Mount Gambier’s Sally Bond to return to national showing after a freak riding accident led to a rare diagnosis
A freak horse riding accident led to a rare diagnosis leaving a Mount Gambier schoolgirl unable to walk for 18 months and out of school for two years. Now 20, her story shows remarkable strength.
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Sally Bond was at her peak when a freak horse riding accident brought a crashing halt to her showing career.
Then 15, the Mount Gambier woman was preparing to represent South Australia at The Nationals – Australasian Show Horse Championships when a regular training session turned into an emergency.
“It was a naughty horse and it reared up and flipped over on top of me,” Ms Bond said.
“I ended up breaking my right femur and I had to go for emergency surgery.
“It took me a few good years to start riding and winning at that level so to have that fall was a real big downer and I thought I’d never get back to the peak.”
The teenager was determined to be off her crutches in time for New Year’s Eve in Robe.
But she quickly realised something was not right.
After six months of constant pain and doctors appointments, a specialist in Adelaide finally diagnosed Ms Bond, now 20, with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) – an incurable chronic condition.
She would not walk unassisted again for 18 months but with a little bit of help the keen showie was able to get back on her horse.
“I rode before I walked,” she said.
“I was so eager to start walking that I would go out to the stables on my crutches and then one day I thought ‘oh give it a go’ and I walked off did a bit of a hobble but as I kept going on I got a bit stronger.”
Almost a year after the accident Ms Bond travelled Adelaide to watch the state champions with no intention of competing, until a family friend offered her a horse to ride.
“Five minutes before the class started, I jumped onto a completely strange horse that I’ve never ridden before and I got second so I qualified for nationals again,” she said.
“Just riding that state championship when I was still on crutches and I hadn’t ridden for 10 months and I still was competitive, it really made me realise that I could still get back to the peak of my performance.”
In Year 9 at the time of the accident, Ms Bond missed two years at school.
Eventually the St Martins Lutheran College student returned to school part time, completing SACE over three years.
“I couldn’t handle sitting through hours and hours of lessons, it would make my pain really unmanageable,” she said.
Despite her challenges, Ms Bond graduated as dux and received an offer to study law and accounting at Flinders University in Adelaide.
“Just finishing Year 12 with my circumstance was quite a miracle,” she said.
“Long before I had my accident, I knew (law and accounting) was what I wanted to do but when I had my accident it was sort of spanner in the works.
“I’ve realised you can have everything go wrong, and it still can work out in the end.”
Ms Bond has deferred her university course to focus on showing at a national level and her first stop will be the Grand National.
Qualifying earlier this year, she will return to Sydney Equestrian International Center as a competitor in March for the first time since her accident.
After years on the sidelines, Ms Bond said was excited to get back in the arena.
“It’s such a prestigious event and you get competitors from all over Australia, the best of the best, even the New Zealanders are able to come across to compete,” she said
“My biggest dream is to get my little horse that I’ve purchased and qualify him for the nationals.”
While Ms Bond’s CRPS is incurable, she has got to point where she can manage the pain and enjoy her riding again.
“It‘s hasn’t gone away, but I can live with it.”
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Contact Jessica Ball at jessica.ball@news.com.au
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