Voices From The Comeback Trail

 In writing my article Recapturing the Joy of Riding I asked riders to share the top three things that made the biggest difference in their recovery from trauma and regaining confidence in the saddle. Heres what I learned.
Lara Worden
Lara Worden an equine nutritionist living in North Carolina has returned to endurance riding. Photo by Becky Kirchner Pearman
My incident came at the start of an endurance ride in Ohio 2 5 years ago. All I remember was trying to get on and he blew up. Apparently he turned into a bucking bronc. I was tossed and knocked unconscious for 1520 minutes. The next thing I remember is waking up to EMTs standing over me and preparing to load me into an ambulance. That incident resulted in me breaking almost all my ribs on my right side with a collapsed lung and a concussion. It got me a trip to ICU for three days and a LONG road to recovery both physically and mentally.

I do not remember much from that day which I take as a small blessing. However in some ways this makes it more difficult to understand the panic that comes over me in certain situations with this horse as I really do not know what triggered the episode. We did discover shortly afterwards that this horse had EPM and he was subsequently treated.
Keys to recovery
Here are my keys to recovery
1 Timethat seems to eventually heal all or maybe you just forget.
2 Once I got back in the saddle I rode my been there done that steady Eddie. That helped me build my confidence back.
3 Once I got back on the horse that seriously hurt me we mostly walked for weeks. Then a gradual trot with family and friends who understood that they couldnt leave me behind and that we needed to return to a walk if I became panicked or scared.
In some ways both of us the horse and I went through a healing process together. I am taking lessons on this horse so we can become a better partnership. We also finished our first LD ride together over Thanksgiving weekend. It wasnt pretty nor perfect but we did it together. And we are now back to doing 50milers!
Lara Worden is an equine nutritionist living in the Foothills of North Carolina.
Bruce Weary
Bruce Wearys recovery was aided by an offthetrack Standardbred gelding called Two Bits. Photo by AZCowgirl Photography