Gemma's Broken Arm

Gemma is resting on the couch this afternoon after falling off her horse and breaking her left arm in two places. She was trail riding around the farm on Rocky, when he was suddenly spooked by something and did a 180 degree turn at the canter (there is some dirtwork going on out there so we think he might have been caught off guard by a big bulldozer parked on his normal route.) Gemma went flying off and landed on her hand, breaking her radius and ulna bone. In the x-ray below, you can see the ulna bone has a crush injury and has actually "buckled". The radius is more of a clean break. She was casted clear up above her elbow in an effort to stabilize these "unstable" fractures. She will be x-rayed again in a week and if the bones have not begun to heal properly, or have shifted at all, we may be making a visit to an orthopedic surgeon to discuss having pins put in.

After falling, Gemma got up, lengthened her stirrup so she could re-mount with one hand, and returned to the barn. She dismounted, tied up her horse and then came to me with tear-filled eyes to explain what had happened. I knew immediately it was serious because very little brings Gemma to tears, or off of her horse for that matter. On the way to the ER she had these comments: "I know I wouldn't have fallen off if I were riding bareback, Mommy. That saddle just doesn't fit him right!"....and "I reached out with my hand so I wouldn't hit my head!" .....and "Rocky was so good Mom, he just stood there with me, waiting for me to get back on (as opposed to taking off back to the barn)!"

We are so grateful that Gemma was wearing a helmet and for our barn rule of wearing helmets "EVERY RIDE, EVERY TIME"!