Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Helmets and fear

I've always been pretty fearless, used to go tearing around bareback with my 
best friend in high school, etc.  My horse can be rather like a rabid animal 
on a bad acid trip for the first few miles at the start of a ride if I let 
him blast off with the front runners (did that once, NEVER again <G>), 
although he's gotten a lot better about listening to me in the last 4-6 
months.  After my bad fall in April when he fell and I landed on my head, 
shattering my helmet and breaking my eye socket, I didn't think I had any 
residual fear.  I did another ride 2 weeks later, and found that I was 
petrified to mount my horse.  He acts up sometimes when I first mount at 
rides, and all I could think of was that he was going to do something stupid 
and I was going to fall and hit my still-swollen face.  I must have stood 
there trying to get up the courage to mount for 10 minutes.  Even asked 
another rider to wait nearby in hopes that my horse would behave.  When I 
finally mounted, he was just stood there.  I was fine once I was on.  He did 
trip over a root about 2 miles into the ride and my heart lurched, but that 
was about the extent of the residual fear...I was surprised.  I thought I'd 
be worrying about him falling all day.

Dawn in Texas

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