Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to the ER we go!

Teen + spooked horse = trip to the ER!  This is the equation that defined the majority of our Saturday afternoon.

The story goes something like this.  It was a beautiful day in our neck of the woods.  Sunny and warm.  A perfect day for being outside with the horses.

I had my camera in hand and was looking forward to catching the perfect picture for my 365 photo a day project.  Around here, Saturday's are about horse back riding lessons.  So there was no doubt in my mind what today's picture would reflect.

Reid and Jim were first up to ride.  Reid was on Newton.  He has the reputation of being a really mellow horse.  As Reid came around the arena towards me she said that Newt was acting really weird. He was snorting and was really jumpy.

A split second after I took this picture, Newt jerked his entire body to the right and took off like a bat out of hell.  The sudden movement caught Reid off guard and she went flying off of Newt landing on her butt in the arena dirt.

She was pretty shook up by the fall and complained that her butt hurt too bad to walk.  As Jim carried her out of the arena her face went white and her head flopped down onto his shoulder. As I realized that she had passed out I felt my heart sink towards my feet.

She came back around fairly quickly (even though it seemed like forever at the time) but she seemed a little disoriented and she kept closing her eyes saying she wanted to sleep. She also complained she couldn't hear.  Heart continuing to sink!

We called 911 and even though she seemed better by they time they arrived, they suggested that we let them take her to the hospital just to be on the safe side.  Who were we to argue?

Reid was rather mortified by all the fuss and was not happy that she had to wear a neck brace and be taped down to their back board.  I on the other hand was relieved that if anything was going to go wrong that their was an army of paramedics there to care for her. 

At the hospital they got her in a gown, asked a bunch of questions and then whisked her off to x-ray where it was revealed that she had broken her tailbone. 

This is a picture of a young girl that has no idea how much it is going to hurt having to sit in school all day on a broken tailbone.  But hey, she is just thinking of the stories she can tell......her first ambulance ride, her first x-ray, her first time fainting, her first broken bone, her first time drooling over a hot paramedic. 

The only thing she is allowed to do a second time is drool over a hot paramedic!  The rest can be one time only events.

For those of you who have had to deal with serious medical issues or injury with your child, my heart goes out to all of you.  Reid will be fine, she is fine....but for that split second when we weren't sure what was going on with her, it was the worst feeling in the world.

Now I have to figure out how to convince the three of them that they really don't love horseback riding!!

Right, like that will happen.