Dave Smith said...

> Dang. I look forward to this vacation all year long because there is
> canoing, sailing, hiking and, best of all, horse back riding. I take
> riding lessons all year so that I can go on the advanced ride, galloping
> through the woods and the jumping trails. There are a lot of old friends
> who also attend regularly.
>
> We stopped on the way and spent the night with my wife's sister and her
> family. There are three hours away now and we don't see them very often.
> It was just a short hop over to the camp. We got ourselves settled in
> and went for a swim in the lake while the sun was still out. Then the
> rain came. Riding was still on for the morning, but because of the rain
> we had a jumping class in the arena instead of a trail ride.
>
> I had a wonderful horse, I thought. She was very responsive. A little
> nudge with the heels and she immediately started walking. Another slight
> squeeze and she started to trot. Slide one leg back a little ans she
> immediately went into a nice canter. The first time we went over the
> canter poles she tried to go to the left, but I managed to get her over
> toward the centre, and the next time around she went right up the
> centre. We tried trotting to a single small jump and there was no
> problem at all. Then we cantered the jump and raised it. No problems.
>
> Then the instructor added a second jump. She flew over the first one,
> but as we approached the second one she went left, then right and then a
> sharp left. Off I flew, slamming into the dirt and hitting with my
> face, chest and hip. I got up spitting out a mouthful of dirt. It hurt.
> That's usually a good sign, because you don't usually feel bad injuries
> right away.
>
> I hobbled back to my cabin, almost half a mile away, and the more I
> walked the more sore my hip got. Later in the evening my hip problem
> cleared up and walking was easier, but my ribs started bothering more.
> Sleep was impossible. In the morning we decided to pack up and go home.
> I stopped at the local hospital on the way and the doctor confirmed what
> I suspected... a fractured rib.
>
> So now I am sitting at home, taking it easy and taking pain killers,
> extra strength Tylenol and Ibuprophen and Ibuprophen and Tylenol 3 to
> sleep.
>
> The worst part is that I am going to have to consider giving up riding
> lessons. I broke my collar bone 6 years ago but went back to lessons
> when that healed and thought that I could keep doing it as long as there
> were no more injuries. Now I have broken a second bone, and I am
> getting close to 60.
>:-(


Geez, that sucks! At lease you live to talk about it!

At YMCA camp I was 7-yo, a horse reared me off it, I landed on the ground.
It was just a roped around and around a pole, coral exercise. Don't know
what I did or didn't do or why it did what it did but I've never gone near
a horse ever since.

Andy