A Mare.......A Van...........and Life

Saturday morning I put a mare on a van headed for Wyoming. You'd think I'd be doing a post about that mare and why she was leaving here. That had been my intention at some point since having her leave here sure did tug at my heart strings but sometimes life jumps up and smacks us right in the face so our story goes a different way than we intended.

I called to let the new owner know the mare safely loaded and was on her way to her new home. I ended up leaving my message with an answering machine. When I didn't get a call later, I thought it was odd. This woman was so excited to be getting this mare with her increasingly rare bloodlines this silence was uncharacteristic. Other than an occasional thought here and there about the lack of response, I spent my time wondering how my mare was doing on her trip.

Last evening the phone rang with the distinctive ring that tells me the call is long distance. I thought maybe it was this woman, Sherri Graves. She is a breeder of Arabian horses but looking down at the number it wasn't her. I answered to phone to a male voice asking for Rising Rainbow Arabians and me.

When I confirmed my identify, the voice on the other end tole me he was the brother of the woman who was to receive my mare. He said that Sherri had an accident and was was hospitalized. That's right, hospitalized! The man's voice was shaken. I could hear the worry in his voice.

The man wanted the particulars about the delivery of the horse that was coming to his sister's farm. All he knew was there was a horse arriving sometime. He had no idea any of the details and he wanted to be prepared since he is taking care of things for his sister while she is laid up.

I began asking questions. What had happened to Sherri? Yesterday she was injured by a horse. He didn't know the particulars of what happened. Nobody did.

The woman has severe head trauma and is currently in the hospital in a medically induced coma. They had to take measures to relieve the excess swelling of her brain including adding a drain.

The doctors expect to keep her in a coma for at least a week. It will depend on the swelling whether they add or subtract from that time. They also expect she will be in the hospital at least a month if not longer depending on her status. Other than that they have no idea what to expect about Sherri's recovery.

I know enough about head trauma to know what that means. There are so many variables with head trauma. When Sherri regains consciousness they'll have a starting point but there still will be lots more questions. Only time will tell what lies ahead for Sherri and her family.

I might add a few years back a trainer friend of mine had a severe head injury. His treatment was much the same as Sherri's. His recovery took months but he did get back to training horses. Even is on a video preaching the importance of wearing a helmet.

Just a few days ago I read a friend's blog post about the death of a friend's thirteen year old daughter. The girl died in an accident schooling her barrel horse. Somehow the horse fell and rolled over on the girl killing her.

As I heard about Sherri, my thoughts turned to my blogging friend, this girl and her family too. I don't know if it just feels like there are so many more tragic things happening to people involved with horses or if it's the internet making us all so much closer that we hear about them now.

What I do know is it makes me think about my own mortality and that of my family. . It's hard not to think from time to time about "what if."

Your thoughts and prayers for Sherri and her family and for my blogging friend, Linda and her friends, as well, would be appreciated.

A Sad Day