My hips and that horse don't fit through that gate, or Minnie has two boyfriends.

[quietann]

So, moving ponies and riding them has been accomplished. It will be better to have them up on The Hill because the indoor ring and the field of jumps (for Trumpie, mostly) are both there. So, no more trailering ponies up and down.

Riding went well, although Minnie was doing the thoroughbred thing today and would NOT stand still for grooming, bridling, me getting on, etc. J helped a lot. We rode for about 40 minutes again. Monday, if the weather is good, J and I will take them out on a hack to walk up and down hills, which is good for their, and our, fitness.

So everything was wonderful... until it was time to put them in their new digs. Minnie was getting very antsy; she does not like changes, and probably the only thing that kept her from flipping out entirely was that Trumpie was plodding along right beside her (it's a bit of a walk from the barn to their field.) In retrospect, she should have had the chain on her leadrope over her nose; yes, it's painful if her handler yanks on it, but that *will* get her to listen.

The gate to their field is narrow, and has a small step down. Minnie rushed the gate, and she pulled ahead, and then she tripped, and then I tripped and rolled. J said it looked really bad; she was sure I'd been stepped on. But Minnie was a good girl and somehow avoided me, though I did see her hooves pass *right* above my face.

Nonetheless, I have a couple of cuts on my left arm, and a sore forearm, and will, I am sure, have bruises up and down my left side. But -- nothing is broken. I was back on my feet in about 30 seconds. The "crack!" that I heard as I went down was not one of my bones, or one of Minnie's; it was a downed tree branch that one of us landed on.

It does serve to remind me that horses are big and dangerous, though.

And now Minnie has two boyfriends, Trumpie and Jack. Jack is a very pretty TB gelding who lives up there as a pasture puff; he can't be ridden because of neurological issues. He and Minnie spent quite a while getting acquainted over the fence.

Comments

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Meep! Glad you're mostly OK. Hope whatever's bruised and so forth heals quickly and completely.

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

Hooray for not getting squashed by a horse.

[unclebooboo.livejournal.com]

Horses can injure you pretty severely without even trying- getting stepped on can be a very bad experience. In this case, I'd lay quite a bit of the blame on whoever built the gate- it doesn't sound like it was wide enough, and having a downward step just added to the difficulty. On the other hand, it sounds like you weren't fully in control while leading the horse- that's something for you to work on. Another one of those experiences to learn from.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

Definitely a learning experience, and luckily one that is not leaving me scared or permanently damaged. Minnie, good girl that she was, went to quite an effort to *not* step on me.

Had J or I been thinking, we would have put the chain over her nose before we ever left the barn, or at least would have stopped and done it as soon as Minnie got the slightest bit nervous. (This happened when we led the horses past their trailer and did not load them into it. Minnie was definitely getting jittery by then. Actually, both of them were a bit nervous before we ever took them up to The Hill, as they watched us load up their tack and their food and other things to take with them. They are so sensitive to the slightest change in routine! This is probably also why Minnie was so bad about standing still while being groomed and tacked up.)

(I have probably said this before, but Minnie really does want to do the right thing. She is a very "willing" horse. But she is not very smart, and has the typical thoroughbred flightiness. She really needs her people to think for her!)

The gate is definitely too narrow. This is apparently a temporary home for the ponies; once Trumpie gets a stall, Minnie will move to a different paddock where things are not so treacherous. The Hill overall is *extremely* well-designed; goddessfarmer designed the barn and indoor ring herself with the comfort and safety of horses and people in mind. (She used to manage The Hill, and she and her husband still own it.) The paddocks where Trumpie, Minnie, and Jack and his goat are living are just not quite as nice, but I have seen much worse.

Anyway, as of tonight (2 nights later) I am healing well and planning to ride with J tomorrow.

[sarahshevett.livejournal.com]

goat?

[quietann.livejournal.com]

Jack has a "companion goat," a large hairy thing with horns, though it's friendly enough. Said goat is currently feeling a bit neglected, now that Jack has company of his own kind in the next paddock over. (During today's ride, which was within Jack's sight, he and Minnie did call-and-response whinnying!)

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

Good grief! Missed this before and just caught your reference to it in tonight's post. I'm glad it wasn't worse!

[quietann.livejournal.com]

It really was a failure of horsemanship on both J's and my part. Luckily, this is a mistake that is easily learned from, and one that will leave no permanent damage. I am still a bit banged up, but much better today than yesterday. The only injury that is at all worrisome is to my left calf, where I bruised the area around an old surgery scar pretty badly. That one is still quite painful when I walk.