Run, Lenny, Run.... NOT!

Have you ever seen a horse running without it's rider? It is a scene which invoked a gut wrenching fear in me today. Brianne was thrown from her horse. She was cantering and he decided to gallop instead. Then he must have realized he was heading toward the barn, so he took the turn like he used to when he was a barrel racer. A crazy horse version of sliding into home plate. Then he righted himself still going much too fast and Brianne went airborne and came down hard. She didn't lose consciousness and got herself up. She tore up the skin on her left hand and was bleeding from her ponytail. We called rescue to be sure her neck and back were okay and didn't want to play around with a head injury. They took her to the Trauma ER in Jax. She got a few staples for the cut and x-rays showed a crack in her skull. There isn't any brain bruising or damage that they can see. They will keep her at least 24 hours in ICU and we will go from there. She has a very bad headache and is super nauseous. It was such a fluke. She was on Lenny, who has always liked to run, but never to that extent. She has always ridden him and never had a problem. Of course one of the golden rules is to never run heading toward the barn. I don't think he even realized he was going that fast, hence the homeplate slide. I didn't stop long enough to make sure he was okay, so I left a message for the barn manager to check him for me. She was going to untack them and put them out for me, so I am sure she checked him over. We thought it was just a few stitches and some bruises. As bad as it is, it could have been a lot worse. It is a scary thing to see your child injured. It is such a helpless feeling to want to take away their pain and know you can't. I will let you know how things are tomorrow.