A Friend in Need
By Jennifer

I was out riding with Amy, a friend of mine, one day in the summertime.  We both kept our horses at a boarding facility where we trained hunter/jumpers.  We decided that we would work on jumping this one jump that came after a tight turn, something that we both needed to practice.  

After jumping it several times, my horse was doing a marvelous job, so I let him rest.  Amy took her horse, China, over the jump a couple of times.  She was getting better and better at it and decided to try it one more time.  

Amy and China came around the turn, but China couldn’t find a good spot to take off from.  So, she took off too early and didn’t clear the jump.  The top pole caught her front hooves, and she crashed through the entire jump, knocking over poles, standards and jump cups.  Amy fell and China stumbled for a few strides before stopping.  

I immediately saw something wrong.  I jumped off my horse and ran to China who had blood running down her one of her front legs.  Her shoulder had a very deep cut on it that was oozing blood.  Amy took my horse and ran to the barn to call the vet for help.  I stood with China, and, not knowing what else to do, put my hand into the big gash, pressing as hard as I could.  Finally, the blood stopped, but I was afraid to move my hand.  

We waited for what felt like hours, but it was only 20 minutes before the vet arrived.  When he started stitching up the gash, he said that I had saved China from losing a great amount of blood and possibly causing her to get weak and sick.  I felt great that day!

Top | Previous Page | Horse Talk |