Sunday, September 30, 2007

When Horses Attack!

Various kind souls have enquired as to why I'm quite so behind on my blogging. Well, the answer in part is that on the third day of our trip there was a nasty horse related incident, in which I sustained some damage to my lower back. That in turn has made life a little difficult since, but hey, I'm getting ahead of myself, I should explain the full sorry tale, but be warned dear reader that the details are fairly gruesome and not for the faint of heart.

So early on the Sunday, we drove the short distance to Becky Falls, parked up and put on our walking boots. As we crossed the car park to head out for our walk, a woman crossed our path leading two horses.

Well ok, they were Shetland Ponies, but as you'll see as this tale unfurls, their comparative lack of stature makes them all the more dangerous.

We stopped to chat and it seemed only polite to bend over to stroke their noses (the ponies, not the woman...we didn't need to bend to pat her nose obviously...).

Anyway, that's when it happened.

The net result, intense agony of a kind that I've never before experienced.

No really, there's no need to reread, you didn't miss anything, that really was all there was to it. Lean forward. Back clicks out. Intense agony.

Tricksy things those ponies. You've been warned.

I suppose I could call for the offending beast to be put down under the equine equivalent of the Dangerous Dogs Act, but that seems a little excessive and well frankly maybe a touch churlish.

Anyway, after the first ten minutes or so, the pain dropped off a little and not wishing to let Dad down, I soldiered on with the morning's planned walking, every single step was intense pain, but some of the views of the waterfalls almost made it worthwhile.



In the afternoon we drove on to Bel Rocks and relaxed for a while in the shelter of the tor (sitting proving too painful for me, so I lay out as best I could) and then walked around various tors in the area before heading back to the hotel, where after a good swim a spell in the jacuzzi helped ease my pain a little.

1 comment:

Kathryn said...

Shite...poor you. I am sorry. Reminds me of the time I incapacitated myself by coughing...That's right. I just coughed, and nothing was right for the next week,till I got to my chiropractor. Ugh.
Feel better soon xx