The Giant Leap
The ground is coming at me a lot faster than I had originally planned. Get away from his feet! Curl up in a ball and get your arms next to your body. Shit be faster, get away from his feet, you’re still too close. Those were the thoughts that were running through my head when Timer launched me into the air.
Laying there I know I landed head, shoulder, and then hip, but there was nothing I could do about how I had landed when I was flying through the air. I regrouped my thoughts trying to remember what had happened and making sure nothing was broken. I could move my fingers and my toes but my head hurt pretty bad and I was dizzy. I could hear them running toward me; they were worried, I could tell. Whenever I used to fall off I would give my mom some kind of signal saying I was alright but I wasn’t going to move until I knew I was in one piece.
Timer was at the other end of the arena scared that he had done something wrong, really it wasn’t his fault he was just mad at himself for hitting the fence so he leaped into the air. I got to talk to the judge after the show and she was amazed that I was walking around she said, “I had looked down at my paper to put a “K” on the sheet for the knock on the rail but when I looked up you were still in the air and your horse was across the arena.” “Wow,” I thought, “I can’t believe I’m not more hurt than I am.” I am pretty sure I have at least a minor concussion, I don’t remember the accident really at all, I just know what happened from what people tell me. I’m worried about getting back on to Timer I know he won’t try to hurt me but we are both nervous about it and we start out slowly just walking around making sure I won’t get dizzy when I am on him.
It’s not hard to stay on him. I know that’s the only way I am going to be able to trust him again, and the longer I am working him the more comfortable I get. My mom is still worried about me. She knows I’m really good at hiding what I am truly feeling and I was a lot dizzier than I was letting on. The EMT checked me out a couple of times and said my pupils were dilated but I should be just fine. I showed in the flat class and felt just fine, a little dizzy here and there but other than that I was good.
After the accident I was really worried about doing anything with Timer that might make him leap into the air again. I didn’t trust him at all and for me that is a big issue. With how big I jump its extremely important for me to trust the horse I am riding, if I don’t trust them I am not as bold as I need to be. As my mom worked on my trust with Timer, I had to ride all the other horses I am in charge of too. The more horses I was able to get on, the less stressed I was when I got back on Timer. After a couple of months I trusted him like nothing had happened. We were jumping around courses at home and doing everything we needed to do perfectly. Even though we were good at home, showing at horse shows was a whole different story. The old memories of him launching into the air came back and I froze up, I wasn’t riding like I should have been. It was like I was riding that same ride every time I went to go jump a fence and I was just second guessing everything I asked him to do. I felt bad but I couldn’t get the fall out of my mind and I wasn’t letting the horse do his job. It took a lot of work for me to just be able to chill out and let the horse do his job. I would get worried and start picking on him, he would get frustrated and start throwing a fit and I would remember I had to relax. After more practice I was able to relax and know that he wasn’t going to leap into the air again. When we first got Timer he didnt trust his riders he would just get violent when he was frusturated. Now six months after the fall we have true trust in eachother now.
The ground is coming at me a lot faster than I had originally planned. Get away from his feet! Curl up in a ball and get your arms next to your body. Shit be faster, get away from his feet, you’re still too close. Those were the thoughts that were running through my head when Timer launched me into the air.
Laying there I know I landed head, shoulder, and then hip, but there was nothing I could do about how I had landed when I was flying through the air. I regrouped my thoughts trying to remember what had happened and making sure nothing was broken. I could move my fingers and my toes but my head hurt pretty bad and I was dizzy. I could hear them running toward me; they were worried, I could tell. Whenever I used to fall off I would give my mom some kind of signal saying I was alright but I wasn’t going to move until I knew I was in one piece.
Timer was at the other end of the arena scared that he had done something wrong, really it wasn’t his fault he was just mad at himself for hitting the fence so he leaped into the air. I got to talk to the judge after the show and she was amazed that I was walking around she said, “I had looked down at my paper to put a “K” on the sheet for the knock on the rail but when I looked up you were still in the air and your horse was across the arena.” “Wow,” I thought, “I can’t believe I’m not more hurt than I am.” I am pretty sure I have at least a minor concussion, I don’t remember the accident really at all, I just know what happened from what people tell me. I’m worried about getting back on to Timer I know he won’t try to hurt me but we are both nervous about it and we start out slowly just walking around making sure I won’t get dizzy when I am on him.
It’s not hard to stay on him. I know that’s the only way I am going to be able to trust him again, and the longer I am working him the more comfortable I get. My mom is still worried about me. She knows I’m really good at hiding what I am truly feeling and I was a lot dizzier than I was letting on. The EMT checked me out a couple of times and said my pupils were dilated but I should be just fine. I showed in the flat class and felt just fine, a little dizzy here and there but other than that I was good.
After the accident I was really worried about doing anything with Timer that might make him leap into the air again. I didn’t trust him at all and for me that is a big issue. With how big I jump its extremely important for me to trust the horse I am riding, if I don’t trust them I am not as bold as I need to be. As my mom worked on my trust with Timer, I had to ride all the other horses I am in charge of too. The more horses I was able to get on, the less stressed I was when I got back on Timer. After a couple of months I trusted him like nothing had happened. We were jumping around courses at home and doing everything we needed to do perfectly. Even though we were good at home, showing at horse shows was a whole different story. The old memories of him launching into the air came back and I froze up, I wasn’t riding like I should have been. It was like I was riding that same ride every time I went to go jump a fence and I was just second guessing everything I asked him to do. I felt bad but I couldn’t get the fall out of my mind and I wasn’t letting the horse do his job. It took a lot of work for me to just be able to chill out and let the horse do his job. I would get worried and start picking on him, he would get frustrated and start throwing a fit and I would remember I had to relax. After more practice I was able to relax and know that he wasn’t going to leap into the air again. When we first got Timer he didnt trust his riders he would just get violent when he was frusturated. Now six months after the fall we have true trust in eachother now.
wow! way to pull in your reader! I was very interested in your memoir from the beginning because of the flash of memory that you began with. Good job:)
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