So I have learned that if you want to blog about something you should really do it right away! The longer you wait the harder it is to make yourself sit down and re-live it!
Last weekend we had a family reunion for Scott's side in Island Park. We had a great time! There were ATV's a hot tub, fun and games, even a nice calm trail ride on horse back!!
So how was I almost killed by a water bottle?? Well lets back up to that nice calm trail ride! I hadn't even planned on going since trail rides are not exactly cheep, but when Amalyssa found out Grandma Becky was going she was BEGGING to go! And thus it was that Amalyssa and I ended up at the corral on back of two lovely horses. My horse was named Princess and hers was named Rat! HAHA!
I have no pictures of these lovely horses since I made the choice not to haul my cumbersome camera for this particular even. This ended up being a really GOOD thing since I don't think it would have survived the water bottle attack!
The trail ride was two hours long so of course I took some water bottles along for the ride. My jacket had ginormous pockets that the bottles seemed to fit perfectly into!! For the first half of the ride they DID sit perfectly in my pockets. For some reason they decided to get slippery on the second half of the journey! At one point one of the bottles fell out of my pocket onto the ground. No big deal, the trail guide stopped and picked it up for me and we were on our way. After that the bottles never did sit right in my pockets and I kept finding them slipping out. I thought about asking the guide to put them in a saddle bag for me but didn't want to disturb the ride again over silly water bottles. As it turns out... I did anyway!
A friend and I were talking once about how you know whether a thought is from the Spirit or just from yourself. She said something very profound to me that day. She said "If it's a good idea then do it anyway!" That has stuck with me ever since! This particular day is a perfect example. I never felt like the spirit was urging me to remove the water bottles from my pocket... but maybe it was... I thought it was just me thinking something that would have been a good idea but not wanting to disturb the group by making them stop I ignored it and went on.
I heard the water slosh as the bottle left my pocket the second time. What came next was a surprize. The horse became startled at the sound and began side step in what I instantly knew in the back of my head was the horse getting spooked. At just about the moment I realized this I had a new sensation to contemplate. A crushing thud on my back. Looking up it was now clear to me that I was on the ground underneath a spooked horse. I had just enough time to think "I hope it doesn't step on me. That could be bad." and then the ordeal was over. The horse calmed down and for the most part managed to miss me. It's hoof did clip my ankle and left me this lovely souvenir.
In the end I was barely even battered and fairly calm over the entire event. (My poor mother in law on the other hand was having a panic attack for the both of us! Thanks for loving me so much Becky!!!) The Guide later said he had seen the horse get spooked and in loosing my balance I had yanked on the reigns causing the horse to rear up and me to go rear down. :) Joking with the guide I had scolded him for not teaching me the "Proper" way to fall of a horse.
After the fall the water bottles were safely relocated to the saddle bags. Back at the stable I gently reminded the guide they were in there and that they could just throw them away. The guide joked "Are you sure you don't want to keep it as a souvenir?" I responded ".... hmm, the water bottle that almost killed me.... no thanks, I am good!"
p.s. Yes I did get right back on the horse and wasn't afraid at all. In fact I would now LOVE to take some riding lessons and learn more about these lovely and amazing creatures.
