Well I had just received my new Troxel helmet a week or so before. So today was only the second I had wore it for a trail ride. I am both an English and Western rider. And for information sake, I am a lady in my late 50's and only took up riding 3 years ago. Best decision I could have made, my horse Storm is one of the best things that has happened in my life.
So back to May 1st, 2013, I was on the last leg of a trail ride with two friends and heading back towards the barn. We all know you should never canter or gallup your horse at the end, when he/she can almost smell the hay! But we did and I did not realize just the power Storm had, I wanted to slow him just a bit, realizing to stop him was just plain ridiculous, so I half halted him. Well we were on a gravel road edging onto grass, and when I half halted him, his foot must have slipped on the damp grass and lost his footing. I have no memory from this point forward, the rest is heresay from the girls I was riding with.
I must have lost balance while Storm was trying to rebalance, and I flew through the air about 8 ft and landed on my right shoulder and head. Scared my rider friends pretty bad, they thought I was dead, as I continued to roll like a ragdoll for about another 8 to 10 ft and then nothing. I was unconscious and thankfully so, would not want to remember this accident. They went and got help and send for an ambulance. My coach was luckily there teaching a class, she came up. I came to for a few minutes and crying to her how much I hurt, and she trying to keep me calm and breathing. I lost consciousness again but do remember the pain as they rolled me onto a back board for the ambulance. The next two weeks are a real blur. The extend of the damage was 6 broken ribs, broken scapula (p.s. the hardest bone in the body to break), a concussion and a pretty sore body from head to toe. I spent almost 2 weeks in the hospital.
I know I have not had years of riding experience, but this could have happened to anyone. My new Troxel helment definitely saved my life, I am pretty sure my head would not have taken all of this accident. Maybe not dead, but not good either. At about 9 weeks I felt ready for my first little ride on my beautiful Stormy, just 20 mins. but it felt like heaven.
Another quick point, when I had been home about 2 weeks from the hospital and sitting out on my back deck, well who comes walking around is my horse, Storm, being led with two friends. You can only imagine the joy I felt seeing my guy after nearly a month. Those are the kind of friends everyone should have, they made my day and made me happy with the memory for many days after. But in my case, the story doesn't end there...Two days after my short ride at 9 wks, I woke up in the night and was heading to the bathroom and no idea how, but ended up falling down a full flight of stairs, head over heals. Luckily my previous injuries were not affected at all, someone was definitely looking our for me. But that fall did more nerve damage and brusing on my left side, just evening out the damage I guess.
So as of today, I am still going onto my 4th month of recovery, but I have been lucky enough to ride my horse twice this past week. Then I just want to go home and sleep. I apparently have a long rode to recovery completely. Do to the wonderful replacement policy for helmets, I have recently received my new Troxel helmet and look forward to wearing it the next time I ride. Of course, I have been the brunt of many jokes, especially after the staircase fall, like wearing my helmet, safety vest and bubblewrap all the time. That is okay, I am glad to be here to share my story.
And a big thank you to Troxel. I will register my new helmet today, but I do not plan on needing to replace it any time soon.
