Sometimes Your Saddle Just Falls Off

As many of you probably already know, I was able to spend Christmas break in Peru. One of the things we did was stay in a little town called Patabamba, which is a small village in the Andes mountains outside of Cusco. The villagers there are trying to establish some sort of tourism industry to support or grow their economy; so, part of our service was being tourists. The first experience there was a horse ride. They called them horses, I was less sure as to what they were. Generally horses are big enough to carry people; I had serious doubts about these mangy mounts. Luckily, I was proved wrong about their strength. My horse was kind of a fireball (most horses I ride are, it's kind of a curse I've had since I started breaking horses)but I tried to not handle it too much and just it go with the other horses. Things were going well for a while; the horse and I reached an agreement (I would act like a bag of sand, and the horse would follow the other horses) and got along reasonably well. That was the situation when the horse turned up hill but something on the "saddle" (it wasn't what you generally think of when I say that word) came undone, and the saddle and I came tumbling down. That spooked the horse, and it started bucking. Luckily, the short fall (short horse) didn't land me on any of the numerous surrounding rocks. I mostly felt bad for the guide who is trying to do something good and work to improve his circumstances. I tried to let him know that it wasn't a big deal, but the whole situation kind of got me thinking. Sometimes we have to ride stupid horses, but generally you can deal with it, and if it tries to get you off, it's rare that you can't stay on. Sometimes we make stupid mistakes as riders - hopefully we're improving. But sometimes, your saddle just comes off. It's not anyone's fault. It may be bitter, but don't we have inexplicable moments of sweet? Granted, sweetness is always His fault. So, the next time your saddle comes off, pick yourself up, get back on your horse, tie the saddle on tighter and get back to enjoying the scenery.