Well, I finally did it. I rode Prize today. I’ve been slacking since the accident last May. (To recap, she stepped on a pop can and freaked and I ended up with a broken pelvis.) Since I was cleared to ride I have only ridden once and that was with adult supervision. I took her to her trainer’s and he rode her first and then I rode.

But today was pretty close to reconstructing the accident. I was riding by myself in my arena. Except, I am able to learn from my mistakes. The arena has been totally cleared and I had my cell phone at ground level just outside the gate. No more hopping back to the house with broken limbs for me!

I’ve never been the bravest of riders and for some reason I’ve always had this thing about mounting Prize. I don’t know why because she’s good. But I always hesitate and hem and haw before I mount. Except for the day of the fall, that is. I just jumped on that day. Today I put her western saddle on her for a little more security. I mounted once and then dismounted. Then I immediately remounted and rode for just a little bit. On the second mount I was shaking like a leaf. I think Prize was slightly confused by what I was trying to communicate by the constantly vibrating reins. I kept telling her that it was just overactive nerves and to ignore it. I just walked around the arena for a few minutes and did some backing and sidepassing before calling it a day. I jumped off and gave her a big hug. She looked at me like, “What the @#$^ is your problem today?” She was out and out shocked when I told her that was it for the day and started to untack her.

I’ve been slightly embarrassed about not riding. I was cleared to ride last August but just didn’t have the desire. I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to get it back or if I should just concentrate on breeding and showing babies and give up riding. But then it started getting nice this year and the desire started to slowly come back. I’d find myself thinking that I should ride and eventually that changed more into I want to ride. I decided on Monday that I would have the husband hold her while I mounted and supervise. He’s no help whatsoever if there was a problem but I wanted supervision. I thought he could do it on Monday night and then my mom would be here on Wednesday to do it again. (She’s much more help.) But life intervened and I couldn’t do it either day. So by today (Friday) I was really psychologically ready.

So far so good. We’ll see how it goes.