This is a post from Facebook. Not me, but it is a park I ride at frequently. I was just there on Wednesday and we had a wonderful non-eventful ride.
FYI: you should always have at least 2 Epipens on you in case of allergic reaction. Not just 1 Epipen. 2 Epipens per person. Some situations may require more than 1 dose.
For those who are wondering about yesterday’s events, this is the best of my recollection. Fellow equestrians, if you take one thing from this, PLEASE contact your primary care doctor and get a prescription for an EpiPen. Ellie had no idea she was allergic. You never know when having one might save your or somebody else’s life!
Four out of the six of us were thrown when our horses were stung repeatedly. We scattered in different directions. Joelle, Ellie, and I ran back in the direction we came. Grace, Suzette, and Jeanne went the opposite direction. We took off running from the bees. We ran about a half mile, but the bees kept chasing us. They had stung 73-year-old Ellie hundreds of times. They were all over her face and hands. She couldn’t go any further. My two horses followed me when we took off running. We tried to get Ellie up onto one of my horses to ride her out, but she was dead weight and too weak to ride. We had to get her on the ground and wait for help to arrive. They had trouble finding us because we were so deep in the woods. Ellie was going into anaphylactic shock. I was afraid to give her my EpiPen (one because she’s 73 and has heart problems, but two, I had started coughing and wheezing and had no idea how bad my own reaction was going to be). We decided to go ahead and give Ellie the shot, instead of me. The hospital staff said that is what saved her life. She was so swollen, her face was hardly recognizable. Her hands looked like balloons. Definitely the most scared I have ever been. The group of six all got separated when the hive started swarming. We had no idea how our other friends were or how the horses were or where they were. Joelle called 911 and we waited for what seemed like an eternity for help to arrive. They had difficulty finding us. Joelle ended up hiking out a ways to try to flag the rescue team. I screamed for help repeatedly and a biker heard me and came to us. He rode for help. Ellie started praying to God because she was so afraid she was dying……and then help arrived on a Gator. They were able to get Ellie out of the woods and to the waiting ambulance, that then transported her to the hospital. Joelle and I rode Gunny and Charm for miles out of the woods, following a park ranger. Maverick followed behind, riderless. When we finally got back to the trail head, we learned that Suzette ended up with two broken ribs and a broken thumb and was taken to the hospital. Grace had multiple stings to her face, including one in her eye. We also learned that Jeanne got separated from Grace and Suzette because she went to try to help Ellie’s horse, Chevy. I remember looking up once before the horses took off and Chevy’s entire back end was covered with a blanket of hornets. He was bucking and kicking frantically trying to get them off of him before he disappeared into the woods. We are all blessed to be alive and thankful for all the people who came to our rescue, and for all your thoughts and prayers! It was a nightmare…. One I hope y’all never experience. Be safe out there.
Chevy is recovering and okay.