Linda's Story

It was cold in Cool! Frank ran at Lake Chabot on Sat so I visited Linda Smith at her equestrian center (Ironwood Equestrian Park) out at Florin Rd. I took Decka, the 25 year old Quarter and Digger. The sad part of our life is Raider died of colic last week, so Linda put me on a 9 yr. old white Arabian, well trained, but I need to learn dressage, and it will take many hours for me to be comfortable with it. Mostly my hands need to get relaxed. I have been using my legs on Decka and Raider close to Dressage while riding, all out, on beautiful trails but my own style of riding has been balance and a mixture of a little dressage (a very little) and reigning. Linda is my favorite friend, she teaches me wonderful things although I am 23 years her senior. We met when we were both starting to Fly Fish about 10 years ago. She is wise, spiritual, and really knowledgeable about all things equestrian, fun to play with and she has developed a warm and welcome atmosphere at her place. Her facility is fab, with huge indoor arena, mirrors at the end, a wonderful outdoor area for jumping and dressage and a great large barn with all the equestrian amenities for a beautiful horse home. At this time she has 28 horses, training and boarding. My little family of three was in heaven. She has a pack of 5 dogs so Digger loved it and learned "dog behavior. He is a 3 year old Wire Hair Fox Terrier and hasn’t had a chance to learn social niceties, with his own kind. She has adopted 5 dogs or really they had good instincts and adopted her. She has mostly hard surface floors (smart) with the exception of an area rug in front of her fire place. The dogs  have learned it is her rug. She uses gentle nudging to keep them in control. They used gentle nudging to show Digger his boundaries. My time at the center was full of old friendship and new riding experience. That part of my getaway was informative, and exciting in a fun way.

On the way home, hauling the horse trailer, I took Hwy.50 where they are doing huge "improvement" so there are cement walls that block off all shoulder during the construction. I was 3/4 mile from Zinfandel off ramp when the thumping began. I knew it was probably a blowout. It took me up to the 1/2 mile to get stopped in the far R lane, next to the cement wall. I was afraid to drive on the rim any further (lack of understanding about wheels and truck mechanics). So there I was with traffic racing at me from the rear and nowhere to escape. I could see the cars and trucks out of the side view window tearing down the highway getting closer every second and not veering over to the other lane until the last minute. It caused me to instinctively yell a lot of times, wishing they could hear me, and from fear. I called 911 first, requesting police help since it was a very dangerous spot. Triple A of course asked me unnecessary questions taking, it seemed like 20 minutes and was probably only 3, and said it would be an hour, possibly. I had a huge bag with bright pink design so slipped along the side of my car and trailer to place it at the back of the trailer hoping it would give a clue about my being stopped. I put on the flashers but didn’t know if they were working. When the officer arrived 30 minutes later on a motorcycle, he said the lights on trailers are so low on the truck, no one sees them. He was rightfully alarmed, kind but forceful about informing me I should always drive on the rim to get out of danger and indeed I was in danger. He went on to say a horse was killed the previous week in exactly the same situation. There was a huge space, he told me about, ( I couldn't see on the right) only about 200 feet up the highway. I swore I would buy cones and flashers for the future if I made it out with a live horse, dog and me. If it had been dark, I wouldn't be here to write this. As it was there were many near misses. I did the yoga deep breathing to calm myself down. This was among the scariest experiences in my life and I have had a lot. So the lesson was to drive on the rim, no matter how far, to get to a safe spot. The Triple A guy was nice but when I got home Frank pointed out that the electrical connection to the brake system on the horse trailer was unhooked. The only explanation was the Triple A guy unhooked it since the spare was under the truck and behind the connection. It was connected when I left Linda's. I never thought to look at the connection after all was taken care of and the truth is I felt safer in the truck. Luckily I was driving slowly around curves and hills the rest of the way home. Or I could have had another bad experience. That part of my getaway was informative and exciting, but not in a good way.  

By, Frank’s Linda