Traumatic Brain Injury in the World of Horse Racing

Imagine yourself driving down a quiet country road on a sunny day. This is a path you have traveled many times before, in fact, this is your road; you own it. You are adamantly aware of every rock and bump on this path because you either put them there yourself, or you were present in the process of their placement.

Now imagine a fog rolls in from places unknown, and suddenly you find yourself lost in that fog and your path is not familiar any longer. You keep hoping this fog will dissipate so that you might continue on your journey, but the longer you wait the darker the path becomes.

You know by this point that you longer recognize any of your surroundings and fear begins creeping up on you. To no avail, you exhaust every measure available to try and find a way back to that highway that you had become so familiar with, but it seems as it has disappeared forever.

Worse than that, it has, and that road will never be there for you to travel down ever again.

Now imagine that country road is your life, and the bumps and rocks along it are your unique skills and personality, of which you have spent a lifetime in the development. Can you imagine not having access to your skills or your personality?

This is what it is to experience a Traumatic Brain Injury. Usually, a TBI effects a person's memory. Memory is a crucial capability for humans. After all, this is where we store our knowledge, identity and skills.

So why am I writing about this here at Horse Racing Nation? The fact is, I am a survivor of Traumatic Brain Injury, and it came at the hands of a horse in 2003 at Emerald Downs in Auburn, Washington.

OK, OK, at the hoof of a horse.

In addition, March is Traumatic Brain Injury Awareness month.

Moreover, this condition can and will affect many people in the horse racing industry. Therefore, I wanted to help educate people about the symptoms of TBI, in case anyone encounters a friend or loved one that might someday become affected.

The hardest thing to understand for people dealing with victims of TBI is that externally the person affected might seem fine. After all, this is the same person whom you’ve known for years, and nothing appears to be missing. Right?

On the other hand, the injured person might be completely confused as to his or her identity, often struggling just trying to make sense of it all.  A diminishing skill set can cause that person to experience anxiety and depression after having gone a lifetime without any of those problems.

If someone you know is unfortunate and by chance becomes injured, prepare yourself for dealing with an entirely different person. Although TBI survivors might look the same, they will not feel the same.

They are not who they were prior to the injury and most likely they never will be that person again.

It wasn’t too long ago that horse racing lost an excellent rider due to TBI. Many racing fans didn’t understand the Ramon Dominguez retirement. However, his career would have most likely suffered had he chosen to return to riding.

You see, a jockey must possess the ability to make crucial sometimes life and death decisions in a very short timeframe.

The fact is TBI severely affects the person's ability to make those decisions. Ramon knew this, and he did the racing world a favor by not compromising another human or animals life by not being capable of performing at 100% of his capacity.

My personal recovery has been a long drawn out process, but I believe that I am making slow and steady progress.

However, I will never be the same person I was prior to my injury, and while I have grown to accept this, many others will not, so support could be crucial to their well being.

In case anyone might be interested in understanding more on TBI click here: http://www.biausa.org/, and if you can, please Donate and Support the Brain Injury Association of America. Thank you.