Thrown from a horse named Shadow, twice!

I am the luckiest girl alive! I am in Colorado and my girlfriend Cheryl asked me to go horseback riding with her on Saturday morning. There was a large group of us riding and my horse's name is Shadow. We were riding along when Shadow got spooked from a horse next to him, he jumped back lost his footing and threw me. Ouch! I caught my breath and mounted Shadow again. We walked along the trail some more for about an hour, later one of the people from the ranch said to me "you see how nicely Shadow is behaving, because you got on him again and showed him who was boss". Well, I said okay, even though I was still leery about riding him, I continued. A few moments after some photo ops Shadow was spooked once again and set off for the ride of my life! I was pulling on my reigns with all my might trying to get him to stop, but to no avail, Shadow kept on barreling forward and when he could not go anymore he decided to turn and make a beeline to the group, all the time bucking! I finally lost my grip and went flying off Shadow, and took a really hard fall.  The group gathered around to make sure I had feelings in my legs and arms, asked me if I could sit, and I did. After about five minutes they gave me another horse, I mounted him and decided I could not continue to ride. I got off the horse and started to walk while in excruciating pain. The rest of the group went on and Bill stayed with me. I told him I could not longer walk and was feeling terrible pain all over. Bill laid me down and that is when I felt as if I were going to die. I told Bill that I did not think I was going to make it, but that I had to fight because I wanted to stay for my 19 year daughter. Bill told me that the good Lord was listening to my prayers and that I was not leaving. Bill continued to hold my hand and pray with me. For what seemed like an eternity, I laid on the ground and saw the last moments of my life pass by. My breathing was shallow and Bill kept on telling me to hold on, that it would only be a few more minutes and finally the ambulance came. The medics started working on me cutting my shirt and bra off, giving me shots and oxygen. Minutes later I was on a helicopter called "flight for life". The storm had come in and I was lying down on a stretcher in the helicopter fighting to stay alive.  I arrived to St. Anthony's Hospital, the best in the area for spinal injury and trauma. There I had CT scans, MRI's, X-rays, you name it, I had it done to me. I remember the doctor coming in and telling me that no damage had been done to my spinal cord and that no surgery was needed. I had broken four of my vertebra's, three of them on each side! Thank God, he listened to my prayers. I then asked that they call my husband to let him know what happened to me and that I was okay. Luckily, Ken had just arrived to New York from Hong Kong. I spent the next three days in the hospital thanking God for saving me and allowing me to have full mobility. 

I also need to thank my angel Bill, that stayed by my side and told me that I was not going anywhere, that he had never lost anyone and that the Lord was with me and he was listening! Amen, I do believe Bill was right.

                                                         sunrise Saturday morning

                                                              Joey, ready to ride

                                                       Cheryl on her horse peeing

                                                   Bill my angel

me on Shadow

in my hospital

news that I get to go home!

                                               

                                                yesterday afternoon, the view from the ranch