I got some disturbing news today. Apparently I have a concussion after having a pretty bad fall off of my horse last night. Everything is ok but it was a little worse than I had thought last night after it happened.
In February I adopted a sweet but green thoroughbred from the BCSPCA. We actually fostered him first and I fell in total love with him. Since then I have been working very closely with a wonderful trainer to get him back under saddle. My main goal is to remain safe for both him and I and I really feel like we have made wonderful progress. He is a great horse- kind, sensitive, usually quiet and very eager to learn but last night I got a taste of his other side.
Our session started out nice. We worked on transitions on the lunge line and he did great so I decided to hop up in the saddle. I kept it at a walk and went around the ring nice and calm. As we were going toward the side with the opening he started to go a little faster. (note to self: must get the damn gate up so that there is an actual barrier!) I calmly asked for a "whoa with my seat and voice and then a little with the reins. Because he is a green horse, he is still learning to deal with contact. We have worked on it through long lining and now I feel some lunge work with side reigns may not be a bad idea. Instead of slowing down he went a little faster and again I asked for a whoa but the next second I was flying over his head chest first onto the ground. It was definitely the biggest buck I have had under saddle and I was terrified when I hit the ground because it knocked the wind out of me. I never lost conciseness and was with it enough to tell my daughter to go get my husband (even though I had a cell phone in my pocket, stupid me!)
After a few minutes I realized I was not paralyzed or dead and was able to walk it off but later that night I developed a bad headache. It lasted all night and by morning I had pretty severe nausea. I went to the doctor and he confirmed that I did in fact have a concussion and I am not allowed to do any horsey things for at least a week :( My bruises have started to show a little darker and I have owies on my chest, shoulder, knee, thigh, and I have swelling one side of my forehead and eye... that part could have been MUCH worse but I wear a helmet!
Sigh. I called my coach and she put me at ease. We will work on him accepting contact better and I am determined to not let this ruin my confidence with him! Next week I will be back on his back (although it will probably be on a line with someone at the other end, lol!)
**After going to the doctor again, we found out that all of my ribs in the front were fractured and a back rib was completely broken. It took over six months to heal and even now (in Jan 2012) I feel uncomfortable in my chest area. I even rebroke some of my ribs after a spell of large sneezes this past summer!
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