Jockey keeps leg after thrown from horse

• Tweet

WAIROA, New Zealand, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- A New Zealand jockey whose leg was broken so badly his bone was poking out of his skin on Valentine's Day said it was his second bad experience on the holiday.

Cameron Lammas, 28, said both the tibia and fibula in his right leg were broken when he was flung from a horse at the starting gates in Wairoa, The Dominion Post, Wellington, New Zealand, reported Monday.

Lammas, whose leg was nearly amputated before doctors were able to straighten the bones in two surgeries, insisted on taking before-and-after pictures of the injury.

"I'm a bit gruesome like that," he said.

Lammas said Valentine's Day might be unlucky for him, as last year his partner, Tracey Parnwell, had to resuscitate him when his heart stopped following a kick to the chest from a horse.

"I fainted and turned blue so she decided she'd better do CPR," Lammas said. "It's good excuse to get out of it. Next Valentine's Day I might go pig hunting instead."