Riding

A few times this summer the kids and I have gone down to Les Bois race track and ridden around on a friend's horse, RB. I just throw on a saddle pad that is a neoprene on one side, that makes it stick to the horses back. Both of the kids love to ride.Two Saturday's ago was the first time I had allowed Azrielle on a horse, she giggled and talked the whole time. I took her on a longer ride this past week, she had a lot of fun.

Avery really likes to wear hats while we go riding, sometimes it is his cowboy hat that he got for his birthday. Two weeks ago he found one of my hats that I had picked up in Australia and decided that was the hat for the day.
I have not been on horses much in the last three years and so it is not so easy for me to jump up on a horse.  I have been having someone give me a leg up, and then Avery gets handed up to me. Well as we were trotting down the lane to the paddock area(where they saddle the horses before the race), the loose hat on his head bounced right off. We stopped and I looked down at the hat on the ground and thought of my options. I could leave it and stay on RB, I could jump off and try and get back on down at the paddock area. I chose to get my hat, which thereafter went on my head.
When we got to the paddock I decided to try and jump back on from a bench that was cemented into a pad. The cement pad was set up about 6 inches high, so it had nice corner. RB does not like to step onto a surface that is different than the one he is standing on, so I could not get him very close to the bench. Now you would think it wise to get Avery off, get on again, and then get him on. I did not think of that at the time, I tried to jump on with him still sitting on RB. Did I happen to mention the bench was situated under a pine tree, so there was not a lot of clearance overhead? I had to be careful not to jump too hard and push Avery off the other side. I jumped and I got my leg over RB's back, but not far enough. I started to slip, I then tried to push off so that Avery did not come off too, but he started to come off with me. I grabbed him on the way down, so that I could protect him as best I could. He landed on top of me, and what did I land on? The nice corner of the cement, right square on the left bottom cheek.
I was glad that RB did not run off, he side stepped two steps and looked down at us like, "What are you doing down there?" I then did what I should have done in the first place and hopped on first and then grabbed Avery off the bench next. It worked much better that way. I was very proud of him, he got right back on and was not scared.
We then went down and I let him ride all by himself in the test barn area. He had such a blast.