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(Excerpt from a new book I am working on.....Thru the Years....A humorous look at growing up)
How many of you have gone horseback riding…
I have a funny story about…
My first experience of riding a horse…
Or should I say…
Another near-death experience…
We were in college and a couple of friends….
Started talking about going horseback riding…
Yo Hutch…
I hear it is going to be nice this weekend…
Why don’t we all take a ride to Yellow Springs…
There is a horse farm out there…
Should be fun…
Have you ever ridden a horse…
I can’t say I have…
It’s easy…
We’ll have a lot of fun…
OK…Count me in…
We get to the horse farm…
Around 11am on Saturday…
It had rained the night before…
The horses were out of the stable and…
All hanging out…
In a small fenced in ... muddy pasture…
We spoke to the person in charge…
The first question they asked was…
Has everyone here ridden a horse before…
I quickly put my hand up…
Sorry to say…I have never ridden a horse before…
They said…
That was nothing to worry about…
I am going to be with you…
We would all be riding thru a trail together
Around the area…
We'll be gone for about 1 hour...
I will be leading you…
So … we shouldn’t have anything to worry about…
After paying…
They said we should go to the fenced in pasture and
Pick out a horse…
The attendant called me over as I was walking away….
I believe you said your name is George…
You said you have never ridden a horse before...
You may want to take the one on the right…
He is very gentle and you won’t have any problems…
I walked thru the fence ... tiptoeing thru the mud and
went over to the appointed horse…
Meanwhile… all my friends picked a horse…
Jumped on and started walking toward the gate…
I got on the horse and…
It just stood there…
They are calling to me…
Hutch come on…
I said…
The horse won’t move…
They yelling to me….
All you got to do is take the reins and…
Click you heels and say gitty up…
I tried that…
It’s not moving…
The attendant said…
Why don’t you just get off the horse and
Walk it over to the gate…
Once he sees the other horses…
You should be fine…
I get off the horse…
Grab the reins and
Walk towards the gate with my new friend…
I finally get to everybody and they say…
OK …
Just get on and we are ready to go…
They slowly trot away and my horse starts follow them…
Ok … I think I got this now…
We go no more then 100 yards and suddenly…
The horse jumps and turns to its’ left and…
The next thing ….I find myself in a full gallop back towards the stable…
What the heck is going on…
They are yelling to me … pull back the reins…
To try and stop the horse….
I am pulling and it is going faster…
The stable is getting closer and closer…
How am I going to stop this horse…
I keep pulling back on the reins and I am yelling…
Pleaseeeee ...... stoppppppp…
The stable is getting real close now….
I am about 15-20 yards away…
Finally … I dove off the horse about 5 yards before the stable entrance…
People are running over to me…
Are you alright…
I am a bit dazed and say…
That freakin horse is crazy…
It was trying to kill me...
What was that…
I don’t know…
I never seen him do that before…
Here...let me get you another horse…
Ahhh….No ... Thank You...
You guys go ahead…
I think I am just gonna hang here…
While you are all gone…
I feel a bit shaken…
I thinks it is better to
Relax and
Count my blessing…
I can’t believe I had to dive off that horse…
I must add…
After I dove off the horse…
The horse entered the stable and abruptly stopped in front of its’ stall..
I guess diving off the horse was a good thing…
A sudden stop would have thrown me off the horse and
Who knows what I would have been thrown against…
Years later…
I did go horseback riding…
This time...
With no further incidences…
Everyday is a Gift...
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