Giving It Another Try........

Believe it or not, I gave another try with the contact lenses today. My appointment was at 10 am so I delivered a trailer load of horses to Richard's first. Then Dave picked me up and took me to my appointment while Richard and Jessica worked my horses.

Well, I guess Richard mostly worked them because Jessica took a header off a horse on Tuesday and banged into the wall pretty badly. She has a bruised chin and a bump on the back of her leg and isn't moving all that great. So while she was there to help Richard to day, it was something of a slow day for Jessica.........but I digress, back to my contacts.

We got caught in construction and arrived a few minutes late for my appointment but the doc was waiting for me. He first adjusted my new glasses because they're sliding down and falling off my face every time I bend over.........not a good thing when trying to work horses. Putting on leg wraps and picking feet is a chore as it is without having my glasses falling off. I don't do blind well........

So we got those fixed and moved on to putting in my new contact lenses. I did so well putting them in and taking the out the first time but my second attempt at either task did not got well. With the first attempt at taking them out ending in this disaster , putting them in for the second time didn't go much better.

It took several attempts at the left eye before I ever got that one in and from there it only got worse. I realize that most people start off with the right eye, but since I can only see up close with the left eye, that's where I have to start or I'm putting in both eyes pretty much blind.

It was the second eye that was the killer. I just couldn't seem to get that contact to want to stick. I'll bet I spent twenty minutes working that thing. It wasn't until the doc left me on my own to keep trying that I got the thing in place. Actually it was my first attempt after the doc left so then I had to wait until he was done with the next patient before we could finish up and I could be on my way.

By the time we arrived back at Richard's, they already had the 3 horses in the trailer worked and loaded so I drove my rig home (yes, wearing my new contacts - but not seeing all that clearly) dropped off those horses and loaded up 3 more and drove back to Richard's to ride.

Because my lenses are set up for my right eye to see distance and my left to see up close AND the fact they don't have the prism I have in my regular glasses, my poor eyes and were not sure of what to make of this situation. My poor brain was even more confused than my eyes. The picture I was receiving was not what the doc told me it would be. He says it will get better and I sure hope he's right because right now I can't see clearly anymore than about 50 feet. Past that distance I see outlines fine but can't read signs or tell details on faces. Not the best way to drive or for that matter to ride.

I did manage to get horses tacked up ok. and the riding went ok. The horses were a bit goofy and I don't know if it was from me or not. I didn't feel stressed about riding and I didn't feel like I was particularly struggling with my vision but something sure had them going, that's for sure.

Vee was on the bucky side which I attributed to her not liking my neoprene pad......which she detests almost as much as the crupper. (Did I ever mention she launched poor Jessica a couple of weeks ago over that crupper?) The mare also resisted going forward so tomorrow it will be back in the long lines and I'll be trying a different saddle pad to see what we get.

The other two geldings were off to the races. Neither horse wanted to slow down despite being lunged. It took them a while to get underneath me and slow down and I was stripping off layers of clothes working up a sweat. But I managed to stay on ok and not get disoriented by the new prescription.

By the time I got home I was an hour and a half past the time I was supposed to take out my contacts. I still had one load of horses to work but that depended on getting those lenses out in a reasonable amount of time.

Just what IS a reasonable amount of time to a new wearer of contact lenses? I have NO idea but I can tell you it took me about ten minutes to remove the first contact from my right eye and another fifty to get out the second. When I called Richard he was heading off on a road ride with the kids and I called it a day.

Currently my left eye is very sore. I'm still concerned about the vision I have when wearing the contacts but have been told to give my eyes a few days to adjust. And I'm feeling a bit on the crazy side. I don't get how my eyes adjusting is going to take me from blurry at a distance to clear at that distance but one can only hope.

I am going to give it a try because it's really nice to ride without my glasses sliding down my nose. Or worse yet, getting fogged up because of the cold air and my hot breathe with all this posting on baby horses.

Tomorrow is another day, I hope. Depending on how long it takes me to get those suckers in at home by myself and if I can tolerate six hours of them in place. Oh, and let's not forget, arriving safely to and fro because I'm driving in these things when I can't see like I'd like.

All I can say is it's a good thing I am used to driving by what I think is there instead of going off what my eyes see. It might sound scary but, ask my kids, it's very effective in this case. I really hope we get to work nine horses tomorrow, show season is barreling in on us.

Note: The picture above is Dandy. We're trying to decide the best place for the horse's head for hunter pleasure. In addition to height we are also considering his movement at the different spots we have tried. This is where Richard thinks he likes it best.........me, I'm not so sure.

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