I still haven't ever fallen off a horse, despite Redman's best efforts today
We started off in the inside area, then we split into two groups and my group went out to the open field. It's mowed and has a plowed path, so it's not that "scary." Redman usually gets to the arena door and goes "NOPE." and either refuses to go out, or goes crazy and tries to kill whoever's closest to him (and that's only a mild exaggeration). Today, he went out just fine without a fit (he also walked up to me in pasture instead of having to go catch him).
We were outside for a while, I walked him a bit then got him going in a nice running walk. He was doing SO WELL, I was really surprised. He's very, VERY spooky horse, and even in the indoor area he'll usually spook several times at "nothing."
Right about halfway through the ride, a bunch of wild turkeys approach to raid a bird feeder. This horse is blind on the side the turkeys are on, so we passed them okay...but then he must have seen a glimpse of them with the other eye because he was suddently NOT OK. He spun several times (we should teach him reining lol) and just got worked up in general. So the instructor said it might be a good idea to take him to the outdoor area, away from the turkeys, so I headed out. He was going along fine, but when we got to the area gate and the other instructor opened he, he decided "NOPE, NOT DOING IT!" and BOLTED all the way back to the indoor area when I had saddled him up. I got smacked with branches and pretty much held on for dear life because there's no stopping this horse once he gets going. He calmed down once he was inside, and instructor #3 showed up shortly to make sure we were still alive. She led us out to the outdoor area, and he settled down and worked well for a bit, then decided he'd had enough and tried to kill instructor #2 by bolting right at her. Fortunately she caught him by the halter and we got him to settle, and we decided that was enough for one night
And I actually sort of enjoyed it. I like dealing with the "problem" horses and the fact that he did SO WELL until the turkeys came along made me super happy. And I didn't die or even fall off, so that's a plus