It was a beautiful spring afternoon in May and I had just finished a long lesson on my horse, Rudy. I could see small beads of sweat glistening on his neck and shoulders, so I decided to go on a walk to cool him off. We walked down the gravel driveway away from the barn, towards the road. We had to cross a small bridge that led us to the other side of the property where the fields and trails led off into the woods. As we walked across the bridge, I could hear Rudy's hoofs making a loud echoing noise against the hollow, wood panels. When we reached the other side, we walked along the trail that entered the woods. The woods were shady and cool, which felt nice after being in the hot sun all day.

I could tell from the untrimmed, low-hanging tree branches and the few fallen trees blocking the paths that no one had been down that trail in a while. Every few steps I had to duck under a branch or dodge something blocking the path. We continued walking for about twenty minutes carefully watching our step. Finally, we had almost made the full loop around the small patch of woods and were headed homeward. Rudy started pulling on the reins and sped up his walk; he was anticipating going home. I had a bad habit of letting him canter back to the barn, but I knew it wasn't a smart idea due to all the clutter along the trail that day.

Snap! Rudy flew forward a few steps, startled by the loud noise of the breaking branch under his feet. He snorted anxiously ready to run, but I pulled again holding him back. I could now see the bright sun peaking through the trees at the end of the dark trail, and I knew that we were near the road again. I started to relax, which turned out to be a big mistake. Suddenly, a loud chorus of branches snapped under us like a sheet of bubble wrap. I felt a cool rush of wind pierce my face as Rudy bolted, galloping full speed towards the road. Thrown off balance, I quickly scrambled in an attempt to grab ahold of the reins that were dangling on his neck. Before I got the chance to grab them, I had to quickly duck, pressing my chest against his neck dodging some low-hanging branches. I felt the branches unpleasantly scrape across my shoulders and back. After we had cleared the patch of low-hanging branches, I attempted to sit back up. When I opened my eyes, I noticed we had drifted off the path and were headed straight for a big oak tree at the opening of the trail. Still hanging onto his neck, I could feel my body sliding down onto his right shoulder and I braced for the fall.

As I expected, Rudy bolted left, dodging the tree. Unfortunately, I went right, falling hard into the trunk of the tree and onto the ground. When I caught my breath, I sat up dazed as I caught a glimpse of Rudy galloping down the road. When I lost sight of him, I looked down to examine my body. There was a fresh tear in my shirt with blood running from my bare shoulders and hands. My adrenaline was pumping so my cuts didn't faze me the slightest. I was only concerned about what had happened to Rudy. I got up and began running down the road back towards the barn. A few steps in, I fell. I got up and tried again, falling once more in agony from the pain and numbness in my ankle. It was an indescribable feeling that I had never experienced before. I knew without a doubt it was broken.

I got up slowly the next time and began limping down the road. Luckily, I wasn't too far from the barn and as I turned the corner I could see Rudy standing on the side of the street near the neighbor's house. I heard a car coming from behind me and I prayed they'd see Rudy. When I turned around, I saw a big red truck slowing down and coming to a stop next to me. The man inside rolled down his window and asked if he could help. I didn't feel a need to explain because it was pretty clear what had happened just by looking at me. Before I could even answer, he had already parked and gotten out of his car to help. I was still out of breath but I managed to thank him and point in the direction of my horse. He understood. He ran down the street and caught Rudy then walked back to me and helped us back to the barn. My mom saw us coming down the driveway and got out of the car to help. We thanked the man again, quickly put Rudy in his stall, got in the car, and headed to see my Dad at Carillon Clinic's Urgent Care.

When we arrived at the Urgent Care, we met my Dad, who is the chairman of the clinic, at the door. I got into a wheelchair and was immediately rolled back to the doctor's room where my Dad examined my ankle. After a few minutes I was taken to the X-ray room to have my ankle X-rayed. I lay there on the cold metal table while the radiologist took the x-rays of my ankle. I could see my Dad and radiologist examining the photos in depth through the large glass window that stood between us. When they finally walked back into the room, they confirmed what I had feared, I had broken my ankle.

A few days later I ended up back in the hospital to have surgery on my ankle. The surgeon placed a small metal screw in my right ankle so it could heal properly. After two weeks of recovery, I was allowed to return to school where I spent my last month of eighth grade and most of my summer on crutches. I was unable to ride Rudy for three months, which was the longest period of time I had gone without riding since I was seven. It was a hard and difficult time for me because I knew I would be out the entire first half of the show season due to my broken ankle The second half of the season would be spent rehabilitating my ankle and skills. To help prevent me from falling too far behind, I spent most of my summer shadowing instructors and watching other riders take lessons and train. I learned a lot about riding that summer from sitting on the sidelines, watching and observing other riders. I was grateful for the man in the truck, my father, and the fact that Rudy was okay. Even though breaking my ankle was a major set-back, I would not have gotten the chance to learn all that I did without this experience.