed the barn to head to the track. I was getting super excited since we were going to gallop the horses for the first time since break. As we entered the track, everything was going well.  Lady wasn't pulling against me like she had on Tuesday. But when we started our gallop, everything changed. It was like somewhat lit a a match underneath her and it quickly grew to an out of control fire. She took off down the track. I knew she was going faster then Chris wanted her to go, so I started pulling back. But, she wouldn't stop!  The harder I pulled, the tougher she became. We went around the track once and I still couldn't stop her. On the second lap, she was going just as strong and I had no strength left. As we came down the stretch, the outrider came to my rescue. She began galloping ahead of me getting ready for a runaway pick up. The object was for me to guide my horse to her and hand her one of my reins so she could slow down my horse. As I approached the outrider, I leaned and got my weight back on the horse and slowly handed her my left reign.  Then she slowed down my horse and brought her to a walk. I was the first student that had to have the outriders help. This really put a damper on my mood.  But, it wasn't even close to what happened on Thursday.

Thursday was like any other day, except this time I was riding Yankee, a very young green filly that jumps and spooks at virtually anything. Thankfully, she is much easier to hold back so a knew I wouldn't have the same problem I had yesterday. Once again we went to the track and started our gallop; however, I wasn't prepared for what happened next.  As we entered the turn, something spooked Yankee and she jumped in towards the rail then back out. I maintained my balance and we continued along.  A few seconds later she did it again and this time I fell off. But that wasn't the end of it. (Before heading down I had purchased some nice winter riding boots.  However, the extra padding to make them warm increased the bulk of the boot.)  When I fell off,  my left foot got caught in the stirrup due to the bulk of my boot. My body was on the ground, but my left leg was still attached to the saddle! Thoughts of getting trampled and drug for eternity went through my mind. I new better then to yell for my life because that might spook the horse and make matters even worse.  Thankfully, I remained calm and Yankee only went three strides before I was able to shake my foot loose. After I got loose I immediately stood up and kicked the ground out of frustration. Nor only was I the first student of our class to be picked up by the outrider, but now I was the first one to fall on the track. It took us  3 minutes to catch my loose horse and once we did I hoped back on and continued on with my gallop. I wasn't going to let a fall drain my confidence. Needless to say, I will never be riding in those boots again. My expensive new pair of boots were worthless.

Thursday night, I was thinking if things got any worse, I might end up seriously hurt. I was bound to make Friday a better day. To help ensure this, I put on my lucky four leaf clover boxers. I mean they had four leaf clovers on them that had to give me some luck, right :). On Friday, I was riding Lady again.   Things were going smoothly, so I began to think maybe this would be a good day. Nope! I was wrong!  When we began our gallop, she started off beautifully.  However, about halfway around the track she took off and began to run away with me. This time I was determined to do everything in my power to not let that happen again.  She went faster and faster, but I dug in deep and tried to slow her down. As we where flying around the track, I kept repeating in my mind:  "I do not need the outriders help.  I can get her relaxed and slow her down."  Then, suddenly I remembered that if the  horse guided toward the outside rail they will slow down because that is a cue the training is over. As I began to do this, she started to relax and with the last ounce of energy I pulled her toward the rail.  I did it!  I stopped here without having the outrider's help.  Although this was better then the past few days. I was still upset with myself for letting a horse run away with me .I hope and pray this new week will be better.

Like I said before in this blog, I'm going to tell you of the great, the bad and the awful.  I will not sugar coat everything to sound like there are never any problems and I'm perfect lol.

I hope your week was better then mine
Jesse