The ups...and downs of horses

Today we went to the barn to feed the horses, as is our usual routine. All was fine. The girl who manages everything there, Aubree, is one of 14 people in the world trained by and working with the renowned Monty Robers, "The Man Who Listens to Horses." She's fabulous. She was getting her Percheron ready for some work. His name is Patrone and he stands 18 hands high and weighs about 1400 pounds. He's a big boy! He's basically a draft horse, like a Clydesdale, just huge really. Anyway, John asked her what she was going to work on with him and Aubree told him she was going to do some ground driving and asked if John had ever done any ground driving. He said no and she asked if he wanted to help her and she'd show him some techniques. He asked if he could ride Patrone sometime and she said that he could ride after they'd worked with him a bit.

They worked for 20 minutes or so and then John went to get on Patrone. Apparently, when he was getting on he nicked Patrone in the flank (very sensitive) with the toe of his boot and Patrone responded by bucking. That threw John off balance and he landed on Patrone's rump instead of in the saddle. That kept Patrone bucking and John tried to stay on and pull himself into the saddle. After 3 bucks John couldn't hold on any longer and he flew up in the air and down onto the ground. Aubree and I ran to him to see if he was okay. He was laying face down on the ground and not responsive at all. We rolled him over and his eyes were open but he was snoring. It was the most freaky thing I have ever seen. He was unconscious for a couple of minutes and then started coming to.

He tried to stand up and was pushing us off him because we were trying to keep him still on the ground. I had called 911 and an ambulance was on the way. He finally stood up and the EMTs arrived. They let him walk into the ambulance, which proved to be quite a feat in itself as he was falling backwards and really struggling with the steps. They were first just going to look at him because he kept saying he was fine. However, when they asked him who the President was and he said Bush or Clinton, they decided he probably had a moderate concussion and needed to go to the ER. I told him I was going to take the girls home and meet him there. He asked me what girls were there with us. He didn't remember we'd brought Cili and her friend Chastity. I was freaking out but just wanted to get to the hospital with John.

When I got to the ER they brought me in to his room and asked him a few more questions. He couldn't remember our phone number, how old he was, or the President, still. They took John in for a CT scan which showed nothing serious had happened to his noggin. That was a relief! They said John would continue to ask the same questions over and over as he tried to regain his memory. They said he could sleep but to wake him every 20 to 30 minutes to make sure he was coherent. We were there for about 2 hours and they let us go. Seriously, the shortest trip to the ER I've ever made!

John's home now and sleeping in his chair. He's hurting pretty bad now, obviously he has a headache. He doesn't have any spot on his head where his head hit so I'm not sure what happened exactly to his head. He may have just jarred it pretty badly. His wrist is hurting him now and he thinks it's sprained. I may take him back for an x-ray if he'll let me, but we'll see. I'm just happy to have him safe and sound. It really was one of the scariest moments of my life.

I know it's going to happen, Aubree said it best when she said it was the first of many times to come. It's just hard to see your husband, who you view as the total tough guy, in such a vulnerable and fragile position. I'm so thankful he's safe at home!

Our usual weekends...

Usual, that is, if it's nice out. Lately it's been so cold that we have run out to the barn, grained the horses, and then jumped back into the warmth of the Jeep! I haven't ridden in 3 weeks because it's been cold, muddy, yucky, you name it!

Today was lovely! It was in the mid-70s. The wind was blowing, making my allergies act up something fierce, but not even 10-per-minute sneezes and itchy eyes could have kept me away form that barn!

John worked on Lady's feet and I had Connor on Ellie bareback working on the neck reining we started 3 weeks ago. I think she's getting better, I've been working on getting her back to basics. She's got some bad habits that someone else let her continue but it's not working for me!

John has started ground-work with Lady. She's a pretty girl and she's getting better, but she's got a long ways to go...the cuteness wears off and we need her to do what we ask her to do now.

I put a picture in here of Cili and her friend Morgan riding a few weeks ago. Cili is on a 25-year old named Khaliff and Morgan is on Ellie. The others are from today...