[RC] Dumb rider breaks arm at Tejon - Susan E. Garlinghouse, DVM
Hi all,
Just wanted to say thanks for all the nice emails after my
dumb fall at Tejon last weekend. Charlene Lewis rode my mare Cheyenne in
the 50 on Friday, finished a tough course in great shape, and I was riding her in
the 55 on Saturday. She was doing very well, just gaining more
experience---this is her first season and only her third 50, and she still has
a baby brain at times, but coming along very well.
We were on the second loop in absolutely gorgeous country, I
was riding with Alison Farrin and Tracy Tromp and it was starting to rain a
bit, but footing was still great. We came down off a long downhill and it
looked like there was a stretch ahead with good footing for trotting, but I
needed a quick potty break before moving on. I told Alison and Tracy to
go ahead, I’d catch up in a minute. Nature’s call having been
taken care of, I walked her for a minute or two to stretch my legs, then went
to get back in the saddle. Cheyenne is an Anglo and very tall, I had my
foot in the stirrup to jump up, but didn’t have my center of gravity over
hers yet. She side stepped to look up the trail just as I started to jump,
my balance went a little backwards, I got tangled up with myself (what a klutz),
tried to catch myself with my left arm (which I had already broken last May,
and apparently not entirely healed yet) and broke it all over again, this time
in four places. I didn’t even realize at first I’d broken it,
until I stood up and (medical genius that I am, Dr. Q would be so proud),
thought that a happy arm probably shouldn’t have a S-shape to
it. Bummer.
There were more riders coming down the trail, and they
helped me get my arm stabilized with vetrap, offered me better drugs than what
I carried (which would have made me very much more comfortable but also pretty
much unconscious at an awkward time), and Lucie Trumbull (may-she-live-forever)
ponied my mare safely into the vet check back to my crew. All of this
happened right in front of a house being built out in the middle of nowhere and
this pack of crazy women endurance riders descended en masse on the poor lone
guy there doing work and all but stole his truck keys from him until he agreed
to drive me back to camp to get help. Poor guy never had a chance, they
probably scared the bejesus out of him, not understanding what fundamentally shy
and gentle woodland creatures endurance women really are when migrating in
large numbers. <g>
Once at camp, Chris White and her husband Terry adopted me
and took me first to the Lancaster Kaiser facility, then all the way down to
Panorama City to have the fracture dealt with, then all the way back to camp to
my rig around midnight. Terry and Chris were so phenomenally kind, they
could not have been more helpful or caring when I was feeling pretty darn crummy.
I think I might have lost some down time for the next few months, but also
gained some really great friends, and that’s a cheap price to pay.
Charlene had gotten Cheyenne back to camp and she was up on
her toes dancing around, eating and drinking like a pig and looking
spectacularly good. With everything else going on, she didn’t go
out again Sunday, but was in good shape if we had. So it’s nice at
least that Cheyenne’s weakest link is just her lamebrain owner.<g>
I went for a follow up check at my regular facility on
Monday, and they kept me to do a better surgical reduction, some bone grafting,
a carpal tunnel release and reinforced the whole thing with a titanium plate
and I think about a dozen screws. The surgeon said if I was going to
insist on breaking my falls with that same arm all the time, she better make it
as strong as possible.
Anyway, dumb klutzy rider, but horse is fine, and I’ll
heal okay in time. Ride management was great, the trails were terrific
(though heard the rain made them pretty slick later) and the country was just
beautiful. I’ll be back next year and will remember to take my
potty break at the dang vet check.
Susan Garlinghouse, DVM (which now stands for “Downward
Velocity, Mostly”)
