Not Your Black Beauty

The following story takes place in exactly 2.46 seconds. My friends and I are in Havasupai hiking to a waterfall to go swim. The trail we are hiking is a steep, 8 foot wide, dusty one with a rocky wall on one side and a 70+ foot drop on the other. We are halfway up the steep incline when I look up and see a raging horse sprinting down the hill towards us. Dust is flying every where. I muster to yell "Runaway horse!" Tia and I jump to the rocky wall. Loli baseball slides to the cliff's edge barely grabbing onto the railing. The horse's side is scraping the wall as it barrels towards us. Rocks are flying into air. Tia - who is in front of me- makes a last second decision, jumps in front of the horse, and grabs the railing on the other side of the trail. The horse is too close. I can't make that same decision. I cling to the wall and close my eyes. The saddle that is hanging off the side of the horse pelts me on the leg. Tia then yells to the boys in our group below "watch out!" One dives to the side, also grabbing on to the railing, nearly flying off the edge. Another climbs the mountain wall. After the horse is gone and the dust settles, we find that everyone is still alive. The moral of the story: If you think a horse will move so it won't trample you, you are wrong and will probably end up with a 4 inch contusion on your thigh.