It's Friday night, so that meant another show for Sarah. It's the last one at the fair grounds before the fair so it was a pretty big deal. As always, she placed in every class (a total of 6) and I am so very proud of her and her commitment to what she loves to do. I'm always in awe when I watch her ride. She went from being a timid little girl, to an outgoing young woman. I am so blessed to have her as my daughter and I hope that I make her see that every day.
Tonight was the first time that I saw just how quickly something can go wrong and how dangerous it can be. She has been riding for over 6 years now and she knows what she's doing. She knows Taz's every move and they work so well together. I never have any fear that he could hurt her (other than being lazy, laying down, and rolling on her leg)... I trust the relationship and bond that they have with one another. Since this was the last show of this kind before the fair, there were a lot of entries, more than I've seen all summer and some of these kids were not as experienced. I noticed almost immediately when everyone was in the ring that there was an arabian that was out of control. The girl riding it couldn't keep the damn horse in control and it was beginning to rear up on her. In a split second, I see this horse go nuts, and I panicked thinking that they needed to get this kid out of the ring. In a split second, Taz got spooked and Sarah fell from his back and landed on her knees. The judges didn't see, no one saw, and she was dangerously close to getting trampled. I have never been so horrified in my life. My daughter was hurt. Well, so I thought.
The judge walked over to her and they were helped out of the ring. Her dad and grandmothers rushed to be with her (I was in the middle of feeding Jude so I was behind), and thankfully though shaken, she ended up being ok. She was terrified and her pride was hurt more than anything else, but she finished the evening and that horse and rider weren't allowed to compete any more this evening. My daughter is a tough kid! If you would have seen how far she fell and how seriously injured she could have been, most adults wouldn't have gotten back on. She did. I admire her tenacity, and I hope that she will always carry that with her no matter what situation she's in. Maybe the apple really doesn't fall far from the tree.
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