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One year ago, on April 17,2014, I was feeding our horses…. Had just put hay into the feeder when the dominant horse laid back his ears and chased another horse out of the feeder. She panicked, wheeled around and ran me down, fell over me as I fell to the ground, mashing me into a kind of pretzel as she fell on top of me. I thought I was a gonner because my head and neck was under both me and the horse getting crushed into the earth…but at the last moment the inertia of the fall popped my head sideways so my neck was not broken after all.
There we lay….me on my back; the horse had fallen over me and lay beside me on her right side, almost head to head, with her front legs over my chest and her hind legs over my legs. When I realized our position I knew I was still in trouble so I talked as soothingly as possible to her so she wouldn’t panic. “Easy girl, easy girl”, but it didn’t help!! She panicked anyway when she realized what had happened. Now she was not trying to hurt me; only trying to get up. I don’t know if you know how a horse gets up off the ground but it is front end first; then back end. A cow is the opposite. Anyway, she rolled upright, pulling her right front leg back to my left side and putting the left front leg over my chest to my right side as she rolled upright….but she could not control where her hind legs went. Her left hind leg went directly into my right groin and her right hind leg went on top of my left lower leg….nailed both very “nicely” thank you and then she was out of there.
At that point I was too numb to move and figured I had serious injuries, broken legs etc so I laid there and rubbed the shock and numbness out of my legs until I was sure nothing was broken; Then managed to get up and hobble the quarter mile back to the house.
The following day I had to drive my oldest daughter to Vancouver to Quest University for a 4 day soccer event so no time to feel sorry for myself but I was in a world of hurt and pain and pretty well wished the mare had done a better job of stepping on me. I used those 4 days to keep moving so I wouldn’t seize up and not be able to drive us back home at the end of the soccer tournament, but I never want to repeat that performance.
Anyway, I survived the experience, healed up over the next couple months, managed to put up two hay crops last year and cut up 13 cords of firewood going into winter. All was well except that right groin and hip which never quite got back to normal, making me walk with a limp which seemed to keep getting worse as time went on through the winter.
Well, I finally gave up and went to the Hospital Emerge last Tuesday after Easter Monday. Just too much pain!! They put me through all the tests; Physical including prostate exam, ECG, blood work, X-rays, CT Scan and determined I am healthy in all respects, except, I have a completely deteriorated right hip, rubbing bone on bone, with no cushion between, and will need a hip replacement. The pain is now constant, day and night. I’m trying to pull some strings to get preferential treatment so it can be done ASAP instead of the year or so wait which is normal. It is pretty difficult running a farm with one leg. LOL!!!
So I wish you all the best….there ain’t no more Silverngold.