It's all about attitude. I'm not old. My wife is however... about 12-½ years ago... as I was riding to victory in a mounted shooting competition, I had a little set-back. My horse of less than perfect coordination... then, a spry 13 year old, at a full gallop, midway around a turn at a balloon topped pole... slipped and went to her chest in a greasy patch of arena... I casually (with my heart up in the my throat), slipped my feet outta the stirrups, and prepared to launch myself off her back, outta the saddle, as soon as she indicated which direction she was going to roll over... Part of my mind was trying to decide whether I would try throwing myself off her back in the direction of her roll, or try for between her legs in the opposite direction of her roll... Another part of my mind was considering re-holstering my sixgun... droppin' it was a disqualification, but at least another quarter was frozen in place, over the fear of being hurt, and unable to work... the vast majority was wonderin' Is my HEALTH INSURANCE paid up?
Anyway, the horse was apparently trying to maintain some semblence of stability as she just slid along, perfectly upright and then, somehow, jumped back to her feet, with me still solidily planted in the middle of my saddle. This was no small surprise. It was totally unexpected. Up to this point I had expertly blown up all balloons and only had one more to pop outta the first gun, turn another corner, race to the far end of the arena and pop 5 more all lined up in a straight line...
You lifelong horsemen probably have experienced the galloping about, the slightly uncontrolled feeling when your foot slips from a stirrup... well both doubles that sensation. And, since I'm certainly no expert horseman, coming to some measure of experience later in life... (my teens), with only limited access since, I still need that foot planted in the stirrup security, especially in turns... At any rate... this was COMPETITION!!!! One does not just "roll over" and quit! And so I braved on in the face of sheer terror, and finished the stage as fast as she was able... The whole time she was runnin' down the line of balloons, and I was shootin' said balloons, I was trying to get the toes of my boots in some sorta close proximity to my stirrups. Failing miserably. Have you ever tried to stop 1100 lbs of runaway horse inside of 30' with no point of leverage? Surprisingly, this horse, who had heretofore shown a definite lack of willingness to engage in athletic and graceful moves... with the merest of pulls, slid to as pretty a straight-line sliding stop as you would want from a champion reining horse! She had better've... any turn and I've have fallen out of the saddle as slick as snot on a Louisiana swamp!
And there stood my wife... both hands on hips... and one of her famous one-liners about to impart the whole of her feelings... "you stupid, stupid, boy... you're 48 years old, think you're 24 and act like you're 12..." she then turned and stomped off... leaving my sitting there, astride my steed, looking at a friend, who I asked, "...what's the problem?"
Joe, I ain't aged a day in the last 36 years... I'm still 24!
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)