Ouch!

We had a couple of injuries this weekend. One horse and one non-horse. Saturday was a Westernaires day. We had to be thee at 6:30am and didn't leave till about 2:30. Long day. Especially since the day before was a grooming night so we didn't get to bed until 11:00 and we had to be up at five to feed and load up the trailer. But we were the very first trailer to show up so we got the best sparking space. That is kind of nice.


Kumi, Kira and I are relaxing at the trailer between rides when we suddenly feel the truck jerk back. We went to see which horse pulled back and why. Apparently Mariah got ticked at Ebony and fired a kick off at her. Ebony pulled back but being tied to the trailer she couldn't get away and got kicked in the leg. Took a nice chunk out. Not to worried, just a nice pressure bandage to stop the bleeding and some antibiotic ointment and she will be fine. That was when I discovered that my horse first aid kit was in the barn instead of the trailer. Nuts. One of the nicest things about Westernaires is how friendly the people are. One of our friends had a first aid kit so we were able to get her patched up. Shes not limping so she should be fine.

I had a lesson with Carly at 3:00 and we were going to work on gymkana events. My first gymkana was scheduled for Sunday and Mariah and I needed some work and stratagies to compete. The gymkana events are barrel racing, pole bending, keyhole and flags. We started with barrels. Carly showed me how to set up and then coached Mariah and I as we trotted through the pattern. In one pass Mariah was trotting fast and was to close to a barrel. She did not respond to my leg to push her out. The result, my leg cushioned her side when she ran into the barrel. The 55 gallon steel barrel. The very heavy steel barrel that we knocked down. I knew it was going to leave a mark but I still had a 1/2 hour left in my lesson so I completed it. My leg hurt, but it wasn't bothering me as long as I stayed on my horse. So we worked on pole bending, keyhole and flags.

The flags were fun. You start with one flag in your hand. There are two barrels out in the arena with sand in them and one has a flag in it. The object of the game is take the flag in your hand and stick it in the empty bucket, walk/trot/lope to the next bucket and pickup the flag and the back across the finish line. I did okay but I need to work on de-spooking Mariah a bit more so she will get closer to the barrels. (Just not to close!)

We went to dinner at my folks house and as the evening passed my leg hurt more and more. By the time I went to bed it hurt so bad that I could not find a comfortable place to rest it. I was starting to suspect that I broke something. So off to the hospital. They did 4 x-rays and they were clean. Cool. I figured I would get some pain meds and be on my way. Might even be able to make the gymkana on Sunday. Instead, I was invited to spend the night. They were concerned about a compartment injury in my leg. There is so little room in the lower leg that when you get massive swelling they become concerned about nerve and blood vessel damage. They wanted to watch it. Fine. As the picture shows, it didn't even look that bad!


The picture does not show the ostrich-egg sized swelling that accompanied the scrape on my leg. Notice something else? No bruise. It is Monday and still no bruise. At least a bruise gives you some bragging rights but no bruise and it makes me look like a big baby. *sigh*

On the bright side, I should be back on Mariah by the end of the week. I can't wait.