A woman who was injured by a horse near Chilliwack and who managed to call 911 herself while suffering from a head injury and broken arm is now recovering at home.
“It was a total freak accident and could have happened to anyone. I am not mad or upset with the horse in any way. I was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time – the horse did not mean to hurt me,” said the woman, who asked not to be named, in an email to The Chilliwack Progress on Wednesday (May 24).
Emergency crews were called the rural area of Frost Road some time before 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 23 where the incident happened. The report initially came in as an “animal attack” but it was later reported that someone was kicked by a horse and was lying out in a field.
The woman was in the field grooming horses and as she was walking to the next horse, she said she turned her head and suddenly saw a horse’s chest.
“Next thing I knew I was sitting almost cross-legged on the ground. At first I thought I had just dislocated my arm as I could wiggle my fingers but my arm was numb,” she said. “I tried to stand and the pain in my arm was too much to even consider moving.”
She also had a cut on the side of her head. The horses were going around acting concerned and keeping their distance, she added.
“Despite the pain, I managed to call 911 and they called the ranch owner and my spouse… I was out of earshot of them as they didn’t hear me intentionally screaming for help.”
She was coherent and able to talk to everyone and answer questions.
“I had warned them from the start that to move me in any way, I would have to be heavily drugged.”
Columbia Valley Fire Department, BC Ambulance Service and RCMP were all called to the scene. She was airlifted to Royal Columbian Hospital.
“I broke my arm right at the shoulder joint from landing so hard on the ground,” she said.
She was released from hospital later that same day is is now recovering at home.
The woman added that she loves the horse. She doesn’t blame him, nor is she scared of him, and she looks forward to grooming him again one day.
“I grew up working with and training horses including horses that were traumatized by people in their pasts. I have been stomped on, charged, rolled on even dragged down a mountain and this is the worst and only major break I have ever had,” she said. “I count myself lucky this time but it I won’t let it stop me from what I love. It’s just another battle wound in my books for the price you pay when dealing with animals that are a whole lot larger than you.”
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Email: jenna.hauck@theprogress.com
Twitter: @PhotoJennalism
