May 30, 2005

I almost died Sunday morning,

I almost died Sunday morning, seriously. What started out as a pleasant family activity went horribly wrong. It's not that I'm incredibly inexperienced on a saddle, it's just that some horses should not have riders, period.

Our trip to Estes and Rocky Mtn. Nat'l Park was not the greatest. The weather was wet and cold, and many of our activities had to be altered. Yesterday morning we decided that we would try and sneak in a horseback ride through the Park before the weather went sour. From the moment I mounted that horse it was a battle. He did not like following other horses, he wanted to go his own way, and fought me the entire time. We were passing another group and all the other horses and riders were just too much for him to handle. He started backing up down a cliff, bumping into trees and raring up. I was able to hang on for quite a while, but he stumbled to his side and I fell off, HARD. Seeing that my feet were not caught in the stir-ups, I let go of the reins. I quickly stood up and got behind some trees. I'm bruised up pretty bad, but nothing serious. The only victim was a great pair of jeans, they were ripped straight up the inside. DAMMIT! I really liked those jeans!

I always prefer to look at events such as this as a blessing though. I am grateful that it was my horse and not the horses my children were on. (Yea, like they'd put my kids on the spawn of Satan. They all got old horses, like between 18 to 27 years old, mine was 7!) Anyway, I digress. I was not suppose to be on that horse, they changed my horse out at the last minute. They felt that the mother of the family behind us would be better off with my original horse. Perhaps something worse would have happened if she ended up with that horse. She, and her husband, and her children did not know how to act around horses. They were all loud and did not know that you cannot make sudden movements when you are around horses. Was I willing to take a few bruises to keep someone out of danger? You bet! It's always nice to know that God places optimism in me when it's needed most.

And today? We chose to go hiking, in the rain and lightening! Stupid, stupid, stupid. We know better. Lightening in Colorado is not to be taken lightly but we were determined to squeeze a hike in. So, in ending, God REALLY watched over us this weekend. Thanks God, my family and I appreciate it. :)

p.s. I'll post pictures later on.

Posted by Stacy at May 30, 2005 06:53 PM | TrackBack
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