Got Insurance? Meaning the Helicopter Kind. (Horse Post)

Many of us engage in high risk sports.  They may not seem high risk, like when you are just riding around the bottom pasture at the barn with friends after a hard lesson.  I mean really, how risky is that, especially if you are on a seasoned trail horse that does trail trials, camped in the high country, and logged all kinds of miles in unknown territory without a problem.  Well, about a month ago a friend of mine was doing exactly that, just riding around the bottom of the pasture, last in line. No one knows how exactly, because no one actually saw what happened.  She was right behind her husband, the first clue something was wrong was when her horse came bolting past the group, sans rider. Then it was circus time,  L. was down and needed some serious help.  She had broken her collar bone in three places, fractured some ribs and had a concussion. The pasture is a sloping hill and it had been raining.  911 is called and the first responders came pouring in.  After the fire truck slid and the ambulance ended in the ditch it was time to call the helicopter.  Did I mention that the first responder that did make it to the bottom of the pasture put the neck brace on backwards.  Things were not looking good.  Thank goodness the helicopter peeps knew what they were doing.  They landed the bird at the bottom of the pasture, but L. still had to be transported on a backboard (the neck brace finally having been put on correctly, which only took three tries) across the bottom of the pasture to where the helicopter waited.  This was done with the 4 wheel drive "Mule" that had been loaded with hay to feed and now carried a body on a backboard with some 10 people holding on to keep it from sliding off the hay bales while the Mule was slowly driven across the wet, boggy ground of the pasture.

L spend a couple of days in the hospital and then had a complication of a blood clot which extended from her elbow to her shoulder.  More hospital time.  She is on blood thinners for the next six months, the collar bone is healing, but might need surgery which can't be done until after the blood thinners have done their work on the clot.  It might need to be broken and reset. 

As my friend Pat B. has said: "If you are going to ride a horse it isn't a matter of if you are going to get hurt, but when and how bad".

And the price of the Helicopter ride?  $30,000.00.  That's right, 30k.  My insurance only pays $1,000.00 towards helicopter rides.  But for about $40.00 a year you can get Helicopter insurance - seems like a good idea to me, especially for those of us who engage in high risk, back country activities.

And the ponies, well they are up for sale.  The blood clot was the deal breaker, she was waffling about continuing to ride after the fall, but the blood clot sealed it.  She and her husband are hanging up their spurs for less exciting pursuits, though she says it has been a great six years.

Me, I'll be getting helicopter insurance. This isn't the first time that they have visited the barn and I really don't want to spend that kind of money on air fare, I would rather spend it on braces for my dog. Seriously.