When I headed off to become the oldest working student in history, I had some concerns about just how this might end.

One of my fears was that I would fall off my horse right away and get broken enough that I would have to pack back up and go home. It’s hard to be a working student on crutches……………..

Horses are dangerous and unpredictable. People get hurt all the time, and I had a few nightmares about how this adventure might come to an abrupt end.

We were planning my week with Baby Seabiscuit and decided if all was well after our dressage days, jump day & trot day, that we’d have a “play day”.

A play day would be a fun day to trot & canter around the cross country area, go through the water, maybe canter some poles on the ground.

Sounds fun right?

I KNEW this was a bad idea.

Baby Seabiscuit finds horse eating monsters EVERYWHERE & the more ground we cover during a ride the higher the likelihood of a Bad Eventer moment.

The week went well. Baby Seabiscuit was a rock star. We “earned” our playday.

I was just warming up and started trotting around the edge of the main jump field when I found myself sliding across the grass.

The nice thing about the little knucklehead is he never runs away, he looks at me with those big eyes and says,

“Mom I SAVED our lives!!!!!!

Wait, why are you down there?”

I was not exactly thrilled that I fell off him………..again.

But I was glad that my fears didn’t become reality. I was uninjured and got back on, making a mental note that “Playdays” absolutely require neck straps.

There was a time in my riding career when I could tell you every fall I’d ever had.

Those days are long gone, and I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve come off Baby Seabiscuit.

That’s when it dawned on me that now that we are in a different time zone, I think the Fall Count should start over!

That means I’ve only fallen off him this one time!

Baby Seabiscuit 1     Bad Eventer 0