Re: [RC] My helmet saved me BUT off my horse - Kristen A Fisher
Print this story and send it to your helmet company -
most of them have replacement policies for about 1/2 the retail cost of the
helmet. I have gotten 2 new ones this way [don't ask...]
Yesterday, while riding in the Tellico Mts. of E. Tennessee, I finally
got my helmet to pay for itself. We had ridden about 9 miles and it was
really getting hot and I suggested a shortcut to save a couple of miles.
This particular shortcut was straight down so we were off, leading our horses,
I had already slipped on my rear twice and was putting as much distance
between my horse and myself as I could in case she had the trouble standing I
was having. The next 30 seconds went by in a blink. I heard my
sister screaming, dogs howling, and the sounds of running hooves. My
next sound was the clunk of my helmet hitting the ground. (You guys all
know that sound, the one when you duck under a tree limb and don't quite make
it.) Well, Sherry had gotten into ground bees, we refer to the little
b------'s as yellow-jackets, her horse had charged forward, bucking, (how she
managed to do that on that slope is beyond me) slammed into my shoulder which
launched me into space and on my head, I then flipped once and landed on
my hip. I jumped up to see her horse disappearing down the hill and
Sherry is screaming bloody murder, yelling RUN, and she is trying to get
away. My horse is back up the slope right where she was when I got
knocked off, I crawled up, grabbed her reins and we slid most of the way
down. Got to where we could stand and Sherry is still covered in bees,
they seemed to be after her butt and eyes, luckily her sunglasses seemed to be
protecting her eyes as there were bees all on the rims. Her butt did not
fare so well, she was probably stung about 30 times. Sizing up the
situation, I'm delighted to find out that my horse and I have not been stung,
my helmet is cracked and the outside shell has come off, but other than
spitting out grit and my shoulder hurting, I'm okay. Sherry is
horseless, stung all over, and her dogs are biting at all the bee stings on
their bodies. I remind her that she is the hiker in our family and that
I brought my horse to ride and that the only way she was riding out was if she
started going into shock. Sisterly love abounds. I figured she'd
have to walk all the way back to the trailer but we found her horse about a
mile down the trail. Moral of the story---wear those
helmets---AND---hope for an early killing frost to get rid of the
bees....... Linda Norton
