BALZEN BITES BACK

By Graham Potter | Monday, January 4, 2010

It was good to see trainer Peter Balzen at the trophy presentation after his runner Break The Ice had saluted at the Gold Coast on Saturday.

Balzen was obviously happy enough with the race result. He was his normal, quiet self and he even looked a touch embarrassed when roundly praised by the connections of Break The Ice for both his eye at selecting a horse and his ability to bringing the best out of his runners.

But, most of all Balzen, who has a new appreciation of life after overcoming serious physical difficulties last year, was just enjoying being there!

In April last year trainer Balzen was seriously injured when he was kicked by a horse. The speed of treatment he received that morning meant the episode was not life threatening ... although there were some moments of real concern in that regard ... but it was a life-changing experience for Balzen.

“Yeah, I was hosing down a horse and it kicked out,” explained Balzen. “I just got double-barrelled ... in the stomach ... in the abdomen. Suffered a perforated bowel and all that. That time of the morning, you know, I didn’t realise it at the time, but they told me afterwards that if I didn’t get to the hospital and get treated as quickly as I did, things could have gone very badly for me.

“You know it just goes to show you. You think you’ve been around horses all the time and you know how to be careful, but it just takes one mistake. You get careless, you are in trouble ... and yes, it can happen to anybody.

“I was back at the stables about a month later ... but I didn’t go to the races for about three months, I suppose and then I was only ‘in light work’. It was just all recuperation ... but, you know I had no strength. I couldn’t even do a girth up. You’ll be amazed how little you can do when you are in that position.

“It also really gives you a different perspective on things. You tend to take things for granted until something like this happens and then you suddenly appreciate everything so much more. Sometimes you need something like that to wake you up.

“But it’s all good now.”

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