Yesterday, my fabulous horse Lila turned 10 years old! Alas, we “celebrated” by me falling off for the first time ever onto a very hard pressed gravel road. OUCH.

We were trotting along the road, going around a gentle curve when we encountered a deer. I saw it for a split second, then it leapt out of the brush. That’s when Lila saw it. The next thing I knew, I was half-way off, then hitting the very hard ground.

Basically, the movement of the deer frightened Lila, and she leapt sideways about 10 feet in fraction of a second. I was riding in a new saddle, and I just couldn’t hang on. (My trainer and I discovered that my regular saddle was pinching her, to the point of causing stifle problems.)

I was bruised and stiff and sore as I rose from the ground, but otherwise okay. Lila was good enough to just stand quietly, so that I could catch her and remount. Happily, I was fine to ride the rest of my ride. I worked out the stiffness and pain in my hips with lots of posting at the trot. The real pain began when I dismounted: my lower back and upper butt were not pleased. They’re still rather unhappy.

Despite that little mishap, I wouldn’t trade Lila for the world! She’s been a fabulous horse for me these past two and a half years: we’ve learned so much together… and we have so much to learn in future too!