2013 was, largely, a great year for me. However the ending wasn't so much.
After great trip home I arrived back in America on Christmas Eve. The plan was to head south to Florida for some training straight after New Year’s Eve with the 4 best horses I ride, then meet the rest of my team a couple of weeks later in Aiken, SC. Excellent plan UNTIL the morning of NYE where I broke my jaw in several places, not to mention a fairly decent knock to the head from which I still feel a bit fuzzy. Now, I'm fairly careful about which horses I do and don't get on as I've had the odd serious injury or two. That doesn't mean I won't ride a naughty horse, I just weigh my options very carefully: if he's athletic and has a great jump, I'm on before you can stop me! However if the horse is a half bred donkey from Farmer Joe's that wouldn't make it around an intermediate then I'm not going to get on.
The horse I was on is actually a very nice, talented horse that belongs to one of my students. She was having a lesson that day, the horse was behind her leg so I decided I would jump on and fix that. The horse had other ideas, most of which involved bucking! He bucked so hard that I was thrown forward just as he raised and turned his neck, I think to spin around. Unfortunately the side of my face was on a downward trajectory as his was one an upward one, end result broken jaw and concussion.. I do have to add that I did not fall off tho’!
So there went my plans to head to Florida (where the temperature is about 22 at this time of the year), instead I was off to hospital. I had surgery 2 days later and currently have my mouth wired shut. The surgeon said I would be like this for 6-8 weeks, I think I can bargain him down to 4 tho’. So I got to hang out in bed, alternating between sleeping, watching Netflix, sleeping, learning to eat thru a straw and sleeping. Cole, Liberty, Bucky and Charmer were not impressed when they didn't go to sunny Florida as planned but had to hang around in the 'Polar Vortex' aka minus 20 in the snow! So now I'll go with all the horses together at once now straight to Aiken and skip the dressage training. I can watch FEI, I'm observant, I think I can learn from that! I hope... Rhiannon Bosma, my assistant, is doing a stellar job of keeping the horses in training so that they're ready to compete when I am.
Never miss an opportunity to advertise!
As I mentioned, I made the trip home for a bit of sunburn, a pie, some proper chips and some normal accents. It was a great trip, I got to catch up with all my favourite people; Heath and Rozzie Ryan, Gordo and Emma Bishop, Tim Boland, Kaden Weaver, Emma Mason, the Farrars, Marg Warwick, John and Sharon Carroll, Charlie Brister (although I'm not sure if he falls into my favourite category..), the Gordons and Lara Dombrovskis. I also took some time to watch a few horses at David Shoobridge’s farm. Most excitingly tho’ was a chance run in with BILLY BILSBOROUGH! If you don't know him, he's one of the greatest old (sorry Bill..) horseman around. I also ran into my old farrier Nic Carraro and his very nice girlfriend Jess Rae (put a ring on it Nic!). I taught a bit and also got to see the young horses that we've been breeding. Hopefully we'll have something that can jump in there! I also ate a LOT so the jaw wired shut is probably actually a good thing!
Until next time, enjoy to summer. And don't try to call me, I can't talk!
