Of all the ways to get hurt around a young horse...

 ...passing out while Pyro stood there like a perfect gentleman is not the one I anticipated.

Pyro: I'm a good boy! I am!
(feat. my ever supportive and patient husband)

To treat Pyro's respiratory infection, our vet left the 2nd dose of his antibiotics with me to give 4 days after the initial dose. This stuff is THICK, so it required a bigger 18g needle. He also needed a LOT of it, so it was split into 2 syringes that the vet pulled up and left with me. 

said antibiotic

While this medicine has shown it most definitely works, I unfortunately have a needle phobia. I've worked through it enough to be able to give Pyro and Missy their fall flu/rhino vaccine. I end up a little woozy afterwards, but I'm able to avoid a farm call no worse for wear. I thought I was ready for this. 

Spoiler: I wasn't. 

Blessedly, I had the good sense to ask barnmate Jen to help by holding Pyro. Armed with self confidence and a pocket of cookies, I haltered Pyro in his stall and passed him to Jen. I approached Pyro like nothing out of the usual was happening, scratched/tapped his neck, jabbed and pulled back to make sure I wasn't in a vein, and slooooooowly gave him the shot. It was so thick that it took 2 hands. He only tossed his head once, but otherwise simply looked for his promised cookie when I was done. I felt a little woozy afterwards, as is typical for me, but I took a step back, did some breathing, and felt like I had fully recovered. I got halfway through the 2nd syringe and tried to tell Jen, "I think I'm going to pass out...", but apparently I already was and it came out as an unintelligible garble. 

"Huh, Mom's being weird again."

Pyro, to his credit, didn't react when I fell. Jen leapt into action, making sure I was breathing and not face down in the sawdust. (I really owe her for that one. What does one give a barnmate for traumatizing them? Booze seems the obvious answer. With my luck, I'll be singlehandedly stocking her liquor cabinet.) I came to, disoriented and with an eye full of sawdust. However, it didn't seem like I had hit anything major as I fell into the deep bedding. 

That sawdust filled eye got hella puffy

I'm no stranger to passing out, so once I had my wits about me, I carried on, giving Pyro the rest of the shot (with a clean needle) as Jen cheerleaded me on. I grabbed a snack while she finished mucking my stalls (maybe she needs a monthly booze subscription? Is that a thing?), flushed out my eye, and carried on with my plans. That evening at a holiday party (because of COURSE I had a party to go to) I noticed I was having occasional trouble finding my words, but figured that was just the spiked cider. In hindsight, drinking and socializing was not the best thing I could've done that evening.

Pinto Party (and friend Ivan) in the sunshine

Once I got moving the next morning, it was evident something was wrong. I felt sick. No fever, but I was nauseated, weak, and shaky. My heart raced as I fed and watered the rabbits. As the day progressed, I started to recognize many of the symptoms I had following my traumatic brain injury (TBI) in 2018. Que panic when I realized I had another concussion. 

Oh look! Pyro is feeling better!

Now it's 4 days past the concussion, and I'm coming to terms with the fact that I'll be healing from this seemingly minor fall into deep sawdust for a while. As with my prior TBI, this concussion affected my vestibular system, which is in charge of your balance, and increased my existing postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). This means that I get motion sickness just from walking around and explains why my heart started racing when I got up to do chores. I'm also dealing with cognitive fatigue again, which causes looking at a screen to be very tiring and intense sensitivity to light and noise. 

Gotta balance out the heavy stuff with Pyro playing with a ball

What this means going forward is I have to carefully monitor my brain's threshold, stretching the limits of my cognitive stamina without exceeding them. If I ask too much of my brain at once, it takes longer for me to recover than if I preemptively take a break before symptoms hit me.

Happy boy

I likely won't be in the saddle anytime soon, unless it's to sit on Missy and do vestibular therapy exercises (something she helped me with previously). While that's a major bummer to say the least, I'm grateful it's not as bad as the original TBI, and I'm well equipped to deal with it this time around. I know that each concussion you receive makes you more susceptible to them in the future. It's why I ALWAYS wear a helmet when I ride. 

Preferably one with MIPS

The brain can heal, but it takes a lot of time... and some things are simply different now for me. I spent 2 years doing vestibular and cognitive therapy to get to my new normal, but I never got my working memory back. I certainly worry about what that means for my future with horses, but I choose to mitigate the risk as best I can while still taking part in what lights up my soul. I'm definitely considering wearing my helmet whenever I'm handling horses (not just in the saddle), as well as making alternative plans for when they needs shots in the future. 

Love this boy (even when he's naughty) with all my heart

So, in the meantime, I'll continue to enjoy the little moments of interaction with my horses, be thankful I can still drive to the stable and be around them (so long as I'm not over threshold), and look forward to our future adventures together. Be safe out there, friends!