Two for two

Prior to yesterday, the last time I fell off a horse was probably three years ago, when Baby Huey spooked at some ducks during a trail ride. That time I landed on my feet. Yesterday the fall from Clair wasn't bad at all. Today I made it two for two by getting bucked off Dakota. This time a trip to urgent care was the outcome.

Dakota is a sweetheart. He has never bucked, bolted, kicked, or bitten. He always tries hard. Today the barn owner B and I set out for a trail ride. We had just turned toward the driveway when I remembered I wanted to take my phone. I turned Dakota back toward the arena, where my phone was sitting on a shelf mounted to the arena railing. My car was also parked there, and to get to the phone we needed to maneuver between the car and the railing. There was about an eight foot gap, tight but not crazy tight. Dakota didn't want to squeeze in there. I was being pretty patient, just gently urging him forward, when in a flash he had a full-on panic attack. He sat back on his haunches, whirled 180 degrees, and started bucking as hard as he could, which is hard. I think I stuck it for two jumps and then I was off to the left. It was all so out of character for him!

I landed on my left forearm and hip. I really smacked into the ground, but i just felt sore when I stood up. I got back on Mr. D, and we continued our trail ride. He was a bit unsettled for the first ten minutes, but then he was fine. i felt fine myself. I spent the afternoon helping my husband install windows. I was a little gimpy on my left leg but still feeling pretty ok. By five o'clock, though, my left wrist was starting to really hurt and swell up. It was also making a weird clicking noise when I rotated it. I'm headed out of town tomorrow on a business trip, and I wanted to have it checked before I left, so off to urgent care we went. They x-rayed my wrist and hip. No obvious fractures but they want a radiologist to doublecheck the images tomorrow. I don't get on the plane until late afternoon.

Impressive hematoma, no?

B has a theory that maybe the tight space triggered a bad memory for Dakota -- maybe the stocks when he was at BLM? She said he looked terrified. I tend to agree that it was some kind of triggered trauma, because it was completely unlike him. We'll get back to it on Saturday and leave all this bad luck behind! (And after two smacks, I need to buy a new helmet!)