Louise Coster, is a vibrant, hardworking country loving Beatkeeper on a prestigious sporting Estate in the wilds of Somerset with one hell of a story to share.
Louise Coster, is a vibrant, hardworking country loving Beatkeeper on a prestigious sporting Estate in the wilds of Somerset with one hell of a story to share, and it’s one that combines both adversity and triumph in the most empowering way.
A little over two years ago on the 12th September 2021, life changed in the blink of an eye, unexpectedly through a freak cow crushing accident.
Nestled in the rolling hills and valleys of Somerset, is the sporting Estate Louise and her loyal pack of dogs call home, along with partner Martin and thousands of game birds. Whilst out walking with her faithful hounds and her friend through a nearby field, she was brutally attacked by a cow…narrowly escaping with her life.
“I’ve walked the field for the last four years and never had a problem. I’d always been mindful of them, if they were there. They were big, beef cows and she was over there stood with the rest of the mob. The only thing different about this day, was that I had my friend with me.”
Describing the moment she knew something was wrong, Louise recalls how, “she threw her head up, stamping the ground. The dogs weren’t near me, and she took full blown charge. I had nowhere to go. She smashed my legs out from underneath me with her first blow, I fell on top of her before falling underneath her. She kept running backwards and forwards over me, I saw my friend out of the corner of my eye in complete shock not knowing what to do.”
Continuing to bravely relive the ordeal in order to share with us, Louise continued, “I had to shout at my Lab to leave me alone as understandably she was loyal, and trying to help me and I didn’t want her to get hurt. She ran and hid somewhere as I never shout at them. I went to get up and she knocked me down again, rubbing her belly onto me, which I later found out is what they do to kill their calves. She stood on everything and I hurt everywhere. I thought at that point, I am not going to get out of this so I curled into the tightest ball I could and didn’t move. She kept nudging her head into me, and all of a sudden, thinking I was dead I assume, she turned for my friend.”
Knowing her friend wouldn’t be able to escape, a battered and bruised Louise mustered every ounce of strength she could and ran back towards the gate, leading the frenzied cow away from her friend, “as I looked back through the gate, she was there. She was ready and she meant it.”
Louise’s courageous move meant that her friend was able to get herself and the dogs to safety, closing the gate behind them, despite having been knocked over by the cow and injuring her ankle, she had managed to escape the wrath of this cow, unlike Louise.
“I was so worried about getting the dogs home and sorted, I think if I hadn’t have had them to focus on, I’d have just sat there in shock, I think it kept me calm for a little bit. When I realised they were safe, I thought shi**, I really hurt, My leg had already swelled up to about three times the size.”
Shock was beginning to set in, and Louise was struggling to control her breathing and shaking uncontrollably. Once they reached the hospital, after a firm scolding that she hadn’t waited to be airlifted, the medical professionals were amazed she hadn’t broken anything.
“They thought I’d broken the top of my leg, I had a huge hematoma on the inside of my thigh and one on my ribs. I couldn’t even believe it,” she recalls.
“They’d had a crush injury two weeks prior in a milking parlour, where a cow had gone over the railing and crushed him, sadly though, he hadn’t survived. I remember nurses came down from a separate floor who had attended to the man, and were in disbelief that I didn’t break anything. They said they needed to see a positive outcome from an injury, after that.”
In the days, weeks and months that followed…
With the traumatic events of the ordeal relived, I was curious to know the after effects of the accident, and how they’d impacted Louise both physically and mentally. Often, in the wake of a traumatic incident, we don’t process the even fully until days, weeks or even months afterwards, as our body begins to recover, so does our mind, though often at different rates.
Casting her mind back to a time she’d rather forget, Louise shares, “I remember the week after, I had never felt so low in my life. I could of died and I don’t think that had sunk in yet. I had never been in that situation before, there were lots of tears. My best friend reassured me that I would be ok and that I’d get over it in time, but the realisation that I’d never been so close to death was a lot to process.”
The mental scars were invisible, but the bulging hematoma on the inside of Louise’s thigh was a constant physical reminder of the attack. For over a year and a half it didn’t change, until one day it began to reduce in size gradually, “I remember putting something on and thinking, that’s not as tight as it used to be!”
“The first summer, it hung down quite low. You could see it in trousers, shorts, anything. I didn’t want go out, because people were looking at it. Martin didn’t think any less of me, nor did my friends and the Estate was safe and comfortable, but beyond that was a different story.”
Amazingly, Louise’s hematoma has now completely dissipated, though the muscle has been effected, she is having PT sessions to try and build this back up slowly, and enthuses that she’s bought a Canny-X harness for her Belgian Malinois and the pair are going to start getting out and walking to get them both into the sport.
Reflecting back, she explains, “I don’t think until it went down I realised how much it did actually effect me.”
“Yes, I was worried it wasn’t going to go,” she admitted, after I asked. “I connected with a woman who’s lived with hers for over 6 years now after a riding injury. She was a follower of mine and reached out through Instagram. She was riding racehorses up the gallops and was thrown off, smashing the outside of her leg on the post and rail fencing! I didn’t know anyone else with one and speaking to her helped me through. She’d been amazing getting through life with hers, and I’d only had mine a matter of months, I felt bad but it was so nice to connect with her.”
Despite the harrowing nature of this story, our conversation was filled with countless laughs around it, “joking about it makes it ok. I couldn’t of spoken about it without crying the first year, having a laugh about it, helps me process it.”
As you can imagine I am sure, it was not surprise to us at least when Louise confessed how she’s “terrified of cows though, to the point where I have actual panic attacks. My hands go sweaty and my heart races. Even if they look up, I think they’re going to do something.”
The longterm effects of trauma can linger for months and years afterwards, and that’s ok, learning to adapt with this in mind is kindest to yourself and key to making progress as Louise explains in her own life, “we have cows in a field out the back that I have to go through, now I go through on the quad. I won’t walk and I won’t stop. They were in the gateway the other day and I had to turn around, go about 20-minutes out of my way to go around. It does annoy me because I don’t normally let things get to me, but I can’t control it and it’s in my head and I can’t get passed it at the moment. I think I’d make it worse if I tried. I am terrified of them,” she rounds off with a nervous laugh.
A piece of advice to share:
I asked Louise to share a piece of advice with you, for anyone experiencing similar battles, she said;
“Find the little thing to help you through. The first summer, I went to River Island and they had the most beautiful – yellow is my favourite colour – mustardy suit jacket and shorts. I cried my eyes out in the changing rooms because you could see the hematoma bulging out the bottom. I thought they’d be long enough but they weren’t.
I came out and this poor woman that worked there asked if I was ok. I explained and she said, ‘just buy the shorts, just buy them.’ Martin backed her up and so I bought them. In doing so, I set myself the goal of being able to wear them out, whether it had gone down or not. I had my photos taken in them a few months ago which was a complete change for me. I don’t think I saw myself like that despite it having gone down… I still saw myself with the ‘fat leg. Find that little thing and set a small goal to help you through.”
Photo credit, Sophie Edmunds Photography.
Whether it’s yellow shorts, or something else, there’ll be something unique to you, we encourage you to find that slice of joy and treat yourself, you can work towards wearing the ‘thing’ or enjoying it one day at a time.
Before we finish, Louise also wanted to highlight how important ‘time’ and showing ourselves compassion is in a healing journey. “I didn’t realise just how much time really does help you. In that first week I was going through so many emotions, but giving myself time helped. I am a completely different person now, to then. Even after the first year, I don’t think I was fully over it.”
We get so frustrated with time, we try to rush things and ourselves whilst life carries on but the truth is you can’t. “I felt bad for being so grumpy still or so upset about it months after, I got angry at myself and I did take it out on others, not meaning to. Forgive yourself for being that way, it’s ok to have a bad day.”
Louise has been so brave sharing her story with us, and we hope it may inspire or empower any of you to keep going with your own battles. To follow Louise on Instagram and her many adventures with her growing pack of dogs, click here. A little countryside awareness, which we’re sure you all know, but in case, given the nature of this story;
Walking through a field of cows should be avoided where possible, but if you need to, walk around them as quietly and quickly as possible. Don’t run and give them space. Keep dogs on leads or under close control. Do not walk directly towards unknown cattle. Cows are not generally vicious animals looking for a fight, though when calves are at foot they can become protective. Be careful, always.