Brett Goes Bumpity-Bump

...and lands on his rump.

Yep, this morning he came off of Mufasa.  I was at the other end of the property riding Lucy in the dressage court.  She was in a sassy, opinionated mood (due to being in heat, no doubt) so when she nailed short strides in canter, I praised her and called it a morning.

We were back at the tie rail, stripping off tack when Brett rode up on Mufasa from the front of the barn.

"How was Mufasa?" I asked.

"I came off."

I looked at Brett dubiously.  He looked fine, Mufasa looked fine... then he got off.  He was very stiff and his backside was covered in dirt.

They had been riding for about 20 minutes and their warm-up had gone well.  Brett and Mufasa were trotting down the long-side when Mufasa shot sideways.  Unfortunately, Brett didn't go sideways -- he went down to the ground.  He lay on the ground for a few minutes, testing out his limbs which didn't appear to be broken, before getting up.

Mufasa was standing in the corner of the arena looking at Brett warily.  As Brett approached, Mufasa tensed up -- expecting to be punished.  Instead, Brett spoke to Mufasa softly telling him that he hadn't done anything wrong.  He's a horse.  He's bound to spook.  It's part of the genetic make-up.  Mufasa didn't run out of the arena, try to kick Brett or do anything naughty.

Despite his bleeding arm and sore rear-end and elbow, Brett got back on.  They went back to work on the trot and then did a little bit of canter work.  Mufasa was good, no more spooks, and they called it a morning.

Brett's pretty sore; he's been taking ibuprofen every four hours.  Tomorrow will probably be worse.  The good news is that there are no broken bones.  Brett hit his head after he landed (rump, hip, back, then head) but he was wearing a helmet so his marbles are intact.

Always, always wear a helmet.