Tuesday April 17, 2007

On Saturday, my brother-in-law and my 3-year-old niece came up to go horse back riding. We saddled up two horses and my niece rode with me. About 30 minutes into the ride, a few miles back on our mountain, my horse stumbled hard. I pulled her head up to help her regain her balance, but quickly realized that I could not hold onto my niece and hold the reigns up. I dropped the reigns to grab my niece and the horse went down. My niece and I were both thrown over her head.

I locked my niece in my arms and twisted in the air so that I would land on my back with her protected against my stomach. As we hit the ground my arms were thrown open and she was propelled out of them and onto the ground next to me. I still had her feet locked into my hands and Tucked under my body a bit, so she didn't go far. She ended up with a scuff on her helmet and a scrape on her hip, but otherwise unhurt.

I fractured a vertebrae in my back (L3) and though we didn't know exactly what was wrong at the time, it was clear we were not moving me. Miraculously, Dave came along on the golf cart minutes after the fall and he was able to rush back to the house and jump in the car to go get our neighbors, who are EMTs. They called an ambulance and rushed up to start treating me.

It took about an hour to get me ready to move - there were four trucks and an ambulance and over a dozen paramedics. They decided not to try and get me down the road with a back injury and called for a helicopter. Loaded me in and had me in the hospital in 10 minutes.

My fracture is mild, considering. No surgery needed and pain drugs help a lot with the pain. I will need help moving from a sitting, standing and laying position for a few days. Help walking for the next few weeks, maybe month or so. I spend most days on my back right now, but can sit or stand for short periods. Jarred is feeding for us right now, since we have been staying at my sisters until I can handle the ride up our road. I hope to get home by Friday.

All in all, we're doing quite well here. Dave is staying with me until the weekend and my Dad and his wife are coming up for a few weeks. The animals are all well and the horses were not hurt during all this. We will keep everyone posted as things develop.