They say lightning never strikes the same place twice-but try telling that to harness racing trainer Vince Vallelonga!
Vallelonga, from Bolinda, 50 kilometres north of Melbourne, is one of the most experienced horsemen going around but is laid up again following his second serious stable accident in 18 months.
"You wouldn't believe it-I've broken the same bone in my right leg again, but this time it's in a different spot," a dejected Vallelonga said.
"My doctors have told me I'll be out of action for at least six months, so we've decided to shut down our stable operations until I'm up and about again," he said.
"It was pointless struggling along doing the job half-hearted."
The first occasion Vallelonga was injured was in a freak accident on July 17, 2018.
"I'd just washed a horse and was towelling it off when a gust of wind whipped up out of nowhere and blew a bucket over. The horse took fright and knocked me over," he said.
"I snapped a femur (thigh bone) and fractured a hip. That still hasn't healed properly and now I'm nursing a break to the same bone, just above the knee.
"This time I was putting a rug on a horse and it lashed out and got me."
After being rushed by ambulance to hospital, Vallelonga had an 18-inch plate inserted, along with pins and screws and 54 staples. After a fortnight in hospital he is now home and able to use walking aids but spends the majority of his time in a wheelchair.
"It's very painful 24/7, but it's also just so frustrating sitting around. There's only so much television you can watch, and I have to rely on my partner Elizabeth or other family to get me outside into the sunshine and take me to appointments," he said.
Vallelonga had a team of 12 in work at the time of the accident, but most have now been placed with other trainers.
"It's going to be a long road ahead, but I'll get there," he said.
Vallelonga said incident had come "out of the blue".
"That particular horse has never been like that," he said.
"Not that I take any chances with any of them anyway, we all learn that pretty much early days, but it does go to show that something like that only takes a second."
"I'll be back, but for the moment I'm just concentrating on recovery."
Terry Gange
NewsAlert PR Mildura