A point to make about brain injury ...

[Robby_Johnson]

In the Eq. Horse Lease thread someone mentions that Francesca Mazella said, “brain injuries take a long time to heal.”

This isn’t entirely accurate. I work for a post-acute company that specializes in the treatment of individuals with acquired brain injuries.

The brain, in fact, doesn’t heal. This is one of the great mysteries of the brain - it’s basically gray matter, where motor function is really only speculated in terms of lobes/lobal function and purpose.

What the brain can do is relearn. And with a brain injury, many motor and cognitive skills are completely erased. Therapy is required to help the individual relearn these skills, and often they can only be “reassigned” to a certain percentage.

This is why it’s critical to protect your head. Nothing makes me more uncomfortable than riding without an approved helmet.

Do I always? Pretty much yes. But there are times when I haven’t. So I’m not preaching to you, just hoping to shed some more light to this ongoing issue.

There is some great published information at:

www.cdc.gov
www.nih.gove
www.bia-usa.org

Robby

You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.

[JeanM]

Obviously preaching to the choir here:

I have been running test centers for the American Riding Instructors Certification Program (ARICP) this year, and I am supposed to show the “Every Time, Every Ride” video to the candidates before they start their testing. I admit that I scoff a bit at it, because it is SO OBVIOUS to me that you wear an approved helmet whenever you get on a horse! However, I have to accept that not everyone has reached this advanced stage of caution, so maybe it’ll help convince someone, someday. It’s a good video for the unconvinced…

[achcosuva]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by SaddleFitterVA:
Now, I’ve NEVER been able to keep L/R straight, and as a yoga teacher and riding lesson taker, this is tough. But, I don’t really contribute this to my known header…of course, who knows, perhaps I had a concussion earlier in life. I don’t remember any head injuries though. I’ve simply found ways to work around that minor dyslexia. Pointing when indicating and using physical reference points. I can 100% keep inside/outside straight and an exercise I was recently given in a lesson required me to say L/R/L/R with the front hoof fall. So, last night, I’m practicing, and I realized, that L was ALWAYS outside when I was doing this mentally. Even when the outside was the right side…it was LEFT . Instead of stressing over it, I focused on my timing and was exceptionally pleased at how well the exercise worked!
Mel<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I’m mildly dyslexic in the same way, I’ve never known left from right. I wear a watch on my left hand that helps me during the day (plus I’d be late to everything without it! ), but in the winter when I’m riding my sleeves cover it, plus I usually don’t have the reaction time to look down when my instructor screams “MOVE LEFT NOW!”. I’ve trained my trainers (heehee) to always use inside/outside with me. When they don’t, they’re not allowed to yell at me for looking down…I’m just looking for my watch!
Now that I’m learning to drive, I use my turnsignal. Somehow, I can do “right is up” with my turn-signal-wand, and then I can look at the flahing green arrow and turn that way. Otherwise, I haven’t a clue where left or right are.

As for the brain injury thing, my father died because of a car accident when I was 8. Until last year (when I was 15) in Driver’s Ed, I never realized what happened to him. They showed a video in class about brain injuries and treament centers. It was then that the connection between my vague memories of my mom talking about him back then and reality. He was paralyzed, he could move his left hand, slightly, and blink. Before he died he could drink through a straw, which was a huge step, but then he regressed.

I just got the courage up to look at this thread after reading the “Not a helmet in sight” thread. I’m glad I did. I’ve always worn an approved, 100% of the time. My mom would never hear of it otherwise, and I never realized that REAL people didn’t wear approveds before I came to this BB. I thought it was kind of an ancient thing to wear an unapproved. Like, they’re a couple of dusty ones from the Dark Ages hanging in tack rooms everywhere, but real people wear approveds. Now I see just how wrong I was and can easily seperate the huntcaps from the approveds. I still don’t understand how people can allow their children to ride in a shell. Or how they can ride in them themselves.

-Anne, the sister of a PrettyFilly and searching for the PerfectHorse-
“I’m not insane…I just compartmentalize!”

[SBT]

…for clarifying this. The brain and spinal cord do not regrow nerve connections. But with the brain, damaged areas can be circumvented to regain lost skills…sometimes to a great degree, and sometimes to a very small degree. The skills have to be reassigned to different areas…which can take a very long time.

A friend of mine from junior high recently had a severe brain injury. A car impacted the passenger side of the vehicle she was in; essentially, her head took a lot of the impact (she was in a low-profile vehicle…the other was an SUV). At first, they did not think she would survive. Then, they were not sure she would ever regain consciousness. After about 6 weeks she did. At that point, I went to visit her at Helen Hayes. She was having some physical therapy, which included tilting the bed to almost vertical for a little while. I walked up, took her hand, and said, “Hi, Abby.” She looked at me, then gave me a huge smile and squeezed my hand. I started to cry!

Throughout my visit, it was clear she was definitely “in there,” even though she hadn’t talked yet. She would look around, smile at people, and get definite expressions on her face (including a clear look of disgust when her older sister made a little joke at her expense! ). Not too long after that, she started talking. Today, she is walking, driving, and back to life as a college student. She has changed majors and now wants to be a psychologist specializing in brain injuries. If you didn’t know her before the accident, you’d never know anything was wrong with her, except for her slightly slurred speech.

That visit in the hospital had a profound effect on me. And ever since my own mild concussion this past January (thank GOD I was wearing an approved helmet at the time…had I not been, I may have been in the same boat as my friend was), I have been a die-hard approved-helmet wearer and promoter. I now have an ATH, and I won’t get on a horse without it.

You’ve got to protect your brain…it’s the only one you have. And it doesn’t grow back.

~Sara

“If you can’t dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bull.” -Bart Simpson

Member of the Dirt Divers 78th Airborne Unit, ATH Squadron

[Pinkerdo]

Thanks for the nice words Coreen. That was a time I never want to see again. People wear your HELMETS!

[canyonoak]

Argghhhh.

reading Coreene’s post gave me shivers…
am SO VERY GLAD that she has recovered and become modder to Willem (he loffs her) and friend to this BB.

just yesterday, was giggling with a friend about the new Australian law that ALL equestrians must wear approved helemts–including GP dressage riders…and after giggling for a moment or two…I remembered Mr Bumpkin’s Helmet post…got really sobered, and realized that approved helmets are not a choice but a necessity.

So the helmets look funny with shadbellies? I say–get rid of the shadbellies! It is time for an overhaul of the ‘look’ in equestrian sports.

Western is popular, at least in part, because you can run around and look totally cool in your riding clothes…I think the breeches and boots are good…but perhaps a slinky, or some thing that looks vaguely like a motocross shirt…all topped off by an approved helmet.

Xtreme Riding.

YESSS!!!

[Silly_Mommy]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>EVERY concussion is considered a mild brain injury. There are almost always some minor effects of the injury.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I’m not kidding!!! I’ve had a few too many concussions. And YES, every one I had my noggin protected. In the ol’ days (when most of my injuries occurred) though, there was no such thing as “approved”. I think the worst was the time a horse landed after a jump and hit a divot, never took a stride, just went boom - that was when the “semi-flexible” brim was required. I hit on the side of my head, blacked out (I don’t remember the fall), and went into convulsions. I “came to” in the ER when my mother (bless her heart ) was arguing with the techs as to whether or not they were going to cut off my new Vogels. The horse had landed on my leg - nice bruise from my ankle to my hip, but nothing broken.

Anyway, this is a great thread!!

BREATHE!!! Oxygen is a good thing!

[Ridge_Runner]

This is a great thread. I’ll add my story as well. I had a bad wreck doing flatwork several years ago when a horse went over backwards on me. I was knocked out completely. I remember the horse rearing and leaning forward with my body but I don’t remember the horse falling. I woke up pinned by the leg under the horse that I was holding down inadvertently with a strong rigid hold of the reins. My ASTM helmet was completely caved in over my forehead area. My nose was bruised and I was one big purple bruise all over my body as he apparently rolled over me trying to get up not to mention used me as a cushion for his fall, but I walked away from that one with only a minor concussion. I remember as I struggled to get up after letting the horse’s reins loose (he jumped right up off my leg) and seeing flashes of light (stars) just like in a cartoon. I remember thinking, “Wow, this was a bad wreck!” I think I was very very lucky that day that I had my helmet on. I believe that without it I would have had a really bad head injury or perhaps even been killed. Would you believe I actually caught the horse and remounted? No one ever said I wasn’t crazy but it took a while for the shock to wear off and realize how close I’d come. Oh, and I was alone too. No one saw the wreck or was there to help me. If I had been badly injured, I would have laid there for hours before someone would have come looking for me.

Wear an approved helmet every ride!

“I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself.” D.H. Lawrence

[Bensmom]

I’m on my way out the door to buy another new ATH. It will be my fourth one since April. I’ve had three very different falls, and have been very fortunate to not have had any serious problems resulting from them.

Thanks to all that have contributed to this thread and provided information. I once spent 24 days in a row waiting for someone I cared about to awaken from a coma caused by a traumatic brain injury. He was very fortunate and now would appear to someone who didn’t know him as a fairly “normal” person. He is not, however, anything like the person before he was hurt.

I hope no one of us ever have the experience of standing next to a rotating bed in the neuro ICU for five minutes on the hour day after day, seeing no change. I can guarantee that if you ever do, you will never get on a horse without an approved hat.

Libby

[Coreene]

After hitting my head (the back of it), I slammed onto my right shoulder, which kept getting an awful pinched pain in it. Chiropractor, who I could not see for nine months after accident, after five visits said “Well, I can keep putting it back in but your boobs are kind of big, and since it’s related to your accident you could get a boob reduction for no money.”

Which I did. And I love 'em. So for years that’s been the joke: same about the head but I got my boobs fixed.

Hey, ya gotta see humor in the most gruesome things. When my sense of smell slowly started to return, most stuff was this awful disgusting foul disgusting horrid smell/taste. Pinkerdo said “What does it smell like?” I said “What Jerry Garcia must smell like now.” Okay, sick humor but it happens. And to this day there are times when I say “Can’t eat that. Jerry.”

That was my Deadhead joke for all of you. No, I am not a Deadhead, but that had to be one of the most fun concerts I ever went to. And I can honestly say that Jerry Lives In Huntington Beach.

[Coreene]

So sorry to hear about it! All I can say is hang in there, because it does slowly but surely seem to get better. “Get better” as in improve, not as in recover per Robby’s very important facts at the beginning of the thread. I know what you mean about the out of body stuff, for a long time I was watching myself doing things like I was looking down at myself, especially when riding.

One of the very best exercises I have found, and which I still do, is those cards that you turn upside down and then you try and get the matched pairs. You know, where you turn one over and then try and find the match and have to remember where they were. The first time that I could do the whole game, I was beside myself with excitement. It was a big step.

I also find that the computer game Bejeweled is a good way to help improve concentration. I rarely play it now, but did do it for about 15 minutes during lunch for a long time. Helped me with focusing longer than a second or two, and helped my attention span improve. This may be something worth trying.

My math skills are out the window. I was leaving the tip on my cc form today with two coworkers, who had a good laugh when I had to add the $8 tip on my fingers. My mom was horrified when I, a few years ago in my late 30s, announced that I know longer knew my times tables. They are finito. God bless calculators.

Robby J, I can’t tell you how therapeutic this thread has been.

[AKDragooPhoto]

My father had a malignant tumor removed a year ago August. He is a PhD in physics. He had a seziure two days into his retirement.

Last week he came up to help me on household projects. He made this promise before his surgery and when we were told his tumore was small, benign and in the periatable lobe.

None of these things were acurate. He has come a long way but has a ways to go. He forgets to turn off the stove, bring in the rest of the groceries from the car and ignores his left side. This is a vast improvement.

It is very easy to get frustrated with how long it takes him to process information. I realized one afternoon as we made another trip to Home Depot how frustrated he is, how lucky we all are to have him, and what a miracle it is that the brain can adapt. But this takes time. It has to rewire it’s circuits. And that is for those who are lucky. There was enough left to rewire. It was mostly in his frontal lobe and stretched back to the nerves that cotrol movement for the left side of his body.

I am rambleing, you all don’t need to hear this and I had a point which I lost a ways back. I just know I am very happy to still have my father and grateful that he is recovering, as slow as it may be.

Amy

[Robby_Johnson]

In the Eq. Horse Lease thread someone mentions that Francesca Mazella said, “brain injuries take a long time to heal.”

This isn’t entirely accurate. I work for a post-acute company that specializes in the treatment of individuals with acquired brain injuries.

The brain, in fact, doesn’t heal. This is one of the great mysteries of the brain - it’s basically gray matter, where motor function is really only speculated in terms of lobes/lobal function and purpose.

What the brain can do is relearn. And with a brain injury, many motor and cognitive skills are completely erased. Therapy is required to help the individual relearn these skills, and often they can only be “reassigned” to a certain percentage.

This is why it’s critical to protect your head. Nothing makes me more uncomfortable than riding without an approved helmet.

Do I always? Pretty much yes. But there are times when I haven’t. So I’m not preaching to you, just hoping to shed some more light to this ongoing issue.

There is some great published information at:

www.cdc.gov
www.nih.gove
www.bia-usa.org

Robby

You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.

[Elghund2]

I love the term “Acquired Brain Disorder”. Of course it is usually proceeded by “I acquired a non apporved helmet that didn’t protect squat.”

“I’d be more tactful, if I were wrong.”

[Pinkerdo]

Kiss my a$$ for the rest of your life

[poltroon]

Remember, a big helmet makes your ass look smaller anyway.

[Adelita]

I have dealt with a brain injury, too.
My ex husband was on foot, and hit by a car going about 55 mph. Needless to say, his prognosis was very grim.
After two months of intensive care, a year and a half IN the VA hospital in a brain-injury rehab program, learning to walk, talk, read, write, function, like any adult human being, he is almost back to what I could consider “normal” with a few quirks. He had a fist-sized portion of his right frontal lobe removed, due to necrosis. He had brain bleeds. They kept him in a coma for two weeks. And let me tell ya, people don’t just “wake up” from a coma, it’s a long hard horrendous gut-wrenching painful horrible agonizing process full of combative behavior, anger, delusions, difficulty on the part of the patient. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
Joel ( my ex ) was lucky. Many are not. He was supposed to be a vegetable at best. He is a miracle.
Wear your helmets.
love,
Linda and Adelita

Horse owner’s Latin motto:“Equus…Costus…Muchus”

[breezymeadow]

Never used to. Then after an accident left my leg in a brace, found that I couldn’t “dodge the bullet” as quickly as I used to - i.e. little baby hooves during minor “I don’t want to do that” tantrums or just turning out on cold, windy days. So granted, I sometimes look like a cross between the Michelin Man & Robocop decked out in my protective vest & approved helmet while working with the youngsters, BUT I find that I am more effective because I’m not worrying as much about having to jump out of the way or getting knocked over, etc., etc.

Mr. Breezymeadow, who doesn’t ride, used to “pooh pooh” my pleas that he put my helmet on when turning out our 18-month old stud colt. Then one cold, windy morning, just for fun, the Little Prince reared up in play & caught helmetless hubby good & hard right on the shoulder - mere inches from his skull. Needless to say, Mr. Breezymeadow puts that helmet on every single time he touches that horse now.

My body is a temple - unfortunately, it’s a “fixer- upper”.

[Atypical]

I’ve had a couple nasty experiences in the last few months. The first I was just flatting, at home, hacking even and had even considered not wearing my helmet since my horse is about as bombproof as a TB gets. Well, we were cantering, came around a corner and the next thing I knew I was being tossed over my boy’s shoulder as he fell out from under me. Landed face down in the dirt, twisted my ankle and my knee and slid a good six feet on bare stomach. Thank God for my helmet.

The second time I was schooling a horse over a course. he’d jumped everything great, including the airy 3’9 vertical. ( I had never before ridden this horse) SO I was quite relaxed coming up to the 3’ oxar. Well, despite a good distance and pace he decided he was done, hit the skids, hit the front rail and reared, smacking me in the head with his poll. I managed to ride away from that one a little dizzy and with a severely sore jaw. Yeah for approveds.

Every ride, every time.

[PaisleyRioux]

… that this thread be designated a “featured” topic so it stays at the top of the category.

I’m alive because a helmet came between my skull and a rear hoof.