Technical Difficulties
It was bound to happen eventually. After all, horseback riding is a sport with risks. What I didn’t expect was for it to happen so soon.
I fell. Actually, I didn’t fall so much as I flew. I wish we had video and instant replay so I could see for sure what happened, but what follows is the gist of what I remember.
My beloved Ty and I were working on our rising trot when he dramatically spooked at god knows what and spun around, causing me to lose my balance and come up out of the saddle. He then rose up and turned again sharply, catapulting me off in the opposite direction.
Flying is not bad. It’s the landing that sucks.
The good news: I am alive, my back and head are all in order.
The bad news: I landed hard on my right side and broke both my wrist and my arm at the shoulder.
It hurt. A lot. I yelled and cursed. A lot.
The worst of it was the damage to my shoulder which was in pieces and had to be put back together again surgically.
So I will apologize for such a brief post this month. I am struggling without my right – my primary – arm and am using my phone and my left thumb to create this post.
That limitation has been tough and I’ve learned a few things about myself, my solitary life, my stubbornness, and how much it means to have friends who love you enough to come to your aid. I expect I’ll write more about that later.
I am also grateful for my father and my family for instilling a strong sense of humor in me. Being able to laugh at myself and the absurdity of my situation has really gotten me through a lot in the last couple of weeks. Maybe I’ll write more about that later too.
It will be a couple of months at least before I’ll be able to ride again. Will I be afraid? Probably. But I am determined to come back stronger. And you know I’ll write about that as well.
In the meantime, enjoy the colors of the changing season, Halloween if you celebrate, and please do your best to find the humor in life’s absurdity and laugh. It really is the best medicine.
