After the fall...

I was in bed, almost asleep and my husband laid his hand on my thigh. He quickly moved it and said "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you." I guess he could feel the swollen bruise. It didn't hurt all that much and I said "It's okay, it didn't hurt." He was quiet for a few minutes and said "you really could have gotten hurt. He could have broken your leg."

And I realized I had never considered that. I certainly could have had a broken leg from a 1200 lb horse stepping on me. It never occurred to me until he said that. It was kind of a sobering moment.

"Yeah, you're right," I said. The funny thing is, on the way to lessons that day, I'd thought about not wearing my helmet. I knew I'd be riding a well broke horse, my instructor's horse. She knew him, knew his quirks, it was a beautiful day, the helmet's all hot and cumbersome and I wasn't going to be doing anything but going around a ring like I always did.

I didn't say anything about it, and once we got there, I didn't even think about it anymore and just automatically put my helmet on once we started to the ring. I fell on the top left side of my head when I fell off. I'm sure it was bruised, because it hurts worse than my leg. As I was laying there thinking about falling off without a helmet on, the thought then occurred to me "what if he'd stepped on my head instead of my leg?"

This horse was a national winner. He's a show horse, he's used to the ring, he's used to being ridden, he knows his stuff. He's sixteen years old, not a young untrained horse. Jessi had shown him for years, he was her show horse. She knows him. We were just out for a lesson, nothing overly dangerous.

I'll never consider contemplating riding without a helmet again. Nor will my kids ever be allowed to ride without one. Even in a very controlled, predictable situation, accidents can happen.

The thought of my 4-year old sitting on her horse watching me fall, without a helmet and then being stepped on...turns my stomach. Thankfully I had it on, and wasn't seriously hurt, and she had a good laugh at my expense, and we learned first hand the importance of wearing the right gear. But it could have been a whole lot different.