Mom of four, Brittain Westernberg, is very lucky to be alive right now. A horse trampled her and nearly killed her.
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The mom suffered multiple fractures and brains bleeds due to the animal. According to People, she was about to pet the animal. That's when it knocked her back and stepped multiple times on her head.
A friend sprung into action to help the mom, but the damage was done. Westernberg suffered multiple injuries to the brain, skull, and back.
"We raise performer horses. I was out taking pictures of a sale horse when she spooked at cattle that were in the roping pit," Westernberg recalled to the outlet. "She spun around and kicked me in the back and then kicked me in the head. This was the first time we had taken her off the property, so it was a lot for her."
"We were halfway in the arena when she saw the cattle. I was going up to pet her neck and reassure her it was okay," Westernberg continued. "She stepped on me a bunch and knocked me out pretty good."
She remembers waking up in extreme pain.
"I woke up in the back of an ambulance," she recalled. "I was responsive pretty quickly. Telling them I was okay. I don't have damage to my spinal cord, thank goodness. If the bone had broken just an inch over, I wouldn't be walking."
Horse Attack
After the horse attack, she spent 12 days in the hospital.
"I absolutely was worried I was going to die. Being in ICU and seeing people leave in body bags made me have panic attacks," Westernberg told Kennedy News & Media.
It's a miracle that she can still walk and talk.
"They told me they were surprised I could move my legs and talk, I was really lucky I didn't get it worse than it was," she said.
After the horse attack, she now deals with trauma related to the incident.
"There's some true PTSD that's going on," she said. "It was life-changing. Horses spook and it's made me realise how quickly that animal could basically take your life."
"We take for granted how quick things can happen," Westernberg added. "I have about 12 horses and five for sale. I've had horses since I was six years old."
