Concussion from horseback riding

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/injury-bles/chirpp/injrep-rapbles/irequ_e.html

http://asci.uvm.edu/equine/law/articles/033_accidents.htm

Statistics posted at these sites might be helpful to you

Stories here might be useful

http://www.horse-sense.org/stories/

That has happened to me and most everyone in my family at one point and time. . .what did you want to know and I'll see if I can help.

There really wasn't all that much they could do. My brother had to have a CAT scan once and was held overnight for observation because he had some slight memory loss and confusion. . .basically they gave him pain pills and anti-inflammatory and waited. Once, I was training a horse. . .it bucked me off, I hit my head on a rock. . .I was knocked out cold. AS SOON as I woke up, my mom made me get right back on the horse (I think I was 12). I had blurry vision, nausea, but I rode for another ten or fifteen minutes. . .then went to the doc. I think if my mom hadn't made me get back on immediately, I would have been weary of horses for a while, but I know within a week or so, my love of riding would have overcome me apprehension anyway. I know that because I had a lot worse injuries than concussions from horses, and I always went back to riding them again.

Honestly, there were many times we either fell off or were thrown off a horse and had concussions and never even went to the doctor. We knew what to do. How to check the pupils, make sure the injured didn't sleep too much, make sure they didn't start slurring words or becoming confused. I'm not saying that was smart, I'm just telling you there were many times we never even sought medical attention for a concussion.

I'd contact the helmet manufacturers. They have lots of stories on this, plus some wonderful pictures of helmets, leaving you to imagine what would have happened if the person hadn't been wearing a helmet.

There's also a newsgroup called 'rec.equestrian' where you probably get more stories than you can use.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

No matter how you concuss ... it's dangerous. Repeat concussions are even worse.

storygirl said:

Honestly, there were many times we either fell off or were thrown off a horse and had concussions and never even went to the doctor. We knew what to do. How to check the pupils, make sure the injured didn't sleep too much, make sure they didn't start slurring words or becoming confused. I'm not saying that was smart, I'm just telling you there were many times we never even sought medical attention for a concussion.

Click to expand...

Dang, I wish I were that tough. You go (story)girl!

I came off my horse, didn't even hit my head hard enough to damage skin, got back on, finished schooling him, untacked. Looked at the horizon and did not know where I was. We'd recently moved, so the mountain outline was wrong. I asked if I'd been riding a horse. A nice guy drove me to the hospital. I didn't know him. I wanted my dog. He said he was my hubby and we put the dog down some months back.

He really seemed like a nice guy, but tense. I started getting scared. And I felt weird. I thought maybe I was dreaming, since things didn't make sense. Long ago, I'd read an article about recognize a dream during a dream. The tip was to read something, or if nothing was available to read inthe dream, then to study your hand, then look back at the action. I looked at my hand. He thought I was staring at the wedding ring. He pointed out that his matched. Freaky, thought I.

At the hospital I made it clear to the nice people that I didn't know the guy who'd brought me there. He told them how long we'd been married. They looked like they believed him. He looked more tense all the time. At the CAT scan, I asked the tech if the guy was mad at me. Tech thought I was pretty funny.
They sent me home that night. I was fine in the AM.
I am sorry to say that not only was I not wearing a helmet, I still didn't regularly wear one for several more years. I'd been riding all my life without one, ya see, and only had to wear one for certain competitions. Never, never wore one when I wasn't required to do so.
Now I always wear the brain bucket.

Good luck on your article.

I've only gotten one concussion from a horse, which is amazing considering the number of involuntary dismounts I've taken as well as being an equine vet.

It actually occurred when I was working in the test barn at a horse track. I was collecting blood from a rather...unmannered...horse who was tossing his head up and down. The last thing I remember was the horse holding its head close to the ground. Next thing I knew, my head was ringing, my legs shaking, and I had three hands holding three needles/vacutainers in three jugular veins. Apparently, the horse threw his head up, then proceeded to bring it down right on top of my head (don't remember that part). Oh, and I spat out half a needle cap...I had bitten through it when he bashed me (everyone thought I had busted my teeth...so probably a good thing the cap was in my mouth). I finished collecting the blood (actually, I'm still amazed I managed to keep the needle in the vein despite the head bobbing), walked out of the stall, hit the wall and just slid down to the ground. Recovered after about a half hour, but had a headache for three days. Hindsight being 20/20, I probably should have been checked out by the paramedics.

And FYI, never punch a horse in the jowls (like Tom Cruise did in Far and Away), you'll do more damage to yourself (thought I had busted every bone in my hand) and the horse will just look at you and certainly not be knocked over. Although...my gelding did learn to never try grooming me when I was grooming him. OH! I also learned that my mom can run fast LOL! She heard my shout all the way up in the house and thought I was being kicked and stomped on by the horse, but she had no sympathy when she found out I had hurt myself because I punched him.

Doc Ron

Any of you have lingering memory problems, too? I think I only had two falls bad enough for black outs and nausea. Now I dont' have a very good memory but wonder if it's brain damage or high cholesterol

ann

Memory is one of my superpowers. Wanting to keep my superpower, I now always where a helmet in the three one-ought-to-wear-a-helmet things I do.

My memory of the hours right after the concussion, when I was unable to give my phone number is okay too, although the first ten or fifteen minutes, right after the fall, are gone.

I do have a friend with memory problems from a head injury, though it was a car accident not a pony thing that thunked her noggin. She's very upfront about it and works around it.

No residual memory problems here, except for the few seconds right around getting knocked stupid, which I don't remember at all. But then, my concussion wasn't all that bad, comparatively speaking and I haven't had multiple concussions.

I'll let you know if I ever do have memory problems, if I remember.