A Personal Experience.

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Emily Capes

A Personal Experience

I awoke to the eerie sounds of the hospital at night and lay on the stiff bed, staring up at the blank ceiling, unable to slip into blissful sleep once again. The rigid smell of the hospital flooded my nostrils and brought back unwelcome memories as I strained to breathe. For a moment I wondered what I was doing here, and then the painful memories returned. I thought about what was to come and how my life would proceed considering what had happened. Would it change a great deal or would it return to normal once the procedures to repair the damage were complete?

It all began just two days ago, Dad was at the top of our long field, weeding some unruly nettles and I was leading my horse, ‘Fuse’, up from the bottom of the field in order to take him to the weekly lesson we have together. I had only had Fuse a few months but in that time he had shown no temperamental problems. Little did I know that that was all to change…

It was a fine summers evening, one of many we were having at the time, and I was just tidying up the field with the wheelbarrow before taking Emily and Fuse to their weekly riding lesson at the local stables

I took hold of the Fuse, as usual and began to lead him up the field, a mundane journey both he and I had travelled numerous times before. He seemed unwilling at first, but this adolescent behaviour was far from unusual so I gave a tug on the lead rope and told him firmly to ‘walk on’. That seemed to do the trick as he stubbornly moved into walk. Suddenly, without any warning, he pulled back, taking the lead rope from my hands, swung his back end round and kicked me with is back leg, catching the edge of my nose. I heard a numbing crack before a bright light took over; I remember a tremendous shock - no pain. With it came a sense of utter weakness, a feeling of being shrivelled to nothing. I let out a stifled cry.

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I disregarded it at first, a faint cry, no louder the moan of a small animal caught in a snare. I allowed myself to believe it was a bird or similar creature but something willed me to look up from my labour. I looked up to see the Fuse galloping down the field, legs flailing in the air, no sign of Emily.

I was thrown forward by the blow, forcing my knees to crumple from beneath me. All this happened in a space of time much less than a second. I fell flat on my face, down ...

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