Longstreet / accident.

[Rides 2 Far <rides2far@juno.com>]

Just back from Longstreet's Charge.  There was a bad accident at 3:30 AM
Sat morning when 3 horses broke out of their electric corrals and went
bolting through camp.  Since the camp is on a highway it was pretty
important to keep them contained.  Like everyone else in camp I woke to
neighing and galloping hooves and went out to check my own.  By the time
I got out there I heard they'd caught them but decided as long as I was
out I'd just make a run up to the porto-let.... then I noticed lanterns
and a commotion.  Turned out ride manager Joe Harris had tried to turn
the horses as they ran up the road and one had hit him head on, HARD. 
Joe is close to 200 lbs. and it threw him the length of a gooseneck
trailer.  TERRIFYING!  When I got there they had him covered in blankets
and had called an ambulance.  He said, "Hello Angie" so normally I
thought he was OK, but turned out I was the first person he'd recognized.
 He didn't know what had happened, phone numbers or where he lived.  He
was in a lot of pain from his shoulder and kept saying that his back hurt
bad.  He's not one to complain but he kept saying, "I'm in a lot of pain,
could you support my back please" but a doctor whose wife was there to
ride told us not to touch anything.  So scarey and such a helpless
feeling.  After Teddy's friend's incident every time he said his back
hurt I felt sick. The ambulance finally came, with siren off thank
goodness, and he was taken away so quietly that there probably weren't
over a dozen people in camp who even knew it happened. Turned out his
shoulder/rotator cuff is shattered. They're going to do a complete joint
replacement.  His ribs were broken on his back and his lung was punctured
and collapsed. He had blood in his chest cavity.  He's stable now and in
ICU at Hutcheson Hospital in Fort Oglethorpe, GA.  He's a school teacher
and had one week of school left, then he's out for summer vacation.  I'm
going to get his horses tomorrow and bring them to my house.  Betsy
Gilman went to see him at the hospital and he was coherant, telling her
who could write the vet's their checks and who to do the ride results for
AERC. We're terribly thankful that he's no worse than he is.

The ride went on, as they always do, but it was hard to get all that into
it.  Carman Blaylock won the 50, Rudy the mule got BC.  My 14 year old
daughter Bonnie did her first 25 and did a good job.  I pulled the big
trailer and didn't hit any gas pumps this time.  That's all I can think
of right now.

Angie


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