Hi Sweetie!
Okay, before anyone gets too worried, everyone and everything is fine! Flash and I were having a nice ride, but we did have a bit of scary moment. The trails are a bit hillier than I expected, but I had put his breast collar and boots on, which was good because there are a lot of stony areas, albeit not chunky cut gravel, but well-worn, rounded natural stone, and we were doing just fine until he started to go down a part of the trail that was really washed out. I felt like we could make it just fine, but Flash wasn’t happy about how deep his feet were going into the dirt (not even mud, just a deep grove of missing dirt), when he suddenly pulled up and decided to climb up the side instead. Problem was, there was no place to go, and he stumbled over some bushes and lost his balance and slid down the side of the washout, ending up like you see in the picture, upside down with his head on the down side. The walls were much steeper than they appear here, and he couldn’t get his feet down enough to stand up. He just lay there for awhile. Meanwhile, I’m trying to move him with no success, and I figured I’d need a bunch of burly guys to help me get him up, so I ended up calling 911. Thank goodness I had a cell phone signal! We all know how unhealthy it is for a horse to be on the ground for too long, especially with his head at the lowest point! While I was waiting, I managed to get a lot of his tack off, including his saddle and breast collar so he could breath a lot better. Just as the FD folks were coming up the trail, Flash suddenly lurched and scrambled and somehow managed to get himself upright, thank goodness! Of course, everything was dirty, especially him, but that’s a small price to pay. I checked him out and unbelievably, he was just fine! No sore spots, no heat, no swelling, no limping, nothing! Well, the dirt was soft, which is how I was able to get out from under him anyway. While the fireman held him, I re-saddled him and started to walk him out, and he seemed so fine I decided to try mounting, figuring if there was a problem it would show up more quickly and more noticeable with me on him, and again, he was perfectly fine! We ended up riding back to camp with no issues whatsoever. Other than a bit of a wrenched neck, I seem to be whole as well, though I did some post-crash ibuprofen as a precaution. I can’t even figure out how I landed, but that I managed to extricate myself quickly enough. Anyway, we got back to camp, untacked him, and let him graze with Apollo the rest of the afternoon, no harm, no foul! Got lucky on that one. And now the DNR folks know they need to do some trail repair, they were there, too. So now I’m all settled down for the evening, glad I did my Egoscue exercises this morning, it may have helped me be loose enough not to incur any real damage. But I am going to have a much needed glass of wine now that I’ve fed the horses and am ready for a bit of TV before shower and bed. So I’m going to say good night a bit early! Love you, babe! Good night!
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