Major Wreck

[Marcus R Hoff <mrhoff@srv.net>]

I went for a ride with Bonnie Bolender (Ride manager) checking routs for 
our new endurance ride.
I was riding Windwalker,( half Arab/ half walker) . We were having a 
wonderful ride moving along
at an extended trot ,sun shine, no wind, just an all around nice day. We 
had been swapping leeds,
Windy started out the day following, not daring to get a nose ahead. 
Finally he opened up and took
the lead trotting so fast Bonnie's horse had to canter. Windy led down a 
canyon to a small creek
and launch him self to the other side where the trail got steep. 
Starting this climb I saw my saddle
had slipped back a little I could not get off then and thought I could 
make it to the next level piece
of ground. The saddle slipped back to Rodeo and in an flash I was 
slammed in to the ground head
first. Yes I was wearing my helmet. Spent some time on the ground review 
the situation. We had to
find Windy before he got in a worse situation. Tracking was not to hard 
with the soft ground and a bucking
horse. Bonnie kept warning not to turn my head . We and decided that I 
should head for base camp.
Windy's tracks went away from camp. Shortly after we split Bonnie yelled 
she had found him. Bonnie
tied her horse and had Windy by the rains in a thicket of trees. I was 
attempting to take the saddle off
that was under his belly and he exploded again planting both hind hooves 
in my chest and running over
the top of Bonnie bucking and me screaming Woah woah @%^&*!! woah and he 
got his right hind
leg trough a stirrup. Windy stopped with his right side leaning against 
a tree. with a Cloud stirrup
wedged around his hock. The situation was bad, I was able to get the 
saddle off and tried to get the
stirrup off but it was wedged so tight around his hock it would not 
budge. Last effort was to stomp down
on the edge of the stirrup to loosen it. After several try's it finally 
loosened and Windy walked away holding
his leg up.
We decided the best plan would be for Bonnie to ride back to camp and 
get the trailer and I would
lead Windy to the nearest road ,approximately 1 1/2 miles away. I led 
Windy about an eighth of a mile
and he was walking good and being a hand full butting me with his head 
and trying to out walk me.
Ask Bonnie if she could lead him back and I would walk out the three 
miles to camp. Had my 8 year
old Ariat boots on and after a mile my feet were hurting bad and a few 
other pane were showing up.
Got back to camp and Bonnie was walking a little gimpy. Windy had 
stepped on her lower leg
when he went over her in his bucking spree. Thank God she is OK. Went to 
the ER and had a cat scan,
found I factored C5. Will be out of commission for a few week.
All I can say is I should have had a breast collar on. Take time to 
therally check equipment, like making
sure your cinch tight, and never travel back country alone.
I had a vet check Windy out, has a few scrapes but is all right.

M.R.Hoff Horse-N-Around Corral System