MALIBU RIDE AND TRAIL INCIDENT

[Rides 2 Far <rides2far@juno.com>]

>>Both kids were complaining their legs hurt and they 
> wanted> to walk, but this lady didn't listen.We headed off, walking,
and heard the lady > remark> that now my daughter was in front for first
junior in (we hadn't 
> even worried about this).  

Well, I had a not so similar experience at Kentucky Horse Park
recently....and I'm glad!  We were traveling along and suddenly Josie
complained that her knee really hurt.  We slowed down and walked, and I
tried to lengthen her stirrup to see if that would help.  It didn't.  We
cantered a little which helped, but then she said it *really* hurt and we
stopped in the shade and I had her get off to stretch.  Coming along
behind us across a field was Roxanne Ciccone (sp?) and her junior rider. 
Josie knew that was a junior and it pained her to see them catching us. 
They rode up and stopped and asked if everything was O.K.  I said, yeah,
she was just having some bad knee pain and we were stopping awhile.  They
didn't seem the least bit interested in taking advantage of this. They
stayed with us awhile and when I said, "You don't have to wait, we're
O.K." They still sort of waited around.  They did end up passing us and
finishing ahead but you could tell it gave them no joy to see the
competition having problems, and to tell the truth, it doesn't hurt to
get passed by people you like. :-)

On the pain thing...I'm learning.  A canter seems to cure most ills, and
nothing hurts on the last loop. >g<  One hard thing about being a junior,
you sometimes have to ride at a speed that isn't optimal for your
particular horse and it can throw your pace off, which makes you have to
post different, which makes different things hurt.  She was pacing with a
strange horse and I should have shortened the stirrups instead of
lengthening them.

Angie
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