Peter and his friend, Garrett, have been taking a horsemanship class on Monday afternoons.  There are 8 kids in the class, and only 4 of them actually get to ride each week.  The class includes not only basic riding skills, but other topics pertaining to horses such as breeds, grooming, tack, stall cleaning, feeding, etc.  The boys were rather disappointed on the weeks that it wasn’t their turn to ride, so Garrett’s mother and I decided we’d schedule a semi-private lesson for them during the off weeks.

They had their 30-minute lesson last Tuesday afternoon.  Peter rode a gelding named Nosey, and Garrett rode Duchess.  With only 5 minutes remaining in the class, the instructor told Garrett to have Duchess trot.  Duchess started off rather quickly, and Garrett fell off.   He was in quite a bit of pain when he got up, and immediately realized that his wrist was broken.

Garrett spent that night in the hospital, and had surgery on his wrist the following morning.  Fortunately, the orthopedist didn’t have to put pins in his wrist, but he now has a cast that extends from his fingertips to the middle of his upper arm.  My kids and I met Garrett and his mother for lunch today.  Garrett’s cast is large and cumbersome.  He won’t be able to ride his bike, play his drums, or take tennis lessons for at least 6 weeks.  He also doesn’t want anything else to do with horses, at least for the time being.

I wondered if Garrett’s accident might dissuade my kids from having any future contact with horses.  However, some friends invited us to the barn the following day, and Peter and Caroline both had the opportunity to ride a horse named Chico.  It was only Caroline’s second time on a horse (the first was nearly 5 years ago, on her 8th birthday), and now she has decided to take Garrett’s place for the remaining 5 weeks of the horsemanship class.