Catching Up...........

It's been two and a half months since I got home from my trip to Tulsa and the US All Arabian National Horse Show. While it's taken me a while to recuperate a lot has happened here.

Shortly after I arrived home, Dave was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes...not that it was a surprise to me. I've been warning him he was heading down that path. Since his diagnosis, he's lost about twenty pounds and would be feeling better if he wasn't haven't chronic problems with his back. Something he still wasn't willing to address at this time but it left Lindsay and I short handed.

The first clear day after my return home I was determined to put as many horses outside as I could get . Because we're on a small property for a herd the size of mine, the turnouts need to be in shifts. Sometimes those shifts can be in one day.......other times we alternate days to make sure all the horses get time to play.

Getting the most horses out at one time meant putting out mares and fillies. The boys would have to wait for another day. I was pretty sure with as much time as these horses had been cooped up they weren't going to ready to come in until dinner time.

My farm is cross fenced so I can keep horses that don't get along separated. Surprise never knows when to quit bossing her peers around so she's had to be removed from that group. Her knew pasture mate is Scarlet. Scarlet also believes she "should" be in charge but she is so enamored with the older, wiser Surprise that lets her run the show.

Surprise and Scarlet were the first pair of horses I put out on that day. Surprise minded her manners on the way to their paddock but she balked at the puddle in the gateway. Normally puddles can set poor Surprise on her ear but she was so determined to be free she didn't take much coaxing.
Scarlet on the other hand was having great problems controlling her excitement. All the way up to the paddock I was correcting her for rushing and wildly tossing that head of hers. Just before we reached the paddock the excited filly jumped in front of me, twirled around and nearly flattened me with a nasty assault with both hind legs.

I saw it coming and managed to turn just enough to partially deflect some of the force of the blow to both my legs. One foot glanced off my right leg and the other ricocheted from my calf to behind my knee on up to the inside of my thigh. Somehow I stayed on my feet, corrected Scarlet and got her into her paddock with Surprise.

In defense of Scarlet I'd like to say this accident really was my fault. I knew she was jumping out of her skin anticipating getting to run and play and I took my mind off of what she was doing. For some reason I was suddenly struck by how much she'd grown since I'd turned her out and I took a long look at her. That brief distraction was enough for her to get ahead of me.......and I paid the price.

I forced myself to get rest of the young fillies and mares out. The older mares I left to Lindsay. I knew that even though they had been cooped up like all the others, they would not give Lindsay a hard time.

When I was finished turning horses out, I headed for the house to survey the damage to my legs. As usually I did not go to the doctor. I figured nothing was broken and I'd do better keeping ice on my injuries than sitting in the doctor's office waiting for hours for him to tell me to ice them.

I normally do not really like ice on my body. I'm freezing most of the time and do not relish anything that will make me any colder but on this day and for days to come ice was my friend. My legs swelled so much I could hardly get my jeans up. The first day I actually wore jeans out of the house was for the Jody Strand clinic.

If I had any notion to work horses, this injury would have slowed me down for a week or two. I still don't believe I went to the clinic and expected to ride with both legs as bruised up as they were. This is definitely the most bruised I have ever been by a horse........aside from riding accidents of course. To this day I still have some discoloration on the inside of my left thigh.......but then I still have a little discoloration from my experience with Reflection and that's been two years ago.

Even though I started off slowly getting back into my routine of working horses, I managed to aggravate an old injury. I have irritated this injury before and its always managed to heal on its own. This time, however, not only did it not get better, it actually began to get worse. One night I was actually awakened by throbbing pain in my arm and shoulder.

Despite my best efforts to avoid the doctor's office, it seemed the only way I was going to get any relief. I was hoping my doctor would give me a prescription for muscle relaxers and I'd be on my way. Instead he gave me a referral for physical therapy.

I started the PT right before the Christmas holidays. Just the appointment to determine the status of my injury made me so sore it compromised my ability to work horses. While I would have liked to be up to three loads of horses a day at this point, I have barely made it to two and that second load I only added last week.

Throughout this time Richard hasn't been available either. There's been an assortment of issues there but the crux of it is that when I did begin to work horses, I have been working them alone at Richard and Angie's place. Last week was the beginning of Richard working any of my horses on a regular basis again. However, he's not working the number he was before, nor the days.

Dave's back issues have only gotten worse despite several trips to the doctor. He finally decided to listen to me and go to the doctor requesting a referral for physical therapy. He started that only last week. He still is unable to do any chores on the farm and both Lindsay and I are getting a bit fried.

The current horses being worked are Percy, Louie, Tag, Legs, Suede and Reflection. I will be posting specifics on the progress of these horses once I get the series done about the Jody Strand Clinic (which I promise is coming next!)

As a little teaser I'd like to say the safest ride yesterday turned out to be on Reflection. Tag reared and Legs did a flying broncy leap that would make any bucking horse proud. Both horses were in a lot of trouble. Tag's issue has to do with fear of other horses......and Legs' problem is the same old troll thing. This time the troll was dirt hitting a closed arena door that normally isn't closed...........poor baby.

Next I'm going to answer a bunch of questions from readers that have piled up. Then I'll be on to the Jody Strand clinic I must say I loved Jody Strand. I'm looking forward to sharing the experience.


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