Sometimes your the windshield...sometimes your the bug

I was anxious to ride that sunny July morning. I had just come off a 2-day-marathon of watching other people ride, and I missed being in the saddle. It was early, but others had beaten me to the barn. Not so unusual in summer. School was out and many of the girls parents left them at the barn for the entire day while they worked. That appeared to be the case on this morning. Three girls were already there. Two were sitting at the front gate of the arena. One was asleep above the lockers. Over the weekend someone had flooded the arena. Of course no one would own up to it. I had my suspicions on who it was, but no proof. Cones had been put out to mark where we boarders were not suppose to ride. Word had gone out on the internet. Walking in I noticed the cones were gone. “Hey girls” I said. “The cones are gone!” “Does that mean it is safe to ride?” “Yeah, it’s okay” they told me. Great, I thought to myself, that 100 degree heat must have dried the ground out pretty quickly. Off to the stall I went, and 10 to 15 minutes later I was in the arena warming up my horse. We walked and did a slow trot for about 15 minutes. My boy was in a good mood. Very compliant and obedient. In the meantime two of the girls had also saddled up and were riding in the arena. They were sisters. One was riding her own horse and the other was on the horse of the third girl still sitting at the arena entrance. The older sister was cantering her horse bareback without a helmut and with only a halter and lead rope as a bridle. These girls were always doing stuff like that even when their parents were there watching. I picked up a canter at the arena entrance. Nice and smooth. We navigated around the two sisters who were now walking their horses side by side. Nice, I thought as we made our turn at the far end of the arena. Within seconds I felt my boys feet go out from under him. I thought “he’s going down, my god, I’m coming off!” I could see the arena wall coming at me. I hit it with my face and did a skid along the top before I bounced off and hit the ground with my left shoulder. Stunned, I lay still for a few seconds spitting out dirt. Slowly, I sat up. My right arm was burning as was the cheek beneath my left eye…but it was my left arm and shoulder that would prove to be my biggest injury