by Jack Lee
It was a gloomy, gray foggy day on the ranch with a wet sort of cold that bites right through your jacket. The cattle were bundled up at the far north end of the pasture and the horses came in from the walnut orchard to stand under the protection of the extended barn roof.
So began Sunday, but the dull tranquility of this day was not to last.
Shari (shown left) is a real cowgirl and has been most of her life (lets just say she’s been riding over 4 decades) and she still rides every day. When noon rolled around she had her typical daily chores done and she was ready to saddle up for her “therapy” as she calls it. Liz, was the only other person at home and she was preoccupied studying for finals, when her Mom asked her to go riding. She reluctantly had to pass and so Shari had to ride alone, which was not unusual. The girls often ride alone, mostly because of necessity, we have more horses than we can get riders. However, as hindsight would later dictate, this could have been Shari’s final ride.
Shari took stock of the horses and selected a tall black thoroughbred named Velvet. She’s a fairly new arrival to ranch, but she is 9 years old and she should be fairly well mannered by now. However, we’ve had trouble with her in the past, little things, nothing too serious, for instance Velvet has a tendency to balk at commands or she likes to run when she’s really not encouraged to run, but with a little reigning or a slap with the romel she quickly corrects. Shari calls her twitty, but she still loves her and Velvet was overdue to be ridden.
By 2 p.m. Liz was wondering where her Mom was, and so she went out to the barn to see if she had come back. The barn was empty. Then she noticed the dogs near the barn. Hub, Lucy and Maggie, the three ranch mutts always went with Shari when she rode and here they were, with no sign of Shari. This was all it took for Liz to spring into action. She jumped in her 4X4 and headed down the road scanning the orchards and thats when she spotted Shari’s horse Velvet, still saddled, with her reins hanging down and standing outside the fenced pasture near some hay bails used to feed the cattle…. definitely not a good sign!
Liz envisioned her Mom laying helpless (or worse, dead) somewhere in the vast expanse of orchards and wheat fields that go for miles in any direction; but where to look, where would her Mom have been riding?
Her first thought was to get some help. I was in Chico, but luckily some neighbors were spotted down the road loading up their car for a trip to town. Ed and Bev said they would check to north and Liz headed south and west. As luck would have it Liz had traveled just a few minutes when she spotted her Mom leaning against Ed’s carryall (used to haul plows). She was covered in leaves and dirt, but she was still standing and that was a relief.
At first glance she looked like she was bleeding from her eyes and nostrils, but it was from the wet tears that turned the dry caked dirt on her face to muddy streaks. Liz was shocked and stunned at this sight and not knowing the extent of her injuries, but she’s almost a nurse and she gathered her emotions, but she couldn’t hold back a few tears. Shari was visibly shaking and appeared to be dazed and confused. Liz assesed the injuries she could see and then she tried to get her into the cab of the truck, but she was too injured to sit. Finally Liz had to drop the tailgate and Shari laid in the back as Liz drove her back to the ranch where she met up with the neighbors that now numbered 3 searchers. Liz called 911 and kept her Mom warm.
The closest ambulance was in Willows and the closest facility was Enloe in Chico. It took almost 15 minutes for the ambulance to arrive and another 30 minutes to get Shari to Enloe. Thank goodness Liz was at home and got to her before Shari went into to total shock from exposure. Her alertness, fast reactions and quick rescure probably saved her Mom’s life.
Before the ambulance arrive Shari explained she was ridding over the levee in the river bottoms and she was crossing a newly plowed field when Velvet started to trot and leap, just quick bucks and right then Shari knew she was in for trouble. Velvet could not be restrained and she broke into a full gallop and was probably hitting speeds somewhere around 35 mph when she made the decision to bail onto the plowed ground and hope for the best for what lay ahead were trees, the levee and hard packed ground. If she lost it anywhere coming up she knew it was not going to be a good outcome. All she can remember now is sliding off to the side of a runaway horse and dropping to the soft dirt. She was knocked out and came too face down in the dirt. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed and it took her a few minutes to realize what had happened, but slowly her memory returned.
Shari is a strong woman and even though she is slim, she can still pitch a hay bale and does so regularly. I think this is one of the reasons she survived. She gathered herself up, assessed her pain and visible injuries. She flt a raging, spiking pain to her left hip and upper leg. There was also painful swelling to the area around her left elbow. She knew she would be hard to find in her current location, so she forced herself onto her feet and despite the horrific pain she walked over a 3/4th mile, first over the levee and then across rough ground to the location where she could go no further and there she was eventually spotted by Liz.
The emergency room doc said she was really lucky because nothing was broken and a CT scan showed no serious brain trauma, just a mild concusion. The trauma was limited to badly strained muscles and possible some torn ligaments. But, there was a more serious danger of exposure that was mitigated by her quick discovery.
Shari is currently back home and in bed, taking painkillers and currently trying to figure out exactly what set off Velvet? We’ll be taking the horse out later today and see if she tries to run wild again, only this time the rider will be ready with rope reins for grip and a Tom Thumb bit to get her attention if necessary. We’re not big on jerking a horse around with the reigns, it’s mostly leg touch, but sometimes you have to re-establish who’s boss…well see who’s boss later today, wish us luck!
Update: Velvet was good as she could get, although for some reason she was nervous as she neared the jungle brush of the river bottoms again. It is possible she sensed a preditor and that caused her to bolt, we may never know. However, we did find where Shari landed and we recovered her lost gold earring; now that was lucky!