When You Fall Off, You Hafta Climb Back On

On Monday I fell off my horse. No, literally.
I've been riding for a little over a year (I had a break during the summer) and this is the first time I fell off. It was a surreal experience. I guess more than anything it was embarassing and disappointing. I wasn't embarassed because people saw me fall off. Most people get scared when they see someone fall off a horse. They don't laugh. But, I was embarassed for myself. I should have been able to avoid it, but I didn't. And, I was VERY disappointed. Disappointed because you work at something on a regular basis and you get to the point where you feel like you've become sufficiently knowledgable and then something like this happens. It shatters your beliefs and makes you feel like you're at point A again. I know mistakes happen even to the best of us. Hell, when I was riding in Maryland a seasoned rider there fell off her horse. She had years and years of experience and competed at shows. And a woman in my class fell off her horse twice in two weeks. This should make me feel better, but it doesn't really.

I guess I should just be happy that I managed to walk away without a scratch or bruise on my body. I should also be happy that I'm not the least bit scared to ride again.

Maybe it mostly has to do with my sadistic instructor, who drove a little girl rider to tears last month. She has a way of pointing out everything you do wrong to the point where you can't think straight because of it.

Anyways, now I'm just heartbroken that I'm not the expert I want to be. It's nearly impossible to be one when you only ride once a week, but who can afford more than that!

Anyways, this was a boring post. I just wanted to vent.