The worst wreck I remember didn't happen to me, but to my little brother. We were riding out the rodeo grounds to practice with my horse, Dark, for the run-in for the rodeo opening ceremonies I was participating in that summer. I was 16 at the time.
My little brother was riding Blue who spooked and bucked constantly. It was windy and the rodeo grounds were a few miles out of Buena Vista on a country road. My brother untied his jacket from behind the saddle not thinking at all about Blue's reaction to that flapping jacket in the wind! He landed in the only large Prickly Pear patch in the area flat on his back.
I had a split second decision to make: get my brother out of the cactus or chase after Blue who running all out for the pavement toward a busy highway.
Dark, bless his heart, made the decision for me. He went after Blue with everything he had to give. We were running neck and neck with Blue down that pavement for about two miles. I almost had Blue's reins in hand when we neared the curve approaching the highway. I had to rein in Dark and slow down before he lost his footing and both horses wrecked with the traffic. Dark had bad knees and, at the time, he was about 25 years old.
When I quit chasing Blue, he slowed and ran into a lady's front yard, somehow by a miracle, managing to avoid getting himself hit when he darted across the highway. The lady helped me corner him in her yard.
I held Blue's reins while I rode back for my brother who was walking a little bit painfully with a back and his hiney full of cactus stickers. He never spooked Blue without thinking again. Except for the cactus, we all escaped serious injury that day. My brother had a long painful ride home for about 10 miles though.
My brother had to bare his backside while my mom tweezed out each sticker with a magnifying glass. If I remember right, it took a couple of hours and he had to soak in baking soda afterwards to make sure they were all out. He was thirteen at the time and not very happy about it, but he did know better than to flap things around Blue.
We never wore helmets, didn't know they existed at the time. This was in 1979 and I just saddled Dark and rode him all over. I never had trouble with Dark like I did Blue. I was bucked off of him several times as well, my brother was the one who managed to handle him decently well. Dark was my knight in shining armor on four hooves and my best friend.
by Shellie Kirby
A Horse Lover
