The time has come: our website www.equestriansafetycentre.com has finally gone online, the showroom has been decorated and the caps and stirrups are ready. Together with Anne and of course a lot of other people who have had their input, we have been working on our mission in recent months: making horseback riding safer. When we posted our first post on social media yesterday, it really received a lot of reactions. So much so that I just got a little moved by it. People who take the trouble to write something encouraging or call me to point out that typo or missing website address in a post. People who immediately made an appointment to come and try it on and even bought a cap before we even published anything. I find it overwhelming and I feel it also proves that this subject is alive.
The day or actually weeks before Anne's accident everything went wrong: we had to put down Anne's 20 year old horse Atlanta after she had some kind of epileptic seizures. We had her since she was a foal and the sadness was still present daily of course. Sadness that we suppressed by repeating that 'she had had a good life, there was no other choice and she had already reached a good age for a horse'. But we were just sad and there was really no room for that. In addition, we had all just recovered from Corona and were not sharp enough. My husband Bert-Jan had an unstoppable nosebleed that day. He woke up with that in the morning and just the sight of all that dripping was enough for me to pass out acutely (I'm getting light-headed again now). So he was with one tampon after another in his nose calling the doctor, who in turn could not mean anything because it was corona time. I lay flat on the floor in the living room and Anne took care of the children (her nephews).
After I was on my feet again and had helped Anne on the pony in question, who was always very good by the way, I wanted to go inside and see how Bert-Jan was doing. It must have been less than ten minutes that I was gone, but in that time things went completely wrong. Anne fell and hit her head on the floor.
Thank goodness someone else was driving who immediately raised the alarm. I called 911 while running to the riding hall. Ambulance and trauma helicopter were called and the minutes that passed seemed like hours. I don't think I need to tell anyone how scared you can be when you think you're losing someone you love. Lifeless Anne lay there in the sand. Fortunately, the counselor on the phone was so knowledgeable that he could give me clear instructions on what to do. Hold finger under her nose to feel for warm air coming out, see if the airway is clear. Anne's jaws were just clenched so tightly that I probably wouldn't have been able to open them with a jack. I tried everything but her jaws seemed to be locked. Fortunately, I did feel her breathing on my finger. "So she's still alive," I thought with relief. When the paramedics arrived they took over everything and we could do nothing but watch.
Anne seemed to be recovering a bit and looked blankly ahead. She couldn't move her left leg and she kept asking the same questions; 'Where's Rose' (her dog) and 'are your boys all right'? I think these were reassuring signals for the paramedics because she was taken to the emergency room by ambulance. At the emergency department, Anne also seemed to recover quite a bit. She had told the nurses that she hadn't had breakfast and was therefore a little light-headed. Of course that wasn't true at all, but it sounded very plausible at the time.
- To begin with, sometimes it's just not a good time to start driving and 'driving for a while' is certainly not an option with us anymore. Then I am not talking about the duration of the ride, but about the planning of it. If you are not sharp or fit yourself, it is sometimes better to skip a day.
- If someone shows even slightly deviant behavior after a fall on their head, take this seriously. For example, children who suffer a concussion often do not cry, but become remarkably calm. Anne kept asking the same questions for hours, but managed to respond adequately to the doctors and nurses. It is therefore initially difficult to estimate how serious the injury is on the basis of someone's behaviour.
- It is not always possible to read from a cap how hard someone has fallen. Anne's cap barely showed a scratch on the outside.
- Go for good and safe material. Anne wore a cap from a well-known brand, but in retrospect this may not have been the best choice. These caps do not have a MIPS System and this is precisely the system designed to prevent this type of brain injury. Fortunately, we have always driven with SafeStyle safety bars. These stirrups were designed by someone who once saw his daughter finish a course hanging in the stirrup. This went miraculously well, but since that event he has put all his time and energy into developing the most secure stirrup available. A story that is completely in line with our vision: make horse riding safer for everyone.