One year later...

It was a year ago today that I busted the dickens out of my ankle. I was too traumatized at the time to really post what happened to my leg, but time is a great healer of that kind of thing:

I know the feeling

 See his right ankle and how it doesn't look quite right- like "I didn't know ankles could turn that way?" Well they can't, at least not without ripping a ton of soft tissue and busting your fibula. That's what my ankle looked like. I remember looking down at it in disbelief, my knee was pointing forward but my foot most definitely wasn't, and thinking that just wasn't possible. Fortunately for me, I was so pumped on adrenaline that I didn't feel it for about an hour, extra fortunate because the only painkiller they had in the ambulance was morphine and that stuff makes me immediately throw up. Addicted to pain killers I will never be.

Anywho, fast-forward to today and the current state of my ankle:

My ankle yesterday

I can walk in heels again and stretch down into 2-point! My physical therapist was quite impressed, he says I have almost complete mobility back. That's how it goes when you look at the offending appendage and tell it that IT WILL WORK CORRECTLY AGAIN, DAMMIT!!! And then ignore a lot of pain while you make it do what you want it to do. There is a bit of soreness and stiffness left, but after going through a nasty bout of tendinitis a couple months ago this minor ache is nothing. Just a reminder to not be stupid. Like my back. Ugh, so many injuries that could have been avoided...

I did celebrate the occasion. I got four solid canter departs with Coriander out on the trail yesterday. I figured out (DUH) I needed to squeeze and scoop with my hips, don't know why I wasn't squeezing. Once I put it all together he stepped up within a stride or two of me asking him, even in places we've never cantered before. I think we're ready to give it a shot inside the outdoor arena now- way to go March goals!

Then, in extra defiance of history, I got on Gwen. She's getting better about forward but her mind was 100% on the hay under the barn. I asked her to move and she bee-lined right for it, subsequently bringing us right under the roof. Guess what she got to practice then? Yielding her hindquarters under saddle. She's good at it to the left, not so much at the right, but she's stiffer than concrete to the right so I'm not surprised. She even decided to step off on her own, I'm not clicking her for this since I don't want to start that bad habit, but it gave me the chance to ask for a whoa- which I got! I couldn't be happier with how relaxed she is when I'm on her now, though next time I'm going to give her a little more munch time before I take her out.


Here's a link showing my x-rays if you're really into seeing grimness...