Sunday, November 2, 2008

Horses...

My beautiful babe and I decided that we were going to go up north to her home this weekend to go horseback riding. Her family has three horses that we take out to go riding as often as we can. I'm proud to say that the horse that I consistently ride, and I, have formed a good bond. I think we are getting more and more comfortable with each other which makes for a much more pleasant ride.

It was a gorgeous day out! Probably close to one of the last awesome days of the year. Not too cold, not too warm, just beautiful.

My ride was good. Hers wasn't. She was fighting with her horse quite a bit throughout the entire ride. Her horse is beautiful, and she has been riding him for years, however, he is very stubborn and testy. For whatever reason, this ride was worse than usual. We came to the conclusion that it was mostly likely because we had to leave the 3rd horse behind. We get through the ride, are close to home and there is an open field that we always gallop in right before the gait to the field that the horses stay in.

You remember how I said my ride was good... well it was, until the end! So we start galloping and I can feel almost right away that something isn't quite right, the balance isn't there. I was tipping to the right side of the saddle. It was one of those things where you know what is going to happen, so you either fight it or face the fact! I just faced it. I decided I needed to let go or who knows how things would have ended up. So I let go. Definitely not one of the 10 best feelings I have felt in my life. I don't really remember rolling or anything like that (even though my baby said it was the best tuck and roll she's ever seen...) I just remember hitting... hard...

So after catching my breath, slowing picking myself out of the field, and finding my shoe which had fallen off in the process, I turn around to hear my baby yelling for me while crawling on the ground also. I wave some people on who were running towards us to make sure we were okay, we were at that point, and trying to get myself together to get over to her. I will mention at this point that I have never seen so many people in that field, ever, since we have been riding around there... they were coming out of the woodwork to make sure we were okay! It was a nice surprise to see so many caring people. Anyway, finally I am able to gather myself and my horse and head over to her to make sure she is okay. She couldn't quite remember what had happened and she was definitely in more pain than I. Shortly after the fall and swearing uncontrollably at her horse who had left her behind on the ground (a horse who isn't sassy wouldn't do that, which is why mine stayed behind for me), she started getting really upset because she couldn't remember what had happened. I put her in the car and proceeded to take all the gear off the horses and get them into their gaited field. By the time I got back to the car, she was almost in tears because she couldn't remember what was going on. I finally came to the conclusion that my baby had a concussion.

We got back to her home, only a few miles away from where the horses are kept, found her parents who came out to help, and then she started to display the more common symptoms associated with a concussion. She got sick, started getting very tired, and had a horrible head ache. After about an hour, things started coming back to her about what had happened. Apparently her sassy horse was so happy to finally be back by his brother, that he decided to gun it towards the fence to his home. My doll saw that I was falling and tried to pull back on her horse to come help me, or to "save me" in her words, :-) , and her horse ended up bucking her off in the middle of a full gallop. Not so fun. Prior to her fall, she was able to turn around to see my oh-so-graceful tuck and roll (I'm so sure!!!) right before she fell and recieved a swift shot to the head by her horses leg.

Well, it is Sunday now. We are home in our own bed, and both as sore as a person can possibly be at any one time. Both with pounding head aches, hers a little more significant than mine with several other symptoms, but we are able to laugh and giggle about the situation and be frustrated at the same time without completely understanding what happened. She has said that if she didn't get hurt so bad, she would have been up on the horse right away the next day to prove to him that he can't get away with something like that. A true rider I guess. Me... well I can wait until next spring to get my balance figured out while in the middle of a gallop!

:-)



2 comments:

KraftyKay said...

Oh my! I'm so sorry that happened to you both and that your partner has a concussion! I hope she rests up and gets better soon!

DawgDyke said...

My concussion in early march was similar, only I felt drunk and very disoriented.

Hope you both are feeling better!