Actually, I think us over 50'ers
bounce better than we think we would. I had a bone density scan last year
and since I'm pretty active, I anticipated no problems. Imagine my shock
when my doctor told me the results were "awful"! For about 2 weeks I
skulked about the house, afraid to go anywhere for fear I might break. I
spent the time on the internet talking to others with osteoperosis and checking
out exactly what the pills the doctor prescribed for me do. I unsubbed
from the osteo list, tossed the pills and went riding. In April the
inevitable happened at an endurance ride. Just as we were approaching a
turn, a runner came around the corner from the opposite direction. My
horse went one way and I went the other, landing pretty much exactly as you did,
reins in hand, flat on my back. I lay there for a minute or so taking
stock and to my surprise -- nothing broke, split, cracked, shattered --
nada. Interesting. Just to make sure that wasn't a fluke, the exact
same thing happened about 2 hours later when my horse thought the horse coming
from the opposite direction was going to attack him. Again, I'm laying on
the ground, reins in hand -- no harm done. I wasn't even sore the
next day.
Maybe after all these years
we''ve just learned how to fall.
That's when I got to test my hypothesis. Mare did a drop shouldered
spook spin. I flew off her left side. I landed first on my hip, then back. I
held on to the reins, when said mare decided to see how far she could haul
me. When I let go of the reins I did indeed BOUNCE. My body bounced, my neck
snapped backwards and I smacked my head on very dry, drought ridden Kansas
clay... pretty much like hitting concrete.
After I assessed the damage and realized that I was going to live, I also
realized that my hypothesis would never become a theory because it was
just disproven. Now I know that to really debunk this hypothesis, one would
have to repeat the experiment several times. I'm asking for
volunteers. You can do the experiment on your own time under varying
conditions. The only requirement is that you must be over 50 years of
age!
Thanks. Let me know the results of your field studies. (oh, please wear a
helmet... I did and thank goodness!)
chris and ali whose halo slipped quite a bit
I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.
Louisa May Alcott
