Woodstone Prairie

R looked worse yesterday, but overall I can tell she’s starting to mend.

Here’s her poor beat up face…. it was a lot more swollen yesterday.

But at least she had her smile back!

She was having a lot of pain in her shoulder, so I got her into the pediatrician right away (at the ER they just said she should be seen sometime this week). The pediatrician was very thorough, and said R had a “severe concussion” and that we needed to follow concussion precautions for two weeks. That means no sports… no activity of any kind that might lead to her hitting her head. She also thinks R sprained her shoulder, and has her taking large amounts of ibuprofen and keeping her arm in a sling. If the soreness doesn’t go away soon, she’ll x-ray it.

R’s memory is slowing returning, and by last night she was starting to remember riding Willy. She still has no memory of being bucked off. She told me yesterday morning that right after she flew off Willy, when I was on the ground with her talking to her and trying to gauge how hurt she was, she really didn’t know who I was. She said my face was familiar, but it took awhile for her to remember that I was “mama”. At one point in the ER, she said “Are you my mama?” but in all the confusion it didn’t register that she was talking to me, and really wasn’t sure who I was…

 True to form though, R is incredibly resilient. She woke up yesterday moving like a very old woman, but saying she wanted to ride. NOT Willy, of course… but Chance, the next-door neighbor horse that “visits” us a lot. (He’s not taken care of by his owner, isn’t fed regularly, no vet care, he roams the neighborhood grazing in people’s front yards. R loves him though, and has ridden him a lot… probably more than his owner!) Chance was in our pasture yesterday, so she did get to spend time with him and I think it was good for her to connect with a horse that she loves and trusts.

R goes back to the pediatrician in two weeks for a follow-up, depending on how she’s doing she may be released then for normal activity.

To answer Steve’s comment… Helen (riding instructor) doesn’t know why Willy bucked her off. He’d been antsy, but calmed down by the time R started riding, he’d been doing beautifully for her (we’d decided to take him!), and I saw nothing that would have spooked him. After he bucked her off he ran around the arena bucking and going crazy until Helen caught him again. He’s been used for lessons (beginner lessons!) since May with no problems… I guess we’ll never know just what happened.