Another first for Brig and I together

Yesterday I fell off Brig for the first time. I was having a really good ride on him practising the things from our lesson the day before. I was thinking about how I was able to keep his attention better and keep him from spooking so much. Things were going so well. Then he suddenly spun about 130 degrees and ran in the opposite direction. He did it so quickly that when I looked later I could see the marks his feet had made in the bark mulch from spinning around so sharply. Well, I knew within about one second that I wan't going to be able to stay on. But I did last long enough to miss his big pile of poo that was in the arena. (Makes me wonder if he had planned this fall.) It was a cat that spooked him. It jumped down from a tree and ran straight towards Brig. So, I landed on the ground and Brig stopped quite soon after and just stood waiting for me to get up and do something with him. When he got tired of waiting he decided to take advantage of his freedom to scratch his head on his leg but otherwise continued to stand in one spot without moving. The reason it took me awhile to get up was because there was no one around to witness me being a wimp. There was someone on the property (so don't worrry too much mom, I could have yelled for help and he would have heard). So I lied on the ground trying to figure out if my back was actually injured or just sore from the fall. Finally I got up and hobbled over to Brig (my back was really sore). I took him over to the mounting block (there was no way I was getting on from the ground) and I got back on. I was quite concerned that he would spook again and I would fall off again but I transferred some of my fear to anger and just gave him a couple good boots in the side when he tried to spook at the same spot again. Looking back now I realize that this probably wasn't the best way to deal with his fear but I was just dealing with mine poorly. I actually finished my ride (walk, trot and canter) and he was spooking less by the end. I didn't give him as long of a rein and didn't ask him to stretch his neck down as much as I normally would. I had planned to do some jumping yesterday but decided I would skip it after my fall. Hopefully next week I will get a chance. I think that I may have had a mild concussion from my fall, even though I was wearing my helmet. I had trouble with my vision for about an hour or two afterward and then when that got better I ended up with a headache and I felt sick. I took an advil before I went to work and told the supervisor when I got there that I might not be able to stay for my whole shift. But I think that advil worked. My headache and nausea went away and all I had to deal with was my incredibly sore body. I am still very sore today too. It even hurts to eat an apple!! Apparently I use my neck muscles when I bite into an apple. I tried to make an ART appt. but there were no openings. So, I made one for Monday instead. I'm sure that even if I'm not as sore it will still be helpful.
Something interesting happened at work today. I was working at one of the machines when I heard a loud noise. I looked over and saw that one of the forklift drivers had just drivin straight into a big, huge wooden support beam/column and knocked it right out. The whole ceiling in the area dropped down a couple of feet. I was a little concerned that it might collapse and wondered if I was even safe where I was since it wasn't far from me. I almost felt sick just thinking about how the poor forklift driver must have been feeling. I know I would have been upset if I'd done that. But he seemed to handle it pretty well. He got out looked at the damage quickly and then drove off to get help. Within minutes the mechanics were there and the driver was back with pallets on his forklift to lift the roof up with. They brought another forklift over with pallets and raised the ceiling enough to put the support beam back underneath. Then they got another temporary metal support and put it alongside the damaged one. They flagged off the area with 'do not enter' tape and orange cones and that was it. Nobody seemed upset or even very concerned. The forklift driver told me later that they said it happens all the time. I'm glad because while I'm sure that he still feels stupid for driving into the beam he probably feels better knowing that he's not the only one that's done it.