OUCH, OUCH, OUCH, & much more that that for both me & my horse.

We went out on a trail ride into the desert with my trainer & 2 other riders from the ranch. We were out about 1 1/2 miles from the ranch & oops. My horse stumbled on a little mound of dirt. The initial stumble seemed to be ok, then when he was recovering from that, he must have caught his front leg with his back hoof & stumbled nose first into the ground. That was when I just couldn't "sit back" any more & over the left side of his neck I went. Landed on my head which thank heavens always has a riding helmet on it. Then I don't remember much if anything until I was trying to get up on the right side of him. My trainer was telling him to be careful not to step on me & I remember struggling to get the reins out of his way so he wouldn't stumble again on them.

His leg was gashed open about 6 inches long & 2 inches wide......it seemed that I had a very sore head along with seeing double & blury, a lower arm that was all scraped up & starting to swell along with a shoulder that didn't like my arm putting any pressure on it. My trainer took off her sock & wrapped it around my horses let to keep the bleeding down & then took off on the horse she was riding & headed for the ranch to get the truck & trailer. The other 2 riders stayed there with me & my horse & about 45 minutes later, she, her truck & the horse trailer arrived across the desert. She had called his vet & he was going to be there soon. We got back to the ranch & to sum it up, my horse always has my priority in the line of care. We had to knock him out & then the leg was sutured. After that was accomplished, I had my other horses to care for.

Of course my yearling came down with what seems to be a mild case of strangles, so I have to clean out that absess daily & have to be very careful because of how contageous that desiese is. Needless to say, the fall occured late in the morning & I didn't finish up with my horses until after 5pm. I am home & hurting.....with a massive headache......& a slight consern about how the fall might have effected the neck fusion I had 5 years ago. I think it probably makes my neck invincable....but there is always that doubt.

I am on such a high dose of fentynal for my migraines, I am not sure if I would feel anything really hurt or not. Gut feel tells me to go have it checked out in the ER given that I have taken some tylenol & no effect except for the headache getting worse. I know that by tomorrow I will probably not be getting out of bed very easily......however there is the fact that my horse requires Antibiotice 2 x/day for 6 more days along with the dressing change daily. Of course he couldn't let my yearling get my whole attention with her abcess & had to get in on the picture too.

I am sitting here trying to get some relief from the pain but think that I will probably end up in the ER just to give myself a warm tummy feeling that nothing is truely messed up with me. I haven't had a headache for 3 years since my migraines were brought under control so I really hate feeling pain in my head again even on the massive amount of pain killers I am on for the migraines.

What a day......I have been feeling the case of "when it rains it pours", but now, that really is the case.

& one more OUCH for good measure,
Debbie