Grounded

Blue skies!!! And a tiny looking Marley galloping around the pasture

Well this was not the post I was hoping to write when I tacked my horse up Tues afternoon! But things don't always go to plan, especially when dealing with horses.

I was pretty excited to be out riding on Tues. My ring was dry, the weather was warm, and I was trying to get Chimi and myself ready for our first outing since April of 2018. FENCE is hosting a XC schooling day this coming Sunday (weather permitting) and I had signed up with my trainer to go. I figured we'd just bop around some of the Starter/Beginner Novice jumps and see how it goes. I'm still working on building my fitness so I really wanted a fun low key outing and couldn't wait. HA. HA. HA. Damnit.

My birthday present! It is now hanging up in my barn :)

My ride started out really nice though. Finn's leaser, T, was there too and we both were supposed to go schooling together on Sunday. It was nice having someone to ride with even if we were just tooling around the ring. After having a wonderful warmup I asked her if she wanted me to put a jump up in the arena so that we could both pop over something before Sunday. She hasn't been able to ride Finn a lot this winter so she gladly said yes and I hopped off and gave her Chimi to hold while I put out a jump. I decided we should have two jumps, one a regular poles and standards and the the 2nd one the white plastic boxes I have. Both were honestly about 2' so nothing difficult and something pretty basic to get us started.

via GIPHY

T popped over the jumps first while I climbed back onto Chimi and after a quick trot and canter around the ring I headed for the regular standard jump and it was fantastic! Chimi perked his ears forward and popped over the jump like it was nothing. I went over it a few more times and all was pretty good. He was trying to do his stupid canter right before the jump like he did in the early days which for him is an evasion. It's a lot to describe and I don't even think I can word it correctly for you guys to understand how he feels when he does it but just know it's him being a bit of a "know it all" and he tends to lose focus on what's right in front of his face so things will surprise him b/c he was to busy "knowing things". I had it mostly under control, but definitely not fixing the problem over the pole jump and again the jumps were so small I really didn't think anything of it. I was just so excited to be jumping again that I just let it slide. Famous last thoughts.

via GIPHY

I turned to the white boxes and that was it. The next thing I remember is feeling pain on my face, a cramp in my calf, and I'm just laying there on my back on the ground hearing T call out if I was ok. I called back "I'm fine just give me a second!" and I laid there for a bit going through a mental checklist of where I was hurting and how bad. I have no visual remembrance of any of this. I know what I said, I know what I felt but I couldn't tell you what I saw. I could see but it didn't compute into my memory. I remember standing up, looking at the ground, feeling sand in my pants, and talking to T. I told her I'm not ok, I can't get back on, I think I have a concussion, and can you please take Chimi over the jump because I can't do it. It wasn't because I was scared, I knew I was seriously enough hurt and getting back on would of been a mistake.

Fall Off GIF from Horse GIFs

 I don't really remember what happened next. I can assume that I held Finn for her while she hopped on Chimi but I was lost somewhere in a mental cloud trying to think about where my Arnica was and having some sort of weird dream while I was standing there. It's kinda of a weird feeling thinking back on it and honestly feels more like a dream than a reality. Honestly I feel like I had a dream while I was laying on the ground and then again when I was holding Finn. Couldn't tell you what the dream was about but you know that feeling you have when you wake up and you don't remember what you dreamt but you know you had a dream? Yeah I had that feeling when I was laying on the ground and then again as I was standing there "watching" T take Chimi over the jumps. It's really a creepy feeling trying to pull up my memories from the fall and having zero visual memory. It's all black with just feelings, emotions, and conversation as the remaining part of my memory.

via GIPHY

As for what actually happened... well my best guess from what I do remember and my injuries is this. Chimi did his stupid canter evasion where he basically takes the bit and runs while shouting "I know best!!!!" gets to the base of the jump and went "Oh Shit!!! We're jumping??? I can't jump from here! I didn't know we were jumping!! I'm going to stop because I obviously can't jump over this thing in my way" and I fell forward, hit my face on his neck, got road rash from his mane, and then fell off to the left and landed on my back. And that's all from feeling memories- I remember what it felt like but I don't remember seeing it happen.

via GIPHY

Overall I was pretty lucky that day. I of course was wearing a helmet (which will now be tossed out) and having T there to take care of Chimi and feed all the horses was a blessing. I'm not seriously injured, just really sore, but able to function. My stepson is an almost EMT (just has to pass the 2nd half of the test) and he came up to make sure I was alive before laughing at me sway around like a Weeble Wobble while I was doing the concussion test. I didn't go to the hospital because 1) I hate them 2) I was fine (enough) and 3) my stepson has had plenty of concussions from football and having an accident prone "youth" (hell he's still damn young!) and told me to take it easy and if things got worse then yes I would of gone to the hospital, but they didn't.

via GIPHY

And as for my weekend plans? Well they've gone into the crapper. I'm sidelined for at least a week while my brain heals and then once that happens I'll take things a bit slower with Chimi and make sure his brain is functioning to!!!! He really can be a Dumb-blood at times and I just shake my head at him. We'll eventually be back to normal riding but I need to make sure I don't skip any steps next time!!!