The Great Break

Well, yesterday we had a ride that will stay in our memory for a long time. A story that will be told around campfires for years to come.

Tracy invited me to go riding with her and her friend Nancy. I finally have my new (to me) truck ready to haul so was delighted to be able to join them. I invited my friend Cierra to go with us. Cierra and I have not ridden together since last year. Life got in the way of our riding together and we were so excited to be going together again. Just like old time, me and Cierra, Marie and Tink.

We decided to ride at Hidden Valley Nature Center in Jefferson. I've never been there so the plan was to meet at Tracy's house at 8:30 and I'd follow her over. My trailer is presently parked at the home I sold which is next to where I'm living right now. I drove over and hitched the truck up around 7:30, then walked back to the house, saddled up Marie and led her over to the trailer, loaded up and headed out. A bit later than I had hoped to get going. I got to Cierra's and when Tinkerbell spotted Marie, she was beyond excited. Those two lived together for quite a while and loved each other. Marie was excited too. Tink called and ran around and when we asked her to load on the trailer, she went in half way, put her head over the divider and sniffed Marie all over. Tink was so excited to see Marie she was actually trembling. We loaded up Cierra's things and headed to Tracy's. We got there at 8:39 so not too late after all. Nancy hadn't arrived yet so that made me feel better. It wasn't long before Nancy arrived and we were off. We got parked, saddled up and it was a little after 10:00 when we hit the trails

The trails were nice. Tracy asked if wanted to do the prettiest part of the ride by the lake first or save it for last. We decided to save it for last. At one intersection as we were turning onto a trail, I can up alongside Cierra and Marie decided to rub her head on Cierra's leg. Somehow, Cierra's leg got pushed in and back on Tink and Tink got jabbed with Cierra's spur. Tink thought Marie had done something to her and let out a couple double barrel kicks. One of which caught me in the shin. Thankfully I was just far enough away that I didn't get it with any force. Tink is not a kicker and is good with other horses, the jab just surprised her. We'd been out for about 1.5 hrs. when we came to a tricky stream crossing. Tracy had made the crossing multiple times so we weren't too worried. The stream was a bit ditchy and muddy. At the crossing spot there is a small, narrow walk bridge, half log style so not suitable for the horses to cross on. Tracy had previously crossed by walking across the bridge and leading her mule beside it. That way they can just jump the muddy stream.Tracy attempted to go across first as she and Ellie Mae had done it before but Ellie did not really want to be in the front. So, I asked Marie to cross. I went over the bridge to the other side as my reins were long enough for me to encourage her from there safely. Marie wasn't thrilled about it but finally made the jump and had no trouble. Cierra went next. She went up on the bridge and asked Tink to go across the ditch beside her. Tink hesitated a bit and then went down into the stream. She didn't like the soft ground and decided to make a leap onto the bridge. She made it up and slipped on the wood and went down in back, then some how managed to leap off the end of the bridge and hit Cierra who couldn't get out of the way in time. Cierra fell and Tink landed on her leg.

Cierra hit the ground and started yelling, "It's broke, it's broke, my ankle is broke, is my horse ok? It's broke". For a second I was not sure what to do. I was holding Marie and I had grabbed hold of Tink when she came by me. I saw Tracy go to Cierra. Cierra was in a lot of distress and in a lot of pain. Tracy and I quickly decided this was serious and we needed to call 911. I tried first with my phone but 911 could not hear me on their end and the signal kept dropping. I was getting very flustered. So Tracy managed to get the call through on her phone. We were on a marked trail, The Bambi Trail. And there are maps of the trail system. So, we hoped rescue would be able to find us fairly soon. I then quickly looked for a place to tie up Tink and Marie so I could go to Cierra. I went to lead the horses to some trees and all that came with me of my horse was her bridle. It was broken. She didn't seem to even notice she was loose. I quickly unsnapped the reins from the bridle, put it around Marie's neck and tied her to one tree and then tied Tink to another. I went to Cierra who was crying hard and saying over and over that it hurt. Yet still asking for assurance that her horse was ok. I assured her that Tink was fine. Tracy and Nancy decided to ride out to the parking area so they could guide the rescue team in to us. And then the wait began. Cierra wanted to call her mother but I discouraged her from doing that until the rescue team arrived. There was absolutely nothing her mother could do and I hated to scare her mother with no real information to give her. It took the rescue team a LONG time to find us. After 20 minutes or so, Cierra finally calmed down. During that time I looked her over and asked questions to make sure nothing else was injured. Her ankle was not at an odd angle and not swelling enough to make her paddock boot look tight. There was no sign of blood so I decided to leave things alone and leave the boot on to stabilize it. We didn't have any first aid supplies but since we were not going to try to get her out ourselves, and she had no intentions of moving, I didn't see any point in trying to splint it.

Once she was calm we started chatting. She was laying in a slightly awkward position on the ground but didn't want to move as any movement caused her a lot of pain. I sat beside her and shaded her face from the sun. I got her some water from my saddle bag. Eventually the arm she was laying on got numb and she wiggled enough to get it out from under her. And then propped herself up with her arms. But, could not move enough to be able to actually sit up.  Tracy and Nancy came back and figured the rescue team would already be with us as they had left the parking area before they'd gotten out there to meet them. We had not seen them. Cierra's arms were getting tired from holding her upper body off the ground so I sat behind her and got my leg under her so she could rest herself on my leg. That seemed to make her more comfortable. Tracy headed off on foot to try find the rescue crew. Nancy stayed with us and gave Cierra a granola bar from her saddle bag and gave me 1/2 a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Cierra could only eat a few bites. I scarfed down the 1/2 sandwich. I told Cierra to go ahead and call her mother. We knew the rescue team was close. And Cierra was calm now and her mother would be able to hear that for herself. We told Cierra's mother we'd let her know where to meet us as soon as we knew where they would be taking Cierra. We finally heard an ATV but rescue could not get down the trail we were on with it. Tracy flagged them down and showed them where we were. They came in with a spine board to carry Cierra out on. One of the responders examined Cierra's leg, cutting off her spur strap to remove her spur and cutting the laces on her boot. The boot came off easily without having to be cut. Cierra's leg was splinted which was an agonizing ordeal for her, and she was as carefully as possible put onto the spine board. I was staying with Cierra. Tracy rode her mule and ponied her horse. Nancy rode my horse and ponied Tink to get them all back out to the parking area. Tracy had called her husband Eric to come help with everything. It was decided he would drive my truck and trailer with Tink and Marie back to their home and I would pick them up when I could. I knew our horses were in good hands so that was one less worry. Tracy was a big help to me in just staying calm, cool and collected.

It was 1/2 mile or so that Cierra had to be carried to reach the ATV. Once there, she was settled into the back of that. One of the Firefighter responders sat in the back of the ATV with Cierra to hold and stabilize her leg. The rest of us followed on foot. The trail was far from smooth and it was not a fun ride for Cierra. And it was a couple miles out to the parking area. I was glad I was wearing comfortable shoes. There were a lot of people to help at the parking area. They gave us water and offered support. Cierra was loaded into the ambulance and I rode up front and went with her to the hospital. I sent a message to Cierra's mother to let her know we were heading to the new hospital in Augusta. The rescue worker that was in back with Cierra was absolutely fantastic and had Cierra laughing and giggling all the way to Augusta with only the occasional grunt of pain when we hit a bump.

Cierra's mom was at the hospital when we arrived though it took her a few minutes to find us. The ER staff had to cut Cierra's riding pants off. A nice new expensive pair at that. But, nothing could be done about it. Cierra was given some oral pain medication as she did not want to have an IV. So, she had to wait for the meds to kick in before going to get the xrays done. They had to manipulate her foot for that so again, not a fun time for her. Cierra's dad arrived while she was in xray. Cierra did indeed have not one, but two breaks. Her fibula was completely broken and also her tibula at the ankle. She would need surgery but they were not going to do it right then due to the swelling. A friend of their family, Nicole, that works at the hospital came in and was a great comfort to Cierra and Pam. A temporary cast was put on Cierra's foot and leg. Her foot was in a slightly pointed position and had to be forced into a straighter position to bind it. It was a horrible ordeal for Cierra and so hard to see someone you love in so much pain. They got the job done and we were allowed to take her home. The hospital said they'd call her in the morning and let her know when to come in for surgery. (*Note: Cierra's ankle was also displaced to the side. That was not found until she was examined the next day by a specialist in Portland. So, that had to be manipulated back into place. Another agonizing ordeal for Cierra that should have been found and taken care of in Augusta)

Pam stopped at Wendy's to get us something to eat. Cierra was a little hungry but her stomach was upset from the whole ordeal. Pam got me a burger and I appreciated that. I sat in the back of car with Cierra on the ride home so she could rest her leg on top of my legs and I could hold her leg still. We got the her house and her dad had come so he and I got Cierra into the house and settled onto the couch. Tracy came to pick me up and took me back to her house to get my truck, trailer and the horses. Tink and Marie were happily hanging out together munching hay. I loaded them up and headed back to Cierra's. I settled Tink into her paddock and headed home with Marie.

I pulled into Gavin's driveway and just parked in the driveway to unload Marie and walk her home. I turned her out and then walked back to park my trailer. Gavin had some stuff in the driveway by the workshop so I really didn't have room to pull up there to turn around so I could back the trailer to the barn where he wanted me to leave it. I got the bright idea that I could just pull in through the pasture gate, and turn around in the field and park next to the barn were he had originally wanted me to park it. It turned out to be a really bad idea. I underestimated the room I needed to make the swing, partly because my new truck is longer than my old truck, and partly because I was just worn out and frazzled. I got the truck and trailer stuck in a spot I could not get out of. I could not quite make the swing and was up against the side of the barn with the front of my truck and had the trailer jacked around as much as it could go and it would not move and was on a very bad sideways and downward angle. I just wanted to crawl in a hole and die at this point. I had to go to the house and get Gavin. He came out and looked and was a bit taken aback but didn't get too ruffled. He could see I could not take much more stress for the day and assured me we would get the truck and trailer out of this bind. We had to unhook the truck but were worried due to the trailer being on a downhill angle. So we chocked all the wheels, I pulled the pin on the emergency brake box to lock the wheels and Gavin had his son bring the tractor out and we hooked a chain to the trailer. Because if the trailer rolled when it was released from the truck, it would squash my truck. We got the trailer unhooked and it stayed in place much to all of our relief. I then had to wiggle the truck back and forth carefully because of the gooseneck coupler in the bed of the truck but was able to get enough room to swing the truck by the side of the barn. I then was able to drive around the trailer and hook up to it again but with the truck facing towards the back of the field and pull it straight out from there. I let Gavin back it up onto even ground beside the barn. It was facing in the wrong direction but Gavin told me to just drop it there and go home and get some rest. He said we'd get it turned around tomorrow. He was so super nice about it all and so was his son. I felt like such an idiot. I lived there for 28 years and never once got my truck and trailer stuck anywhere on the farm.