The Unexpected

It is always a good idea to remember that horses ARE unpredictable creatures. On Thursday I took G. out to the barn to ride. Since Andy is still a little swollen we decided that it would be best to ride a different horse. Now this horse is not ours but we have been around him for the past three years, so we are figuring “no problem”.

G. took him into the round pen and worked him a little. He was very responsive. He changed directions nicely, stopped and squared up to her and “hooked on” (this is where the horse turns after stopping and then when asked come in to the handler). I told G. that she could stop and begin grooming him. I stayed at the round pen and pet one of the barn's cats. Soon I decided to join G. at the hitching post to see if she needed any help with putting the horse’s bridle on. On my approach I noticed the horse was pulling back and that the top portion of the hitching post was flying through the air. The scary thing for me was that G. had not yelled and I could not see her at first. The second concerning thing was the top portion of the hitching post is a metal bar.

My pace quickened and I saw G. squatted under the bar not looking at me. She was crying. I grabbed the horse and talked as soothingly as possible. I had G. go sit down near by but out of the way. I tried to hold the horse, the metal bar that was swinging around as the horse moved and call for help from others that were about 50 yards away in the arena. It took a little while for someone to hear me since I was trying to yell loud enough to be heard but not so loud as to frighten the horse. Help arrived and M. took the horse while I took G. and headed for home. I had not yet decided if I was just going to take her to the doctor or if more urgent care would be needed.

The metal bar had been held in place with a very large spike and that spike had caught her on her left arm. I could not immediately tell if it was a puncture wound or just a really bad scratch. The bar had also smacked G. in the head which had left a large goose egg and bruise. I decided it was better to be safe than sorry and took her in to see the doctor. They cleaned up the scratch and checked out her head. All she needed was a tetanus booster since it had been a while since she had her last one.

As we left the doctor’s office G. asked if I would let her try riding this horse again. She must have expected me to say “no” but I said of course she could. Just next time I will stand with her while she is grooming to make sure he doesn’t spook again and cause her harm. G. had not done anything wrong and the horse got scared. Stuff happens. We are all just thankful that she and the horse will be fine. The horse did have a scrape as well from the spike, but nothing that won’t heal.