Well, this was not a good week for me, and especially not for my friend, Mika. Here she is in the photo. She is on her 5-year old horse named Cassanova. We were coming down from a trail that is carved out of a mountainside about 150 feet above a golf course. It is a super scary and narrow trail, and one that I actually would't ride for the first year it was built because I had a horrible nightmare that I fell of that cliff with my horse. But I was eventually convinced. So here's what happened. We were on a pretty steep descent on a 6' wide portion of the trail and Mika's horse was behind me. He fell on his face and rolled over on top of her! He had her pinned underneath him, unable to get his footing to upright himself. The only thing holding them both from rolling down the cliff was a 2' metal and mesh fence. I dismounted, without a clue as to what to do and called 911. Mika was hysterical, with her leg and most of her body under her horse. Paramedics came and didn't know what to do either. By this time, Mika was in a real panic, having lost the feeling in her left leg. She begged them to shoot her horse so that she could get out from underneath him somehow. They asked me to back my horse up, who was actually calming Mika's horse down, because as soon as I did, her horse started thrashing. She was screaming and getting beaten up down there. It was horrible! I couldn't watch. Only could pray. Her horse ended up rolling over top of her, crushing the fence. They both fell down the cliff, but Mika managed to be slowed by some brush. Her horse broke free with his saddle undone, but his breast collar attached, and he continued to plummet down the steep cliff about 100 feet. Miraculously.... Mika escaped serious injury! Just twisted her knee and bruised her shoulder and a lot of places on her body, and she was in shock. I'll tell you though it was a good thing she had a helmet on because the horse's weight broke her helmet in two. After Mika was carted off to the ER, the trainer from our ranch came to get the horse. With his breast collar holding his saddle around his neck, he was caught up in a tree and had his bridle entangled in some branches. It took three hours to get him loose. And just like Mika, he was uninjured! So, that is the latest drama. I hope that you guys are safe on trail, and I know they look dorky, but those helmets save lives!
