Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Bittersweet Ending by Kate Berta


Well as much as I would like to say my summer ended according to my plan, I am constantly reminded that in fact, it didn’t end according to my plan. Horses can be the most beautiful elegant animals on this plant. They have the power to capture your heart and steal your sole but they are still 1,200 pounds of pure muscle and power.

On July 14, I was washing one of Stephen’s horses off after I had a fantastic ride on him, I went to set the hose down and look to see if his tail needed washing. As soon as I was behind him something must have stung or scared him because he went flying forward and kicked out with both hind feet, nailing me in my left side with full force. Boomer, the horse, is the sweetest horse in Stephen’s barn, so for this to happen is completely out of character. Anyways, long story short I went to the ER room and found out I had a grade 3 spleen injury in not just one but two places. I was then required to stay in the ICU for 3 nights and a regular room for 2 nights. Thank God I did not have to have my spleen removed but it was required that I do no physical activity for 6 weeks.

So after I was out of the hospital we packed up my horses and myself and made the trip back to Lexington where we dropped
the horses off to stay in training and then migrated back to my hometown of Bowling Green where I rested and was allowed to do absolutely nothing. So its been 5 weeks into the 6 weeks and I have just about gone insane from not being on a horse. I am recovering just fine and have done exactly what the doctors have said, for the first time in my life. I will be able to go back into full riding August 24th and then will compete both of my horses at the training level at Ky classic. I am hoping to move Bailey back up to preliminary at Jumpstart and my goal is to run Bourbon in the Hagyard Team Challenge training three day. I wish I had a better story to tell but overall minus the spleen part, I had a absolute blast working for Stephen. He taught me so much in the 6 weeks I was there and I am looking forward to riding and working for him again. Hope to see everyone soon!

Photo of Kate, Bailey and Bourbon courtesy of Team Shamrock

No comments:

Post a Comment