How to NOT Pony Your Horse

Well it is official. Chimi will not be a future track pony. He will never pony the next Kentucky Derby winner to the start gate. Nope. Not at all. How do I know this you ask? Well I attempted to pony Marley today and it was...uh... eventful.

Me with my ponies

I have 4 horses living at my house. Normally just 1 or 2 are ridden at any given time but today was one of those rare days where 3 went out. My step daughter's friend came over after school before the basketball game tonight and it was such a gorgeous day that we decided to go on a nice little trail ride. I was on Chimi, Friend was on Arrow, and Becks on Finn, leaving poor Marley all alone in the pasture. In the mad rush trying to get on (and finding Arrow's tack!) I forgot to put her in her stall before we headed out. Marley did not appreciate this and as we headed down the driveway she started galloping around the front pasture trying to follow us. Knowing that us leaving would only make matters worse and with her already in a tizzy I couldn't just put her in her stall with hay to keep her calm. Unfortunately at this point the sun was starting to set and we only had about 40 minutes left of daylight. So I figured we could pony Marley along with us. If I had my pick of which horse to do the ponying it would of been Arrow but the friend is not a strong enough rider to control her horse and worry about leading another horse behind her. Chimi and I were the only logical choice and I thought we''ll guess we'll see if this works! Famous last thoughts. 

What? We're innocent!

HEHEHE

When it comes to leading my horses are pretty good. They're not perfect and I'm sure someone else could make them better, but my guys respect me when I tell them to go somewhere, especially Marley. I really thought there was a fair chance that this would be successful. I was able to get everyone in the right place to get on Chimi and once i was on, he and Marley just stood there like champs. Great! Step 1 accomplished. Now we just had to get moving. Marley was a little behind us and could't move forward unless we moved. So I asked Chimi to move forward and get out of the way. I'm not 100% sure what happened, but best guess is as Chimi started to walk forward the lead rope somehow touched his back/side and the next thing I know we're going straight up in the air Hi Ho Silver style. Oh Shit. 

The Lone Ranger

I quickly drop Marley's lead rope (knowing she would be fine-she's a mare after all!) and lean forward to grab Chimi's neck and anything else I could to use to stay on, all the while hoping to hell that Chimi wouldn't flip over backwards in his panic. As soon as he drops his front feet to the ground, he spins right, starts bucking and in that moment I had a fleeting thought about just letting myself fall off. That thought quickly passed because I did NOT was to hurt myself falling from a 17h beasty onto the cold, hard ground, plus I needed to take control of the situation and fast. Thankfully Chimi is somewhat sense-able and as he lands from his first buck I start trying to grab the reins (I'm still holding onto his neck) and am saying "easy Chimi, you're ok" and Chimi (being the good boy that he is) comes to a complete standstill. Thank friction god!!! I sit up, look around and thankfully all 4 horses are standing there and all riders still on their appropriate horse!

All of this probably happened in the time span of 2 seconds, but it's amazing how much can really happen in 2 seconds. The situation could of been a whole heck of a lot worse and I'm so grateful it wasn't. I've never really ridden a true rear, yes a pop up, but never a rear like this. Having only heard and read stories of how to ride through a rear I guess my brain clicked into gear and I knew what I needed to do. 

We did end up going on the trail ride. Instead of riding I just walked Chimi and Marley while Becks and Friend rode. I would of let them go on their own but since they're not 18 they can't go on a trail ride by themselves (trail rules) and we have spying neighbors that like to tattle when things aren't done correctly :/ But I got a nice walk in with my ponies, got my exercise in for the day since I skipped the gym this morning (I didn't so much skip it, my legs were protesting from surviving a Jillian Michaels!) 

Next time I'll remember to put Marley in her stall first!!!!