What happened to this sweet horse that I knew? Was it me or Aitch? Why didn't I get 'back on the horse' as all the advice suggests? All of these questions and more are flying through my brain, the day after Sir Aitch, as I call him, decided the send me into stacked-up ground poles on the side of the arena.
DH insists this accident was my problem. "Whoa, Nelly!" Could that be true? Whoever is to blame - if blame there must be - it happened so fast that I can't even get my head around the circumstances so I can avoid it in the future. Bummer.
I was at the end of my ride yesterday, with my fellow rider and business partner, Mary, in the arena on ChaCha. We had both had good rides, although I was unable to get Aitch to collect. I was making one more circle and "Slam! Bam!', the next thing I knew I had a searing pain in my leg, felt the hard surface of the poles on my calf and then it was over!
I think I let out a scream or perhaps it was more like a screech, but I'm a little hazy on that detail. I stopped Aitch, caught my breath, then dismounted, thinking it best to get off him. It didn't even occur to me to make certain he was alright (bad horse 'Mom'). I must have figured that if he was injured, he would have let me know.
When I untacked him, looked at my leg immediately. I expected to see a layer of skin gone; rather, I spied a big bump that was quickly filling up with fluid and becoming more painful. Mary and I went for something cold to drink at our local post-ride haunt - The Flower Farm in Loomis, CA - to cool down. I could feel the bump on my leg getting larger. By the time I got home, it was very large and turning a dreadful color.
Thank goodness for ice. I spent the remainder of the day/night with ice on my leg. Happy to report that this morning, some of the swelling has gone down, the bruise is not quite so black and blue (this could be my imagination, however) and it generally feels/looks better. But there will be no riding this week, as the location of the bruise is problematic for that activity.
I'm off to deliver a saddle to my friend, Janet, then while waiting for her to give it a try, I will have a good talk with Aitch to find out what happened. Hope he can shed some light on all of this, but something tells me he won't be talking.
Onward into equine-land. A little shaken, but still determined.
Thanks, J. for posting me on my new blog. Sorry that the Wintec didn't work out for you, but know you will find the perfect saddle for you. This is one of the reasons we have Kelly give us expert advice. Will let you know how the lesson goes on Wednesday. Maybe on Starz, but feel as though I should give Aitch a fair chance to let me know he didn't mean to run me into the poles. Hugs, Me
ReplyDelete