What Could Go Wrong?

 her back. I knew that if someone had been there to hold her, I would have done just that

So a few days later I had a student stay after a lesson to help me with Fire on the ground. I really had zero intention of actually getting on her, but thought I would do more work at the mounting block. After a lunge and with a trusty helper, I put my foot in the stirrup and lay across her back. She barely moved a muscle and with some prompting from my student (can we talk about role reversal?) I put my other leg over. And the world didn’t end. Nothing bad happened. In fact, Fire stood there like a total rock star and was more concerned about the treats on the menu than the person on her back. I got on and off a few more times and even took a few steps, albeit mostly backwards.

Once I was off and still alive and in one piece, I was ecstatic. It’s pretty rewarding when you get to do something you just spent half a year convincing yourself you couldn’t. I spent so much time focusing on what could go wrong that I forgot to focus on what could go right – being the first person to sit on my own horse and a successful first ride with many more to come.