Chain saw safety and a really bad ride

I've always been afraid of chain saws and have discouraged my man from getting one.

Today reminded me why. The dude showed up in a backwards-baseball hat and soccer backpack and I sighed but then realized I was wearing mom jeans.

He put on a safety helmet but no gloves. Would they have helped?

Almost an hour in, he cut open his left hand with the chain saw where the thumb joins the palm. I was not close by but saw J turn off the chain saw and hand him a tissue. He stayed on his knees bleeding a little puddle.

I'm good with blood and guts but some people are not and he went into shock. He couldn't talk, didn't want to move, and was dizzy, so J called 112 and forced him to his feet and to the house.

J sat him down and told him to elevate it and went to the car to get our first aid kit. All cars in Germany must have a current kit. I'd never opened one before. It's mostly bandages! But also a traffic warning triangle, a reflective vest, an emergency space blanket, scissors, and rubbing alcohol:




We both know first aid but I was letting J deal with it, just running to get things like a bowl of warm water and a clean cloth, cuz I insisted it needed to be washed, but J wanted to bandage it. He put the bandage on but then it fell off. I wanted the medics to arrive to see what they would do.

I gave the guy a glass of mineral water and he drank it down. I asked him if he's right handed and he said yes and I said "Well that's good." The injury was on the left.

Then the medics came and took him away before I could ask what we should have done.

I think we were both right - elevate and apply pressure til the bleeding stops and then wash and dry and apply a massive amount of neosporin, which I never got to do.



I found the section in the book about shock and wounds, and was totally amused to find that the English version called the patient "the casualty" - it's very important to keep the casualty warm. You wouldn't want the casualty to get chilly *lol*

The guy did say sorry to us and J replied, "These things happen, there's nothing to be done."

Then the guy's boss showed up, our new hay guy, and he was really concerned about whose insurance would pay. They talked a while about it being a work-place injury and it shouldn't be a problem, even though we had expected our hay guy to show up, and not this stranger who smoked a couple cigarettes in the one hour he was here, and didn't have any need to appear tough at the sight of blood: )

Now that I think about it, I think my husband was more at risk of injury today even though he was not holding the chain saw. He was holding the saplings to steady them on the ground as the guy cut them into pieces. Assuming what I figured out today is a best practice: never hold the chainsaw in one hand and the tree in the other, my husband was in the danger zone the whole time, even though he said he was careful not to get too close to the blade.

So how does one manage that, cutting up unsteady saplings, assuming they must be steadied to be cut? Not that we'll get a chain saw, I just want to make it safer when someone is using one near us.

***

I just got back from a terrible no good ride on Mag. I feel like I'm being punished for not taking him out the last 4 days. That's irrational, I know. But back on a very familiar trail near here, he balked almost as soon as I mounted, at a stump. When I let him stop to look, he started backing up! Oh no, that's not allowed. I scolded him but did not put pressure on, and he eventually went forward, until the next scary item, when he, again, started going sideways and backwards. Not a nice feeling, but I scolded him again and he stopped. I praised him for being brave and then realized when he was thinking about going backwards, toward home, I was caught up in that direction mentally too. So I started thinking about what lay ahead, and just around the corner was the pasture of the lady with the nice arena. I kept saying her horses' names aloud, saying, "Let's go see them!" and it worked. He got past his last item and then I jumped off, sat at a bench for a few minutes thinking about still water, and then ripply water, and then kept my promise and we said hi to his horsey friends.

Mag could not hold still to even let me wave hello - he was frantic to either move, or graze, and I was not letting him graze. I was pissed that he was so worked up, I noticed this morning he was cantering around the pasture because the temps dropped, perhaps.

Then I decided I had to make this a little bit fun for him so I let him graze 10 minutes before entering the woods again.

An entire family was walking toward us leading a Fjord with a little girl on its bare back. How cute! Mag was OMG OMG! and it was right after that that I mounted again to ride toward home. I just wanted to have a few minutes of fun on his back but it wasn't gonna happen. A minute later, an old, old lady was walking toward us with walking sticks and Mag's eyes popped, staring at her in apprehension. I actually had to ask the lady to wait a moment before passing us. Good heavens Mag!

Earlier as I'd led him on our street, a jogger was behind him and he couldn't handle it. I think it was then that I realized today was not gonna be easy. He hates being followed, especially by people running for their lives.

I recalled that this backwards/sideways behavior is not new, he did it with Argo that one time when he was done and wanted to be home. But this was supposed to be a very short ride today. Hm.

We passed a scary pond with garden and construction and that was enough, we were done. I wanted to get off but as soon as I asked Mag to stop, he slid sideways OFF THE FREAKING TRAIL into a swampy area. I was pissed. I just wanted to get off. So, off, I asked him to stand there in the wet stuff. I could see there was a big hole behind him that someone had placed a stump inside. I told him to just stand still for a minute and he did, until he crept forward and I corrected him and exactly as I expected, he backed into that stump. And he hit it with his most special left hind, and violently kicked out at it.

I scolded him and then realized I was lucky to still have him in hand, at that point, he was so stressed. But he waited for me and I talked softly to him and finally we went back to the road.

I had to salvage our day so I decided to work on leading him up and down steep inclines, and it was really great. Only once out of 10 descents did he crash down and almost run me over. On one particularly long one, I asked him to come down it one step at a time, and even take a step back up. He's starting to get it. On one, he skirted a tree too closely and put a permanent scratch in my saddle. *sigh* My fault, not yours Mag.

I crossed a creek and he wanted to cross with me but there was no room so I just laughed as he played around.

I sat on a bench and he was so anxious to move he started doing anything he could to change my mind. He grabbed my water bottle in his mouth and I cracked up and said "Yer gonna break it!" and then he did it immediately again, and I realized right then, he was trying to make me laugh, he was trying to salvage the situation! Fascinating.

Disappointed I led him down our street and as we turned the corner the old couple with the Most Whimsical Garden said hello to us. Their garden got incredibly more whimsical lately, with the addition of a giant wooden carved snake, alligator, and...scissors! Yes, a gigantic pair of wooden scissors. It's too much whimsy, I cannot handle it!

The friendly old guy said, "Why aren't you riding?" I said, "I did, but I don't feel comfortable on the street." The wife said, "That's smart of you." Then I admitted, "I'm a little bit angry at the horse right now because he behaved so fearfully in the woods. I know, me being angry does not help him!" She said, "It helps neither of you." Hm. Then she said, "You know, he loves you. He's always looking at you, and he wants you to touch him." (What, is she an animal communicator?) I was speechless but then said, "That's very nice of you to say, I think he's pretty good, he's very young and I don't know him well." I told her thank you very much, I appreciate it, and as I turned for home, I sniffed and held back tears.

How weird.

Near home I let him graze and the race track guy stopped his truck next to us to chat. I asked if they were taking their horses for walks in the woods as we'd agreed to 5 days ago. No, he said, "I said, hey, that was 5 days ago!" I said we'd just said hello to his horses and he said, "Why didn't you stop by! I was home!" But I don't like just dropping in on people. He's such a sweet guy! Then another car was behind him so he had to drive away. I hope I can count on them to eventually become riding buddies, but I know it will take them til Summer at least.

I got an email from S, my friend who talked me into buying Mag, and she said she would ride out with me on Monday, but only if the weather is good, and it's supposed to rain, and her horse is behaving "explosively" at the moment. Oh boy.

As we passed the next door neighbor's house, their two dogs were barking and jumping against the fence to see him, and he walked right to them to get a closer look! The owner saw that too, as I pulled my horse away from her dogs. So, not afraid of dogs, huh Mag?

Mag got to eat long, lush grass the last 10 minutes of our outing, and then once home I tied him up and left him, after telling him how 100% mediocre he was today. *lol*


I just went out and gave Mag his dinner bucket.

Family issues are keeping us busy this week, but I hope to get back on routine with Mag soon.

And I should not try to ride when he can't handle a jogger behind him!

As I told J this story tonight, I said, the entire problem is Mag is not perfect, and I expect him to be, because he is so good most of the time.

J said, "I'm not perfect either.....": )