In the last edition of our Working Student Series, Kaylin returns home from Florida. As always, thank you for writing this Kaylin and thank you for reading. Previous entries: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
The greatest view in the world: Home!
Home Sweet Home
By: Kaylin Medlin
Sorry its been awhile since my last blog. I would like to say it was because I was being stalked by people who read my blogs, but sadly, it was because I had a concussion.
I had a pretty interesting last day in Florida. We went to Longwood Farm for a schooling show. Dressage wasn’t too shabby, we got a 34. When it came time to do stadium I made the stupid mistake of not staying forward as I sat through the turn to jump number one. We came up to the fence, he stopped and off I went. Instead of jumping the fence together, I “jumped” it first and he followed. Apparently I flipped in mid-air so I landed on my back and hit my head pretty hard (wearing my brand new Charles Owen JR8 no less!). I actually knocked myself out and gave myself a concussion. Guess this is a great reason I didn’t stick with vaulting – I’m sort of clumsy and accident prone.
I didn’t know that I had gotten knocked out at the time, so after the EMT cleared me, I got back on and the very nice people at Longwood allowed me to go back and try again. Harley of course totally hated the moose and all of the “monsters” on course, but we made it through the course – with lots of coaxing from me.
The day after I arrived home, I went to see my doctor who fussed at me for getting back on and “returning to play” after getting knocked out. I explained to her that I really didn’t know and that I had not experienced any typical symptoms. My only symptoms were a brief headache when I first laid down at night and some motion sickness from riding in the car. But hey, Florida is a 9 hour drive. Who isn’t going to suffer from some motion sickness?
I was sent home with strict orders to do nothing. No TV, no school work, no computer or cell phone. UGH! Talk about B-O-R-I-N-G. The worst was, I couldn’t ride Harley and I was strongly encouraged not to even go to the barn just in case Harley (or another horse) decided to play and head butt me.
Long story short, I ended up seeing a concussion expert the following Monday. He gave me a series of tests which I failed miserably. I was once again sent home on strict, do-nothing-or-else orders. I missed my horse terribly and I was literally bored to tears. When I returned to the concussion expert at the end of the week, he gave me the same series of tests which I passed with flying colors. He said I definitely had an acute concussion, but that I was now recovered enough to return to play. Those were the magic words I had been waiting to hear for a week so I begged my mom to take me to the barn straight from the doctor’s office.
I’m glad to be home and to finally be riding again. My next competition is this weekend at Southern Pines 2 followed by The Fork in April. One more qualification and I will be able to compete in my T3D event at Southern 8ths in May.
Thanks Eventing Nation for reading about my adventures this winter. I hope John will allow me to write again for EN (it’s way more fun than writing regular English papers for school!).
