Big Sky to Big Surf - A Bondi Rescue Story

Falling for the Lifeguards

It was Cap that decided to wake me up in this morning. “Ok, ok, I’m up.” I looked at my phone and noticed that I had 2 new messages. The first was from Tim. T: Good morning Tori. You only have one lesson today, but it is a group barrel racing class. I hope this won’t be an issue for you. I sighed after reading that message. I should be excited because it was my first day, but I was a little nervous because it was barrel racing. The next message was from Chappo. C: TORI!!! You’re coming down to Bondi today right?? I laughed at his message. How can he have so much energy this early in the morning? T: Good morning to you to Chap. I’m planning on coming down after work and a quick run around Bronte with my boys. I got a response almost immediately. C: Cool! Wait! Your boys? You have other friends?? Again, I had to laugh at his message. T: Yep, but I forgot that you haven’t been introduced. I attached a picture of the dogs Meet Cap and Bucky. My permanent friends and running buddies. C: They are so cute!! Well anyway I need to focus now, so I will see you at Bondi soon. T: See ya Chap.

I had a little while before work, but I wanted to get there early to set up the barrel course and warm up the horse that I would be using for the lesson. I was really missing Marvel. He is my baby, riding another horse makes me feel like I am cheating on Marv. I walked out to the arena to set up the barrel course. I set up the 3 barrels and then moved to the end of the arena to make sure they were all spread out. Looking at the course made me miss competing. The energy, the enthusiasm, and the feel of your horse galloping as fast as possible. It’s such an incredible feeling. After making sure that everything was right, I went to tack up Stoplight, the horse I would be using for the lesson. You could tell she loves to run barrels, because she perked up as soon as I brought her out to the arena. I had to hold her back from whipping around the barrels. I dropped my stirrups and continued to warm her up.

20 minutes later it was time for the lesson to start. All the riders were lined up to take the barrel course one at a time. I showed them how to run the course and then it was their turn. After a couple run throughs, one of my students asked “Why don’t you use your stirrups when you ride?” Uggh I knew that question was coming. “A few years back I injured my leg. I can’t hold my leg in the riding position for a long time. If I do it locks up and I can’t move it until I take a muscle relaxer.” I explained to her. “Do you mind me asking what happened?” “I was in a competition with my horse Marvel. We were on our final barrel, when he slid. He fell, which caused me to fall right into the barrel. I hit my leg on the lip and then had it crushed under Marvel’s weight. I broke my leg in 3 places and caused permanent muscle damage. It pretty much ended my career as a racer.” "I'm so sorry!" "Please don't be. I was an accident. Now I help train horses and their riders for competition. At least I'm still involved even if I'm not competing."

After the lesson, I untacked Stoplight, put the barrels away, said goodbye to Tim, and then went home. I decided to grab the dogs and go on a run before going to Bondi. I needed to decompress after telling the story of my injury. I don't tell many people that story, it just reminds me of what could have been. Cap and Bucky were extremely excited to get out of the house. I put on their leads, locked the door, and starteed to run to the beach.
Once we reached Bronte I decided to challenge myself and run on the sand. That ended up being the best mistake I've ever made.

As soon as their paws hit the sand, Cap and Bucky took off at a full sprint, dragging me behind them. I was shocked at the pace but it was one I could handle. At least I thought. We got about half way down the beach when I felt an unwelcome tightness in my leg. It wasn't until the last minute that I noticed the dogs were running straight toward a lifeguard buggy. Well if my leg is going to lock, maybe Chappo will be around to help me. It was at that moment that my leg locked completely. I had to drop the leads and as soon as I did, I fell into the side of buggy.

I fell to the ground and immediately all I felt was pain radiate through my leg. The 2 lifeguards ran up to me. "Are you ok? Didn't you see the buggy?" I looked up to see a gorgeous man staring at me with a quizzical look on his face. "I'll be ok once I get a muscle relaxer. My leg is locked and I can't move it. I saw the buggy but my dogs were dragging me to it. Wait! Where are my dogs? One is a golden retriever the other is a husky." "I saw them run toward the water, I'll go grab them." The other lifeguard said running toward the sea. The gorgeous one started talking to me but I couldn't hear him through my daze. "I'm sorry. What did you just say?" He laughed but said "Well it's good to know you don't have a concussion. I said, I don't have muscle relaxers but I can give you the green whistle until you can move your leg. It's a painkiller but it also can relax muscles a bit." "That sounds great." "Jesse is grabbing your dogs, let me take you to the tower and we'll get the whistle ready." "Thank you." I said to him as he helped me up out of the sand. We got in the buggy and drove up to the tower. He helped me inside and went to get the whistle while I sat on a chair. "Here you go." He said while handing me the painkiller. "Thank you." The relief was almost instant.

A few minutes later the other lifeguard, who I learned was named Jesse, came to the tower with Cap and Bucky. "Thank you so much." "You're welcome, they didn't get too far." I could feel my leg starting to relax to the point where I felt I could walk home. "Thank you again. I didn't expect my injury to flare up." "Injury?" The lifeguard whose name I didn't know asked. "Story for another time. Well I best get going. I promised my friend I'd meet him down at Bondi in a little bit." "Take it easy, we don't need you falling into another buggy." He jokingly said. "The name's Harrison by the way." "Its nice to meet you Harrison, I'm Tori." "Here, take my number. Text me when you get back home. I want to know that your leg didn't lock up on you again." I know it was fast but I feel like I can trust him completely. "Ok, I'm sure I'll see you again. I'll be down here almost every day." "I look forward to it. There aren't many people around now that summer is over." "I guess we will get to know each other quite well then. Bye Harrison. Thanks again Jesse!" I shouted as I walked out of the tower. I made it home quickly and texted Harrison. T: Hey Harrison, it's Tori. I made it home :) He replied almost instantly. H: Great. Thanks Tori. I'll be at Bronte again tomorrow. Fancy a visit? I smiled at his response. T: Of course. I'll come by after work. H: Cool. See you tomorrow. I think I'm starting to like Harrison.

I brought the dogs back inside from the backyard and texted Chappo. T: Hey Chap, I'll be down to Bondi in about an hour. See you soon. I then got ready to go to Bondi still thinking of the gorgeous lifeguard I met only a little while ago. Australia, you have been so good to me and it's only been 2 days. I love this country!