Back on track

By Casey Neill
BRIAN Rutzou’s first thought as he woke from a coma last month was to defend the horse that put him there.
The 76-year-old Monbulk man was airlifted to The Alfred hospital on 5 May after Lizzie fell knees-first onto his chest, leaving him with crushed ribs, a broken ankle and collapsed lung.
The 37-year Monbulk CFA veteran has been overwhelmed by community well-wishes.
“I didn’t know so many people knew me,” he said.
“It makes you feel a lot better.”
Mr Rutzou was on a respirator in intensive care for two weeks.
“When they first took the respirator out, he was trying to tell me something,” his daughter Denise said.
“The first thing he said was ‘it wasn’t her fault. I couldn’t get out of the way’.”
Mr Rutzou said the 22-year-old, 16-hand (1.63 metre) horse was usually quiet and happy.
Each morning he used hay to keep Lizzie’s companions occupied while he moved her from their paddock to administer medication.
“But this day one of the other mares decided she wanted what was in the white bowl so she followed up right to the gate,” he said.
“I went to shut her back and she bit Lizzie on the rump, and in doing that she made her jump forward.”
“She knocked me over and then knee-crawled over the top of me.”
“I could feel the crunch, crunch, crunch as the bones went. That was pretty lousy.”
The incident happened about 10.30am.
“I called from where I was on the ground and I couldn’t get any attention,” Mr Rutzou said.
He knew his daughter-in-law Lisa was at home – 30 metres away.
“I crawled around there and banged on her door,” he said.
Her four-year-old daughter Natasha answered, “and I said ‘quick, call triple-zero’”.
Denise Rutzou rushed to the hospital expecting to find her father with a few broken bones.
“As we were walking through, the nurse said ‘we’ve actually put him on sedation and have him on a respirator’,” she said.
“By the time she’d finished saying it, we were there in the trauma centre and he was on life support and there were pipes and things everywhere.”
“It was a huge shock.”
Surgeons inserted plates and wires to repair Mr Rutzou’s “flailing piece of chest” – his ribs were completely displaced.
He’s now wearing a ‘moon boot’ to allow a minor ankle fracture to heal, will receive in-home rehab and is already keen to get back out in the paddock.
“He’s very hands-on,” Ms Rutzou said.
“He’s not quite up to it yet, but I’ve got no doubt he’ll be out there.”
Especially to welcome their latest addition – Lizzie is pregnant.
“She’s got to present me with a very good filly foal after this,” he said.