Horse trainer Dave Miller of Oneco, Connecticut has a cautionary tale for all trainers out there. After the Last Chance Super Quarter Horse Show in Buffalo, New York, one of his green hunters spooked in the trailer and broke the rubber bungee cord that tied the horse inside the trailer. The bad news is that the cord snapped back and shattered his hand. The good news, according to Miller, is that the doctor told him that if the cord had hit him in the head or chest, it could have caused brain damage or injured his heart because of the extreme force behind the cord.
Miller said that his hand was numb for a few minutes, and felt hot but, then, the immense pain set in. He said that he immediately knew that he had severely injured his hand. His assistant couldn’t drive his standard shift truck so Miller had his friend drive his truck and trailer to her house, and she took Dave to the emergency room in Utica, New York.
The doctor told him that his hand was shattered and would need surgery. After getting back home, he went to a leading orthopedic surgeon in Hartford, Connecticut and had surgery on Friday. They inserted two plates and six screws to hold the bones together. “That part of the hand has a lot of nerves and the nerve block they did didn’t work, so, it was very painful and took a few days to get the pain under control,” Miller told GoHorseShow.
Miller is in a hard cast for two weeks and then a splint for another three weeks. If everything goes well, he should be back riding broke horses in four weeks and green ones in six weeks. “They say that I should get about 95% of my mobility back. It will probably hurt more when it is cold, and it is likely that I will have arthritis later in these areas.”
He adds,”I am very thankful for all my friends helping me out. I have one more hunter horse that my friend is taking this weekend to get qualified. I am also very thankful to have health insurance. I had to pay the deductible but the insurance paid the rest. The doctor said that it probably would have been over $40,000 out of my pocket if I didn’t have health insurance, and I don’t know many trainers that can pay that bill. So, I would recommend all horse trainers to have health insurance.”
GoHorseShow also found out that, understandably, the bungee cords are now “officially” banned from his trailer. He now has to carry a medical card when he goes through airport security to document that he has metal in his body for medical reasons as his hand will now set off the security alarms. “There is actually a ‘Dave Miller’ on the terrorist list so I’m always stopped through airport security, but, now I feel even more special,” Dave says and laughs.
We would like to wish Dave a speedy recovery and hope to see him back in the show ring real soon!
