Who Built The Stable

Stable Eyes

Who Built The Stable?

Stable-Eyes was created by me, and has been a long time in coming.

My Autobiography:
My name is Patricia Celley, and I've got horses in my blood. I inherited this condition from my mother, who dedicated 17+ years to sharing her passion and knowledge with the 4-H horse programs in Pennsylvania (U.S.A.). She always told me to never stop learning; that there was always more to learn about these wonderful animals.

I spent 11 years riding, training, instructing, competing on judging teams and in horse bowls, competing on the Quarter Horse circuit in western classes and showing hunter/jumper circuits. I learned how true her words were when I married, moved to SC and went to work on a Thoroughbred training track -- where I was promptly labeled a "green horn" (dangerously uneducated).

After four years of intensive on-the-job training, with some of the most magnificent and challenging horses I have worked with, I decided to change careers to become a full time mother, and part time freelance writer. Of course when horses are in your blood you can never stray too far for very long. I rode throughout my pregnancy, and was back riding, training and teaching after the prescribed 6 weeks maternity rest. I broadened my experience over the following fourteen years to include dressage and eventing.

After 29 years of riding professionally and teaching students at every riding level, I started to find that I wasn't bouncing as well when I fell off, and my reflexes were not as quick as they were in my youth. As in any athletic career, age comes fast and hard. I was thankful to be able to scale back my riding some and supplement my income with writing as a second career. I am a graduate of The Institute of Children's Literature, member of the Tega Cay Writer's group, and a graduate of American Writer's Institute. I have ghost wrote a book, produced newsletters, direct mail pieces, website copy, advertising copy, brochures, policy and procedure manuals, public relations articles, and business plans. If you have a product to sell, a service you provide or an organization to promote, be sure to visit Copywrite Services in the Products and Services Stable. I have also been published in Humpty Dumpty Magazine, Palmetto Palette, and contributed to Healthy Kids Magazine.

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In June of 2003 I started to build The Stable after four years of writing a monthly column for another internet site. Then, on July 23^rd 2004 I had a major set back. I share it with you here in the hope that it will strengthen your resolve to (or encourage you to begin) wearing a riding helmet – every ride, every time.

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On July 23^rd, I was riding a very sweet gelding waiting for his owner to show up for her lesson. I can only tell you what happened from what others have told me because I have no memory of that day. Apparently I suffered a seizure and fell off the horse, pulling him down on top of me. I was air lifted to the local hospital where I spent 3 days in a coma, one week in intensive care, 3 weeks in rehab, and in home care for several months more. I may need additional surgery for my sight and will always have some level of diplopia (double vision), the left side of my body will never be as strong or coordinated as my right, and I may never regain all of my long term or short term memory. I am learning how to compensate for my handicaps and ride a little bit, but I will never be able to compete or train again.

The doctors are not sure if the brain hemorrhage was from the fall, or if it was a spontaneous hemorrhage and not a seizure- but one thing is certain – if I had not been wearing a helmet I would have suffered much worse brain injury and would probably be in a permanent vegetative state now.

I wear a helmet because I require all my students to wear them and I want to set a good example. I wear a helmet because after working on the racetrack for four years it has become habit. Accidents don’t always happen with young horses. They don’t happen just when you are jumping. They don’t happen to just beginners.

Broken legs, arms, and collar bones are easy to mend. Your brain is not. Your brain is an amazing, complex organ that controls every part of your body and is responsible for everything you consider a part of what is defined as “quality of life.” A farm owner where I used to teach jokingly referred to the helmet as a “brain bucket.” I’m glad I had mine on. Swallow your pride, put up with funny looking hair, put up with the heat, put it on just like your bridle (or halter if you’re riding around bareback with just a halter and lead). Put it on – every time, every ride.

“Every Time. . . Every Ride,” is the name of a video tape presented by Washington State University Cooperative Extension and Washington State 4-H Foundation. It is a must see for all riders and instructors regardless of age or riding discipline.

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I have spent many days pondering the cliché that "everything happens for a reason." I thought about the way my brain had been totally taken away from me, and the fact that I was forced into a hospital until it felt like home to me. I had to come to terms with the fact that my real home and my previous life were strange, foreign, and no longer a place I felt I belonged. Traumatic Brain Injury patients can never go back to life exactly as it was. That is a difficult adjustment to make, but it can also be a new beginning. I am so very thankful for the care I received. If I am left with the abilities to provide someone else with that same level of care and compassion, I truly believe that is what I am being called to do. So I started my life again and am pursuing my third career as a registered nurse. If this is what I am being called to do, I will be graduating as an Registered Nurse in 2009. I still give a limited number of private riding lessons, and I am learning to enjoy a simple trail ride on those wonderful horses that belong a special group called the "baby sitters." Those horses that may never win fancy ribbons, but can be relied on to patiently and safely do their job every day. They carry us down the trail, away from our daily cares and into their world for awhile, regardless of our riding abilities. I pray to find joy in every day, to give thanks for the abilities I have and not dwell on my limitations. Horses still run in my blood. They are a part of who I am, and I have faith that when the time is right a special horse will come into my life to make me whole again.

I am thankful that you have come to visit my Stable and that I can share my love and knowledge of horses with you. I look forward to watching this community of “stable” individuals grow and share our passion.