"A horse ain't yours till you...Fall Off!"

I don't remember who told me that "a horse ain't yours 'till ya fall off 3 times," but I always have liked the saying. Maybe thats because I've always liked spirited horses. Anyway, I had my first fall off of Spirit the other night at my first dressage lesson at our temporary new home. She was a little prancy and high strung walking to the lovely dressage court which we'd never been to before. She thought everything near the sides of the rails were spook-worthy, but she was actually settling down quite nicely when she gave a little back hump then, before I knew it, she bucked her back legs straight up into the sky (a trait she gets from her sire, I'm told) and I topple right over her face. Then I get dragged a little bit by one stirrup and get a nice sand wedgie. She ran around, gave a few snorts, then let us catch her. I put her in the round pen hoping to get a few more bucks or kicks out of her, but no, she always gets down to work when longing or free longing (which is something I really like about her actually). So I hopped back on and proceeded to have a lovely dressage lesson.