Inger Hallberg
MEMORIES PART II
October 2020
Many times I have been asked if I have ever fallen off a horse.
When I was taming foals, I spent more time on the ground than on top! But I always got back up again.
In 1959, I participated in a very important horse show event in Falsterbo, Sweden. With my horse Taiko I participated in a combined dressage and jumping competition. In the morning it was the dressage test and I was going to take part in the obstacle jumps in the afternoon. In between, our mare Zivio had to jump and it turned out to be a catastrophe! During the jumping event, a truck entered the side of the jumping track and instead of focusing on the obstacles, she paid more attention to the truck. And this resulted in her not reacting when I gave her the jumping aids, so she put both frontlegs
in a wooden wall and turned over. The horses try not to hurt the person so she turned in the air to avoid crushing me, but I caught my foot in the stirrup and it was under the mare.
The doctor came running and they managed to get my foot out of my boot. The ankle was swollen by the second.
They called my father and he asked me how I was doing in the dressage classification and I told him that I was at the moment first classified, to which he asked me if I felt sorry for myself or could I continue the competition. Swallowing the pain, I replied that of course I could finish the competition and I did. I did it without stirrups and I won the test! What a satisfaction!
At night it was the awards ceremony and after the ceremony a dinner. I could
no longer hide the tears of pain and the doctor who was watching me called my father very angry and told him to pick me up immediately and take me to the hospital.
The ankle was a puzzle of loose pieces and with nails and silver threads they rebuilt it. 3 months of plaster … As soon as I could, I started to ride with the plaster and, when they removed it, I started swimming and I continued riding 4 horses a day.
At the medical check-up the doctor was sorry to say that probably I would not be able to move my toes again due to gravity. But, to his surprise, I was.
He asked me what I had done and I told him. Start early with rehabilitation and a lot of will!
Health to everyone!
This post is also available in: Spanish
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