Fall And Rise

A serious riding accident left Catherine Milford facing a bleak future, but little did she know the ordeal would usher in a positive new beginning. She shares her journey.

It was a perfectly normal Saturday afternoon. I was chatting with friends as we walked our horses around the sunny arena, warming up for our regular riding session. There was no warning that the next minute I’d be on the ground, all 600kg of solid chestnut mare having rolled over my left leg, leaving the femur shattered – and life as I knew it in very much the same state. There’s no-one to blame for what happened. My horse spooked at something – and reared. Realising the danger, I opted for a ‘controlled’ fall (in other words, I would have come off anyway, but had some semblance of control over my landing). Unfortunately, Dream backed into another horse, losing her footing and rolling right over me.

TOUCH AND GO

There are several minutes, hours, even days since that day last February, of which I have no recollection. But I do remember lying on the coarse arena sand, feeling the sickening crunch of several pieces of femur grinding in my thigh, as if the bone had disintegrated into gravel.

I was told some more details later, but I remember my friend Karen holding my hand, keeping me talking and conscious. She directed shocked fellow riders not to move my head, remove my helmet or give me water, and to look after my daughter Jess, who’d seen the whole thing, and call my husband.

I remember the light-headedness from the nitrous oxide I was given so the paramedics could manoeuvre me onto a stretcher, and the most intense pain I’ve known (and I’ve had two kids.)

The ambulance ride to Auckland Hospital trauma centre is a blur, but I recall the emergency doctors discussing whether we were looking at immediate removal of the leg (note to doctors: a curtain is not soundproof), and me asking the nurses if they really had to cut off my favourite, very expensive Mark Todd-designed jodhpurs. (They did.)