A simple and enjoyable horse ride on a local beach with friends couldn’t possibly go wrong…could it?
Pam and her friends were enjoying riding their horses on Te Horo Beach, when a man walked over the sand dunes towards them wearing a large floppy hat. There was nothing noticeably unusual about that but Pam’s normally placid horse didn’t like the look of the gentleman’s summer accessory and became spooked.
“I managed to get him under control,” said Pam, who turned him around to face the feared hat-wearer to show him there was nothing to be afraid of.
However, the manoeuvre didn’t quite have the required effect and the horse spooked a second time. Unable to hang on, Pam was unceremoniously thrown from her horse and dumped on the sand.
“The impact felt like concrete,” she said, “and it left me in pretty bad shape.”
Chaos ensued with loose horses and people scrambling everywhere. Helpful members of the public managed to control the unsettled horses while someone called for an ambulance.
With an incoming tide approaching and the onset of shock beginning to take hold, Pam admits to being scared as she lay there helplessly vulnerable until an ambulance arrived.
“It was too challenging for those present to carry me out over the sand dunes, so the attending ambulance medics requested assistance from the Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter,” said Pam.
“I’m a big chicken with flying and I was terrified when 20 minutes later I heard the helicopter fly in, however the crew were incredibly reassuring and professional and that gave me a lot of comfort…well, that and the drugs they pumped into me to help with the excruciating pain!”
“From their time of arrival to the time they delivered me to Palmerston North Hospital, I just knew I was in the best possible hands. The crewman looking after me even held my hand and spoke to me during the flight.”
On landing at the hospital, Pam’s x-rays revealed fractures in four places to her hip and femur – her first experience with broken bones.