Not if but when..

The last month has seen a few injuries on the property. Muster is still in full swing and that means a lot of horses and a lot of cattle work.

The first week of muster a contractor was working a gate in the yards and a cow kicked the gate on the way out, it flew back into his face and split his eye open. I was doing the school run at the time and passed a station vehicle on the way home, which I thought was odd. Turned out he was nearly knocked out and took a bit to steady himself again. He drove himself to the bloody hospital…just a bit dizzy at times he said! He ended up with about 10 stitches and a swollen black eye.

Not too long after a different stockie got hit by the same gate almost in the same spot on his face. This time no hospital or stitches required.

It was the young ringers time for a buster next. The kids and I were up at the yards waiting for the boys to walk cattle out. One of the young ringers got on his horse and the horse started bucking. He held on for dear life hanging precariously off the side of his horse before finally falling when his horse ran him against the rail. He thankfully only scraped his arm on the rail and we all had a bit of a laugh once we knew he was alright.

There’s been a few more falls from horses out in the paddock for one reason or another. I know one fell in a sink hole when riding. The other young ringer had fresh young horses dropped off last week and one of them shied at something and spat him off. Most of the musterers have brought young green horses with them that need work so it’s bound to happen. Not if but when!

The most recent was just this week. When the boys arrive back late in the afternoon they unload their horses off the truck and feed them. There’s not only the horses they’ve worked for that day but all their others that are running in the compound. So while everyone is unloading, hosing and feeding the work horses of the day you have all the others that come to the tack shed for a feed….I think there’s about 20 in that paddock. So it gets a bit chaotic with that many horses and people etc. I’m often up at the yards at that time because I work my young horse late in the day when it’s cool, so the kids are told to get on a rail or stay in a yard out of the way! Anyway, I was doing something with my horse the other afternoon and there was some sort of commotion followed by loud groaning. The oldest stockie had been kicked. The horse had kicked at his and he was somehow in the way. He was on the ground holding his leg and groaning in pain. For a minute I didn’t think it was good but he managed to get up and he continued on with his jobs. I offered to help with his horse and tried to get him to sit down but men don’t like taking help when they are hurt, I think they’re ego won’t allow it. That same day the young ringer had hurt his leg in the yards too, I think a cow kicked him or something. Matt had a sore leg a few weeks back after a weaner bull calf slammed into him on the rail. There’s been a few limps the last few weeks! I always offer panadol and an ice pack but I’m yet to be taken up on my offers!

I also hurt myself not too long ago. I was putting rubbish in the incinerator at home, I decided to add something so I pushed the grate off the top of the drum while I added more. I saw a piece of rubbish had blown out so I walked to pick it up and silly me stepped straight on top of the grate I’d pushed onto the ground. Of course at that time I had my safety boots on (not!) and I burnt under 3 of my toes. Ouchy. It blistered but it’s healed well.

As experienced as the boys might be and the infrastructure and facilities are really good here, accidents still happen. It’s an industry that comes with a lot of risk, working with livestock and heavy machinery are dangerous.

We are lucky that we have a multi purpose health facility in town if we need it, it’s good peace of mind knowing it’s there. It was only one of two requirements I had before our move. I didn’t care where we moved to as long as we had access to a school and medical!

Don’t forget to follow for the next instalment!