Holding my breath ride

Today's ride was pretty slow.  We -Jim and I- went out with Dottie and Georgie.  So all of my horses were out and Georgie was on Boomer.  Boomer was doing fine at first then got a little pushy, not listening to slow down cues-but turned into a jerk 1/2 of the way thru and really did a bad thing when we were the farthest from home.  But it all turned out okay.
Here is a picture of one of the ridges we were on before Boomers rear.

So at the bottom of the ridge Boomer crow hopped, Georgie disciplined, Boomer reared on a 45 degree hillside with his hindquarters higher than his head.  (Horses never cease to amaze me with their athletic abilities)  Anyway Georgie stayed on.  Kept her body perpendicular to the ground as the horse was up but when he came down, she forgot to change her position and was on his neck and almost off to the side.  At least he stopped while she slowly figured out how to get off the horse.  As it happened we all held our breath and prayed.  She walked for a while, got on, but the horse was still a jerk and would not pay attention to her slow down cues and he insisted on being in front.  Front was the safest way to get her home, but she was on his head the whole time-not good since this horse hates that.  We concentrated on getting her home and letting someone else deal with the horse's bad behavior...since Georgie will not be riding that horse ever again.

But the whole experience was interesting.  Each rider was helping and encouraging.  Everybody I ride with is great...we all help each other out.  Each of the other horses was calm and that helped.  When Boomer reared, Zoe was a little nervous-took a few dancing steps but she listened to my calm down cues and was fine.  When Georgie found a place to get back on, we all surrounded her -a hill on one side, Skippy in front, Sky behind, and Zoe to the side.  We tried to put Zoe in the lead - a slower calmer horse, but Boomer would have none of it.  Fine...just follow.  He walked pretty fast so we trotted every now and then to keep up.   At the beginning of the ride we did "popcorn" and sometimes Boomer was behind Zoe.  The last 2 rides Zoe hated Boomer behind her...and I made her deal with it.  This time she was okay with Boomer behind her.  When something happens like this you always go back over things in your mind and wonder if you could have done things differently.  So we got a chance to talk about it on the way back....all helpful and encouraging.

So we got home safely but I don't think I will be going out with Boomer again-unless one of the trainers at the barn is on him.  This is the 3rd ride Zoe and I have done with him, each time with a different rider and each time the horse was bad.   I don't like to say that about a horse but in this case I think he needs a trainers help, I was proud that Zoe did her best with Boomer today, but I'd hate to think of one of my friends getting hurt on him.  It would be interesting to go out with one of the trainers tho...see what she does with the horse and see if my horse will still be good...of course she would be good "a horse lives up to or down to your expectations".