Stefanie Brand and Claudius. Photo via Stefanie on Facebook.
We’re pleased to report that Stefanie Brand was released from the hospital in Atlanta last week after undergoing surgery to place a plate on her broken collarbone sustained after a rotational fall at CHC International earlier this month. After spending the night in Atlanta, Stefanie was on a plane the next day to return to her home country of Guatemala to begin physical therapy treatments.
“She’s feeling much better now that she is out of the hospital and seeing the real world again,” family friend and groom Barry Tomason said. “She’s of course itching to get back on her horse, but she’s taking it one day at a time at this point.”
Stefanie’s horse, Claudius, was uninjured in the fall and has traveled to Canada with the rest of the Guatemalan team. Claudius will continue his preparations for Toronto with Peter Gray, although at this point Stefanie’s plan of running at Bromont is no more.
“Peter will continue to ride the horse and keep him sharp,” Barry said. “At this point, she is not running Bromont. We aren’t sure yet if someone will ride him and do the dressage, but she will not be riding.”
As it stands now, Stefanie still would like to represent Guatemala at the Pan American Games in July, but naturally her recovery will be the top priority as she looks ahead to the rest of the summer.
We will continue to provide updates on Stefanie and her progress as it becomes available. In the meantime, we’re relieved to hear that she is well on her way to returning to the saddle and that Claudius was able to walk away from the fall unscathed.
