Have you ever been in a horrible accident that you might have been killed in? I have, and it was the scariest thing I have been through. I always ask my mom what happened to me in 2003. She always tells me the accident that I was in.

It was a beautiful spring day. The day began peaceful, sunny and warm. My mom, her friend Elizabeth and I always look forward to a sunny day to go horse riding. I was riding my mom’s horse Daisy, my mom was riding Valient, the other horse that we had, and Elizabeth was riding her own horse.

We took off down the road, and we were gone for about four hours. I had an amazing ride but I was very tired by the time we almost got to Elizabeth’s house. I asked my mom if I could go up to Elizabeth’s husband so I could walk with him up the driveway. My mom said yes you can, but she had no idea that Daisy was terrified of strange people. I went up to Elizabeth’s husband and asked him if he could help me down. Elizabeth’s husband started to take his hand out so he could switch sides to help me off.


But Daisy had other ideas. She reared straight up in the air. I tumbled backwards off of Daisy and I landed behind her. Daisy turned around on her hind legs and went down on me in between my shoulder blades. My mom saw all of this happen, but she was too far away to help me. She ran up to me on Valient and jumped off and sent him back to Elizabeth’s house. My mom tells me when I ask her what happened, that the whole scene repeated like a bad horror movie in her head. She also tells me that she was expecting to find me dead. She told me this too, “When she came down from rearing, her hoof landed right on your back and hit you with such force that you bounced off the ground about 1 or 2 feet. Your body curled up backwards so that your feet touched your head. I ran as fast as I could to you, but after she landed on you there was no more crying and you were completely still. I leaned down to you and began to listen to see if you were breathing. You were breathing, but not very well. I kept saying your name and asking you if you could hear me. I asked you if you could tell me what hurt and you could only mumble that you couldn’t breathe.”

Back to the story; Elizabeth ran her horse up to her house to call for an ambulance and took about 15 minutes to get to me. The EMTs took me in the ambulance to Northfield Hospital. They immediately decided that I was injured badly and sent me to a helicopter. The helicopter took me to a hospital in Minneapolis. My mom wasn’t allowed to ride with me in the ambulance and the helicopter because there wasn’t enough room. So my mom and Elizabeth drove up to the hospital and met me there.

The hospital in Minneapolis found that I had a collapsed lung and that I was bleeding into my lung, so I had a tube inserted in my side to drain the blood from my lung. They also found that my T1, 2, and 3 transverse process bones on my spine were broken.

I was very lucky that I was wearing a helmet when we were riding. My helmet was destroyed from the deep holes made by the rocks in the ditch. If I didn’t have my helmet on, I would have had more serious injuries, possibly fatal, than what I actually had. The doctors told my mom that if I was older I might have died from the injuries I had, because the bones would have been more solid.

My mom stayed with me for the four days that I was in the hospital. I was and still am happy that she stayed with me through the whole thing. Today, I am doing well. I have no serious injuries but sometimes my back bothers me. I still ride horses. I also ride Daisy when I can but not as often as I used to. I still ride with a helmet and I always will.