Sometimes the most terrifying things are also the most amusing at least in retrospect. Things happen on the farm and when you throw horses into the mix they can be cause for alarm and laughter all at once. The girls tell with great glee the story of their attempt at jousting. They can’t get all the way through without having to compose themselves from fits of laughter that make their words unintelligible. It starts with the inevitable words wouldn’t it be fun to … In this case, wouldn’t it be fun to joust like the knights in whatever movie they had recently watched?
So, as I understand it (mom’s are generally not included in these activities) they each got a pitchfork or long stick or pole saddled up their respective mounts and headed off to the upper field. The upper field gave them a great long expanse to gallop towards each other. I’m sure they were expecting thundering hooves but when one is riding a 14.2-hand Arabian bred mule whose hand gallop is a modified lope and the other is riding a 16-hand palomino quarter horse without a work ethic I suspect there was no deafening sound. At any rate, not one I heard in the house. Both these horse and rider pairs were experienced drill team members and no problems were anticipated. It would just be like tread the needle but with props. Isn’t that the way most problem situations arise? We think we have the skills to step it up a notch and don’t think about whether or not our equine partners are on the same plan. I’m not sure they ever turn to each other while grazing and say “wouldn’t it be fun if?” This failing to check with my mount has landed me in the dirt more than once.
So, javelins in hand, mounts at the ready and lots of pasture between them, they were off. I imagine it was a bit like the man who jumps off a 30 story building and is heard saying “so far so good” as he passes each floor. With the ground being eaten up between them, all was going well for at least the first 300 feet. At the last moment, things always turn to crap at the last moment; the mule (remember the mule from a earlier post – the one with highly honed survival instincts) decides this is not a good plan. But, instead of jumping to the side or spinning or stopping, he turns directly into the path of the oncoming steed. What followed was a T Bone accident involving horses instead of cars.
The only time I T Boned someone was in my Camry and the SUV that had pulled out in front of me rolled over completely before coming to a stop 50 feet further down the road without any glass in it’s windows – I was able to watch the roll over is slow motion as my car spun around a full 360 degrees. Apparently, horses and mules are more stable because again to the best of my knowledge they did not fall down. They just collided – the mule flipping his nose as he does when he is not please, not pleased at all and the quarter horse stunned and confused – this was not an unusual state for Skippy. I’m not exactly sure what happened to the girls, the laughter takes over here. I think that is what happened that day, one girl stayed on because her leg was pinned between the two equines and the other was thrown onto the neck of her mount but the laughter that exploded after the split second it took to know that everyone was alright collapsed them into a pile of giggling jello – neither one was impaled on a javelin.
So there it is, a prime example of could have been bad; definitely was funny; always will be remembered. Life gives us enough of those to really appreciate being alive. My personal one involves a Spanish Barb, long lines and two-horse trailer – but that as they say is a story for another day. All I know is that it makes me glad to be alive and sharpens my senses.
manurepilemusings 