Bucked Off at a Standstill

You go off backward and the back of your skull meets the hitching rail with a sound folk will describe in whispers. The world flashes white, then nothing. They carry you to the doctor limp as wet rope, and he talks low about bleeding inside the skull, there is no surgery for that out here, only laudanum and waiting.

• Unconscious until a doctor or the fates say otherwise
• If you wake: slurred speech and one pupil blown wide for 3 days
• No riding, no fighting, no sudden moves for 5 days
• /me lies motionless in the dust, breath shallow and rattling

Recovery A week abed under a doctor's watch if you wake, untreated, you may simply never wake.·Doctor, urgently

You land square on the point of your shoulder and feel the collarbone snap like a green branch. The arm hangs wrong, and lifting it draws a sound out of you that spooks the horse all over again.

• Arm bound in a sling, no use of that arm for 5 days
• A visible knot on the collarbone where it knits crooked
• Wince and hiss any time someone claps your shoulder
• /me keeps one arm strapped tight to their chest, shoulder hitched high

Recovery 5 days slung and splinted with a doctor's care, a hard 7 and a lumpier bone without.·Doctor required

The back of your head bounces off packed earth and the sky doubles itself. You come to on your knees, retching, unsure which of the two horses in front of you is real. The doctor calls it a concussion of the brain and prescribes darkness and quiet.

• Seeing double and unsteady on your feet for 2 days
• Loud noise and bright sun split your head, seek shade and quiet
• No riding faster than a walk for 4 days
• You lost the last few minutes before the fall, they are not coming back

Recovery 4 days of dim rooms and rest with a doctor, 7 of headaches and vomiting without.·Doctor required

You threw a hand out to catch yourself, and the wrist paid for the whole fall. Something in it cracked, and now the hand sits at an angle that makes onlookers look away. The doctor sets it with silk-wrapped splints and a swallow of whiskey for the pulling.

• Wrist splinted stiff, no use of that hand for 4 days
• Cannot draw, shoot, or rope with the bad hand for 6 days
• Fingers swollen like sausages, cold to the touch
• /me cradles a splinted wrist against their belly

Recovery 6 days splinted under a doctor's eye, unset, it heals crooked and aches every winter after.·Doctor required

You hit the ground arm-first and the shoulder pops from its socket like a cork. It takes the doctor, a boot braced in your armpit, and a long steady pull to seat it home while you chew a leather strap.

• Arm in a sling for 3 days, it slips out easy now, so no heavy lifting
• Reaching above your head is off the table for 5 days
• A deep ache in the joint that flares in cold rain

Recovery 3 days slung after a doctor sets it, left hanging, the muscles seize and it is 6 days of misery.·Doctor required

You come down seat-first on hardpan and the crack you feel at the base of your spine steals your breath. Nothing to splint down there, the doctor just shakes his head and offers a cushion and laudanum drops.

• Cannot sit a saddle for 3 days, walk or ride the wagon bed on your knees
• Sitting down is a slow, groaning ceremony
• /me lowers onto the chair sideways, one hand braced on the table, teeth gritted

Recovery 3 careful days with rest and laudanum, 6 if you keep sitting on it like a fool.·Doctor required

Your boot hung in the stirrup a half-second too long as you went over, and your ankle wrung itself like a dishrag. It balloons over the boot top before you can get the leather off, purple as a stormcloud by supper.

• Heavy limp, walk, never sprint, for 3 days
• Boot will not fit over the swelling, you are in a wrapped stocking foot
• Ankle bound in liniment-soaked bandages
• /me hobbles along, dragging one stockinged foot

Recovery 3 days wrapped and raised with care, 5 hobbling if you tough it out.·Doctor required

You land flat on your side across a wheel rut and one rib gives with a dull pop. Every deep breath after is a knife slipped between your bones. The doctor binds your chest and tells you not to laugh for a while.

• Chest wrapped tight, shallow breaths and no laughing for 4 days
• No lifting anything heavier than a coffee pot for 3 days
• A cough or sneeze folds you in half

Recovery 4 days bound and resting, 6 wheezing days without, and mind a fever, cracked ribs invite one.·Doctor required

Seat-first into the dirt, hard enough to clack your teeth. Nothing broken, but the bruise blooming across your backside is a masterwork in purple and yellow, and every saddle for days will feel like a church pew made of stone.

• Riding at anything past a trot stings fierce for 2 days
• Shift and squirm on every hard chair
• /me eases into the saddle by careful degrees, breath held

Recovery 2 days of wincing, 3 if you insist on long rides, liniment helps more than pride does.·Doctor advised

Your face grazes the ground on the way down and a sharp stone opens your brow. Blood sheets into your eye, more drama than damage, but it wants a stitch or two of silk and leaves a mark worth a story.

• Two silk stitches above the eye, keep them dry for 3 days
• A crusted split brow and one bloodshot eye
• A thin white scar through the eyebrow once it heals

Recovery 3 days for the stitches to hold, 5 and an uglier scar if you let it gape.·Doctor advised

You caught yourself on one hand and the wrist folded further than it should. It is not broken, you can move every finger, slowly, swearing, but it puffs up and complains at any weight.

• Wrist wrapped in a bandana, no gun work with that hand for 2 days
• Drop things without warning; lids and buckles defeat you
• /me flexes a wrapped wrist, testing it with a grimace

Recovery 2 days wrapped and rested, 4 if you keep hauling on ropes with it.·Doctor advised

You come off sideways and your knee wrenches under you as you crumple. It holds your weight, mostly, but there is a hot wire of pain along the inside of the joint that reminds you with every step.

• A stiff-legged limp for 2 days, stairs and mounting up are the worst of it
• Knee wrapped in strips of an old shirt
• Cannot kneel or squat without a hand to pull you back up

Recovery 2 days favoring it, 4 if you climb and clamber anyway.·Doctor advised

The jolt of the landing snaps your jaw shut on your own tongue, and your mouth fills with copper. You spit red into the dust while the horse watches, entirely unrepentant.

• Talking with a lisp for a day, worse when you hurry your words
• Hot coffee and whiskey burn like sin for 2 days
• /me spits a thin stream of red into the dirt and glares at the horse

Recovery Mouths mend quick, a day of salt-water rinses, 2 if you keep talking.·Doctor advised

Your hand slaps the ground flat and two fingers jam back into the knuckle. They swell tight together, stiff as pegs, and buttoning your own shirt becomes the morning's great battle.

• Two fingers splinted together with a whittled stick for 2 days
• Fine work, buttons, cards, rolling smokes, is clumsy business

Recovery 2 days taped to their neighbor and they are right as rain.·No doctor needed

You take it on the hip and roll, coming up coated head to heel in yard dust. There is a bruise under the grime, sure, but the real casualty is the coat you just had brushed.

• A tender hip that stiffens when you sit too long, for 1 day
• Dust in every seam and pocket, you leave a little cloud when you sit
• /me beats the dust from their coat, wincing when they slap the hip

Recovery A day of stiffness and a good coat-brushing sets everything right.·No doctor needed

You caught the whole fall on your open hands, and the yard grit took its toll from both palms. Nothing deep, but every rein, rope, and pump handle for a day will find the raw spots first.

• Both palms scraped raw, gripping anything stings for 1 day
• Little bits of grit to pick out by lamplight
• Wearing gloves over it makes you hiss

Recovery A day, maybe less if you wash them out with soap and stop touching things.·No doctor needed

You land flat on your back with a whump that empties your lungs. Once you find your breath again everything works, but your spine files a complaint that lasts through the next morning.

• Move like a man twice your age until tomorrow, slow to bend, slower to rise
• An audible groan every time you mount up, for 1 day

Recovery One stiff day and a hot bath, if you can find one, and it is forgotten.·No doctor needed

The horse fires you sideways and you land square in the stable's hay pile, sinking in with a crunch and a puff of chaff. You lie there a moment counting your luck and picking straw out of your collar.

• Hay in your hair, hat, and boots for the rest of the day
• Not a bruise on you, just a sneeze or two from the chaff
• /me plucks straw from their hair, grinning

Recovery Nothing to recover from but your dignity, and hay washes out.·No doctor needed

Some old instinct tucks your chin and rolls you over one shoulder, and you come up on your feet like you rehearsed it. Only your hat suffered, it is currently under the horse's left hind hoof.

• Your hat bears a fresh crescent hoofprint, a conversation piece
• A faint ache in the rolled shoulder by evening, gone by morning

Recovery None needed, though the hat may never be the same.·No doctor needed

The horse drops its head, kicks the sky, and launches you, and by some miracle of angles you land bolt upright on both boot heels in the middle of the yard, coat settling around you like you planned the whole thing. The porch of the saloon saw everything. Someone actually applauds.

• Witnesses will swear you dismounted on purpose, let them
• The horse eyes you with something like respect now
• /me lands square on both feet, straightens their hat, and walks off like nothing happened

Recovery Nothing to heal. The story, however, will grow taller for years.·No doctor needed