Saturday 16 June 2012

The Fall

I am going to try to write about what happened the day of my accident.  Typing is extremely good exercise for my hand, especially now since I'm trying to work my tendons to loosen them up.  This post will probably take me a few days to write since sometimes it hurts too much to write more than a few words.

It started off fine, like any other day at my dads.  We decided to go riding at the end of my dad's road.  This involved a half hour drive in the horse trailer to the end of the road from the house.  My dad, my brother Alex and his girlfriend T were going to go, my dad on his new quad, Alex on Sev, me on Thor and T on Pawnee.  Since we only have a two horse trailer, it'd take three trips, with T and I staying at the end of the road waiting with the horses.

By the time all the horses and the quad were at the end of the road, we had a quick lunch and then saddled up.  My dad went off on his own with the quad and the three of us headed off on the ponies.  It was a beautiful day, warm, not many bugs.  The ponies were being great.  Thor hadn't spooked at anything yet.  We rode, mostly walking and trotting for the first while.  Then, after about four or five kilometres in, we came to a wide, grassy part of the trail and we decided to run.  T and I ended up in the lead, there was more than enough room for the horses to run side by side and everything was great.

Then Thor finally noticed a small stump that had been there the whole time.  To everyone else it looked like a normal, harmless stump.  To Thor I can only imagine it had mile long teeth and claws ready to pounce on him.  He jumped to the right in half a second.  Which would have been fine, I stayed on for that.  What Thor does that is the problem is after spooking to the side, he immediatly jumps right back to where he was originally.  That, combined with the fact that my saddle wasn't quite straight, made it impossible for me to hang on.

I came so close to catching myself but I just coulnd't do it.  I started to fall and the only two things I could think about was not falling on my head and not falling under Pawnee.  He'd been further away but I wasn't sure how close I was to him now.  I fell with one arm tucked against me and one arm outstretched.

From what we've been able to figure out from my arm is that my wrist hit the ground first and then my elbow pounded down into the ground.  All I remember is lying on the ground and the first thought in my head, sorry for the language, was "Holy shit my elbow is broken."  I knew immediatly it was broken.  There was a big ball of pain in my elbow, which doesn't make sense but is the only way to describe how it felt.  My brother looked at me, said, "Good you're alive, i'm going to get your horse."  And then went to get Thor.

I wouldn't look at my arm until T and my brother told me it looked normal.  I was terrified it would be at an odd angle.  It wasn't, thankfully.  My brother didn't believe me it was broken, because it didn't look like the fall had been bad.  However, I was insistant I was going to the hospital now so he was kind of forced to believe me.  T galloped off on Pawnee to go wait at the trailer for my dad, while Alex tried to get a hold of him. 

I remember lying on the ground, thinking of how far I had to walk back to the trailer.  I didn't think i'd be able to do it.  Alex helped me up and slowly we began to walk.  I got two steps and I almost fell over.  I felt like I would pass out.  Alex kept walking far ahead, forgetting I could barely walk and leaving me behind.  At one point he wanted me to get back on Thor.  How, I have no idea. 

I could walk about 10 steps before I'd have to stop because it hurt so much.  Alex kept asking me how it hurt, where it hurt and then going "Oh yeah it's broken" until i told him to shut up and stop telling me it was broken.  My arm was hanging limply at my side and hurt in my elbow and wrist.  I couldn't move my lower arm but I thought that was because of my broken elbow.  I didn't think i'd broken anything else.

We couldn't get a hold of my dad because of bad service so T raided the trailer and came back with the first aid kit.  In my paiin crazed mind I wouldn't let her sling my arm up, because I was afraid I'd damage my elbow more if they bent it.  So the walk continued.  I was so thirsty, more than i've ever been in my life.  The bugs came out and I was getting eaten alive but I couldn't do anything about it.

We finally got a hold of my dad to find out that the quad battery had died.  So he walked up to the trailer and T went to meet him again.  He came on Pawnee and sent my brother with Thor and Sev back.  He walked with me for a bit and then decided to go get the truck.  So because he sent everyone back I was on my own for a bit.  I was just praying this wasn't when a bear decided to come by.

My dad came in the truck and I got in the front seat.  I regret that.  we were on a trail, not a road and the jarring of the truck hurt worse than anything else and finally made me cry.  He drove me to the trailer where he got out and Alex and T got in.  they drove me to the house where they swithced me to T's car, I finally let her slingmy arm and then T drove me to the hospital. 

this is wehre I'm gooing to end this.  Typing is frustrating, I'm a good typer, I write stories in my spare time and now I can barely do it.  I just want to say, I don't blame Thor.  He didn't do it to make me fall, it just didn't work out for me this time.

My second surgery went well and hopefully it won't take me long to recover from this.  I can't tell you how much I miss riding.

Also, i'm all ears for any blog suggestions anyone might have.  I'm so sick of TV so I'm looking for new blogs to read.  Any ideas?

Monday 11 June 2012

A Brief Update

I love horses, but honestly, the past month has been awful.  I won't go on about it but seriously, breaking your arm sucks.  I miss being able to do all the things I used to.  I especially miss being able to do things with my horses.  A lot has happen, lots of personal issues and not so many horse things.  I have another surgery this Wednesday on my elbow.  Right now there is a piece of bone in my elbow that prevents me from straightning or bending my elbow completely, and a screw has moved out of place so they need to go in and repair it.  I'm kind of freaking out about it, I've been doing well with physio, I've even typed this with both hands although its not easy and takes a long time.  This surgery will put me back where I was after the first one though, unable to use my right hand.  I'm just praying they don't have to do anymore surgeries after this. 

When I can actually type easily I'll tell more about the fall.  It was an awful day.  In other horse news, Artemis no longer looks like a baby.  I don't have any pictures of her but she looks like a real, proper yearling now, without any fuzz.  My brother's girlfriend came out today and she rode both Socks and Jimmy.  She even jumped Socks, I have pictures and videos but I'm not up to uploading them so I'll show them another time.  Socks did great considering we've mostly only jumped out on the trail.  She jumped pretty high too, the highest she's ever jumped.  She knocked down the poles twice and had two refusals but she honestly did great considering its the highest she's ever jumped and the first time she's jumped in over a year, plus it's been basically a month and a little bit since she was ridden last.  I love my horse, she'll do anything you ask of her.

I figured I'd get an update in while I can, especially since typing is very good excericse for my hand.  But because of my surgery I'll be out of the blogging world for a while again.  I hope everyone else is having a better summer than I am!