OK, so I'll admit that I only signed up for an account so I can post comments to the Fugly Horse of the Day blog (http://fuglyhorseoftheday.blogspot.com/ - best blog EVER). But while I'm at it, I figure I can jot a few thoughts down for posterity.
My current pet peeve - riding safety. Now that I am a little older and no longer bounce when I fall of a 15-something hand horse, I have become somewhat obsessed with riding safety. My riding consists mostly of hacking around the stable where I board my boys, yet I do not set foot in the saddle without an ASTM/SEI approved helmet. I've worked in an ICU. I have seen head injuries. I'd like to keep control of my bowel and bladder, thank you very much. I was discussing this with my Vet yesterday as he floated my horses' teeth, and I told him basically never again will I sit on a horse witout a helmet. He laughed and said it happens to everyone in the medical field for about a year, then you get over it and go back to the way you were. Uh, no, I think I'd still like to have use of my limbs in a year. We'll see if his prediction comes true.
For some reason I've also become obsessed with the thought of my foot getting hung up in the stirrup and being drug behind, or worse, under the horse. The thought haunts me. I have never been drug, or even come close after owning horses for 20 years, but I cannot shake the thought from my head. So, today I ordered Escape Breakaway Stirrups from Valley Vet. Maybe this will ease my troubled mind!
It kills me to see people doing all sorts of craziness on horseback without a helmet. Jumping, trail riding, bareback, breaking colts. I know, it's your skull and your perogative to risk having it split open, but I am the unlucky nurse that might have to wipe your @$$ because you no longer have the mental capacity to do so yourself. What pisses me off the most is KIDS riding without helmets. Would you put your baby in the car without a carseat? If not, please put a helmet on the child. OK, rant over. Officially stepping off the soapbox for today.
