Rochwen's Close Scrape With Death

i have been training Avalon to drive, or re-training him (since the amish did drive him when he was young) as you may or may not know. so far it has been going really well, he might have those moments where he takes off, but he always stops for me. so yesterday Peggy said it might be a good idea to start driving him in something other than the metal framed, bycicle wheeled, "crash and burn" cart. we had been hoping to start him off driving in the "war wagon" or marathon vehicle. it has four wheels, it's big, it's heavy and it's fast (depending on the horse that is pulling it that is). the problem before was that Avalon is very sensitive to sound, especially if he can't see it. the war wagon is very loud and squeaky and obviously when a horse is wearing blinders he can't see what is behind him constantly making a loud squeaky noise. but he had been so good that we figured he would be ok and that we would stuff some cotton into his ears for extra measure.

so we harnessed him, hitched and started to drive.

he was fine.

we walked up the hill.

he was fine.

Peggy closed the gate.

i wasn't sure whether i thought this was good or bad.

we walked.

he was fine.

"i think it would be ok to t-r-o-t now" said Peggy

so we trotted.

he was fine....

for a few strides...

then he broke into a canter

no big deal

breathe, he'll come down

nope

guess not

that's the shop...

oh shit, he's not slowing down

i turn him

still not slowing down

in fact getting faster

before my brain shut off

all i could hear was what Peggy had said earlier: "this vehicle will go as fast as that horse runs."

and there was the thought that i had never, NEVER, EVER seen Avalon gallop this fast

the arena suddenly felt very small

the fence was approaching very, very fast

STEER!

Avalon turned

i felt the wagon sliding wildly, there's still a skid mark there, in the grass

oh my god, we're going to flip

then there was the trailer in front of me, the fence on my left and some nicely spaced trees on the right

we're going to crash... maybe Avalon will stop so he doesn't crash... oh my god

Peggy yelling, "steer, baby, steer!"

it occured to me that i had to steer because it wasn't just me that would die if we crashed

i steered

between the trailer and the tree

i don't know how we made it, but we did

breathe

open space again

pull!!

slow down!!

yelling "whoa!"

wagon skidding around turns

leaning all my weight on the reins

getting slower

slower

only cantering, cantering which suddenly seems unnaturaly slow

was i grinning like this the whole time?

slow canter

why am i laughing?

trotting

i didn't die

why do i think that was FUN?

walking

how did i manage to NOT hit anything?

Peggy patting me on the back, telling me "good job," asking "are you alright?"

why am i laughing?

unhitching

feeling disappointment that it didn't go better

sense of joy that i'm alive, that Peggy's alive, that i didn't break the cart, didn't break ANYTHING

walking down to the barn

how can everyone be calmly cleaning tack?