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          Horseback riding accident at Pousada Rio Claro (Pantanal)

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          Will be posting my review of our Brazil trip soon but just wanted to post about an accident that happened to my husband while we stayed at Pousada Rio Claro, a popular pousada in the Pantanal (not too far from Cuiaba). My husband went on a horseback riding excursion organized by our tour company. His horse freaked out and started running extremely fast. The hotel worker that accompanied them tried running after my husband's horse but that only made his horse run faster and try to throw my husband off. Finally, my husband, concerned that the horse was going to fall on top of him, removed his feet from the stirrups and fell off the horse, getting injured in the process.

          Instead of going back to the pousada to seek assistance, the hotel worker went to retrieve the horse and my husband had to walk back for half an hour back to the pousada. Even though the horse my husband rode belonged to the pousada, no one at the pousada offered us any assistance--no first aid kit, no medical supplies, no vehicle or driver to take my husband to the hospital. I had to ask for ice and after the second bag, I was told they had run out of ice though we suspected they wanted to keep any remaining ice for drinks, which they charge for.

          Our tour company drove my husband to the hospital but it took them an hour to get a vehicle, during which time I imagine the pousada could have stepped in to offer to drive him. My husband was treated at a hospital in Pocone (the closest town to the pousada) where he was told that he had sprained his wrist but my husband just saw an orthopedic doctor here in NYC today who took x-rays again and informed him that he had actually sustained a significant fracture to his wrist which the x-ray in Brazil (taken from an older machine) had not shown. My husband may need surgery because the impact of the fall misaligned his cartilage that had been protecting his joint.

          While the pousada may not have been able to change the outcome (though this is debatable because their horses did not appear to be in good condition and I suspect my husband's horse, at least, wasn't trained properly), I found their reaction to the accident reprehensible and would recommend that anyone whose itinerary includes the pousada reconsider (particularly if you plan on going horseback riding!)

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