Elf On A Shelf
...
I tend to only fall off once a year *touch wood* and today was my lucky day!
It was a slightly cloudy but warm morning and we pulled out for first lot around 7.40am. Wee Champles was my steed this lot and he had all of last week off due to having staples on his fetlock. So whilst he has done work all week he is still a little fresh. But that wasn't why I fell off! Oh no!
So off we trot round the field, Wee Champles giving it his best extended trot and then down to the circle gallop. There's 14 of us riding out this morning. 12 of us are cantering 4 4 (4x in each direction round the sand circle) and 2 were doing 6 6 6 (trust me! That's a sore one on the legs sometimes!) So the 6's set off and the rest of us trotted a lap round the woodchip outer circle before joining onto the sand once the other 2 has gone round twice. At this point I turned to the lad trotting next to me and said "this is going to be carnage" Now as you can imagine the 6's weren't going slow, there were 12 of us to get onto the sand and we hadn't quite made it to the opening. We all managed to scoot in with the 2 6's having to slow down a bit to let us on.
We all managed to canter 4 circuits not a bother, the 6's were now right behind us. So they turned in front. And you would think the logical thing to do would be to all turn as we are. But oh no! We don't do that! The boss likes to be at the front all the time so we have to all file along, turn and pass everyone that was behind you so you all end up in the same order. The 2 6's turned and Chez being Chez just scooted off (they are the only ones to be allowed in front of the boss as they were doing more circuits and we were pulling off onto the straight to pull and and trot up) I was about the 6th or 7th person to turn and as I did so Wee Champles whipped round quite quickly. On a normal day this wouldn't be a bother, I'm used to sitting spins. Except today, for some reason, my inside rein was really tight and so poor Wee Champles had nowhere to go except to keep going round in a tiny, tiny circle. Cue me going down over his shoulder to land on my feet facing the opposite direction to him! He just stood there looking at me as if to say "what on earth are you doing down there?!" It was stupid! It was one of those real slow motion down the shoulder falls that you can't save yourself from but at the same time you can't get to the ground quick enough! ??
As I hit the ground I shouted "Man down" which is universal slang for "some idiot has fallen off". Of course the ones cantering didn't hear and kept cantering round straight towards me and the remaining 5 or 6 people that hadn't turned and set off yet due to my Wee incident ?? then Scu noticed and started shouting at everyone to woah up. They barely pulled up before they got to me!
Thankfully Wee Champles lives up to his name and is only about 16.1hh and the banking is a good foot high so it only took me 2 attempts to jump back on! I can't do the whole bounce from the ground malarkey, wouldn't have had time to drop a stirrup (which you can't do in an exercise saddle anyway as it would just spin round) so I am OK so long as I have a wee bit of height over the horse. Once I get my boobs over the front of the saddle the rest is easy and I swing up, get my stirrups and set off again like nothing had ever happened ?? as I was getting myself stirrups the boss said "Well done!" And I laughed and replied "Well done for what? Falling off or getting back on?" ??
Every time I fall off I am the only person laughing! Everyone else is either too scared to (most likely) or are in shock as it is so rare for me to be on the floor ? Despite me insisting I was absolutely fine people kept on asking me if I was OK!
The last time I fell off I fell of at trot on the road and was out cold for nearly a minute. That was January 2021. I will take landing on my feet on soft sand over that any day of the week!
My next lot wasn't much better. The big numb headed barsteward shredded my arms! You know that feeling you get in your forearm muscles and tendons when they have worked too hard and feel like they are shredded into pieces? Yup! That feeling!
Luckily my last lot was an absolute peach of a ride! And then I was on picture taking duty.
But my 1 fall for the year is over and done with and it was an easy one! Yay!
It was a slightly cloudy but warm morning and we pulled out for first lot around 7.40am. Wee Champles was my steed this lot and he had all of last week off due to having staples on his fetlock. So whilst he has done work all week he is still a little fresh. But that wasn't why I fell off! Oh no!
So off we trot round the field, Wee Champles giving it his best extended trot and then down to the circle gallop. There's 14 of us riding out this morning. 12 of us are cantering 4 4 (4x in each direction round the sand circle) and 2 were doing 6 6 6 (trust me! That's a sore one on the legs sometimes!) So the 6's set off and the rest of us trotted a lap round the woodchip outer circle before joining onto the sand once the other 2 has gone round twice. At this point I turned to the lad trotting next to me and said "this is going to be carnage" Now as you can imagine the 6's weren't going slow, there were 12 of us to get onto the sand and we hadn't quite made it to the opening. We all managed to scoot in with the 2 6's having to slow down a bit to let us on.
We all managed to canter 4 circuits not a bother, the 6's were now right behind us. So they turned in front. And you would think the logical thing to do would be to all turn as we are. But oh no! We don't do that! The boss likes to be at the front all the time so we have to all file along, turn and pass everyone that was behind you so you all end up in the same order. The 2 6's turned and Chez being Chez just scooted off (they are the only ones to be allowed in front of the boss as they were doing more circuits and we were pulling off onto the straight to pull and and trot up) I was about the 6th or 7th person to turn and as I did so Wee Champles whipped round quite quickly. On a normal day this wouldn't be a bother, I'm used to sitting spins. Except today, for some reason, my inside rein was really tight and so poor Wee Champles had nowhere to go except to keep going round in a tiny, tiny circle. Cue me going down over his shoulder to land on my feet facing the opposite direction to him! He just stood there looking at me as if to say "what on earth are you doing down there?!" It was stupid! It was one of those real slow motion down the shoulder falls that you can't save yourself from but at the same time you can't get to the ground quick enough! ??
As I hit the ground I shouted "Man down" which is universal slang for "some idiot has fallen off". Of course the ones cantering didn't hear and kept cantering round straight towards me and the remaining 5 or 6 people that hadn't turned and set off yet due to my Wee incident ?? then Scu noticed and started shouting at everyone to woah up. They barely pulled up before they got to me!
Thankfully Wee Champles lives up to his name and is only about 16.1hh and the banking is a good foot high so it only took me 2 attempts to jump back on! I can't do the whole bounce from the ground malarkey, wouldn't have had time to drop a stirrup (which you can't do in an exercise saddle anyway as it would just spin round) so I am OK so long as I have a wee bit of height over the horse. Once I get my boobs over the front of the saddle the rest is easy and I swing up, get my stirrups and set off again like nothing had ever happened ?? as I was getting myself stirrups the boss said "Well done!" And I laughed and replied "Well done for what? Falling off or getting back on?" ??
Every time I fall off I am the only person laughing! Everyone else is either too scared to (most likely) or are in shock as it is so rare for me to be on the floor ? Despite me insisting I was absolutely fine people kept on asking me if I was OK!
The last time I fell off I fell of at trot on the road and was out cold for nearly a minute. That was January 2021. I will take landing on my feet on soft sand over that any day of the week!
My next lot wasn't much better. The big numb headed barsteward shredded my arms! You know that feeling you get in your forearm muscles and tendons when they have worked too hard and feel like they are shredded into pieces? Yup! That feeling!
Luckily my last lot was an absolute peach of a ride! And then I was on picture taking duty.
But my 1 fall for the year is over and done with and it was an easy one! Yay!
