Falling 

by Paula Gehl

It was a nice day today. Sunny, but not too hot..a few deer flies,

but nothing bad. Kodiak and I decided to go for a ride...and we

decided maybe Maggie the old dog could come along too since it was

going to be a short one, shady and had water to cool off an old dog's

belly. We started off fast like a turtle...Kodiak's favorite speed

accompanied by a lot of horse grunting at the beginning.....something

I am told he has always done. He is a sweet older gentleman and tends

to be a bit pokey. And grunty. I love him.

Maggie my old dog, my first dog as an adult...was tired and hot

right away. I spent quite a bit of the ride turning around in my

saddle to see how Maggie was doing. It was evident that she was not

up to the ride and as I looked at her for the last time before

turning for home, Kodiak, Mr. Pokey Man....spooked at a leaf or a bug

or a blade of grass...not sure what. Since I was already off balance

to look at my old, tired dog...I was pretty easy to un-seat. Which

is what happened....I gracefully, without a fight..fell off my horse

onto a beautiful, soft, grassy area. I haven't fallen off in a long

time and it was surprising how well the whole thing went! (not

having ridden for a while has a lot to do with not falling off in a long time) I

gracefully let gravity take over and landed on my soft, mossy bed.

Kodiak who felt kinda lame on the way out at the trot, now trotted

soundly, beautifully, off into the afternoon light. I did call

his name...you never know, maybe he would come back right? Well, as

you can guess, he didn't run back to mama this time. So the old dog

and the pride wounded, old feeling, out of shape rider began her own

trot of shame to find the brown horse named Kodiak. I could actually

hear his hooves as he joyfully and soundly trotted his way back to

the house. The fun part of this would be for my inlaws to see him

go zooming by without me on his back...that would surely create some

sort of alarm wouldnt it? Maybe they would even call 911......

So, with this 911 vision in my head, I quickened my pace...leaving my

old dog once again in my haste to find the" runaway, outlaw horse" that

I rode out on.

A few minutes later I found him...head down eating grass. He

picked up his head when I got there, grass hanging out of his mouth

and looked at me as if to say....Hey, there you are. Where have you

been? I have been waiting here forever!

I walked up to this wild horse...checked his girth...climbed back on

and had a nice slow walk back home. We even let the old dog lay down

in the mucky, yucky swamp to cool off.

Maggie is as of today, officially and sadly retired as a trail dog.

I am not going to tell her.