Gracie is still in the hospital in Kansas City. She broke her pelvis in what we now know to be 4 places. 3 of the fractures are lateral and anterior compression fractures. The 4th, and most troublesome is a zone 2 sacral fracture that goes through the neural foramen. That's troublesome because some very important nerves are in that space.
Often times they do surgery on this type of injury to avoid devastating nerve damage, but they feel that Gracie's SI joint ligaments are strong enough to hold the pelvis in place while she heals. Unfortunately there can be absolutely no weight bearing on her left side so she will be in a wheelchair for 3-4 months. The best news is that Gracie's growth plates reveal she has more growing to do and they expect her to heal well and have a full recovery.
Gracie explained to me that she had just remounted during the game and had kicked him on before she had her feet in the stirrups and her reins gathered up. So with a ball in one hand, no stirrups and a long rein, she just wasn't positioned to handle the buck. We think he bucked her 2 or 3 times before she went off and finally landed just wrong on her right side. Interestingly, the troublesome break is on her left side.
Magic is not new to the games. This behavior was completely uncharacteristic of this horse as we have NEVER seen him buck her before. The whole thing is a complete shock to us. Gracie thinks he just got really excited, but I believe he was irritated and over-stimulated from the noise, the new environment, being stalled, etc.. (Here is a link to a YouTube video of Pony Club games. Keep in mind this is an international competition. Things don't move quite as fast at our level, but it gives you a great sense of what was going on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPc5KVHRfeI)
Gracie's first comments after receiving the news that she'd be in a wheelchair for so long:
"Who is going to ride my horse? He'll get so FAT if he's not ridden!"
"Now I won't be able to rate up this fall!"
But then after things settled in a bit she said, "You know, with all that time on my hands, I could rate up several levels in Horse Management (the knowledge portion of a Pony Club rating)!!" She is a Pony Clubber through to her very core.
I have had several "non-horse" friends and family members ask me questions like "Will you "let" her ride again?" and "Will you "let" your other children continue in horses after this?". And many others who aren't asking, I know, are thinking it or asking it behind my back. These are the same questions I received after our horrible trailering accident 3 years ago. They are fair questions and that is why at times like this I am so grateful for the outpouring of love and support from our Pony Club family. Their understanding of my situation means the world to me and helps sustain us. They understand why I cannot, and will not, pull all my kids off horses.
Gracie posted a video on my Facebook wall just yesterday and said I could share it with anyone who asks the question, "Will Gracie ride again?". I wanted you to see it because it reveals what is in her heart. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVI4fyXo9cY
Thanks again to all of you and please continue to pray for Gracie over these next few months. Feel free to friend me on Facebook if you're interested in following our updates.
Praising God and knowing He will use this for good,
What an exciting weekend!! (To see ALL the photos from the weekend, click HERE) Gracie's best friend Jessie Juergensen and her mother Stephanie joined us on the trip. Even though Jessie is not yet a member of US Pony Club, she is a fellow horse nut and a very supportive friend. She and her mother volunteered with the games rally all weekend in addition to being a huge help to me! I am so grateful they came along!
The girls both did an awesome job and gained a ton of experience. After finding themselves in 4th place the team pulled together and before long long their 4-man team had advanced to third place. About halfway through the rally, after several exciting wins they had solidly settled into second place. I almost couldn't believe it because our team was very young with 3 out of the 4 being D-1 rated riders and first year games participants. Not to mention that 2 riders were only 7 years old! With a team like that you just hope they can remember all the rules, complete the games and stay on their horses!
Well not only did they accomplish all those things, as they entered the final of this 12 game competition, Gracie and Gemma's team was tied for first place!! The final game was called "Stepping Stone" where they have to jump off their horse, walk across the top of 6 paint cans without letting go of their horse, re-mount and race to the finish line. The race was really tight and all was going well but the girls were tired and fatigued. Re-mounting was getting harder and harder. Gracie was third-to-last to go. On her final re-mount she got one leg in the stirrup and just froze. She was so fatigued she couldn't lift herself up and just hung there straining. I was opposite her mounting side and could only see her head and arms pulling on the horse's mane and saddle. As my eyes were welling up with tears, her team started screaming wildly to encourage her and all-of-sudden, after what seemed like an eternity, Gracie emerged atop that horse and cantered across the line where she handed the race off to her 7th grade team captain. Elisabeth broke out into a canter with her big tall Thoroughbred, "Ariat" and led the team to a FIRST PLACE FINISH putting our young rookies into first place overall at the Midwest Regional Games Rally!!
But first place was not meant to be for our young riders. As we were all jumping around, screaming in celebration.......the judge took the megaphone and announced that our team had been disqualified from the race! What???? Why????? How?????
As it turns out, my little Gemma had stepped down off the cans and let one foot hit the ground. She knew if she fell off the cans she had to go back and start over, but she didn't know the same applied even if one foot touched the ground. Unfortunately no one else on the team knew this either so it went unnoticed, but not by the judge. The disqualification dropped the team to third place in the race and second place overall.
The games competition is only part of the total rally score. All the teams are also scored individually and as a team on "Horse Management". This includes a series of rigorous inspections that occur throughout the weekend of things like their horse's stall, horse grooming, tack and equipment cleanliness, tack room organization, safety checklists and even personal grooming and dress code. When all the horse management points were tallied, the team's second place finish slipped through their fingers by 4 one-hundredths of a point! Yes.....that's .04!!
It all happened so fast, the girls hardly understood what had happened. As much as my competitive heart ached for them, when it was all said and done, nothing could have taken away from all the fun and excitement of the weekend. The girls are better athletes, better competitors, better horse managers and best of all......better friends! I couldn't be more proud of them.
