Bill and Juanita, owners of Allenspark Lodge B&B, are living their dream...

running a successful business and riding as often as possible.



Thursday, October 13, 2011

Worst. Picnic. Ever.

It was a dark and stormy night.  No, that's not right...  It was a bright and sunny morning, like so many other bright sunny mornings.  Only this bright sunny morning Juanita and I were trailering the horses to a new trail head to ride with a friend.

Ranger and Washoe drew the short straws for the day and off we went, driving about 45 minutes to the trail head outside GlenHaven, east of Estes Park.  We pulled in right behind our friend PV with her horse, Molly.


There is actually a horse in this trailer.
 I like Molly.  She's a Halflinger, and it's nice to not be on the shortest horse for once.

The three of us rode into the Comanche Peak Wilderness area.  A beautiful ride. 


Molly lead out, with Washoe in the rocking chair, and Ranger riding drag.



Hunting season.  Elk colored horse.  Yes, I'm in BLAZE.
Molly lead out most of the time, but we reached a horse eating bridge with no stock bypass, so Ranger took the lead for a moment, followed by Washoe with the mare in the rear.  After defeating the Bridge Of Death, we headed up the hill beyond. Washoe took exception to a little bit of tailgating, and kicked Molly a good one.  She seemed okay, so she took the lead again.



How do you spell "glower"?
 After a couple of  hours at a good clip, we scrambled down a hillside to a sunny patch out of the trees for our picnic.  I grabbed my tortilla spread with peanut butter and Tabasco Sauce and was eating it while trying to keep it away from Ranger (he thought it smelled WONDERFUL) when I heard a commotion behind me.  I spun around in time to see Juanita being launched into a small bolder field and her horse leaving the area.  I headed Wahoe off at the pass, and tied him to a tree.  Then tied Ranger to another tree.  By the time I got to Juanita, she was sitting and taking stock of her injuries. 

" I only saw hooves flashing at me."

"My elbow hurts." 

Uh oh.  There is blood seeping out of her long sleeved t-shirt and sweat shirt.

"Let's pull up the sleeve and look at your cut"  I said.

"Oh s#!t"  I thought.  Blood pulsing out of an exit wound looking hole.  Got to be a compound fracture at the elbow. 

"Let's bind this up and go home".

I wrapped it tightly to immobilize it with a gauze pad and roll of gauze, and pinned it into a triangular bandage from one of our first-aid kits to act as a sling.  Juanita said "Why don't you get some of that snow for an ice pack for me?"  "I can do that." I thought, so I filled a plastic bag with snow and fitted it into the sling.  I walked her horse up to a rock so she could mount, ran back to my horse, mounted up, looked down longingly at my P-B-T tortilla on the rock where I had dropped it, and we all rode away.



After and hour or so the blood started soaking through.



Pretty ride, though.


Less than 1/2 hour to go!
End is near.
THE TRAILER!
And into the truck while I loaded the horses.

Half an hour's drive later...
The rig took up about 6 handicapped spaces...
And I passed her off.

I went back to the lodge to unload the horses, call the kids and let them know their mom was broke, and get the lodge ready for check in.

The kids all jumped up to bat and covered everything so I could get back to the hospital and see Juanita after her 2 or 3 hour emergency surgery.

Bone broken into 9 pieces, plated and screwed back together.

Other than that, how did you like the play, Mrs. Lincoln?

Bill

12 comments:

  1. OMG How. tough. is. she.
    Even Mercy said the same thing, lol. Oh Juanita, I hope you're feeling better now. You are what we call dirty tough. That's amazing. Bill, great pictures, lmao. Of course you took pictures! And for that, you get to do ALL the chores for the next, oh, 8 weeks? lol
    Unreal. Dirty tough. Amazing woman. My hat's off to you, Juanita.

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  2. Ouch! Gives a whole new meaning to "cowgirl up"! Hope Juanita heals quickly.

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  3. What Mikey said- DIRTY. TOUGH.

    Beel- dude- PBand T??? For real?? Wowza ;)


    Love the pix... gotta say man- you are a tried and true, died in the wool addict. Getting pictures during what had to be a Hell ride and then POSTING them on the blog??? LOL Yup. Yer An Addict ;)

    (Wait. Are WE addicts for reading and being able to appreciate the driving force behind taking the pictures??? I hear a 12 step program calling for all of us now... Someone bring the cameras so we can document everything!)

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  4. Broke in NINE places and still a smile ?!!? That's a whole new level of tough. My hats off to you Juanita.
    And Beel PB and Hot Sauce?? euwww

    Love the detail and pics!
    Feel better soon.
    Jenny

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  5. Oh my! That WAS a bad time. What exactly caused the ruckus?

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  6. Worst picnic ever, without a doubt. Now Juanita will have to lay back on her arm wrestling tournament play.

    Seriously, that's just awful. I can only begin to imagine how fun that ride back was, then my stomach hurts. Glad she didn't land on her head, at least.

    Sending over some healing thoughts!

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  7. Oh my gracious sakes alive!! Well she & I are both laid up together! Wanna start playing some of those facebook games Juanita?
    So sorry y'all went through this. Not fun!
    Heal well Juanita! You took good care of her Bill!

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  8. Mrs. Juanita beats all I ever heard of for running, jumping, or standing toughness. You're right, she probably picks her teeth with rebar, then swallows it for fiber. And Bill? To be taking pictures in the midst of all this? My hat's off to you, you rock. I hope I can have the presence of mind to do the same if I get in such interesting circs. Or at least that I can direct someone to take the pics!

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  9. I had my Quad roll over me once, but it has never ever kicked me....just saying......*grin*


    heal well Juanita...


    P.S. Beel any body that tough must be respected.....LOL you take good care of her...I don't ever want to hear the story of Juanita kickin your Butt...... just saying...:o)

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  10. So what exactly caused all that? Because I would be completely happy to never see Juanita have to see the inside of another medical facility.

    (Besides... I'm not so sure GunDiva would let her without injuring an ER doc).

    Juanita... where my stomach went WHOA, was the picture of you on horseback with a SMILE, and it said another half hour to go.

    OH GOOD LORD WOMAN. You are a force to be reckoned with.

    And y'all have to realize that she is sweet as pie in person... so this is some insane DNA :) You rock. But get well quick, all several pieces of ya.

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  11. Juanita!!! You are TOUGH!! I had no idea where that post was going, I was just admiring your cool vest and how good you looked riding your horse. You still looked good, even with your broken arm. Did it hurt?!? Looks like you're just enjoying the ride.

    Hoping for a speedy recovery!!!!

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  12. Oh my gosh Juanita! That sounds so painful. Please recover quickly.

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