I'd opted for a bikey event at Glentress but was asked if I'd mind covering a Pony Club Trials event near Kirrimuir instead. "Don't like horses" I said, "They've got a mind of their own, with bikes if the rider falls off the bike stops, it doesn't work like that with horses, and they're big and heavy, they've got teeth and they can kick!" However, come 0500 I'm meeting up with medic colleague Anna and we're on our way past Loch Laggan heading for the A9 south then through Blairgowrie east to the event site. We were there, full of coffee and bacon rolls and ready to roll by 0800.
Our main brief was to cover the XC event but were free to watch the dressage and other horsey trial things until the XC kicked off. Driving over to the dressage area gave us an opportunity to sus out the lower end of the XC course as well. Turning left through a gate way took us past a spot where a big grey horse was standing peacefully, Anna insisted on leaping out to converse with this equine version of Schwarzenegger! While doing her 'horse whispering' I saw she had leaned against a low white ribbon of fence, yep, you're right it was electric! suddenly both horse and Anna leaped apart, the horse looking most put out! Anna was 'shocked' by the whole event (that's bad, sorry). 1100 we were in our assigned position, like coiled springs waiting for horses to run amok savaging small children and the like! It all turned out to be quite sedate in the end, I was vaguely disappointed!
The rules for the riders included one saying that if they fell off or were thrown they had to be checked over by the medical crew before being allowed to ride again. This was sounding promising after watching young ladies in tight jodhpurs leading their horses around!
Could this be a customer? I'd spotted a couple of officials pointing us out to a bod now walking up the hill towards us. "Hiya, what's the problem?" I asked her. "Fell off my horse in the warm up area and they said I have to see you guys before I'm allowed to ride again". "Ok", I ran through the usual questions, "What happened? How did you land? Any pain at all? You're normally fit and well? No dizzy spells?" Checked full range of movement for head/neck and filled in patient info form. Her biggest problem was embarrassment at falling off and then having to see us for clearance to ride again, if all our casualties were like that the day would be a doddle!
It must have been about Anna's turn to get the coffees when a 4x4 pulled up by the ambulance and off loaded two packed lunches plus two steaming mugs of coffee! What stars these folk were!!
Anna and I were busy arguing the merits of mountain bikes against horses. Mountain bike and rider, one brain (usually) controlling things (sometimes). Horse and rider, two brains (usually), the horse knowing what it wants to do, the rider thinking it knows what it's going to get the horse to do! Part way through this philosophical discourse we were disturbed by shouts of "collapse", the 'coiled springs' sprang! Adrenalin pumping! Where's it happened?? Then at the bottom of the slope close to the finish line we see a horse on the ground having buckets of water poured over it and the Vet kneeling by its head doing what ever it is that was needed to try to resuscitate it!! We rolled down close to the incident to ensure the rider was ok and not injured when the horse went down. Unfortunately it wasn't the horse's day, a tarp was placed over it and a farm truck was brought to take the body away. I guess a veterinary post mortem would be done to satisfy insurers etc. But I'm not sure, anyway, it would have been a bit insensitive to haul the carcass straight into the back of the burger van!!
the young lady riding the horse was fine but devastated by what had happened, it transpired that she had borrowed the horse from a friend and now had to deliver the bad news! Fortunately the Vet took over the phone call, as the girl could barely speak, and he explained the circumstances.
Excitement over and back on standby. By the end of the day we'd had two check up's (fell off horse), one collapse (faint) caused by excitement of competition, lack of food and dehydration. Tx: Casualty into shade, a bottle of water with two Dioralite sachets stirred in, and a dish of stovies, it worked wonders!! I was walking to the organisers marquee when I had to do a rapid swerve to avoid a couple in the midst of a domestic!! (we would treat any 'collateral damage' but counselling costs extra). After checking on our 'faint' patient (all ok), collecting the two way radios and stuffing our faces with big pots of stovies, we were back on the road to Blairgowrie, the A9 and back to Roy Bridge.
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