Mortifying moments

AS Fiona Lockhart galloped across her field in her underwear and one gumboot, with neither tack nor an ounce of control, she could have been forgiven for thinking in rather X-rated language.

There can be few riders who have not had those “why?” moments; “why here?”, you might wonder, as your horse bounces merrily on his hindlegs past a construction site bristling with guffawing builders. Or “why now?” as he takes exception to the white boards he’s seen thousands of times before, as you try to start your championship test. Such incidents usually come out of nowhere, as was the case for Fiona.

She was on her verandah drinking her tea one morning, in her underwear as was her wont on hot mornings at her home in rural Australia, when she