Shake’n Fork™ ‘Oh Crap’ Moment of the Day

I thought I’d martyr my own pride for today’s edition of our new series “Oh Crap,” a showcase of readers’ crappiest moments presented by our mucking fabulous sponsor Equi-Tee Mfg™ .

Here are a couple particularly memorable “Oh Crap” moments from my personal collection:

This first one was taken several years ago at Tryon Horse Trials in North Carolina. It’s kind of a start-box tradition for me to send up a prayer as I’m waiting my turn to go, a “Dear God, if you just could keep an eye on my horse and me for, like, the next six minutes, that’d be awesome. You’re the best! Amen.” Most of the time, after I pray, I get a confidence boost–I hear a little voice in my head that sounds like Bela Karolyi saying, “You can do it!” But on this particular occasion, I heard nothing. Maybe some crickets, but certainly no words of reassurance, no “rah-rah” whatsoever. I shook my head, “Oh well,” and galloped off onto the course anyway. Things started going badly almost immediately. We had an uncharacteristic refusal a few fences in, but got over that one, only to have another stop followed by a fall (see photo of me getting slammed into a trakehner) a few fences later. Not to be deterred, I remounted (this was before the one-fall-you’re-out rule) and continued on my merry way, only t0 have yet another stop near the end of the course, the final nail in the coffin of our elimination.

Here’s another good one from a horse trial at the Kentucky Horse Park. There was a jump into the water and then a table in the water a couple strides later, over which my horse hung a leg. He quickly righted himself but not before I’d lost my balance completely, which culminated in a swan dive into the lake. This, too, was before the one-fall-you’re-out rule, so I remounted, soggy britches and all, and finished out our course. What I love most about this photo is the expression on my horse’s face, how blissfully unaware he is that the crap is about to hit the fan.

I’ve shown you mine; now you have to show us yours! (We’ll be laughing with you, not AT you–promise!) Email your “Oh Crap” moment photo or video link to [email protected] and be sure to include a brief description of what happened. If submitting a professional photograph, please obtain the photographer’s permission.

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