Falling down and getting back up (again)

August 22^nd

They warned me the weather in Wyoming was unpredictable but I didn’t expect a full day of rain after all the hot days we have had. The land needed it though and it gave us an excuse to go into Cody for some shopping! I still hadn’t been to Boot Barn and I was dying to go! We weren’t planning on staying there all day but I guess that’s what happens when you tell a group of girls to go shopping. I bought some great souvenirs in the shops on main street (my own rope, so I can practice on the sheep back home!). After a visit to Walmart (I’m really going to miss Walmart, I think I’ve been to at least one in every state) it was finally time for Boot Barn. I think I tried on twenty different pairs of boots. In the end I had two pairs left to choose between. By this point most of the others had gone to another shop, it took me ages to decide. Eventually I decided to just get both, while in Wyoming right?

I got up early Saturday morning to wrangle with Emelie and Laura. It was Laura’s last day so Emelie and Sam would be the only wranglers left. I was just having some tea that morning when MaeCile asked ‘so Aly is an assistant wrangler now right?’ I suddenly got promoted! We rode all around the property so Laura and Emelie could show me all the places the horses could be when wrangling in the morning. I rode Hank, a real mustang! He was such a giant sweetheart though. Two of the horses had escaped through the fence so we had some real wrangling to do.

In the afternoon I took Buttercup to the arena for another session. After some ground work I rode her in the arena and she was great. She is a really sensitive horse but very comfortable. She reminded me a lot of Hazel, who, as MaeCile told me later, is her full sister. She is such a sweet horse and I felt completely safe taking her on a ride the next morning. Unfortunately she tripped when we were loping through a field with a lot of sage bushes. I suddenly felt her disappear from underneath me. According to Lucy, who was riding behind me, she tripped over a bush and then jumped to the left, while I fell off on the right. I landed on my hip and hit my head as well. I was a little disoriented but after sitting down for a couple of minutes I really wanted to get back on. However, I couldn’t lift my foot high enough to reach the stirrup so I decided to walk home with Laura and try again in the arena. Halfway through the walk I got really dizzy and nauseous and I had to sit down. Laura took Buttercup home and went to pick me up in the car. I spend the rest of the day hobbling around the house…

The next morning my hip still felt pretty bad. MaeCile told me I wasn’t allowed back on a horse until I went to the hospital for a check-up. My insurance hadn’t called back yet though so I had to wait... Everyone decided they wanted to head to the Horseworks sign to take a photo so I was allowed to ride the smallest horse they had for the photo, Frecka. She was really sweet and even though it hurt, it felt good to be back in the saddle. In the afternoon, my insurance company finally called back and MaeCile took me to the hospital in Cody. They immediately took me to a private room, got me into a hospital gown and gave me one of those bracelet thingies with my name on it. I didn’t really think all that was necessary.. They were really nice though and kept checking up on me (I think I've seen ten different nurses, all asking me how to pronounce my full name). After watching Lifetime and history channel for hours the doctor finally told me the X-rays were clear, no broken bones, just banged up. It was nice to know that nothing was seriously wrong and I could ride again!

That night I went down to the cabins with Laura and Emelie, it was pitch black but when we turned around we could just see the moon starting to rise above the mountains. We stood there for a bit watching the moonrise. It was such a beautiful sight, a bit surreal even. I realized what an amazing time this has been and how glad I am that I finally decided to come here this year, even though I doubted it for so long. It was the best decision I’ve made this year.