I mean, your body can take a beating. If you fall, it's usually from about 5 or 6 feet above the (hard) ground. Sometimes higher, if you happen to be jumping when you and the horse part company. And let's face it, we don't usually fall off while the horse is standing still. (Although, to be truthful, I can say that I've done that.) Most of the time when we experience an unintentional dismount, it's at speed. Which makes the ground seem harder.
By the way, did you know that there are scales to evaluate the hardness of an object as it pertains to the bounce back of the object hitting it? I prefer using the Leeb Rebound Hardness test, myself.
Yep, from now on you can look at your falls as science experiments. You can even get a little doohickie called a schleroscope to measure the distance of your rebound after you hit the ground.
Even better, there's even something called indentation testing that measure hardness based on the indentation left by an object hitting a surface. So, you can measure the hardness of the ground by the size of the crater you left behind when you landed.
But I digress. At least when you fall, you can point to your injuries with a sense of pride. Unfortunately, our equestrian passion often subjects us to less, uh, illustrious injuries - the broken toe from being stepped on, the bruised side from the bite of a girthy horse, or the scraped up leg from when Poopsikins tried to pry you off by using the nearest fence for leverage.
I give you my most recent Stupid Horse-Related Injury: The Self-Imposed, Helmet-Induced Nose Job. Sadly, I was nowhere near a horse when this happened. I was just getting ready to tack up, grabbing my saddle and helmet from the top rack, and the helmet bounced off the bottom rack, rebounded upwards and the brim smacked me right in the bridge of the nose. BAM!!!!!
I saw stars, and darn near went to my knees. Bled like a stuck pig, too. This is what it looks like 3 days later. Lovely shade of Spring-like yellow, don't you think?
I'll be the first to tell you, helmet safety is VERY IMPORTANT!!! Those suckers can hurt!
Anybody else have a silly horse-related injury they want to share?
Oh no! That's unfortunately and also kind of hilarious - heal quickly :)
ReplyDeleteI will share Miranda's, as they came at just the best time. A week before High School Graduation!! (First off, when my friends would ask me what Miranda's prom gown was like, I would have to answer "breeches, tall boots and helmet," as she chose horse show over senior prom!!! )
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I digress, during the week leading to Graduation (and wearing a super cute right above the knees dress), she fell off Pippi. Ended up with a bruised and bloody knee. The night before Graduation she went Barrel racing and scraped the skin off the other knee doing the turn and burn around a barrel. Awesome!! That's my girl!!
I was gathering saddle pads to do laundry. Saddles and pads were on the racks in the tack room. Saddle racks were all hung about eye level. I had undone all the straps and went down the line tilting the saddle up and pulling the pad from underneath each saddle. My thumb pointing towards my face. The last saddle pad was stuck. I pulled once, pulled twice a bit harder, then really yanked on the third try. Saddle pad came loose my thumb hit my forehead with such force that my fingernail broke and was imbedded right between my eyes. Left a lovely crescent shaped cut right between the eyes and a bit of a bruise.
ReplyDeleteMy gelding seriously bit me on the top of my boob once! Luckily it was a well hidden bruise but it hurt like the dickens (as my grandma'd say!)
ReplyDeleteMost of my injuries thus far have been psychological, but I'm sure something will happen soon. Nice colors Amy! (and I'm glad you didn't get hurt worse)
ReplyDeleteNot an injury but a story. About a year ago my gelding accidentally bumped me over when he got a fright and ran between me and the fence and there wasn't quite enough room for him. I rolled and stood up, no damage other than a pulled muscle, didn't even spill the bucket of feed I was carrying. Explained calmly to my boy I knew it was an accident but he needs to be careful because I'm little and easily hurt. Next morning I was very stiff, and was amazed when I went up with the hay that instead of rushing to gobble it off the barrow as usual he got between me and the other horses and kept them back, Was astounded that evening when the mare got to the barrow first and instead of pushing her off as usual (often nearly over me) he left her there and kept the others back. He has been calmly acting as chief crowd control officer ever since and feed times are now peaceful and safe as a result.
ReplyDeleteHaha. I had a mini break my foot. My little guy Herbie think's he's a lap dog and signals me when he wants me to sit down and "make a lap". Once I am on the ground, he will plop down partially on my lap for a tummy rub. Well, one time in his eagerness to snuggle up close, he actually stepped on the side of my foot, breaking one of the small side-bones. Hurt like a sonofagun for a while but wouldn't have traded the snuggles for anything. And talk about bragging rights for an injury...you can't beat the story of a lap-horse.
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