The story of a horse that put me in a tree once

You may find this amusing. I hadn't thought about it in many years. A long time ago I decided to go horseback riding with family members. It was a beautiful day on a far off trail ranch. We rented some time with a riding instructor. I'd never been before but it was surprisingly easy and the horse I was given was a very friendly one. Everything went well for most of the day. It was quite beautiful and sprawling there with plenty of trail to ride on. Sunny and very clear it was.

I was sort of just following the other riders and all seemed well. We had stopped at a little running stream section that flowed through the place which was quite convenient for horses to cross and drink from. After allowing a little rest we headed up the other side and I was just enjoying the nice ride and outdoors. I swear I did not look away for more than a few seconds and my horse for some reason decided that instead of following the group as usual wandered off to the right and I suddenly found myself dismounted by a branch to the gut which left me hanging over the space where my horse used to be as she wandered on ahead completely oblivious to the fact she was now riderless. I hung there for a good ten minutes because if I had simply let go I would surely have been severely scratched and possibly broken a leg because of other branches. Horses are BIG powerful animals and some are quite tall. Eventually the instructor got back to me and helped me down after a few minutes of deciding how best to do so.

You may now enjoy the mental image of me dangling helplessly over it, clinging for dear life to a fairly thin tree limb that could barely support my weight for ten minutes.