Family member says Turlock horse rider has no brain activity
Story Update » Animal-loving Turlock teen dies from injuries suffered when a truck hit her, her horse
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A Turlock teen hit by a truck while riding her horse has no brain activity and will be taken off life support this weekend, a family member said Saturday.
Summer Vigil-Gardner, 19, was sent to Doctors Medical Center after suffering a severe brain injury from the Wednesday crash. Her horse, Riggs, died at the scene.
About 50 people gathered at 7 p.m. Friday outside the hospital, hoping for a miracle. They prayed, lit candles and held up a photo of Summer with her beloved Riggs.
Regina Vigil-Gardner, Summer’s mother, said some of the attendees were inspired to come out after only meeting Summer once, while others wanted to show support despite not knowing her at all.
Vigil-Gardner held out hope for her daughter on Friday, despite her condition, especially since doctors told her people do not typically survive crashes similar to the one on Wednesday.
Vigil-Gardner said she would feel Summer move when she squeezed her hand. Doctors said the movements were spasms, but Vigil-Gardner said she felt her daughter was fighting. .
Summer, who attended Pitman High School, loved and trusted animals more than people, her family said. She wanted to work in a veterinary hospital someday.
Riggs was Summer’s first horse, Vigil-Gardner said, a gift for the teen’s 18th birthday. Talking to Riggs was like therapy for her. She lived in her cowgirl boots, would lay in the dirt with him and bathed him herself.
She cared for other animals just as much, her brother’s girlfriend, Griselda Barajas, said.
Summer would go around the ranch collecting chicks hatched, and she recently rescued a baby goat that wasn’t wanted by its mother. She named the little goat Daisy, bottle feeding her and taking her around in a diaper.
“That little goat is like her baby, too,” Barajas said.
Barajas, 25, has lived with Summer’s family on-and-off throughout the last six years, which she said gave her the chance to see Summer grow up into a young woman.
Despite being a quiet person, Summer was tough, Barajas said. She was never afraid to stick up for her beliefs or protect family members. And when Barajas was sad, Summer would always take the time to ask Barajas about how she’s feeling.
“She’s taught me a lot, to really just stand up for people and just be a good person,” Barajas said.
Brad Gardner, Summer’s father, said she also shows compassion for people she doesn’t know. At Summer’s insistence, the family often helps homeless people with whatever food, drink or money they have on hand.
Summer’s father ‘feeling kind of empty and lost ...’
In the hospital, seeing his daughter barely respond to his touches broke Gardner’s heart. At some points, Summer would pull away when Gardner touched her feet – she never liked that, he said – but sometimes she didn’t react at all.
“I’m feeling kind of empty and lost right now,” Gardner said.
After what happened to Summer and Riggs, Vigil-Gardner said she is worried about the safety of other riders in Turlock. She thinks about the impact required to kill a horse and wonders what would have happened if someone was walking there instead.
Vigil-Gardner believes the driver should have had plenty of time to see the two companions on the road, and she knows Summer and Riggs looked out for each other while riding.
“Summer was a safe rider, and for my baby girl not to come home because somebody got distracted is unthinkable,” Vigil-Gardner said.
This story was originally published August 14, 2021 at 6:43 AM.
