Pianist's career in doubt after horse bites her pinky

Pamela and Bill Resch thought a romantic horse-drawn carriage ride through downtown Los Gatos would be the perfect way to celebrate the holidays and their upcoming 42nd wedding anniversary.

When another couple was late for the ride, the Resches took the opportunity to pose for pictures with the horses. Pamela Resch, an accomplished concert pianist, said she didn't panic at first when a horse named Tom started nibbling on her finger after she petted him on the head.

“I looked him straight in the eye and said, 'Let go,' ” she said. “He started to chew.”

In the next few frantic moments, the couple said, the horse bit off the tip of her right pinkie finger — shocking Pamela Resch and leaving in doubt whether she would ever command the piano again.

“I saw a little piece of meat and a red thing hanging off, and my next thought was, 'My life is over,' ” Pamela Resch, 63, said Tuesday.

In the chaos that followed, someone found the fingertip and gave it to Bill Resch in a cup of ice, he said. A plastic surgeon reattached the tip that night, and everyone is hoping for the best.

“I heard 'Let go, let go,' ” Bill Resch said. Then, “she was holding her hand up and somebody was saying, 'Where's the finger, where's the finger?' ”

Just listening to her husband recount the details makes Pamela Resch cry, but she remembers trying to stand up to the horse whose handler insisted Tom was friendly, the Resches said. Instead of a horse-drawn carriage ride, Pamela Resch rode in an ambulance to the emergency room.

Melvin Silva, owner of the horses, declined to comment.

Bill Resch said Silva “expressed his apologies” when Resch called him the next day. He said he felt very bad and that it had never happened before.”

Los Gatos police Chief Scott Seaman said two Los Gatos officers responded to the call.

“We don't know if the horse nipped or bit, or if the finger was injured or severed,” Seaman said.

“At first, I thought I was going to wake up from a bad dream,” said Pamela Resch, who gave piano recitals around the world before launching The Pamela Resch Salon Series in the couple's home.

What happened instead is that she heard “the ambulance guy say 'Don't worry, your finger is right over there.' “