The Best weekend EVER!

It must have been fate. Sami didn't have a games scheduled for Saturday, and somehow Jimi's got canceled. That meant I got to go with Jim to the youth Pioneer trek.

We take our 4wheel drive diesel expedition pulling the 2 horses straight up to the high country. The drive was super easy and beautiful. By the time we got there I was so relaxed. That night we stumbled upon a corral to keep the horses, it already had fresh water and plenty of room to run. Later the mountain night air was a little cool but we were warm and cozy sleeping in the spa up the hill. The next morning we had breakfast and headed out to saddle up the horses. We get this easily and quickly done. We hop on the horses, mine seemed a little upset. He did buck but I stayed on and handled it just fine. I did hop off once. Like Lane Frost used to, I just jumped up and landed on my feet. Jim and I spent the whole day riding up and down the trail with the horses, so close we could hold hands. We even stopped and took a little rest on a hillside full of wild flowers. It was truly amazing! Thank you for a perfect weekend Jim. I had an amazing time.


That's how I am trying to make it in my head. Now what really happened. I DID NOT want to go on this stupid thing. Jim really wanted to go so after our game got canceled he kinda roped me into going with him. I was rushed getting ready but we got out of here on time. Our expedition is not 4wheel drive, nor a diesel, nor does it have trailer breaks. Still we head straight up the side of the valley wall. After driving a few hours we realize they didn't mark the spot correctly and we had traveled about an hour out of our way. We start up another HUGE hill to get to camp. Everyone stopped on the road at a blind corner. We had to stop but the trailer kept pulling us down the hill. I was FREAKING out. Then we get off pavement. I'll just say this. I would have bet my life we wouldn't have made it up there in one piece, and if we did, surely not home too. Happily I was wrong. Once there we had to find the corrals to keep the horses in. They had no water. So we packed at least 20 gallons of water up a hill from a small creek. Back at the pioneer camp they had a really cool presentation, except it would have been MUCH better if I wasn't on the verge of hypothermia. We headed to bed, which was in back of our car. On a thin mattress, and on a hill. The temperature got down into the 20's. I would gripe more but all the kids slept outside or in tents. We get up and head to saddle up. That all went fine. Then I get on. Then my horse starts to buck. Not a small 10 second buck. I full fledged buck, kick, spin, run. that lasted at least a minute and a half. I was doing pretty good, but soon realized he wasn't going to stop so I started making a plan on how I was going to get off this crazy horse. I had already been on 30-40 seconds. (Jim said, I'm not making that up)1. don't go off the left side because it will blow out your shoulder. 2. when I go off the right side, tuck and roll. At that point he spun and I just didn't get my balance as quick as I would have liked and came off. I did tuck and I did roll. I caught the back of my left leg on the saddle horn and have some gnarly bruises to show for it. Next the horse continues bucking after I was thrown. He heads straight for a group of kids with their handcart, luckily not hitting them he came within a foot of my car, turned, jumped over a 5 foot metal post sticking out. Kept bucking hit the road and took off in a full sprint. To top it off this all happened in front of about 50 people. (my pride hurts worse than my bruises) Jim chased my horse down and since we were still responsible for walking the trail and helping out, he went. I sat in the car for 4 hours thinking "I NEVER even wanted to come!" We load up fairly quickly so we could attempt getting down the mountains slowly and easily. Again I was freaked out the whole way. Jim did a great job and really there were no worries. News traveled fast so by the next morning at church everyone knew. Just to make the point "I'm not thanking you Jim"



This is how I fell off. EXCEPT I tucked and rolled. This guy will have one heck of a headache.