Tag: Overcoming Injury

Three horses were braided and waiting for us in the crossties.  All three were white.  Goodness gracious!  I specifically didn’t want a white horse!

Region 7 rider, Shannon L., shares about suffering a TBI and how her love of horses helped her overcome the physical and mental impacts of it.

By Sharielle Lawrence HS Wrosaletti, aka Rossi, is my 2010 Hungarian gelding that was gifted to me in 2017 as a complicated rehab case. His...

The powerful Lusitano! We are celebrating them as our February Breed of the Month on #YourDressage! Dressage riders who choose Lusitanos as their mounts...

The powerful Lusitano! We are celebrating them as our February Breed of the Month on #YourDressage! Dressage riders who choose Lusitanos as their mounts...

Silver Wend (aka Neala) is a 2008 Irish Draught Sport Horse. I got her as my first horse seven years ago. She couldn’t have been a more perfect first horse for 11 year-old me. She loves to be around people, she's goofy and playful, and she is always willing to try everything I ask of her. Overall, she just has a heart of gold.

At the time, I must have been crazy as I contacted her owner to get more information and x-rays. She had fractured her left hock, and although it was not a well-placed break, it was a clean break.

I get questions all the time of people asking me “What IS he??” when we’re in the warmup at shows and I proudly smile and say, “He’s a mutt, but he’s a registered mutt, and got some of that hybrid vigor!”

I had gone on an inn-to-inn weeklong trail riding trek. On the second day, the horse I was riding tripped violently, falling on top of me, at the beach on the water's edge. I fell in the water, and I could feel it up to my ears while lying immobile with my head held still by another rider, waiting for the helicopter to airlift me to Galway University Hospital. Another French doctor rider, a cardiologist, also tended to me, and they saved my life.

It has been a long journey since his injury, and yes, on occasion I wish I could retire him to pasture and get a new horse, but given the circumstances, I am content with my situation and love him dearly.