This message is from: "Gail Russell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hi All,
I should tell everyone what happened....both medically,...and the accident. Part II. Please see the Fjord-related comment at the bottom. Jim and I were on a coach trip that was designed to go from Vienna to Prague, following in the steps of Mozart during his "career" (he was not much appreciated in his time, and moved about several times to try to improve his fortunes). The trip is by "post coach" which looks like a Wells Fargo wagon, but is, apparently, quite differently constructed. The driver and groom sit on a seat in front. Behind them, and higher up, there is a seat facing forward that takes four persons (Then, behind them there is an open cargo space over the "cab" of the coach (which takes four slim persons in a pinch, but they are used for luggage and hay) that is about 3 to 4 foot long. Behind that, there is a backward facing seat for three, and another 3 person seat facing forward...with the passengers knee-to-knee facing each other in the forward and backward facing seat. The trip started in a hotel in Vienna. Nice little place, with an intimate restaurant, bar, lobby and dining area...all closely spaced. I was going to come to LOVE this feature...as I ended up exhausting myself trying to get Jim out of the hospital....and really had no ability to go out on the street at night to find something to eat. Here is the hotel. http://www.schick-hotels.com/pages/stefanie/start_stefanie_hotel_e.html It was not fabulously expensive and very nice. The first day of the "trip" we toured Vienna ourselves and went to a Mozart concert. We ALSO were invited to take a little bonus tour with the carriage. There were 20 guests on the trip. That day approximately ten of us went out to the racetrack, where the horses were stabled. Jim and I helped the crew put the coach together as a new pole had been made and needed some adjustments. Then we loaded up behind four horses and took off for a spin past the race track and down a 3 kilometre long sycamore-lined promenade in the adjacent Prater Park. It was beautiful. However, we had been told that one of the horses had been recently purchased as there had been many trips this summer and the horses were getting worn out. (You could see just see the ribs on the other team of gray horses that had been used to cross the Alps that spring....a tour that we had taken last spring that is VERY demanding of the horses. There were also a few off steps in some of the horses.) They had nine horses to draw two carriages. The plan was to substitute this horse for one of the four in the "non-central-city" portions of the trip, and to add a fifth horse to the team of grays to give them a little extra help, or else trailer the fifth horse for a day of rest. The plan was to NOT use the newly purchased horse (bought from a dealer with which the coach company deals regularly; he buys horses in Poland because they can be raised and trained cheaply in a country with low wages) while leaving Vienna. But, for a quick, quiet spin in the park, they hooked her up. We had an uneventful spin, BUT, at a stop sign where the pavement sloped SLIGHTLY down, Jim and I (we were in the front) noticed that the driver was reaching down and grabbing at the reins to pull up the horses. The new horse was in the position of the right wheeler. I could see that the wheelers had just started to canter, and were angling out to the left, as though they might pass the leaders. We had just rounded a tight right hand turn, so it may have been that they had naturally been aimed off to the left a bit when they stopped. It was only a moment before the horses were pulled back in, and no one else noticed it. The first day on the road we left Vienna and went to Stockerau...a small countryside town. The new horse rode there in a horse trailer. We stayed in a hotel that fronts on a cobblestone street. The horses stayed a couple miles outside of town. In the morning they were hitched (the crew gets up at 4:00 AM every morning to feed and BATH the horses and get them hitched) and driven the distance into town. Now there were two coaches, and nine horses. One had a team of five greys, and our coach, which had the team of blacks, with the new horse as right wheeler. I looked at the new horse before we left. She was not in as good shape as the others, but seemed to stand calmly and without concern. Care was taken to head her individually while passengers boarded. We boarded up and our coach took off first, with the other spaced well behind. We had gone only a block or so when we started a slight downhill incline. Suddenly I saw that the driver was grabbing HARD at the reins, and the horses had taken off. The driver immediately put the brake on to lock up the rear steel rimmed wheels. (He had probably applied the brake partially at the top of the incline....the sound of which could conceivably have spooked the horses.) This time there was a real run-away. The four took off, dragging the coach with the rear wheels locked, fishtailing down the narrow cobblestone street that curved off to the left. At first I thought there might have been a chance of stopping the coach. Then we hit a parked car (bam) with the wheel, knocking it into a motorcycle, which went into the street as we passed. Then we hit another car on the other side of the street, and another on the left. That one blew up the wooden spoked left front wheel. The coach continued to slide, upright, on three wheels for at least 75 more feet until it went up on the right curb. By this time I knew we were likely to tip over eventually, and had gotten a firm grip on the back of the seat. I began to imagine bad head injuries when it did. Ellie Ferrari, who was facing backward, was trying to yell Whoa, but had stood up and turned around to do so. Jim more or less ordered her to sit down. (In retrospect, the horses were used to the drivers' deeply voiced, calming Whoa....hers would likely have made things worse if the horses had actually heard it.) Jim was becoming worried we would end up in a wreck with cars on a cross street below. I was imagining myself with massive head injuries, as sitting on the coach while it tipped is like sitting on a ten foot tall ladder that someone has pushed over. Finally, the curb tipped us over to the left, in the direction of the missing front wheel. Fortunately, this happened in a NO parking area, so we did not collide with any cars. All 12 people tumbled out, and the coach was carried on its side another 20 or 30 feet before the horses broke free and took off running together (still attached to each other). Jim appears to have gotten his foot tangled in the wheel at some point. I hit my head (just as I had pictured it would happen as the coach toppled over), but was not seriously injured....probably because I landed on Jim! Roy Ferrari was almost uninjured, probably because he rolled himself up into a ball to protect himself. Amazingly, no one was critically injured (though I do not know the extent of Ellie's head injury....she definitely had hit her forehead straight on as it was skinned and bleeding). One man was gasping for air. I think he may have swallowed his tongue as he was lying flat on his back...or maybe just had the wind knocked out of him. I thought he would die for certain as he looked blue, but was too disoriented to think of anything to do for him. He did recover fairly quickly. There were several bad collar bone, arm, wrist breaks. My ribs REALLY hurt, but are not broken. Ambulances came, but slowly. The crews were young, and not all that practiced, but did OK. I know that the remaining carriage went on, and that one man rejoined the trip after surgery on his badly broken arm. A wonderful Swiss man who I would love to have had more time to get to know. The horses were banged up, but OK. I do not really know what happened, but I suspect that the new horse freaked at the sound of the brake being applied at the top of the hill, or at the feel of the loaded coach coming up into the breeching briefly (before the brake took hold). The driver is the owner of the company, and has enormous experience with these coaches and with driving in hilly country, so I doubt he did anything that should have caused the runaway. I do not know what happened, but I suspect that the young horse (5 plus years) had some fear that surfaced and started it off. The miracle is that there were no deaths, or hugely disabling injuries (assuming Ellie's head injury is confined to the road rash, rather than being a brain injury). But, as the driver put it, "it affects your self-understanding." I believe that what happened was that a small company had business grow a bit too fast, and got in a position where there was not enough margin for error. They had TWO filled coaches, instead of the usual one, plus several other filled trips this summer. They ended up having to "horse-up" on short notice, and were not as cautious as they should have been. I hesitate to be too critical, because I know what those kinds of small business hazards can do to someone...and can see how hard it would have been to obtain, condition, and winter over (they have to ride them all winter to keep them fit for summer) the two or three additional horses they probably need. (As it was, I know they had one new horse last year which they later sold because her stride was too short to keep up, and there were two new ones this year, one of which was the five year old.) However, it is a miracle that I am not living the life of Christopher Reeve right now. As a little aside, and Fjord related, I have been told that the Blue Earth and Libby shows are getting so big that the driving classes are becoming hazardous due to lack of facilities/space to allow for safe classes, and safe hitching and warm-up areas. Just a caution......the Fjord shows could be headed for a disastrous accident that could maim or kill some of US (exhibitors and/or spectators)...all because the "business" grew a bit too fast and caution was not exercised in time. Gail
