Small girls and mickey bulls don't mix

"Bush, bush, weaner"
Gates banged and clanged as John quickly moved gates whilst Matthew yelled out the direction each animal was to go.

The gulf sun in outback Queensland was beating down as Amelia was up and down the race constantly, moving each animal towards the blocking gate. Amelia had a smile on her face, it was hot, she was covered in dust but having a fantastic time.

Sometimes the cows would flow through, sometimes she had to get them moving. It was fun to walk towards them and have the cow walk off her pressure, as she'd been shown in the low stress stock handling course they had all completed at the beginning of the season.

Now the crew were down to the last few musters of the season, the end was near. Days had been filled with fencing, processing cattle, weaner school and loading/unloading trucks.

"Fuck off" Amelia screamed at a mad cow heading her way. She managed to step out of the way, but it was a timely reminder that she needed to keep an eye on the cows gathering in the yard next to the race.

"Amelia!" A voice from the platform yelled at her, "language."

Amelia looked up to the platform to find a finger shaking at her and a huge grin on the face of Sarah.

"Sorry Miss, but when a mad cow is heading for me she can, she can, just get the hell away from me." She waved at Sarah and continued wearing a path along the race.
                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Would you like to take a turn at counting?" asked Sarah after another cut of cattle were put through to the smaller yard.

"Are you getting board?"
"Just a little"          

"Sure I'll take a turn at counting and you can travel my path beside the race"
Sarah handed her pad to Amelia, explained what was on it and went down and took up position next to the race.

"And no swearing either." Said Amelia, taking her turn to shake a finger at Sarah.

"I promise I won't swear, as long as any mad cows stay away from me"

"Just kiss them on the nose if they get too close"
                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Calf, bush, bush, weaner"
Cows flowed again as Amelia counted and Sarah kept them moving.

"Weaner" Matthew screamed, John pulled on the lever for the blocking gate, the battle was on.
Amelia stood back silently watching John struggle with the blocking gate and the weaner that was determined to get past the gate.

Quick reflexes were called for working the drafting gates and in particular the quickest reflexes had to involve the blocking gate. Any incorrect information or calls misheard could be overcome with the quickest slam of the backing gate.

The weaner settled a little having realised the gate in front of it's nose was remaining firmly shut.

"Two weaners behind and then bush cow" said Matthew, trying to calm the adereline rushing through his veins after watching John's battle with the weaner.

"Aye" replied John, opening the gate for the weaner yard followed by the blocking gate.

Amelia marked three weaners on her pad as the blocked weaner launched through the gate followed by the two behind.

Swiftly John closed the yard gate after the three weaners as the bush cow continued quietly down the race. She paused before the blocking gate, looked up briefly, as if to say "see you don't need to use the blocking gate on me"

"That is how they all should walk through" Amelia remarked having watched the bush cow pause briefly.

"Aye, but where would the fun be in that?" remarked John.
"Those weaners keep my reflexes quick"

"And Matthew's heart rate increased" replied Amelia.
                   
"Bush bush, weaner" Matthew continued calling the cows as Amelia marked them down, Sarah kept the flow of cows up as John continued to push and pull levers.

Cows flowed down the race calmly and Matthew had no cause to scream for the blocking gate.

Soon the last cow ran through the draft gate.

"Yard up" called Matthew.

John secured the gates whilst Amelia climbed down the stairs and headed with the others to pen up the next lot of cows.
                   
It all happened very fast, one minute she was running trying to put distance between herself and the Mickey after her and the next she was in a heap on the ground her leg having buckled under her.

"Amelia" Sarah screamed, having seen Amelia hit by the Mickey.

"Are you okay Amelia?" Matthew called, having spun round upon hearing Sarah's scream.

"No I'm not" she said as she managed get herself up and over to the fence. Her leg was very loose.

The others appeared beside her. "Can you walk?" asked Matthew.

"No I don't think I can manage. I think I've broken my leg." Having never broken a bone before Amelia had nothing to compare to. But a broken leg was the first thing that came to her mind. Thoughts of Crutches and leg in plaster followed.

"I doubt you've broken your leg, you'd be in a lot more pain" said Matthew.
"However how are we going to do this? we need to get you out of here." They had two yards to get Amelia through.

Amelia zoned the rescue talk out as she sat quietly trying to process what the hell had happened to her and how she ended up on the ground in the first place.

John and Matthew got each side of Amelia and picked her up.

Sarah led the way to open the gates.

Amelia was fine with getting carried, but as soon as they reached the first gate she had to get let down. Whether it was to give the men's arms a rest or escape from the reality she was injured and required assistance Amelia wasn't quite sure.

Soon they had Amelia through the yards and settled into the Ute
         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Latter at the hospital the doctor looked at her knee.
"Well you'll need a scan, but it looks like an ACL, MCL and possible meniscus damage to me."

"And how long is that going to take to heal" Amelia asked, calculating in her head the weeks remaining till the end of the season. It wasn't many.

"Well let's just say if you were a spots person you would be out for the rest of the season."

"And the start of next season?" asked Amelia.

"Well that depends on whether you'll need an operation, which it looks like you will, and how well you recover. You'll need a minimum of 5-6 months to recover post surgery."

Amelia allowed the words she was hearing to sink in. she was out for the rest of the mustering season. If she was lucky her leg would be healed for start of next season or soon after.

"Well what happens now?"

"You'll need to go to Townsville for an MRI scan and most likely for surgery" Replied the doctor.

Finally everything was sorted and Amelia was free to go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Well?" asked Sarah as Amelia reappeared on crutches in the waiting area of the hospital

"Possible treble injury, Acl, Mcl and mencicious, Townsville for Mri scan and probably for surgery"

"Oh Amelia"

"No more cattle work for me this season Sarah. Mickey bull one, Amelia 0"