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Since I'm laid up from another eventful ride, I'll keep you informed of the perils of inattentive horsemanship maneuvers.

A friend and I were going out for a trail ride. We unloaded, saddled and rode off to meet a fellow trailrider. Noticing that I had forgotten my bottles of frozen water (it's an August day in Southern California), we rode back. I tied my palamino to my trailer and picked up the bottles. I got on my horse while she was tied. My friend went to see a 2-day old filly on the other side of the building. My horse kept struggling to pull herself loose, when all of a sudden the leadrope broke and my horse flew backwards and landed on me.

I crawled away dragging my left leg, trying to avoid my flailing horse as she tried to free herself from the small space next to the deck which had a metal filing cabinet on it. She kept banging her hooves on the metal filing cabinet and she kept tring to role over and onto her feet. Finally after 5 or 6 tries, she pulled her feet under herself and got up. Thankfully, she has no visible injuries.

I hit my head and was so nauseated I couldn't lift my head. 911 was called and eventually an ambulance arrived. They had a difficult time locating the ranch. I kept hearing them talk about airlifting. With my nausea, it didn't sound like a good ride since I get airsick, seasick and carsick. They put a brace on my neck and roled me over onto a plastic board that I'm sure was molded for a 6 foot frame instead of my 5 foot frame. If I moved my leg into any other position except bent at the knee, I caused excruciating stabbing pains that made everything go dark. With one swift jerk, they had my left leg strapped tightly down to the board. I'm sure they thought I was a thankless complaining female as I kept telling the man I was in more pain with my leg tied down. He loosened the strap, but I still couldn't bend my leg into a comfortable position. Again, thankfully, the ambulance took me to the trama center to have my head examined. It was a very rough 40 mile ride that jerked my leg with every bump. It seems like an ambulance would have some kind of suspension to smooth out the ride. Finally we arrived at the trama center and I was placed on a soft bed where could bend my leg. A scan revealed a contusion. That didn't sound like a concussion, so I thought this will be better tomorrow. All I had to worry about is my left leg. After the morphine, vicadin, and 800 mg of some antiinflammatory, I was optimistic that I would be on my feet in a couple of days.

This is the fifth day and I can walk with crutches or furniture assist. I can finally stand without nausea. I hope to get a ride tonight to recover my vehicle. The only problem is, I have to unhook the horse trailer. I'm looking forward to being ambulatory. I'm going to have to resign myself to the fact that I won't be riding in the Labor Day parade on Monday, 3 1/2 days away. Maybe I should be more thankful that I'll be able to take a shower today.