Late yesterday afternoon, I went out to the barn to saddle Midnight. He was in a cantankerous mood and immediately began telling me all the reasons why I should saddle BP. Well as usual, I listened to the ole fart. BP is a very sweet girl and was more than willing to take me for a ride. And what a ride she did take me on. The first fifty minutes or so was uneventful. We did see some of God’s beautiful creations. Several hawks, one bald eagle, and a croaker sack full of deer. I decided that we would cross over New York Road to another set of fields and woods. BP was in a running walk as we were styling down Milledge Road. About halfway down a pack of dogs ran out from under an old falling down farm house. Suddenly BP thought she was a champion bucking horse at the national rodeo finals. Let me just tell you, it is a sudden and immediate shock to go from a rocking chair smooth running walk to a bucking frenzy without warning. My first thought was to pull up my big boy pants and ride her into the ground. I must admit I looked good the first few seconds which seemed to be just short of an hour. She was bucking and spinning to the left. I kept waiting for the 10 second horn to blow and the pickup riders to appear. Suddenly she stopped in the middle of the third left spin and reversed to the right. Instantaneously I knew this is going to hurt really badly. I realized I was performing my first summersault in the better part of thirty years when my head briefly rested on the saddle. Let me assure you the summersault did not hurt but that saddle jumping up to meet my head was most unpleasant. Then I saw the surface of the dirt road coming to meet me. By the time we met I had completed ¾ of the summersault. My butt and left elbow were the first body parts to greet the hard packed surface of the dirt road. I lay on the ground for some time trying to determine if I was dead, hurt or lucky. BP looked down at the wreck for a few minutes before the dogs scared her away. She ran about two hundred yards into a field. Eventually I was able to sit up in the road to rest and collect my thoughts. When I saw buzzards circling I got to my feet and walked to where BP was patiently waiting. I climbed back upon her and we slowly walked to the barn. Midnight saw all the mud on my cloths and smirked. Then he quietly said “looks like we had an exciting ride.” I went to get my shotgun so I could put him out of his misery, but opted for two Darvocet and a tub of hot Epson Salt water. Lucky for him I could only walk to the bed once I got out of the tub.
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 15:43:32 +0000