I leave Sunday morning (flying) for a week-long elk hunt in Montana. I have to be in the saddle Monday morning. 'Trouble is, I've been riding about once or twice a week for the past few weeks to get my muscles use to it and this morning the horse and I had a slight miscommunication. He took off through some low oaks. Of course, I lean forward to avoid the limbs (dumb, amatuer mistake) and he really takes off. Since my stirrups were a tad too long (yes, another dumb, amatuer mistake) when I got him stopped, I came out of the saddle and hit the ground on my left hip. Of course he stops and looks at me like "what are you doing down there, dumbass?"

I put myself on ice, a muscle relaxer, an anti-inflamatory, and a scooch of bourbon. Hurts like hell, but nothing is broken. I may have screwed up the sciatic nerve.

1. Do any of you old cowboys have any better remedy?

2. How in the hell do those young bucks rodeo?

Thanks in advance for your help.

2. They get back on.

1. See #2.

The past two summers I've been injured and had to take some time out of the saddle. It sucks but we heal. Eat the legal limit of ibuprofin and go for it. Good luck on your hunt!

I did; I did get back on! And I rode for another 20 minutes. Then put the tack up, etc., etc.

Does that make me a bon-a-fide cowboy?

Thanks for the response and the well wishes.

"treg" got it right but I need to add that more than anything you need to mentally know you aren't hurt, aren't scared and that horse dumping you will not ruin your hunt or affect it in the least.
Positive attitude is everything. Horses can sense when you are scared or nervous about something so don't pass that info to your new mount. Some will react to it by making them scared and nervous if you are, with others its a sign of weakness and an unsure hand and they will take advantage of you.
Have no fear and the utmost confidence and you will be in charge of your nag.
Have a great hunt!

Thanks. I had a great hunt in Montana and got a respectable 6X6. You can be sure, I didn't give my new mount an inch of leeway. 'Haven't been around horses a whole lot, but enough to know you "never let them figure you out".

If you have kids, you're Ahead of the Game. The average horse has the mentality of a 5 or 6-year old kid. Some are smarter, some are dumber, but they ALL will continually Try you, much like a woman. If you Give In to them ONE time, you're Ruined with that horse, and will have to RE-Assert yourself with him or find another. Again, MUCH like a woman. However, it's not that hard or mysterious. He just have to outlast the horse, and, UNlike a woman, he will give in and eventually become someone you can Work with. I think horses do this just to see if you have half a brain. After all, NOBODY wants to trust himself to an ignoramus. If you Pass the Initial Dumbass Tests, they tend to move on to more Advanced Dumbass Tests, and if you do O.K. with those, they figure,'Well, he's a little Slow, but I think I can Work with him...' However, just as with kids and women, if you Flunk the Dumbass Tests, especially Repeatedly, they will make your life a Living Hell. And mules are even WORSE, for they hate an idiot even worse than a horse does, and they're some smarter. This is why cowboys LOVE their old time-worn 'Give the Greenhorn the Psychotic Outlaw Bronc' trick so much. God help me, I do, too, cause it IS funny to put your city-bred cousins on the 'Hairy one' and watch them go into Blind Panic because they're no longer In Control. Of all our equine friends, a Pony is the Very WORST of them all, for a Pony is naturally rebellious and disagreeable by nature. I rode/owned ponies from age four till my feet drug the ground and I HAD to have an actual Horse. All of the serious injuries I've had from equines I've had from ponies. Bitten, kicked, stomped, fell on(INTENTIONALLY), and the ONE time I was ever actually Thrown in the Classic Western Sense(Up and over his head, land on head or face ten feet in front of mount) it was a PONY. And I KNOW that if you have thirty head of the Finest Bred, Best-Trained horses on Earth, who come when called from the pasture, stand without being tied while tacking up, pick up their feet for Inspection WITHOUT being touched beforehand, etc., if you put a damned pony in the field with them they'll be Ruined in three days, Tops. You'll have to keep a horse stabled at all times to ride the Hunt after the rest of them, they'll NEVER come when called again. Your well-trained horses will become sneaky, mean-tempered, nasty brutes and you will be forced to physically beat them with pieces they kick off the barn or corral to correct it. I found out by accident that the horses will Straighten Up and Fly more or less Right if they SEE you Flip Out on the pony first, though. Mine kicked me once, for NO Reason, and I wore his head out with my fists, and did my best to kick HIS ribs in, and had him squealing in terror and pain. After that, the horses went Back to Normal with me, and Pony acted like somebody, too. Maybe growing up around horses has prepared me to deal better with people, especially kids and women. Horse psychology ain't JUST for horses. Just DON'T get caught using it on your woman, like I did. Trust me, they DON'T appreciate it! And the Honest, True reply," Well, it Worked, didn't it? You DO feel better, right?" will NOT get you off the Hook. Something about 'Animal Psychology' being effective on an Educated, Sophisticated, MODERN Woman, I think.... It does explain why only Horse Girls/Women understand what a Compliment it is to be told they have Good Horse Sense.
KY Jim
P.S. It's Simple Mathematics. You just have to get ON one more time than you fall off. No Problem, usually. If your leg's broken, it's more problematic than mathematic.