Gavin Clark will always remember his wedding - for all the wrong reasons.
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Mr Clark was airlifted to Dubbo Base Hospital after falling from a horse while having wedding day photos taken in Mendooran at the weekend.
It was the beginning of an astonishing run of bad luck.
After being unconscious in a paddock for several minutes, Mr Clark was asked if he knew where he was and what he’d done today. To the relief of his panicking bride Jane, who was slumped in the dirt by his side in her wedding dress, he remembered he’d just been married.
Bud Wilson, helping the couple with horses, said it was like a Banjo Patterson poem come to life. He clearly recalls the bride saying: “I’m glad you remember the wedding because I’m not going through all that again.”
The accident happened on Saturday just hours after the pair had married in a garden ceremony in nearby Merrygoen. They’d come into Mendooran to have their photo taken with some horses. Mr Clark, 32, a truck driver and former rodeo bull rider, decided he wanted to be in the saddle for a shot. The old grey mare he mounted had other ideas.
“Her back legs seemed to buckle and she came rolling down. I hit my head on the ground and was knocked out,” Gavin said, still embarrassed by the drama but at the same time relieved.
“Thank goodness it wasn’t Jane. She’s seven months pregnant.”
The horse’s owner says he can’t believe what happened.
“The mare is as quiet as a church mouse. Kids ride her all the time,” said Herb Busine.
Two ambulances were called to the scene and, taking no chances with a potential spine injury, it was decided to evacuate him to hospital by air. The Westpac helicopter was called and his finest wedding day clothes were cut off his body before he was delicately loaded into the chopper.
“My wedding dress was covered in dirt and his clothes were all chopped up,” said 30-year-old Jane.
“I watch a show on TV called Wedding Nightmares but this tops anything I’ve seen on that.”
The next difficult task was to phone the rest of the family back in Merrygoen, who were busy getting ready for their reception.
“Craig’s mother and I were entertaining everyone when the call came through. We were shocked,” said Wendy Bolton, Jane’s mother.
“We all ended up in a convoy of three cars to Dubbo hospital.”
The reception was put on hold and the wedding cake remained uncut as Gavin underwent tests.
“We were all in the waiting room. Thank goodness we brought some food with us because we sort of had a mini party there after we found out Gavin was alright.”
Gavin was cleared of a spinal injury, but he was kept for observation until the early hours of Sunday morning before pleading his way out of hospital and back to Merrygoen.
“There’s a few jokes going around about his weight and how the horse collapsed under him. And we’re all singing that song The Old Grey Mare to him,” said Jane, a truck driver herself.
The wedding date was actually chosen to coincide with the 61st wedding anniversary of Jane’s grandparents, Charles and Mildred, with a joint celebration on the Saturday night.
“Ironically, we chose the day because we thought it would be good luck because my grandparents have been married for so long,” admits Jane.
Luck though has well and truly been absent from the couple’s big event, with the wedding drama continuing.
The couple were packing up a rented porta loo for return to Dubbo on Tuesday, but the simple trip morphed into yet another nightmare.
“The car overheated going through the Goonoo Forest and when Gavin lifted the bonnet to take a look the water system exploded and burned him,” said Gavin’s new mother-in-law Wendy.
He was taken back to Dubbo Base Hospital emergency and treated for first degree burns under his armpit and around his nipple.
“I don’t know what we’ve done to deserve all this bad luck. The poor boy’s in horrible pain,” she said.
One can only guess that Gavin and Jane are asking themselves the same question.
n The family wishes to thank the staff at Dubbo Hospital for all their support and hard work during both Craig’s visits.