The saying goes “expect the unexpected.” The Boy Scout motto is “be prepared.” Companies preach “safety is the best policy.” Common words of wisdom “you live and you learn.” Basically, you just don’t know what a day of camping with horses may bring.

I purchased Ride Pennsylvania Horse Trails – Part II by Carolyn Cook – a book extremely well used in 2005 – the pages are tattered and torn; the binding is about ready to separate due to stuffing additional maps and information into it. My goal was to camp and ride at all the listed campsites. Yea! My husband and I did it (ok ... except for one site we’ll hit once the snow melts). We comprised a bulky binder of photographs of all the sites and trails with supplemental maps and information of our 2005 trail riding adventures. When we’re out on the trails and I holler, “Wait ... Kodak moment!” My husband’s eyeballs – and I think I’ve even seen the horses’ eyeballs - roll around in their heads as if saying, “Oh no ... not again!” But having these photographs made all that eyeball rolling worthwhile.

As the snow flies now and water buckets freeze, we look through our binder of road and trail maps and pictures of the eleven trail systems we’ve explored and wonder if other trail riders would like to enjoy these great trail riding opportunities. Maybe someday we could be guides to others.

Last July we discovered a lovely, secluded site tucked away in Ligonier, Pennsylvania (Forbes State Forest), a primitive campsite. Barry and I and Chief and Sonny, our seasoned trail horses, arrived late in the evening. We had access to a gate to close ourselves in, pretending as though we had the Earth to ourselves. Chief and Sonny were greeted with a large, lush area to graze on. We built a fire and listened to the silence of the night. There weren’t even crickets singing ... pure silence ... almost creepy ... and we relished it.

The next morning we saddled up and rode the trails, which are actually cross-country skiing trails so they are flat and easy-riding. We had been riding some fairly challenging trails so this was a nice break for the four of us. This is well-known rattlesnake territory so we were careful to watch the ground - happily we didn’t bump into any. The whole experience was lovely ... just lovely!

One of the bonuses on this trail experience was seeing an albino fawn hunker down into a patch of ferns. On every trail ride there’s always something special that occurs - one of the blessings of being out there.

We mentioned to friends what a nice time we had and, moments later, definitive plans were made to meet, camp and ride at Forbes the next weekend.

Barry and I arrived the night before. We took an early morning ride on some trails we hadn’t set hoof on yet. It was a hot, buggy day so it was pleasant to be riding in the forest where it was cooler.

About noon our friends rolled in and they began setting up camp – a procedure we now have down to a science. Everything seemed to be progressing fine ... until the one woman’s horse decided he did not like the high grass tickling his legs. He was communicating to us that he was NOT a happy camper by kicking out his back legs and huffing around the fenced-in area.

What happened next was one of those moments that occur in slow motion and are unforgettable. Since the one horse was clearly agitated, our friend wanted to turn the electric on to their fence. I stood watching. What could happen? I wasn’t expecting anything to happen - we’ve turned on fences before without incident. No big deal. She bent down --- as quick as a flash the unhappy horse was over to where she was crouched and his back legs kicked out .... one shod hoof right into her head! The sound was like two bricks smacking together. For a split second she was motionless ... then she fell over like a domino.

My husband called out to her – no response. Ok ... we weren’t prepared for an accident like this. We had to help her. I’m a queasy person when it comes to blood and bone and we had both, blood and bone – don’t faint now!

Cell phone reception was a convenience we were lucky to have. Many of our previous camp sites did not have reception but this one does – thank goodness. Barry dialed 911 – our ‘upright’ friend ran for ice – I held onto our patient’s arm for any support I could give. By this time she was conscious and asking what had happened. I told her to lie still and help was coming. I applaud the friend who had jumped into action ... her demeanor was calm, compassionate and ‘take charge’ as was Barry’s.

Barry and friend continued their “jump into action” while I held the ice on our patient. Our ‘upright’ friend loaded their horses in their trailer to get them out of the way. Barry unhooked our truck so he could meet the emergency personnel down on the main dirt road --- since, remember, we are in a secluded location that we loved so much.

Did I tell you only two vehicles are permitted at this campsite at a time? Well, we had an ambulance, two emergency vehicles, a volunteer fireman, AND a helicopter at the site – more action this land has probably ever seen. I do have to comment that Sonny and Chief were darn well mannered with their first experience of a landing helicopter.

In no time the helicopter personnel had our patient on a stretcher, vitals recorded, and she was ready to be loaded and become airborne. (The ambulance couldn’t take her to the local hospital because horse-related head injuries need to be handled at trauma centers.) Our patient’s friend took our truck to the hospital since it was unhooked.

Well ... Barry and I stood there at camp after everyone had left taking in the scenery. The wind from the helicopter blew our Coleman stove, chairs, awning, muck bucket, feed buckets, etc. into the woods ... we had our friends’ horses munching on hay in their trailer .... their two big dogs - who were growling at us - tied to their hitch ... our horses were looking at us like ‘what do you wanna do now?’ ... and there was a puddle of blood from our friend’s head on the ground in front of us. Wow ... what an afternoon.

Several hours later, after x-rays and stitches, our friends returned to camp. If our repaired friend was going to be sick from her head injury at home, she might as well be sick at camp --- and, by golly, she stayed the night like a trooper!

Some things I learned from this incident. The fireman had a GPS unit exactly like the one Barry and I use. You can map out the quadrants of your location and, if I would have realized, I could have provided this information to the rescue personnel and they would have found us exactly and quickly. It’s easy to do.

Accidents happen in a split second. Be ready. Have a plan. Camp with at least one other person. Horses are fast and strong. This horse didn’t deliberately by any means kick our friend – he was just being a horse. Barry and I usually camp alone ... what would I do if I were the sole one in charge? This event opened my eyes.

A prayer of thanks was said for letting this story have a happy ending. We will definitely ride Forbes with our friends next riding season ... and you can expect some good ol’ reminiscing!