Recovery: week 1

I'm sure you're all wondering how I managed to break my ankle.  I suspect you all have a theory and I'm pretty sure that theory is correct.  Gwen did not take very well to mounting from the stirrup.  She jumped forward in surprise (she didn't buck).  I flew over her hindquarters and landed on my feet.  Unfortunately when my left foot hit the ground the sand must have shifted under it because my leg landed straight but my foot took a detour to the left.  My foot dislocated and broke off the tip of my fibula in the process.

Of course I had no idea what I had done, only that it looked really bad.  I opted for taking the ambulance to the hospital just in case there was a compound fracture hidden under my boot (there wasn't, phew).  I met a very nice paramedic named Fred, who's only job seemed to be keeping me from freaking out on the ride over, I made that difficult for him but he managed anyway.  

Once at the hospital they reset my foot (I don't remember that due to the drugs they gave me, thank goodness) and put a temporary cast on it.  The physician's assistant who put the cast on did a fantastic job of covering almost the entire emergency room with plaster, I missed this while it was happening but I did get to see the plaster splashed all over the wall and all over the floor where he'd tracked through it before I left.  Between that and the pile of dirt that came off my boots the janitorial staff at the hospital must have been super pleased with my visit.

That was Sunday night, Monday they got me right into an appointment with an orthopedist.  I got my options and decided to get my fibula screwed back onto my fibula with a plate.  They kept emphasizing the whole time that it was a good option since I am 31.  Over and over.  Would it have made a difference if I was 33?  35?  I'm now wondering what the cut-off age is. I decided to go with the plate because it cuts the healing time in half.  The surgeon got me into a Tuesday afternoon slot for the surgery and by Tuesday night I was a bionic woman.

I currently don't really have a clue what my healing time is going to be.  I have a follow-up appointment in a week and a half and I'm hoping to get a little more info then.  It might be 10 weeks though.  DRAT!

I'll be on haitus for a while...

I broke my ankle on Sunday.  I'm having surgery today.  I'll try to post some more info tomorrow.

I wanna be sedated

Well, I want my mare to be sedated, more on that later.

First I want to talk about my boy and how good he is.  I mentioned that I lunged him Saturday and Sunday for 10 minutes.  Unfortunately, I've found that lunging horses makes me dizzy and nauseous, so I'm going to keep it to a minimum.  Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I climbed up on him bareback and rode at the walk for 10 minutes.  Tonight I rode him for 15 minutes at the walk.

My plan has been to focus on bending since he's been so stiff lately.  I'll ride down the ring, ask for a small circle and then continue around the ring.  Later we'll go into the center of the ring and do a few more small circles, today I added in serpentines.  His suppleness has improved already.  He's started bending all the way from nose to tail.  Today he did the most wonderful thing, while circling he leaned into the outside rein and let the inside rein go slack!  It's good to know I'm doing something right.

The other thing I've been working on during our rides is me.  Since I'm not using a saddle I can play with my weight shifting and really see how it influences him.  So many times I've found him drifting off the rail into the center of the ring and realize that he's doing it because I'm leaning on my outside stirrup, so I know he's pretty sensitive to weight shifts.  While bareback I've been experimenting with shifting my weight from one seat bone to the other and seeing what he does.  Seat aids are not something that's ever been drilled into me during lessons, so right now I'm enjoying playing with it on my own. 

Now onto my girl.  I climbed up on her back for the second time on Monday.  I was a near disaster though, the first time I tried the F#%@#$@#G mounting block tipped and I fell on her.  That was bad.  But she let me catch her back up and we went onto have a successful mounting.  BUT, she hasn't stood next to the mounting block again since Monday.  I tried on Wednesday and today, she'll walk up to it but then she'll swing her hindquarters away before I can step up on it.  That one bad experience, even though it was followed immediately by a good one, made quite an impression on her.  GAH, stupid mounting block.

Well, there are other things to work on.  I've been saddling her up and leading her around with it on her back, getting her loose and relaxed.  Today I even got her to trot with it on.  She's getting more comfortable with it.  I think if she doesn't get over her mounting block issues I might have to just mount her from the stirrup next.  That's a little scary, but I think she'll be okay with it.

Now onto the bad.  I've been working with Gwen first and then putting her back in her stall while I ride Coriander.  With the warmth we've had this week (High 50's and even 60's), by the time I bring him into the barn (10-20 minutes after I put Gwen up) she's a horrible, sweaty mess.  Her attachment issues are still just as present as they always were.  She's literally dripping sweat from her ears to her barrel from just racing around her stall and flinging herself against the door like a loon for 20 minutes.  It's amazing, scary, and annoying.  When I see her like this I take her back out to try to cool her down.  Try being the operative word here.  She's still pretty nutty then and it's walk three steps, circle circle, scream, walk three steps, spook, circle circle.  TIRING.

There are products out there to calm high strung horses, Calm and Cool for instance.  Has anyone tried it?  Could it help her chill out about her separation issues?

Mud season is here

I had to pull out my fashionable black rubber boots to celebrate:

Coriander appreciates the restorative aspects of mud and has really taken to full body treatments:

Meanwhile, Gwen thinks she got some in her eye:

Mares

I think I've finally got Psycho Gwen figured out...

I lunged Coriander yesterday and today at the walk for 10 minutes.  Well, mostly at the walk, he threw in a little canter just for fun.  I don't blame him, the footing in the ring is really good right now and he's been plowing through snow and mud for a long time.

Yesterday I gave another try at lunging Gwen.  She would circle around me once or twice and then stop and look at me, saying "where's my treat?"  It's going to take a while before she understands what I'm looking for, but she kept herself to a walk and was very calm the whole time.

Today I had a totally different horse.  Psycho Gwen was in.  I wrangled her out to the ring with the lunge line but I knew before I got her out there that it would be pointless to try to lunge her.  She kept screaming for Coriander the whole time I had him out and then she tried to circle around me all the way to the ring.  I turned her loose and she took off galloping and bucking (Once again, WOW athletic.  I'll try to video her some day).  She would occasionally stop next to me for a treat but then take off again.  She ran herself into quite a sweat.

I *think* she's in heat, but I'm used to seeing "hussy" heat.  You know: teasing the boys, peeing all over, raised tails and winking.  Gwen doesn't do that, she did seem to pee more than usual today but besides that I all have to go on was her being much more anxious than usual about being separated from Coriander.  When I track back and look at my tags, the last times I saw Psycho Gwen were right in the middle of the month (February is missing but I don't think I noticed because the weather was so awful I didn't do anything with her in the middle of the month).  It seems pretty likely that this behavior is hormonal, I guess I have a mare-y mare.  Hmm, maybe I should look into Regu-mate?

Clouds on the horizon

Literally, it's supposed to rain all night and all weekend.  On the one hand, that will be good because the rain will wash away the snow we've still got hanging around.  On the other, holy crud are we ever going to have a lot of mud from it.

One of the things I didn't anticipate before getting the quarters was becoming an amateur weatherman (woman).  Since I pay for stall board, when the quarters get turned out they go into pastures without shelter.  Which means that the first thing I do every morning is check the weather and determine whether I can turn the horses out today or not.  If there's supposed to be a little drizzle or a flurry they go out, more precipitation than that and they stay in.  Really windy and cold today?  They stay in.  I end up keeping them in a lot of days when I know they would stay outside if it was their choice.  Well, Gwen's choice.  Coriander would prefer to stay in everyday and wallow in hay for 5 months out of the year.  Anybody else struggle with turnout issues?

Anyway, the quarters didn't go out today because it was supposed to rain on and off and when I got to the barn after work it looked like it could start pouring at any moment.  All they did tonight was hand graze on a bit of the lawn that had finally emerged out from under the snow.  Yesterday I took Gwen out to the ring to do some targetting practice.  She only raced along the fence once before she came back to me ready to work.  That's quite an improvement for her.

Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be beautiful and I am lucky enough to have both of those days off from work.  I'm planning on using those days to jump start spring training.  That includes getting back on Gwen and starting Coriander on his new exercise regimen (compliments of Grey Horse Matters).

WE DID IT!!!!!!

I knew I couldn't put it off any longer, so tonight I sucked it up and climbed on Gwen's back!!!

I took her into the ring so Coriander couldn't mug me but was right there on the other side of the fence.  Then I stood on the mounting block and climbed up on her bareback.

Of course it wasn't quite as straightforward as that, but it was pretty close.  I took it slow, starting by standing next to her shoulder on the block and rubbing her belly.  The first time I swung a leg over she was a little worried about it and stepped away.  But after that she stood like a stone.  I sat on her back, clicked, got right back off and gave her a treat.  I did that a few times and then finally gave her a treat while I was on her back.  She didn't seem bothered at all about me leaning forward over her neck so she could reach it.  She even took a few steps forward towards the fence quite calmly on her own while I was on her. I stayed up there long enough to give her treats from both sides and then I got off and put her up for the night.

PHEW!  Giant hurdle #1 is out of the way!  I'm not going to lie, I cried a little bit when I dismounted.  Yup, I was that happy!