that even the quietest horses can unintentionally hurt you.
A friend of mine what just seriously injured in a horse related accident. From what I was told, he was riding one of the broke, quieter horses and was about to get off the horse when it started giving him some problems. The horse ended up rearing and I guess my friend bailed as he thought the horse was going to go over and ended up face first on the ground. His wife was putting up Christmas decorations for their annual holiday party later that day, when she heard a loud thud and groaning. She and the barn help rushed to the ring to find the horse laying on top of my friend with only his feet sticking out (like the scene of the witch in the Wizard of Oz). Luckily the horse did not trash around, he was mostly likely stunned from what happened and they were able to get the horse up without causing anymore damage.
At first he mentioned that he could not feel his feet, but regained sensation by the time he arrived at UVA. He was diagnosed with a dislocated neck and I believe a fractures c6 & c7. He had surgery yesterday, where they took out a disk and replaced it with a titanium disk and put in rods and screws. He now seems to be in less pain and back to his old self, joking around.
It looks like it will take him 3-6 months of recovery before he can go back to work. I didn't mention that he is a horse trainer, but it has been mentioned that he does not want to ride anymore. Of course this was while he was in pain and probably feeling embarrassed and down on his luck, so only time will see.
A quick updated on Woody: He is still lame. The farrier was out last night and still believes it is an abscess, so he pulled his shoe and says that it should burst quicker without it on. Of course, Woody hasn't been ridden in a week, which isn't helping his hip issue at all. Now I am wondering if we are going to be ready for Florida.....Christina
No comments:
Post a Comment