Day 29: Racing Towards Stainless Steel on Bareback
Photo Credit: Eduardo Amorim via Compfight
In this 30-days to Mastering Your Fears Series, The Skool of Life and The Fear Project are collaborating to blow the doors off our most primal emotion. Today’s substitute teacher is Michele Price
Riding FEAR Bareback
One a beautiful clear crisp day in Fredericksburg Texas, my ex-husband and I, along with our son then 3 years old, were the official town greeters for a rider who was traveling across America for charity. He had just arrived from the Austin area where he had picked up a fresh horse from Willie Nelson himself for the trip. This horse was gorgeous and I offered to ride him to the stalls where they would rest for the night.
Here is where I should probably tell you he was bareback and I was thrilled. I had ridden my own horse bareback all the time. Today was different and I had no idea what was ahead for me. You see I had 4 years previously almost died. Not from a horse, from fracturing my skull on both sides of my head. I was in intensive care for a week as an outbreak of meningitis ran through the hospital. My parents and brand new husband were frantic. I over heard the doctor tell them if I contracted meningitis it would probably kill me.
Needless to say I survived, yet you can image the fear of breaking my head in two still held for me. It was one of those fears that lurked in the back of my mind taunting me and sometimes causing me to say pppfffftttt out of arrogance to show FEAR who was boss.
Today was one of those days.
I mounted this magnificent specimen of a horse and proudly rode it around bareback in the field…that is until something spooked it and it took off for the racetrack stadium. I was facing riding an unknown horse at break neck speed bareback that was going to jump stainless steel railing–I was not trained to jump.
Two choices faced me
- Jump and almost surely break my neck
- Kick off horse not knowing if I will land on my head or not
I chose to kick off. I landed on my back then my head snapped back with a whack and I was out cold. Needless to say my son and then husband were panicked. We went to hospital and I was ok-minor miracle.
My lesson after this exciting adventure across a field was two-fold. Most people would say never ride bareback again. Some would even say, give up horses since you already busted your head before crazy gal. Instead I kept riding my own horse Josie for two reasons.
- I learned from working with big animals like horses, if you give up in fear, you will continue to wither and find new ways to shirk from life’s adventures.
- I also learned each time I allowed myself to feel the fear in the moment, then transform it by taking the action in front of me I was scared of, I came out on the other side stronger.
It was a layering effect. Each of these experiences showed me why it is important to ask better questions in life and business.
- Is this action taking me towards to goals or away from them?
- What will I gain from finding my new strength in this situation?
- Am I living my purpose when I say yes to this adventure?
When those three answers are yes, I know I am on the right track and fear how now fueled me to life my purpose, instead of pushing me away. It was all in how I framed and used that FEAR.
Next time, remind me to tell you about my fearlessness during the time I saved 30 snow-mobilers from a heard of Buffalo in Yellow Stone National Park.
 |