Part OneBy: Jean Johnson for Back1
“When the horse fell on me, he was kicking and flailing around with his legs! I thought, ‘Would you get your balance and get your huge self off me?’”
Meet Sandy Kypfer, an expatriate from the United States who’s lived abroad the past 24 years, first in England where she took up riding at the tender age of 30, and then in Thailand where she currently lives and pursues her life as a wife, mother and horsewoman.
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Before you gallop into the sunset, here are some horseback safety facts:
Of the 30 million Americans that ride horses each year, more than 2,300 riders under the age of 25 years are hospitalized because of riding injuries.
Most injuries result from falling off the horse, which can lead to severe and sometimes fatal injuries.
Horseback riding is more dangerous than motorcycle riding according to Gloria M. Beim, M.D. “On average, motorcyclists suffer an injury once every 7,000 hours of riding. By contrast, an equestrian (horseback rider) may have a serious accident once every 350 hours.”
Riders most commonly are injured while riding, although some accidents occur in the stable while caring for horses.
Injuries to the arms and shoulders are more common in equestrian riding, while the legs can be injured more in rodeo competitions.
Injuries to the back can occur in both forms of horse riding and according to Beim, “Can leave permanent impairment, possibly resulting in paralysis. Other spinal injuries may cause long-term side effects, such as seizures from a head injury. |
Although Kypfer’s body is fully functioning at this point, she’s had her ups and downs over the years as far as horse injuries go. Particularly in her back, an old injury will haunt her if she gets too stressed. Before we hear about that, though, Kypfer takes us back to the time when she was pinned by a frantic horse that outweighed her by hundreds of pounds.
“It was like going through a washing machine. I got kicked in the jaw and the hip, and he broke my fibula right down by the ankle. I was lying there thinking, ‘How many pieces am I in? Have I got my mind? I’ve been kicked in the head, so I might not.’”
Kypfer was just into her fifties and living in Thailand when the incident that left her with a broken leg occurred. That was years after she went up to stage 3 in the sequence of courses offered by the British Horse Society, earning a first level teaching certificate.
“It was a new stable where I was going to be teaching. We had new grooms as well, so I was teaching them about horsemanship using the Thai ponies the kids were going to be riding when they came the next day,” she explained. “I didn’t know the ponies – wasn’t familiar with them since it was my first week at the stable.
“So I was holding the stirrup for this girl to mount, when all of a sudden the horse backed up and I lost my footing in the soft ground of the arena. Then the horse reared, and when it came down it found me underneath it. The girl had never gotten on and had let go, thankfully. So it was just me and the horse. He was really in a panic – scared and panicked, kicking me all over. I didn’t know if I had a head concussion or not since I was kicked in the head.
“The experience was awful even though it turned out that I was OK for the most part. The doctor wanted to put a full cast on, but I wanted to be able to ride so I got a half cast that also allowed me to ice the leg. By the tenth day I was on top of my horse again, even though for about nine months my foot would swell up and be sore. I was almost 52 at the time.”
Amen, sister. Almost 52 or otherwise, we can only imagine what it’s like to be under a frightened, flailing horse with four sharp hooves, eyes and nostrils wide, and flinging saliva everywhere. We can even smell the sweat of a terrified horse and pick up of a whiff of the straw and hay from the stables.
Still, Kypfer maintains that injuries and fear are a function of age to a significant degree. “When I was younger and learning to ride in my thirties, I was really pretty brave,” she said. “I’m still pretty brave, but now it’s not so fun to be hurt any more. You become more aware. Also the healing process is so much slower, and the injury stays with you longer. When I was younger it was more of an inconvenience, but I don’t feel that way about it any more.”
Kypfer takes us back 24 years ago to the onset of her life as a horsewoman.
“When I was learning and was in my thirties – we’d just moved to England and decided that I wouldn’t work. Within a month, I’d taken up riding since it was something I’d wanted to do since I was a child. It was a perfect place for it. England is a dog and horse country, so it was a natural thing to do. Dogs are allowed in the pubs there, not the children,” said Kypfer.
“Also the English have preserved all their commons which were the old hunting grounds for kings. Bridal paths go through these areas. Where I rode was in the area of the Hampton Court Palace which was one of the homes of King Henry the 8th before he lost the palace to Cardinal Woolsey. So I could go out of the stables and ride all day long through the bridal ways. It was wonderful and relaxing – just the right temperature.”
Join us in the second part of this story as expatriate Sandy Kypfer tells about how even though she’s been injured a number of times, she wouldn’t trade her life riding horses in England and later Thailand, not to mention the future she has planned in Montana when the family returns to the U.S.
Continued in Part Two
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