Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

I am posting this in an effort to help some people learn from my mistake.  
Some of you will probably shrug and say, I would never have done that, but 
some of the rest of you might have a chance to learn something that was, for 
me, an extremely painful lesson.

My two horses, Cody and Tango, have always been pretty solid.  We have 
encountered everything from birds flying out of bushes to 3 motorcycles 
bursting around a blind corner and we have never lost control of them.  To 
add to it, I have not fallen off Cody since I was first training him almost 
8 years ago.  Sometimes this kind of reliability leads to complacence on the 
rider?s part.  So, when I went out to go for a short ride in a familiar area 
and forgot to put on my breast collar, I did not worry about it.

I had been recovering from an illness that put me out of the saddle for the 
better part of 6 months and I had the brand new custom saddle from Desoto 
Saddles that I had ordered early in 2005 and that I was getting to use for 
only the second time.  I was eager to get out on the trail and figured it 
would not matter if we did not have the breast collar this time, but 
certainly we would make sure to use it on the longer rides.

About a mile out the horses spooked violently and took off running.  One 
thing led to another and both I and the other rider ended up on the ground.  
When we found the horses a good mile or more down the trail (which they 
followed religiously at an all out gallop judging by the depth of the hoof 
prints), my saddle had gone under Cody's belly and he had blood flowing from 
wounds all over his legs.  Some of the wounds were from the saddle pounding 
and rubbing under his belly, others were from a fall he had clearly taken, 
probably having gotten tangled up with the saddle at some point.  Cody was 
torn up and clearly in pain and the saddle was severely damaged.  Tango (who 
had his breast collar on) only suffered from a bruised tongue due to 
stepping on the reins.  )Oh, and the riders suffered no major injuries.)

I am happy to say that Cody suffered no permanent injuries, and most of his 
wounds have healed (after a period of stall rest, meds, and general 
treatment).  The saddle has returned to its maker for surgery (have not 
gotten the final estimate on this yet).   I hope to get over my desire to 
kick myself soon.  The breast collar probably would not have kept me from 
falling off, but it would have kept the saddle on Cody's back and prevented 
a lot of injury (and expense for those who are more economically minded).

To sum it up, as one of my co-workers said when I explained the accident, 
"So it is kind of like making a quick trip to the local store without 
putting on your seatbelt."

Nikki (and Cody, who has forgiven me much faster than I will)
AERC M33800 / PNER 3782



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