Team Czar decided to go down to Fair Hill MD for a paper chase (fun on horseback) on Black Friday. Mom stayed home. I had no interest in being on the road with the crazies.

Around noon I get the call nobody wants… from a number I didn’t recognize. Usually I let it go to voicemail but for some reason I had one of those dang “feelings.” I hate being right. It was Ro telling me young master Czar got stupid going uphill at a gallop, did some unauthorized spins and other shenanigans. Ro tried a controlled dismount, caught her ankle in the stirrup, and did a faceplant in the dirt with her arm/shoulder underneath her.

Fortunately there was an ER nurse in her group of friends so she got some triage using materials at hand. A 4-wheeler came out to take Ro to the trailer while others grabbed Czar and walked him back the 2 miles. The consensus was… the upper arm was broken, the ankle sprained and the face pretty much a bruised mess.

My job: jump in the car and drive a couple hours so I could drive the rig home and we’d figure out what to do with the car while Ro went to the clinic. By the time I got there (I-95 was a periodic parking lot) Ro decided she was OK to drive the car but we had a plan in place in case it didn’t work out.

Rush hour in Philly, holiday traffic, idiots doing idjit things. And the trailer lights refused to work. Holy freaking trailer electrical system, Batman! You don’t want to drive the turnpike in the dark with no trailer lights.

We got home, I fed Ro and off we went to Emergicare. And it wasn’t the arm, it was the shoulder. Ro passed out when the doctor tried moving that arm around. That’s when the nurse came to get me. When the going gets tough, get Mom!

Firstborn has a new shoulder immobilizer, meds and football to watch while I take care of the farm chores and do what I can to keep her from doing too much.

Geez, you just never know! But I’m thankful. It could have been worse. There were lots of people there helping her and taking care of the horse. We’ve got offers of help from all our friends, even those who are a distance from us.

We’re looking at an 8 week recovery period, with frequent x-rays and rehab on the docket. Mom’s gonna get fitter having some physical work ahead of her as feeding and tending to critters offer plenty of character building opportunities.

I’m just glad I’m here to help.

So here’s a shout-out to all the friends and strangers who stopped what they were doing to help a fellow horsewoman in trouble. You gals are rock stars!