Too Fat To Fly

So yesterday my very good friend Fit and Athletic Cowgirl came to help ride horses. Mini Chaos stayed home to help out and put some time in on horses. The horses were caught tidied up and saddled.

MC started out on Lily, a lovely draft cross mare who hasn't had a lot of riding experience and has been showing that she doesn't really understand what is being asked of her. MC had a bit of a wreck. She wasn't hurt thank goodness except a few bruises.

MC and FAC both took turns riding Dove. I was encouraged so I decided to take a ride.

The horses I have so far acquired are tall, much taller than I am used to. I haven't ridden much this year.
I am not nearly as flexible as I once was and I was completely unable to reach my stirrup. MC tried three different methods to help me up onto the giant tree of a mare. On the third try I finally managed to get my upper torso across the saddle as the rest of my body dangled helplessly. I grunted and groaned and stuggled and squirmed until I got the very tip of my toe into the stirrup. The stirrup flapped around as I tried to get leverage to push myself higher. Dove looked at me with obvious shock, what exactly was wrong with me?!?

Finally I lurched my quivering body atop the mare and I looked down , big mistake. The ground was so far away ... my stomach flipped as I envisioned the sound of my bones crunching as I hit the ground from the sky scraper sized mare. Suddenly I didn't feel good. but I couldn't just bail off the saddle at risk of being shown up by my younger nimbler counterparts.... I stayed atop the behemoth for a few minutes and walked her around a bit for show, then I eagerly dismounted and untacked.

Getting old is hard. Sigh.