Trudy Paterson is one of the best riders I have ever known. She was a joy to watch in the Arabian show ring and was a kind and sensitive horse trainer.
On October 4th in Brenham Texas Trudy was riding her horse with friends and in a moment her life changed forever. During this ride her horse was attacked by several other horses that were in the area. Her horse panicked and she ended up on the ground amidst them. When she hit the ground she shattered her pelvis in multiple places, broke her left hip, and ruptured her iliac artery. She was bleeding badly internally and her body was crushed. After an hour ambulance ride to Bryan, TX, the hospital realized she was trauma 1 status and she needed a facility who could save her life. She was life-flighted to Memorial Herman Hospital in Houston right away. Trudy had a lifesaving surgery by a team of doctors to stop her internal bleeding and stabilize her pain. She then had another surgery the next day by another team of doctors to piece back together her shattered pelvis. She spent a week in the shock trauma unit and was then at a transitional facility where she had medical care and rehab for the next several months. She is now on a walker and will have to have more surgeries. She has been told she will never ride again.
Trudy made her living riding horses. We horse people can only imagine what she felt when she heard the words “You will never ride again.” Depression doesn’t begin to describe it. But she is remaining as upbeat and cheerful as anyone could under these terrible circumstances. However, the expenses have reached the point that she has become bured.
Trudy is a wonderful person and her son has set up a Go Fund Me page to try and help with the medical bills. If you’d like the link, just PM me.
I and my Sonesta Farms are now planning a fundraiser to try and help with her living expenses. It will be here at Sonesta Farms on July 8-9, 2017. Over these two days, Dressage trainer, Gina Collier, will offer a standard dressage clinic. Western Dressage trainer, Vickie Voelz, will offer a Western Dressage Clinic. Dressage ‘r’ judge, Donna Meyer, will judge Ride a Tests in both Western and standard Dressage. Clinician and judge, Michael Vermaas, will offer a Working Equitation Clinic. During all this, Sonesta Farms will transform into a two-day party with swimming, hot tub, margarita machine, silent auction items, big ticket raffle items, face painting, pony rides, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and Pit Bull Kissing Booth, bouncy house for kids, horseshoe pitching tournament, and more…
I hope some of you can join us. I will put the silent auction and raffle items online so you can bid online. And if you wish to help in any way, please do contact me.[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“title”:“trudy1.jpg”,“data-attachmentid”:9706684}[/ATTACH]
