My last blog post was titled "Did you Know" and the first line of the post was "I am still alive?"
Well. I am still alive and I give all of the credit to God as with what I went through, I could very easily...and am surprised that I am not...dead.
Here is the story, taken from my personal Facebook page.
The
jeans I wore yesterday on our outing with the horses lay crumpled and
dirty on the floor of our bedroom this morning. I could not help but
notice the tag as I slowly stooped down to pick them up. I took them
off just before 4 pm yesterday, right before we headed to the emergency
room.
GRACE is going along a rocky trail, on an even rockier mountain (by "rock" I mean boulder) when your lead horse,
a mustang named Norm, comes face to face with a loose dog just as he
took those last few steps to clear the top of the long climb up. Norm
spooked, did an about face leaving Calvin on the ground of the trail.
Norm ran towards Ruger. I believe Ruger must have been in that "just
keep taking steps~thinking about nothing at all and not paying attention
to anything" phase of his journey because as soon as I said, "Easy
Norm" Ruger sprung to life, did his own about face and both horses took
off running down the trail. Only thing is, Ruger didn't leave me on the
trail! Both horses continued to race on this narrow, rock trail. I am
not positive of what happened next. Either Norm bumped Ruger off the
trail, I over corrected him to allow room for Norm and directed him off
the trail (at that point, I SWEAR Norm was dragging Calvin along but
that was not true, Calvin was left exactly where Norm turned) or Ruger
just made a decision to leave the trail and race down the boulder
mountain! My local friends, and some who have visited the area, will
know exactly at what place this happened when I say that we were right
at the top of the Elkhorn Trail looking WAY down into Dutch Flats.
As Ruger raced down this rock mountain with me screaming the most
terrified screams that have ever come from my body, and the lady who had
the dog creaming, "Oh God, oh God", I felt I had no option but to bail
off. Had he begun rolling, I would have been smashed for sure...and
broken very badly. There is not soft way to bail off a horse on a rock
mountain. He was moving so fast that I could not just pick and choose
either. I released my right foot from the stirrup and just layed back
to the left hoping for the best. I hung onto his reins as long as I
could hoping to stop him but he was moving too fast and was too strong
and big for me to maintain so after a few tumbles, I let go of the reins
praying that he would soon stop. I remember the lady still screaming
"Oh God" and as soon as I landed I turned back up to see Calvin (I was
still worried about him being drug by Norm!). I yelled to him, "I am
okay...go get Norm!" and the lady also asked if I was okay to which I
said "yes, I just have to get my horse!". I remember as I sat up,
"Well, that wasn't so bad" and I thought for sure that the arms of God
must have laid me down. Ruger was below me and he had stopped, actually
in a not-so-bad spot where I could easily get him, but as I began to
scoot down he spooked (he was trembling, sweaty, breathing very hard)
and took another bumbling journey further down the hill. Where he
stopped terrified me. He could not go down any further without taking a
very long drop to his death. I just kept saying, "I am coming to get
you baby...I am coming, just stay. Trust me, I am coming to get you. I
will get you out of there."
I talked to him as I took slow steps to
where he was. I could feel discomfort in my left ribs and on my left
hip but I was amazed that my legs felt perfect. I got to that edge
where he was. There was a rock to his left that was about his ankle
highth and a small tree to his right that wasn't even as tall as my
belly. There was a pretty significant rock in front of him but I felt I
could get him over that and headed back up the hill if he would listen
to every command I gave him. He was trembling and shaking. He gave me
his head and instantly searched for my breath. We exchanged breaths, I
told him I was so sorry and I rubbed his face and head and told him it
was going to be okay. I was going to help him out but he had to listen
to me...every word and do everything exactly as I told him. He relaxed
and when I felt he was ready to move I told him that this first obstacle
would be the hardest. I instructed him to walk over that rock, not
step on me and make a hard turn to the right once over the rock. He did
exactly as I told him. He began shaking again and I reassured him that
it was going to be okay. The next two obstacles were very hard again
but again, he did everything exactly as I instructed and we finally got
to a place where there was a "path" of sorts for us to follow back up to
the trail. As soon as he too saw that path, his confidence returned
and we "easily" made it to the trail. I had to turn back up the trail
to retrieve one of Calvin's items and I spoke to Ruger the entire time
telling him that we WERE done and just be patient, we will go back down.
I placed the item over the saddle horn and told Ruger that now we had
to turn around on the trail and head back down. He turned without
incident (and without knocking me back over the mountain) and at that
moment, after our first few steps, I began to cry and praise God.
Almost simultaneously, I saw Calvin and Norm walking back up the trail.
"Are you okay" and thank God exchanges were made, kisses were had and
we all headed back down the trail. We were NOT riding but all 4 of us
walked the 2 1/2 miles back to the trailer. I became more sore with
each mile but still thought..."Oh God....I am alive! Ruger is alive!" I
had told Calvin that I should probably go and get checked as I was
worried about internal injuries. Ruger was holding up his rear right
leg at first but he became stronger with every step. He did have some
cuts and removed a lot of the hair from his rear left leg. All in all
though, he looked dang good!
I called the vet office on the way
down the mountain asking if he could be seen (Norm had two minor cuts so
he was fine) but they could not see him. Since he was showing no pain
by the time we got to the trailer anyway, I felt that we could treat him
at home.
Ha....this is how this girls heart works: It was time to
feed Toby his lunch. Ruger needed washed up and his wounds treated.
So, instead of going right to the ER when we were back into town, we
first came home, fed Toby, washed Rugers wounds and THEN went to the ER.
We had to call our son Bobby to release Toby from his feeding pen and
to fill the hay bags for the others for the night, to which he was able
to do. The ER was BUSY! We were checked in at 4 pm but didn't get
taken to an exam room until 6:30 (I think). I was really hurting by
then but there were folks waiting with much more critical stuff than me.
In a nutshell. after a miriade of tests including my first ever
CT scan (that wasn't bad at all unlike I have heard) I have just 3
broken ribs :)
They monitored my heart and blood tests through the evening as there
was an enzyme that is only found in the heart that was elevated. The
heart can be jarred in incidents like this but there wasn't a change in
the tests from test to test so instead of putting me in the ICU, they
allowed me to go home...at 12:41 in the morning.
Of course I have
abrasions and more bruises are showing up as this day wears on, but all
in all, I feel pretty darn good and and so very, VERY grateful to be
alive today. And my husband and both horses are alive today! God was
with us. GRACE was expelled upon us.
I have some pretty pictures
to share (in another post) because up until that point, it was a
glorious day....actually, it remained glorious, if you ask me :)
And a few pictures to show the area where we were.
This first one is where we were headed...directly between those two peaks at the top of that mountain. You can see the trail going between the peaks:
That mountain is rugged and rocky.
Here is a picture I took of my husband as we gained altititude on that trail:
Here is a photo my husband snapped of me as we neared the top. WHY he had his camera out on this trail is beyond me! And why my horse was so close to the edge here is also beyond me! Good thing I didn't know he was! LOL
I believe it was right by this tree that I brought Ruger up off of the side of the mountain after his plunge down.
Again, my husband had his camera out near the top of the trail. This shows the boulders and steepness of where we were. There is no-where to go but down and over rocks should one leave the trail! I don't think this is exactly where I went over but it is very close to where I did.
I have 3 broken ribs but I am NOT complaining...and I don't have to work at not complaining, I am truly, truly grateful that I and my horse is alive and my husband and the other horse have just a couple of superficial wounds each.
God is SO good.
:)
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