“You have to get back up on the horse that threw you.”  Words of wisdom which I believe to be true.  But, in all honesty, it has been years since I was even on a horse and even then I never actually had one throw me.  I think the last time I was even close enough to a horse where it could kick me was three years ago when working as part of the crew trying to rescue a horse that had fallen through the ice on a pond.

So, given my lack of experience with the real animal, why the heck am I talking about horses?

Well, the short answer is “I’m not.”  What I am talking about is the figurative horses we get throw off of from life all the time.  The things we need to conquer in order to move ahead.

This past weekend I did a hike up Cox Hill.  As far as hikes go, it was nothing remarkable.  Roughly 14km round trip with 650m of elevation gain or so.  But, if you look deeper, you will see it was one of my horses.  It is not by coincidence that I picked a hike which starts from an equestrian trailhead.  It was a symbolic choice.

Two weeks ago you will recall I injured my ankle while hiking solo.  Cox Hill was my first attempt at getting back to hiking since the injury.  While it certain would be a physical test of the injury, it was more important to me as a mental test. 

I’ll admit to being nervous about going back out on my own.  Hiking solo had become a horse (OK, since I wasn’t *that* nervous how about a pony?) that I needed to climb back on after it had thrown me.  I had to show myself that I could still do it.  And, although the ankle was hurting by the time I returned, I did it.  I had gotten back on the horse.

I wish it was always that simple. There are plenty of horses I haven’t returned to conquer, but I need to save something for another time, another post. So, who out there is willing to share your own tales of being tossed?