From the Corner of the Circle L: It is All about the "Getting Back On"

My mom and I shared a lot of the same interests. One of the interests was horses. She loved horses and I love horses. I grew up riding bareback. I would ride over to my grandparent’s house, which was about 3 miles away, help my grandma and then ride back. I don’t really remember ever having any real major incidents happening, I would see a rattler once in a while but they did not stop me. I would walk out to the horses, sometimes miles away, and climb on. Those were the days that I had thighs of steel. I would ride for miles and miles.

When we had serious work to do, I would saddle my horse. More than once I was the dummy for a new horse that Mom would buy. “Mom, is this horse supposed to be gentle?” “Yep, that’s what they said!!” More than once I found myself in the dirt and mom saying, “Get Back On, let’s try it again.”

Mom always liked the horses that had a little bit of spirit. And once in a great while, Mom would let one of them show her how hard the ground was. But Mom never let that stop her from “Getting back On” and showing that horse who was boss. I can remember Mom getting bucked off, with blood running down her face, she looked at me and said, “Go get that horse! I am Getting Back On!”

So last fall I had a “Get Back On” experience that I would like to share with you. We were helping a neighbor round up his cattle from summer pasture; it was a cold, foggy day. You could not see very well and the pasture had some deep valleys in it. We were doing fine until we got our directions messed up and headed the cows into a corner. We split off into pairs so we could bring them around to the corral. For some reason, I don’t know why, my horse started bucking. I ended up on my head. “Get Back On” was all that I wanted to do. Cody would not let me get back on my horse but switched me for his horse. We made it to the corral, with all the cows. I had a headache. We ended up going to the ER. I had a concussion. I never realized how bad a concussion could be. But I am still having issues with my head.

My horse has been turned out since then for the most part. Cody, I and friends have had a lot of talks about what to do with my horse. Can we trust him? Will he buck again? Was it something that I did? Last spring I pulled hundreds of calves to the branding fire, roped cows on him, I let the kids ride him, competed in a women’s ranch rodeo with him and my list goes on. Well the other day I made up my mind that I was just going to “Get Back On.”

“Getting Back On,” is a lesson for me not only in my horseback riding but also in my everyday living. When I think of all life's problems, problems that come and go, if I could only remember that it is more important to see the small things in life. The things that make you smile and things that make you have a good spirit. I just dust myself off a little, and remember “Get Back On!”