I Forgot

Sometimes you do something different by mistake. Yesterday was such a day. I got up to the barn at our now normal time, 9:30. I got Petunia out of her stall and started to walk her by her friend, Boss. She had been knickering and I hadn't given it much of a thought until I realized that she was "in season". For horses, "in season" means "in heat". She stood in the aisle with her hind legs spread and her tail up. What happened next was an anatomy lesson. I quickly turned her around, admonished her for being a slut, and dragged her away from her boyfriend.

I groomed her and gave her a little massage to get her mind off of her missed opportunity, saddled her up and hopped on. Dale grabbed her steed Rado (short for Colorado) and we meandered off down the trail.

Being a warm July day, we met up with plenty of hikers, joggers and mountain bikers. At one point we met up with a pair of mountain bikers as we were ready to head down a path together. I tried to let them go ahead, but couldn't get Petunia parallel to the path. We told the bikers we'd go ahead and cantered on up the hill, leaving them in a bit of dust, but with enough space that we wouldn't have to meet up with them again.

At the end of our ride we crossed paths with our friend Joan, suited up for a ride with her helmet and riding pants. That's when it hit me. I didn't have my helmet on. In the 5 years I've been riding I've never ridden without my helmet. I turned to Dale and said, "you tried to kill me! I forgot my helmet." Dale just giggled and said, "you were just like a cowgirl. you cantered and everything without your helmet."

I have to admit, had she told me I was riding without my helmet somewhere on the trail, I would have freaked out. So--would I do it again? Not on purpose. Did I like it? Honestly, I couldn't tell the difference, except that it was a hot day, and perhaps I felt a little cooler.