For those of you that don't wear hats....

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elsiex

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I am currently laid in a hospital bed after a very very near miss this morning.

Having ridden two horses already, rode a friend's horse this morning. She slipped on her hind leg and sat down then fell backwards on top of me, through absolutely no fault of either of ours.

I was immediately knocked out, despite wearing a hat (what's left of it!-huge dent in the back!) as I fell straight back onto my head. I then proceeded to have two fits whilst unconcious, frothing at the mouth. Thank god I had people there with me at the time as I always ride alone. They thought I would have been disabled/a vegetable as I was foaming at the mouth and fitting so much.

Two ambulances were called and driven straight into the ménage, have been laying on my back all day in a brace on a board having X-rays and a CT scan. Have now been transferred to a ward to get some rest for the night.

I have been so so lucky today, it's no question that my hat saved my life this morning, and my parents would be burying their 22yr old daughter if I hadn't been.

Horses are such unpredictable creatures, but what happened to me this morning was a completely freak accident, and I just hope that this post encourages you to wear a hat if you don't already.
 
I hope you are better soon - please take all the rehab advice you are given and take it slowly. My neice had a head injury nearly 18 months ago and has a headache EVERYday since - only thing that is different is th amount of pain:o She has intensive osteo and physio every week and is finally getting better - please don't ignore any pain or steps backwards -as its just your bodies way of telling you to slow down:o My neice was 14 when it happened - has affected her education, GCSE's, no riding for over a year etc etc It wasn't a horse related accident but it has affected her whole life as well as the rest of the family due to hospitalisations, time off school etc

Have a look on theis website when you feel up to it http://www.riders4helmets.com/ as there is loads of info on there which may help you.
 
Ouch! Shows it can happen anytime :o But have to say, you really should be resting, so turn phone/computer off, and get some proper rest! :)
 
Well said hope you feel better soon!

Never can understand why people don't wear them, personally I am sick of seeing magazines publishing pictures of top class riders not wearing hats what message does that put out?

Accidents are just that - accidents we're not warned they can happen anytime.

Don't forget to send your hat back to the manafacturer they like to take them apart to research how to improve them in the future.

:):)
 
I can fully imagine and appreciate how grateful your mother is that you were wearing your hat today!! Wishing you a full and speedy recovery!
 
So sorry to hear about your accident, hope you recover quickly.

Your post made me think, accidents can happen without it being the horses fault. I do always wear a hat but because I only ride my two older horses I dont bother much which one. I just pick one up, usually one of my daughters old ones ( I always insist on her having new ones)

You might just have inspired me to buy myself a new one at the weekend.
 
Flipping heck! So glad you're, comparatively, okay lass.

Having bashed my head (a silly fall, fast canter, Dizz went left, I didn't), and a year later a broken back at L2 (don't jump when ill), I know a bit of what you're going through.

You'll probably find that you need to rest a lot, get tired easily, eat a lot(!), and your emotions are a tad all over the place.

There's a helpful organization called Headway. Good for family and friend's as well, to help them to understand what is going on.

I hope you heal quickly and well. Feel free to pm if you want to talk.
 
Like you said, you were very lucky and now you're in the right place for care. I hope you're soon up and about again but pleased don't do too much too soon. ((((hugs))))
 
Hope you get better day on day... once you're all healed consider a chiropracter/ osteopath to check your neck and back...

Totally agree re hat comment, i broke my neck 10 years ago due to a freak accident - was walking in my own school on a horse i had bred and broken and he trod on a pole, in walk, it flipped up under him and he totally freaked and dropped me straight on my head. My hat split cleanly in two down the middle - for sure i'd have been dead if I hadn't had one on.
 
How very scary. I'm glad to hear your hat did its job and you are basically still in one piece. Stories like yours, though thankfully not common, still happen often enough to make the whole hat/no hat thing a no-brainer (pun fully intended) in my eyes. It's particularly powerful to the debate that you were riding on a "soft surface" at the time, as this is often cited as a reason not to bother putting a hat on. That all said, I am sure you would really rather not be the poster child for the cause, but thanks for sharing your story and I hope it has the desired effect of making others think again.

Wishing you a quick and complete recovery. As others have said, get plenty of rest!
 
Wow.

This really has actually made me think, I have always ridden in a hat but never really saw the problem riding without them if you were schooling or something, its just never really provoked much thought personally....but this has drawn my attention to something I would have otherwise not considered...

I really really wish you all the very best and thankyou for being brave enough to share it...
 
Hope you're feeling better soon. I'm sure you'll feel immediately better when they release you from hospital! ;)

I always wear a hat but if I'd needed any convincing, I had a similar experience except that I woke up briefly between seizures. My boss was leaning over me and all I remember thinking was, "Oh god, he's going to throw up on me!" before I blacked out again. He looked SO scared. It really brought home to me that my actions affect other people and while I would have (hopefully) just been dead, the people there would have had to live with the memories of it.

I think people can do what they want. But I also think people have the right to express their opinions and experiences. The OP has some valuable - if painful - experience to share.


To the OP, be aware that even if your injury is minor, you will feel like crap for a long time. I went back to work fairly quickly - the joys of working in the horse industry - but slept every other hour for weeks, had a heck of a time remembering and thinking about even very basic things, and still, I'm sure, have a little "blip" in my word recognition softwear, more than a decade later. I also have a "glass temple" (it was the second crack in the same place) and even a small bang hurts more than it should. Be gentle with yourself. :)
 
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I'm very very glad you're OK. Sounds like you were extremely lucky. It makes me very very cross when people claim their horses are too quiet/well behaved for them, or they hint that are far too good riders to need to wear a hat, because time and time again we hear on this very forum about people who have had horrendous, unavoidable accidents due to horses slipping, tripping etc.
At the end of the day I can't help feeling that if they have so little respect for their own life or brains, then they're no serious loss to the gene pool, but it DOES pee me off that it'll be MY taxes paying for their wheelchairs and nappies.
 
It is so frightening when people say they know their horse/bred it/only schooling/their problem if they end up a vegetable but I really don't get it.

The trauma that I had to my head despite being on a soft surface, AND wearing a hat, enough to knock me clean out and cause fits, just makes you think what if.

The horse in question didn't act out or play up, she simply just tripped over her own feet and hit the deck.

Thank you for all the well wishes, if this post inspires just one more of you to wear a hat then at least something good can come from the fact that I'm laying flat on my back in a hospital bed- however much rather that than a mortuary slab!!!
 
Get well soon :)

I always wear a hat but I didn't as a kid as I used to think it was cool not too, that's my worry when people post pictures with no hat or they print pictures of professionals sans hat. Obviously my mum used to tell me off but it's just what I thought people that could ride did.

Wishing you a speedy recovery :)
 
I would echo what Tarrsteps said about taking it easy and giving your body time to heal. I had a bump to the head after a horse went over backwards with me a few years ago - I was knocked out briefly but thankfully it was not so bad that I had any seizures! Despite this it took some time to recover and for several weeks I found myself forgetting things and getting very tired. I hope you have a speedy recovery and are not in too much pain.
 
Ouch, what a fright, take it easy and I hope you are on the mend soon. As others have mentioned, head injuries can be really complicated so you may think you feel fine, but they do need time to heal, just like a broken bone or strained ligament would.

And thank you for sharing/posting to highlight to those who maybe think they are "better" than a hat...
 
So sorry to hear of your accident, thank goodness you were wearing a hat. I fell of in May, still dont know what happened, but sent my hat off to the manufactures to be examined, apparently the injury was more severe than I thought without my hat I would have been dead, a very sobering thought

TarrSteps said:
be aware that even if your injury is minor, you will feel like crap for a long time. I went back to work fairly quickly - the joys of working in the horse industry - but slept every other hour for weeks, had a heck of a time remembering and thinking about even very basic things, and still, I'm sure, have a little "blip" in my word recognition softwear, Be gentle with yourself. :)
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I can not agree with Tarrsteps more, it has been months for me to feel 'like myself', and the blurred vision in my left eye has only just gone. Don't be surprised if you think you generally feel ok, I found I functioned, but didn't take things in. Also, even though I didn't think it had affected my riding, as in I didn't feel nervous getting back on, it had knocked me back, really didn't feel like competing until a few months ago, so just didn't. Take your time, listen to your body and give it chance to heal. Get well soon x
 
TarrSteps said:
To the OP, be aware that even if your injury is minor, you will feel like crap for a long time. I went back to work fairly quickly - the joys of working in the horse industry - but slept every other hour for weeks, had a heck of a time remembering and thinking about even very basic things, and still, I'm sure, have a little "blip" in my word recognition softwear, more than a decade later. I also have a "glass temple" (it was the second crack in the same place) and even a small bang hurts more than it should. Be gentle with yourself. :)
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Another one to echo TarrSteps wise words!! When I was hit when out hacking on the road I was knocked out for quite sometime also and frothed at the mouth apparently. I stupidly went back to work on the Monday after it happening on the Saturday and had very little short term memory for quite sometime afterwards to the point when interviewing for a director's position I asked the candidate the same question 6 times and then fell asleep in the interview. My boss admitted sometime later that he should have sent me home and not allow me in work that week as I was all over the place and found sleeping at my desk on more than one occasion and not remembering what I had sent in emails! It then hit me about a month later and had to then take a couple of days off as my body just shut down and said it needed to rest.

All the best for a speedy recovery and reminding those that are stoopid enough to never wear a hat how easily these accidents can happen! xx
 
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