Horse 1 / SWMBO 0

Got a call on SWMBO's phone this arvo, from a worker on the farm where her new horse is agisted - Um she's come off the horse and bumped her head, we're in at the doctors now.
Not too serious is it?
No not too serious by the look of it, might need a couple of stitches.

Then another call to say she was being transferred to RBH by ambulance, just routine precaution I'm sure, so go on with the day working. I leave a bit earlier to pack a little port for her in case they want to keep her in for obs. About three hours after the first call I casually rock into the hospital and find she's still in emergency, feel a bit silly packing a case for her, they'll probably laugh at me for over reacting. The nurse lets me in after checking if it's ok with the doctors (just SOP I convince myself) and ushers me into one of the bays with the curtains drawn. SWMBO is lying there in a neck brace and it's not until I walk around the her other side do I see the damage. Blood drains from my head and I'm feeling distinctly queasy. This is no little bump. Poor SWMBO has a nasty gash around her eye and the Max-fac surgeon tells me that her eye orbit and cheek bone is all fractured like an egg. The eye doctor is just finishing up and the eye seems to be ok so far, but some of the muscles don't seem to be working properly. She'll have to have an op next week and a plate inserted to reconstruct that part of the skull. I just hope the eye will be ok. It looks like the horse has kicked her or stomped on her when she came off. She had a helmet on and it looks from the marks on her neck from the strap that it has caught some of the blow, but sheeyit she was lucky. Hopefully no permenant damage, touch wood.
Cheers
Michael

:( :( :(

Mick

Sheeyte, Michael, that's scary for you both.

Hope she gets through this OK & heals up good as new.


Regards mate...................Sean

Gees mate that not nice, hope the op goes well and she recovers full use of her eye

Here's hoping for a quick recovery, mate. :2tsup:

Sorry to hear that. Hope she recovers well.
My thoughts are with you both.

Hope it all goes well.... microsurgeons can work wonders, and I'll place you both in my thoughts.
:( :( :(

Yikes. :oo:

Best of luck, but I hope she doesn't need too much of that. :2tsup:


On the upside, you can make lots of glue from a full sized horse... :wink:

Daughter had an accident last year, horse stumbled and bucked as it went down propelling her into the ground face first, bit of reconstruction work after the bruising subsided, only took the specialists about 30 minutes and I suspect 15 of that was calculating the bill:((
A little while before she had a horse fall on her and she came back complaining of double vision, a sore shoulder and sore arm, ambos were worried and she got her first chopper trip to hospital where they found she had a broken leg, everything else was fine.
These women seem to be pretty resilient and the only permanent damage is to your wallet but trust all goes well for you.

Hopefully a quick recovery where everthing is back to normal
Thoughts are with you both

Geez Mic :oo:

Wishing you and your SWMBO all the best for the op and a quick and as painless recovery as possible...


Wendy

Best of luck with it mate, I hope she recovers quickly ... before she realises how much she enjoys you fussing over her and doing all the work :D You are planning to fuss over her aren't you? :rolleyes:

Richard

Keep your chin up mate, I hope your missus makes a quick recovery, with no permanent damage/scarring.

Might be time to even up the score.......

Missus: hospital (1)/Horse: glue factory (1)....

Ouch. Hope all goes ok.

'B' horses. Brings back memories of my ex. Skull fracture......

Often the horse is not at fault as in our case, but some can be mongrels.
I have seen riders come off in the most awkward way and fall under the animal then the poor bugger gets shot for running over the rider.
Like any other sport, it has its risks.

As per all of the above mate, hope things work out OK.

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pack a little port for her

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That's a great idea mate, but I don't think they allow consumption of alcohol in hospitals :wink:

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Originally Posted by silentC

.................That's a great idea mate, but I don't think they allow consumption of alcohol in hospitals :wink:

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I haven't had any complaints, there's even an icemaker down the corridor.:D

Mick

Actually, come to think of it when the kids were born at St George Private Hospital, you could order a glass of red or white with dinner. We also heard a rumour that hospitals in Ireland administer Guiness to pregnant mothers.

Oh well, if port speeds the recovery, why the hell not? :)

Thanks for your kind thoughts everyone, it means a lot. Looks like she'll be home tomorrow and back for a reconstructive op next week. The scans showed some air in the cranial vault that must have got in through the open fracture so neurosurgeons are involved too. We'll probably never know what happened, SWMBO can't remember anything about the accident, but suspects the mare was spooked, her riding buddy didn't turn around quick enough to see. I thought about the glue factory too, but she would not be impressed. This is her first young horse, a beautiful warmblood which she wants to bring through to dressage comp. She's just in the final stages of breaking in so perhaps a bit unpredictable still.

thanks everyone
Michael

Good to hear the update, Michael, she'll no doubt be glad to get home to familiar surroundings.

Best of luck with the surgery.


Cheers..................Sean

(sound of crow sitting on fence). My sympathies mate. My daughter was tossed when she was 13 and broke her thigh right at the top near the ball joint. Ended my Uni studies. She has a short leg now. Gave up horses but I guess your little woman will be back in the saddle before you know it. All the best.
Mike

Unusual for a Warmblood, they generally don't spook easily, if you want to impress with dressage I put this up a couple of weeks ago.
Could put you in good stead with the dressage set... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De0vL53EDgU

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Originally Posted by Iain

Unusual for a Warmblood, they generally don't spook easily, if you want to impress with dressage I put this up a couple of weeks ago.
Could put you in good stead with the dressage set... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De0vL53EDgU

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Oh yeah, I showed her that, but she'd already seen it before, not much horsey passes her nose unnoticed:roll: I cracked up though and she gave me a judges description of how each of them went!

The mares only 4yo so is still a bit unpredicable.
I have a video of her trotting in the round yard which I wanted to post, but I don't know how:no:

Cheers
Michael

Daughter breaks horses and we have a broken 2 YO TB that is being ridden.
She is in Caloundra at the moment if that helps, she breaks them pretty quickly regardless of their bad habits.

PIES, Lots of meat pies.... shoot the mongrel thing now because you will never, ever trust it again or sell it for a ridiculous sum to some idiot whose darling daughter has been watching one of those dopey "Girly with Horsey saves World" shows on the ABC.

Good luck with it all Michael.

Horses and motorbikes. You ain't riding if you never fall off. :C

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Originally Posted by DavidG

Horses and motorbikes. You ain't riding if you never fall off. :C

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Back in the good old days on the farm as kids my sister was the horsey fanatic (9 at one time) I was the motorbike nut - give me a bike anytime. Only problem I had with those on the road was being run off the road by cars and trucks.

Michael, do wish you and SWMBO a full recovery physical and fiscal :)

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Originally Posted by Iain

Daughter breaks horses and we have a broken 2 YO TB that is being ridden.
She is in Caloundra at the moment if that helps, she breaks them pretty quickly regardless of their bad habits.

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Thanks Iain, we already have a fabulous fellow who breaks them in with natural horsemanship techniques, so "breaking" is a bit of a misnomer. This was just a case of unfortunate bad luck, in every other respect the process has been smooth and she has been without fault.

Cheers
Michael

She also uses natural techniques and the mules respond well with her, she has ridden unbroken (just a term) in under half a day.
Just an offer if you were interested, she is up there for a few weeks 'breaking' racehorses for one of our local trainers, and loving the resort lifestyle.
She just won't take crap from a horse, regardless of size, and she is so slight, just like Dad used to be:-
Anyway, trust all goes well for all of you.

I remember when I was at holding company, Ingleburn, in the Army and me and a couple of mates who were keen riders talked me into going to a horsery for a days riding. I asked the owner for the oldest tamest nag in the barn coz I'd never ridden one before. He picked out this lovely old mare and told me to walk it about 200 metres out the gate before mounting it as she would just turn around and go home. I played it safe and walked her about 2 miles down the road (getting stirred all the while by the expert mates) and then I mounted her (which was a challenge). As soon as I was settled the swung around and bolted flat chat the 2 miles back to the barn. My goolies and my face (face buried in mane hanging on for grim death, goolies pounding the pommel) were in raw shape at the end of it. Never got on anything without wheels since. :no::no::no:

Hehe, the same thing happened to me on a strange horse when I was little, the horse bolted home and I held on for dear life. They told me it was ppart quarter horse, but I always reckoned it was pretty much full blood 2-mile horse cos that's how long it felt before it got home.

CHeers
Michael

Hope all goes well for your SWMBO, so how gooda cook are you?

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Originally Posted by Harry72

Hope all goes well for your SWMBO, so how gooda cook are you?

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Doesn't have to. He's just up the road from a McCr@p outlet...:D

We went in for a consultation this morning feeling pretty upbeat, but the ct scan of the fractures were nasty, nasty nasty. Most of the outer eye socket was boney fragments, which didn't look good (and I couldn't tell up from down!). So the max/fac consultant cancelled his list for the day and they knocked her out and made her a part cyborg I think. Twas quite a long op but SWMBO is doing well and looking better already. May be a bit of cosmetic surgery down the track and perhaps some "functional deficits", but I take this to mean that fridge magnets won't stick to the metal bits they put in her head. With all the sad news on the forum of late, and knowing that this could have been much worse, I'm just so grateful that it looks like no permanent damage was done, I'd be los without the oldgirl.

Michael

Good to hear things are looking up

Hi Michael,
Glad to hear things are turning out alright. It could have been worse, but I can still see you calmly working away thinking your wife has a bit of lump on the noggin!:- And you perhaps should explain the 'port' a bit better for southerners, they prolly think you were taking a bottle of fortified wine into the hospital!!:D
My MIL lost her only sister in a horse accident, riding on their farm down near Moree when they were teenagers. My eldest daughter (who has a physical disabilty) has been horse-mad for years and has pushed us to get a pony for her, with a club meeting just at our backgate. I have resisted, mainly because we know nothing about their keep and handling, but every time its mentioned in front of MIL, I can see her demeanour change slightly.:(

All the best to your wife for a speedy recovery.

Hi Mic,

Very glad to hear that the operation is now done and went well. Wishing Mrs Mic-d an easy recovery

cheers
Wendy

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I take this to mean that fridge magnets won't stick to the metal bits

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That was my biggest disappointment after getting a plate in my foot. And they don't set off metal detectors at the airport, either :(

Glad to hear things are on the up.

I just got reminded an update here is long overdue. After the primary op to plate and screw much of the eye orbit back together, SWMBO had to have a second op to fix a deficit behind the eye and bring it forward to its original position. To do that they made a 3D model of her skull so they could work out what to do. That's the photos attached. Those pink dots are the replication of the screws that hold the plate over her eye and her cheekbone in place. Maybe you can see the big holes behind the right eye that needed to be fixed. So that all went well, but fridge magnets still do not stick:no:. I also got in trouble for suggesting I knew the root cause of all the problems, the skull is empty:?. :slap:Well isn't that a problem:dunno::hmm::shrug: Next time :shutup2:
She's just had the last op to realign an eye, and with only a minoer hiccup looks like she'll be better than new soon. HOWEVER when I told the surgeon she is still riding, I did not appreciate her saying she will be the bionic woman in a few years:mad3:
Cheers
Michael
aww sorry for the carp photos