Mishaps and Mayhem

Kilkol, Isabel, Sandip, Me, Cdr Patham, Minali, Aarti, Anna

Any equestrian sport is dangerous and over the next few months I made numerous trips to the MH (Military Hospital) to visit friends who had been unlucky enough to injure themselves.

There were many broken bones when fellow riders took  nasty falls and in one particular hunt which turned out to be crazily out of control for most of us, both Minali and Kilkol got into trouble while doing a mad downhill gallop. Kilkol cracked a couple of ribs and Minali hit her head and spent a worrisome few days in the hospital while the doctors checked for any serious damage to the brain.
On the other hand I must admit we cackled with glee when some of the less popular ladies dropped out after a mishap, which was an extremely mean reaction, but that was just the way it was.

Out of all the women in our group, all had been thrown from the horse at some point or the other. I was the only one left who had not had this particular misfortune and I knew every one was waiting for this great event to come about. I had got to the stage when I just wanted to get it over with and it eventually happened when we started to practise for show jumping. I was given a reliable horse called Mist, who took every obstacle willingly and without hesitation, so was good to practise on to get comfortable. I got a little too relaxed and when Mist decided to put on the brakes just before a hurdle I flew over his neck and landed in a messy heap on the other side of the poles. I scrambled up before any one realised what had happened and coolly carried on with the rest of the ride. Luckily only my ego took a beating though I did have a nasty bruise on one half of my body for weeks after.

Blurry pride goes before a fall

The worst trip to the MH I made had nothing to do with riding. I was summoned one morning by the school 'ayah' saying Munch had hurt herself. I rushed down to see what had happened and found my little girl covered in blood, crying her eyes out. Apparently the children had been playing during recess and she had some how caught her finger in the pivot point of the seesaw. I rushed her to the hospital and when the doctors examined her they said the finger had been so badly mangled that it might have to be amputated! It was at this point that I contacted Sandip who was in college and he really freaked out when he realised what had happened. Luckily for us the surgeon was really good and decided not to operate immediately but to wait a week and see if the tiny blood vessels would regenerate. Munch still has a crooked middle finger but at least it is still there!
The last and final trip to the familiar surroundings of the MH happened right at the end of the course while Sandip was riding his beloved horse Chetak who slipped in the early morning dew and fell on him! He broke his collar bone and was incapacitated for the couple of weeks that remained of the staff course so missed the exciting closing events of the riding calendar!