Monday, December 8, 2008

Heavenly Father's Protective Hand

Monday, December 08, 2008
Yesterday was Fast Sunday. Ever since the accident I had Wednesday; I have been a bit of an insomniac. I have not had it easy falling to sleep and I have been reliving the accident over and over. I also have had he constant urging that I needed to bare my testimony to my ward. I did with a friend helping as a translator. I cannot possibly do it without crying. I hate that. I really don’t like crying in front of people.
First, more details on Wednesday…I was riding a horse that I have been in charge of riding for the past two weeks. The first day I rode him, he was a bit fresh. Plus, he is very large. I think he is the tallest horse I have ever ridden. I was never worried though. I thought if this is all he does then I can handle it. I told one of the boys who knows the horse well and he agreed that those were just some of the attitude things Felix (the horse) does. So, I was not worried and I continued to ride him with no problems. In fact, the Monday before this Wednesday, he was so extremely bored and he was such a sluggish horse. But, on Wednesday, he was wild and fresh. He pulled a few stunts but nothing I wasn’t handling fine. As I was already walking 20 minutes and I had another 25 minutes to go, I began to feel it in his body that something else was coming. So, I did what I knew I should do and that was to flex and bend him in his body so that he couldn’t find a way to straighten himself and balance a big temper tantrum. Well, what happened next is the sort of accident that has been known to put most people in the hospital. He launched off all four feet into the air and so I lost the reins. As I tried to gather them back up, he reared up, but not very high. The second he came back down I got the reins but he was back up in the air and this time he was too high that he was out of balance. Though, instead of falling backwards over top of me, he fell to the right sideways on my right leg. It the most obvious point ever in my life in which I was immediately aware of Heavenly Father’s protective hand over me. I, along with the six other witnesses (riders) in the arena could not believe what happened. Both the horse and I stood up immediately. Felix ran away kicking out. I just stood there looking down at myself and analyzing my leg. I immediately said a silent prayer to Heavenly Father for protecting me. As I looked up, everyone was staring at me asking if I was ok. I smiled and said “I am …WOW”. They were all floored. I noticed the door was open so I ran to close it. I then called out for someone not in the arena. I needed their help as I was suddenly a bit disoriented and I knew I needed to catch the horse but I didn’t feel I could. My friend Martina ran in the catch him. As she did he was becoming more dangerous. She let him have it which I was so happy with because I don’t think I could have handled it. I put him away and then I ran to where my own horse was. My personal things are there and it is private. I knelt and prayed again. I began to cry and Thank Heavenly Father again for protecting me. It was really as if a wall had hit the horse on the left side so that he fell to the right and not on top of me.
I had a bit of a headache after that but it went away. The worst pain is in my left neck. It is just the muscles that feel sore. My mom insisted that I go to a doctor quick but I told her that I didn’t think I could even deal with somebody trying to touch my neck. I couldn’t even touch it until yesterday. I cannot turn it to the right very well but it is getting better. The other thing is that my hearing has become super sharp. In a painful sort of way, I can hear the smallest of noises and loud noises are irritating. But I haven’t had any headaches because of it. Anyway, what I have realized is that my Heavenly Father loves me more than I know and he’s always looking out for me. I wonder sometimes why I am still being kept here but there must certainly be a good reason.

1 comment:

Caty said...

I'm so glad you explained what happened, I don't think I can call you (I tried today). I'm SO happy you are okay, I have heard of these accidents hurting people in the worst ways.
You are so protected, Katie!