Too close for comfort

Yesterday is not a day I care to repeat. It was scary. It was the kind if day that reminds you of your own mortality and how quickly you can lose those you care for. Yesterday I almost lost a friend. Actually Pete is a new friend, along with his wife Cheryl. They are long time friend with my in-laws. Pete and Cheryl moved to OH about 3 months ago. They bought a travel trailer, shipped there horses here and left their home in Florida for good. The Gillette's have been working in our barn in exchange for having their two racehorses here. Cheryl works as a teller at the track placing mutuals. Pete and I ride together just about everyday because we are training two two year old geldings to run. We've had lots of time to talk about life and other stuff and I've found that Pete is a very good listener.
Anyway, yesterday Sharon and Pete took our "babies" to the track in the morning to break from the starting gate and then to have a good gallop. They have to go to the gate many times....until the starter decides that are doing it well enough to be awarded a gate card. Once that happens they are basically awarded their chance to go ahead and be entered into a race. My gelding, "King" went first. Sharon walked him with the rider aboard, down to the track and let him go. He did very well and got in a good sprint down the last stretch. Next it was Pete's horse, "Petey" to go. Pete also walked his horse down to the track with the rider on. Just a precaution to make sure they don't do anything silly and get our rider hurt. The last 50 yards before you make a left turn and go onto the track, goes alongside the back of another barn. The barn had screen windows (heavy screening) in each stall that face the walkway. he fourth horse form the end seems to like to rake his teeth on the screen whenever another horse walks by. It's loud and has caused many horses to spook. Well today was Petey's day. He jumped to the left bumping into Pete and knocking him off balance. Petey continued to move towards Pete and really bumped him a second time before he could get his bearings back. This caused Pete to go flying backwards, landing on the back of his head on the pavement. Pete was knocked out and laying in a huge pool of blood. Several people rushed to his aide and the ambulance was on the scene quickly. We were unsure if he was going to be moved to a trauma unit or not so we had to wait for word from Sharon. About and hour later she finally called to let us know he didn't have any fractures but he was in having an MRI taken. Later she called again to say the MRI looked good. Pete was going to be released. So he came home with 13 staples in his head, a concussion and short term amnesia. He remembers nothing about getting his horse saddled, legging the rider up, the walk down to the track of the accident. The good news is that he's alive.
So make sure you tell your loved ones how much you care for them everyday. Pete was extremely lucky. He was only walking beside a horse and nearly got himself killed. You never know what can happen.