12/16/2018
Let's talk about how not every run goes according to plan. No matter how much you practice or pregame or whatever, there are definitely forces outside of our control.
This video was mine and Coal's first run yesterday. For only riding once in the past two weeks, he was feeling pretty good yesterday. He was listening well. He felt good under saddle. We were in our zone, and felt like it'd be a good day for us. NOT SO!
This first run, which probably would have put us in the money, didn't count. Why? Because the timer malfunctioned. Meaning, we were given the option to re-run at the end, which we did. Our second run was slower though, and we fell in the cracks. Still, two clean runs, I was happy with that. Especially since starting off with Coal, I was lucky to get one clean run.
Our next event--NFR sized barrels! If you're not familiar with the NFR, just know that the barrel pattern is super tiny. As in 13s and 14s tiny.
We went in. He was set up just right. He was going in strong and hard, like he usually does. We hit our pocket. And we went down. Him and I ate dirt. We crashed. We had managed to hit a rough spot in the ground just right, and we were gone. I'd be lying if I said that wasn't a scary moment. Coal is a big horse to go down with (16 hh), especially at the speed we were going. And it happened in a split second. Once I got up off the ground, I walked to the end of the arena where he stood. Tractor driver caught him for me. I checked him out. He was fine. I walked him out back to the trailer, and really looked him over. He was fine, just covered in dirt like I was. Then I hopped back on him and just rode him around the grounds. Our last experience under saddle that day didn't need to be a bad one.
Obviously, yesterday didn't go according to plan. And it was by circumstances beyond our control. Timers malfunction. It happens. And in this sport, it's not a matter of "if" you go down. It's WHEN you go down. I've known it was coming with Coal, because he hits his turns hard. Yesterday was just our day. Yesterday was our "when."
There's no point in being mad about it. No point in being upset. I'm a bit bummed yesterday didn't work out. But my horse is okay. I'm okay. We walked away from our wreck. No major injuries for either of us, just sore. And i let him know how good of a horse he is, because he tried so hard to take care of me and not go down. He even somehow managed to not lay on top of me.
He'll have a few days off, along with some bute. Then we'll go right back at it. Because that's what you gotta do. Get up, wipe yourself off, get back in the saddle, and cowgirl/cowboy up!
