Ridecamp: [RC] The ER - how I got there

If only I could go back in time and do it over again. It started at the top 
of a really steep section of hill, on the third day of the ride.  We had 
already completed 2 days/100 miles.  I felt great and the horse did too, he 
never got tired (that was the plan).   The hill had deep sand, large rocks, 
tree roots and near the bottom, a large tree with branches.  Chief had been 
doing really well, heck the first two days of the ride went just as 
expected.  He was a little excited at the start and at times he got a 
little wound up when horses blew past us on the trail. But we were always 
in control, he never bucked or offered to, I would take him off trail or 
walk him until he was calm again.  I had him as well prepared for this ride 
as I could have.  Something at the top of this hill got him a little 
excited, I don't know what.  Could have been my juniors mare, as she was 
kinda wired from being separated from their other mare.  There were no 
horses closely ahead of us, we were in the back of the pack.  All I knew is 
that we were suddenly going downhill on this section a little faster than I 
wanted. :+o  I pulled up on the reins, and was staying squarely in the 
saddle, managing to turn him to stay on the trail.  I thought we were going 
to be okay, I was turning him around the tree to keep from hitting any 
branches and that's when I think he caught a foot in a tree root--- the 
next thing I felt us swing around the corner around the tree, then we were 
going down. Both of us.  The ground rose up fast, luckily it was soft sand 
(for what that's worth), then I felt the horse roll over the top of me.  I 
either thought it, or yelled out loud "ohhh cr@#", then jumped up as had 
the horse and thought "okay, good, I am up so everything must be okay".  I 
felt a little stunned and surprised-- I was covered in sand. Within seconds 
I felt the warmth of blood on my right arm, and the left side of my 
chin.  Still, nothing felt broke and I was able to walk.   I told Calina to 
go get my horse.  Calina walked towards him slowly and got him -- he had 
his head down eating grass.  Lucky for me, Al Young, Dave Rabe and Sands 
Dickson were all behind me and immediately started helping out.  I pulled 
some vetwrap out of my saddle pack and Al wrapped my right arm.  Once 
wrapped, it quit bleeding so I knew it was probably not too bad.  Sands 
said I would probably need a few stitches in my lip, looks like my tooth 
had punctured thru, and other than that I felt allright.  Dave said that if 
I could put my hands up over my head that I probably was okay.  I knew my 
left shoulder hurt, but was able to put my hands up over my head. So I 
figured hey, I'm okay.  They gave me water, so I drank and rinsed off 
some.  Took my helmet off and it was allright -- dumped a lot of sand out 
of it though, the sand in that area was really soft and deep.  Then, 
everybody helped me get back on my horse.  Once I got back on and moving I 
didn't feel too bad. I actually thought I'd be able to finish the ride.  I 
was able to walk, and even trot.  Luckily, we were on the first loop and it 
just happened to circle back by camp and we were only about 2 or 3 miles 
from there, and 2 hours into the ride.   Calina tied my horse up and pulled 
his tack off for me.  We checked him out and he was fine -- not a scratch 
on him, sound---that was one less thing for me to worry about.  As soon as 
I got into camp I had a half dozen (or more) people there helping. 
Everybody was so great, Greg, Becky, Sue and Skip, my dad -- and more 
(sorry I don't remember all the names right now, I'm still on pain killers).

Once in the chair in camp, reality starting sinking in.  Ouch, it hurt!  On 
the trail Sands had given me 4 tylenol.  They just didn't cut it.  Of 
course, you want the pain to go away as quickly as it started, and that 
just isn't going to happen.  They had unwrapped my right arm and cut the 
sleeve off of my blood soaked shirt and saw that the elbow was punctured 
and would also need stitches.  Exposing it to air was painful, so they 
quickly rinsed it off and wrapped it back up.  The hospital in Kanab is 
about a half an hour away.  That is, unless my dad is driving......:+D

Before leaving, I sent Calina off with new sponsors (Dave and Sands), and 
Becky grabbed some clothes for me to change into (only, I didn't think at 
the time to ask for a button-shirt......let's hope there isn't a next time, 
but if there is, I will definitely ask for a shirt that buttons down the 
front).  I told them to grab my purse and where to find my medical 
card.  Greg and Cindy said they'd look after my horses, and I'm sure other 
people were telling me other things too but I don't remember it all since 
so many people were circling around talking.  Everybody was really nice and 
it was great to have so many people wanting to help.  Now I know how to get 
attention, too bad this really wasn't the kind of attention I 
wanted.  Endurance riders are so great.

So off to the ER we went.  It really wasn't so bad, other than having to 
wait for the doctor to show up.  Good thing I remembered the insurance 
card.  They called my prescriptions in to the pharmacy and we went to pick 
those up, then headed back to camp.  A few hours had gone by so that by the 
time I got back I knew I wouldn't have time to finish.  I thought about it, 
but it would have been pointless to try, I knew I couldn't get on and off 
of the horse and had been doing that a lot for him.  I felt pretty okay, 
everybody around me seemed to be kinda upset tho <G>.  It wasn't until 
sometime later that I finally looked in the mirror and saw why.  I only had 
6 stitches in my lip, but......it looked worse than it was.  They had put 
me in this figure-8 brace thingy that I was wearing and it was 
uncomfortable, it was digging into my back when I tried lying down.  I 
found a place to sit in the Duck's trailer that has a high back on it.  So 
I could sit there and watch all the goings on and at the same time I could 
see my horses.

It was an interesting afternoon.  A lot of people came by to visit, and 
nearly every one of them would come in and show me their scars and tell 
tales of their accidents.  I guess in a way this was good, I didn't feel so 
alone.  Definitely not special, or unique either <lol>.  Endurance riders 
are a tough lot of people, they get banged up and just keep on going.  You 
can always find somebody that has been thru what you are going thru.  There 
has to be a better way to get so much attention though :+D, this isn't a 
way I want to repeat.

I got to spend a lot of time reliving the accident.  Mostly because 
everybody was asking what happened.  From the doctors and nurses to 
everybody in camp -- I soon had the story down pretty good. What 
happened.  Well, basically we fell and I got hurt.  I still don't know why 
it happened, but I do know that I could have prevented it.  I should have 
gotten off and led down that section.  I have questioned everything from 
how and why to bad choices I made, and also whether or not the horse is 
suitable or an idiot.  It would be easy to blame the horse, and I guess 
only time will tell if he is going to be accident prone or not.   I really 
feel confident that he is going to be a nice horse and hope that this is 
just a bump in the road.  He did the first 2 days of the ride without 
incident.  The first day was a lot harder and more technical, and he 
breezed that.  We'll be back to work soon. The doctor said that I can ride 
again as soon as it stops hurting (without pain pills).   They said I don't 
have to wear that figure-8 thing, the specialist doc said it never helped a 
clavicle heal any faster (YAY), and I am on my 2nd type of pain relievers 
since the first ones started me itching pretty bad.  You know, those wooden 
spoons you use to scoop spaghetti up with work really great for getting to 
those hard to reach places. :+P

Next I'll write about Chief's first ride, the good parts, :+) and why I 
took him on a multiday for his first ride instead of a one day ride.

Happy Trails,

Karen
in NV
& Chief, 100 miles
& Rocky, 5,130 miles
& Weaver, 5,120 miles


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=