Buddy, Casey And Me - Get Back On And Ride!

Back in the day, I was in my early 20s, and my daughter Casey was 2.  I had a horse, Buddy, which was a cutting/barrel horse.  I loved my Buddy.  We had a lot of good times with Buddy when he was mine.  I remember one time watching from the house, while my sister, Brenda and my sister in-law, Tonya, had Buddy out in the field with only the bridle on him.  Bareback, they rode him double through the pasture, falling off, getting back on and just having a great time.  They were younger than me and full of imagination, they were kickin' it with Buddy.

I didn't compete on him, but my good friend Becky did, she was good and I always felt guilty when I didn't let him do his thing.  You can tell when a horse loves what they can do.  It would have been sad not to let him compete.  I did ride him almost daily.  He was spirited and would turn on a dime.  He liked to do that on his own, so I had to keep him in line.  But that was part of his talent, turning on a dime.

He was also a little skitsy, if there was an abrupt loud noise, he reared up.  In the country, there weren't many of those and this did not upset me.  I had ridden enough in my life, I knew what to do.  So I never fell off of Buddy, until one day something was different.

I was riding, with Casey in front of me.  I had done this many times, no big deal.  This occasion we were riding outside of the pasture.  We were between our house and my in-laws house, off the road, but beside the road.  Husband was standing in our front yard and one of my brother in-laws was standing in his front yard, both on either side of me on Buddy with Casey on board.

My other brother in-law had gotten into his ride - and proceeded to start up his vehicle.  He was young and that vehicle had a loud motor.  When the motor ripped loud - Buddy started a rear up.  I didn't have but a split second to think.  I had two choices in that milli-second, one, use my hands in the defensive mode I was used to, leaning forward and to the side to miss his powerful head coming back at me.  The problem with this one is that Casey was in front of me, I knew the room between me and Buddy coming up was going to close in on her.  I was afraid that in that quick motion of movement on mine and Buddy's part, I might lose or hurt Casey.

So the second choice is the one I went with, I cupped my body and arm around Casey, holding on to her for dear life, leaving the other hand on the reigns.  I relaxed because I knew I was about to land on the ground with Casey in my arms, breaking her fall and intentionally going off the side opposite of Buddy's hoof direction.  It was a fast quick choreographed fall.  But it felt like slow motion.  As we were leaving the saddle, I bowed my back, lowered my head and in every way covered my little girl. 

One thing that I didn't control, or maybe I was, but I don't know why, was that I did not let go of the reigns with my other hand.  Until we hit the ground, I landed right on my butt, in a sitting position with Casey enclosed and still on my lap, unscathed.  I felt or heard Buddy's hoof hit the ground behind me and immediately let go of the reigns so he could bolt away from us.

As all of this was going on, husband and brother in-law were running towards us from different directions.  Brother in-law caught Buddy going his direction.  Quick as lightening, I checked us out, made sure that Casey was unharmed and jumped up to my feet with her in my arms.  I was mad, I was a little scared and when husband got to me, I pushed Casey into his arms and wheeled around.  Adrenaline took over.

Brother in-law was walking towards us with Buddy in tow.  I took the reigns, immediately got back on Buddy and rode him into exasperating oblivion.  I loved him, but he scared the *(^@! out of me.  So he was not going to get away with it.  Not sure if he got the message, but I was going to send it anyway!

As I have said many times before, back in the day, we were not as afraid as we are now.  Did this stop me from riding with Casey again, no, not at all.  In fact later, she had her own horse and rode like their was no fear.  I miss that life.  Full of adventure and trying things and just plain doing what we loved to do.  And even better, experiencing new things we might come to love too.

I kept Buddy until I became pregnant with my second daughter, Autumn.  I rode for awhile and came to a time of discussing it with my doctor.  The act of riding a horse is not harmful, the possible accident is.  So I didn't ride him for quite awhile.  I began to feel very badly for him, he was a talented horse and needed to be owned by someone that could help him live to his full potential and keep him in competition.  I sold him to someone who did just that.  We got more horses, but riding horses.  Ones I knew were just happy to be owned, ridden and loved by us.

Don't forget the things that make you happy people!  Get out there and do them!  If you fall off, get back on and ride!