Horses... and Oh Shit I'm Going to DIE

Today my body is HATING me.  I am aware of muscles I didn't even know I had.  Everything hurts and yet all I keep thinking is, "It was so worth it!!!"  Yesterday the boys and I had a lovely day spent at WestWind's family farm.  WestWinds started teaching me basic caring for the horses... how to lead a horse properly, cleaning out the hooves, and how to tack-up a horse (put on the bridle and saddle, etc.).  I also got to do a bit of riding in the round pen on Leya.  Now this was only my second time up on a horse, so I have A LOT left to learn.
What we unfortunately didn't capture in a picture or even on video was from my first time up on Leya yesterday.  Getting a feel for riding, there is so much to remember and as a beginner, my body's natural tendency is to tense up especially when the horse starts to move faster... which ironically was also actually a cue to the horse making her think I wanted her to go faster..  as I tensed up, I also made the mistake of pulling my knees up too much so as Leya went into a trot or maybe even as fast as a canter, I bounced right out of the saddle... Yes, I FELL OFF THE HORSE.  As I felt myself falling to the left of her, I tried to stop the fall by grabbing the right side of the saddle...  I didn't manage to stop the fall, but did somehow manage to get my finger caught in the saddle... and as my body was falling to the left and my hand was caught on the far right, all I remember thinking was "OH SHIT!!!!!!"  Yeah, you know one of those "Oh Shit" moments where you start to see your life pass before your eyes!  Ironically I actually ended up landing on my feet, but every muscle in my body got wrenched, and luckily Leya is a calm horse because if she had bolted while my hand was still caught in the saddle, my elbow probably would have snapped!  I am proud to say that I got back up to ride her again TWICE after I fell.  I am sore and bruised, but I also feel great.  Now I will have to forever endure the good-natured teasing from my friends because Leya is such a good-natured horse it's apparently quite the feat to have managed to fall off of her.

On another note, I also made another equine friend yesterday too.  I fell in love with this big boy!