It was the horse whodunnit

-
At least, that's what my family always thinks. I had to go and see the ENT consultant today about the disaster area which is my nose. I'd always thought I had sinus problems, but apparently I have a septum which is bent, almost certainly caused by an old injury, and it's now disrupting my airflow, apparently.

I rang my OH to tell him what the diagnosis was, and his response was "Well, that was caused by that horse who catjumped and hit you in the face."

Then I rang my Mama, and she said: "It was that horse that reared and came over backwards with you."

No - no. The catjumper cracked my jaw, but got nowhere near my nose, and the rearer left me shocked but blessedly unhurt, unlike poor Sonia in The Impossible Horse. It was Adeline Burnett, when we were at Junior School. We were playing house rounders, I was bowling; she was batting. She was a phenomenal hitter, and mis-hit the ball straight at my face. It was a complete accident - she was even more distraught than I was.

So - has your equine career left you unscathed? Or are you a tapestry of horse-inflicted scars? And if any of my family are reading this: look away now. I'm only kidding. Horses don't hurt.

Comments

Unknown said…
That kind of rounders accident happened at my school. I can't remember who was batting, but it was Marion who was pitching, and she got her nose broken. Which confirmed my long-held theory that pitching was a dangerous job and to be avoided at all costs. Actually, I never cared much for rounders, full stop.

Luckily I always bounced when I fell off ponies. Not that I did that much riding really, but I don't think I ever had worse than the odd bruise, and sometimes not even that. I've had my toe stepped on a couple of times by ponies, but no injury from that either. I did suffer loss of dignity on occasion, but nothing physical.
8 November 2007 at 18:39
winnie said…
I used to bounce but these days I seem to thud. Only the other day I had a crashing fall and have done something nasty to my ribcage. Have also injured both little fingers over the last year, in separate incidents, and one wrist. Just call me Mrs Ibuprofen ha ha!
9 November 2007 at 10:50
Jane Badger said…
Gillian - I didn't mind rounders particularly. It was hockey I really really disliked. I was a good sprinter but had no stamina whatsoever and had a genius for being in the wrong place at the wrong time for hockey.

Winnie - yes, like you and Gillian I used to bounce. The last time I fell off was into a ploughed field and that was a sort of nice squish. Hope your ribcage gets better soon. And what is it about fingers? Another of my equine injuries was a broken knuckle. Am most impressed, though, that you've managed all that in one year.
9 November 2007 at 13:18
Mutterings and Meanderings said…
I have been walked over, I have had two beautiful horseshoe shaped bruises lfet above my kneecaps, I have been winded and vomited and my amber ring was broken when I unexpectedly met the arena fence. I also have a nice wee hole on my lower arm.

My sister's had broken fingers and toes and has a lovely scar where a youngster threw her into a wire fence. She couldn't walk properly for two days.
13 November 2007 at 12:48
Jane Badger said…
m&m - a nice wee hole on your lower arm??? Is it tooth-shaped?
14 November 2007 at 13:55
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rollkur and the blue tongue

-
I've been meaning to write about this all week, but reading the exclusive in Horse and Hound about the controversy tipped me over the edge. For my non-horsy readers, rollkur is a training/warming up technique used by some dressage riders. It basically involves riding the horse with its jaw pulled in virtually to its chest, in order to increase suppleness. Patrik Kittel , a Swedish competitor in Odense was videoed riding his horse in this way. If you watch the video , you'll see the horse's tongue hanging out - blue. It takes a while before the rider notices this. When he does, he stops, puts the horse's tongue back in, and carries on. There are two things which bother me about this. Firstly, I am fully aware large sections of the dressage world, and some of its brighest stars, consider rollkur perfectly ok, but the FEI guidelines state this practice should only be for short periods, allowing the horse to rest. Patrick Kittel apparently rode the horse for two hou
Read more

Archibald, don't eat the bedclothes

-
Image
My friend Louise sent me this picture today. It's from a children's book with the rather wince-making title For The Wee Ones. I thought, when I read that (because I read the message before I looked at the picture) that the picture was going to be a typical winsome production from the school of artists who think (or who are paid to think) that the child is a thing sent from God and a blissful thing. They had obviously never met a child, and certainly not mine. I should have known Louise better. The artist responsible for Archibald, don't eat the bedclothes slipped this one past the editors. Just look at the poor, broken Mother Rabbit. She knows she has not the faintest chance of being listened to, and poor thing, she is stooped in the way of a mother to whom this is just the lastest in a long line of horror; with nothing good to come. And Archibald is obviously the spawn of the Devil. Just look at those eyes. He'll have the bed after he's finished the bedclothes
Read more

Dick Sparrow - 40 Horse Hitch, and Neil Dimmock's 46 Percherons

-
Image
Here's a clip of Dick Sparrow driving 40 horses. It's an amazing sight, particularly when the shot changes to show the team from the rear and you get the great incongruity of modern American corporate architecture as a background to the wagon and horses. I love the anticipation in the video: the sense of something amazing being just round the corner is palpable. Thanks to Christina Wilsdon for telling me about this world record 46 Percheron hitch (alas just stills) but you get the idea.
Read more