Need some good thoughts

E is still in the hospital and although she is comfortable and with her mom, she needs some good thoughts sent her way.  Turns out they now think that it has been a stroke, or many strokes, that have caused her issues but they are still working on a diagnosis.  She was a healthy 18 yo before this happened, its hard to think that someone so young could have one.

So if anyone could spare a thought or a prayer for Emily it would be appreciated.  :(

Cancer sucks, worst Monday in history.

2 people in 3 days.

On Saturday it was the kid (well he was 18) that lived across the road. He has been battling cancer since he was a kid.  No one thought he would survive the first, or second time he had brain cancer but he did.  Last year they found out it was back, and there was nothing left to do.

In the process of his short life he and his mom raised money for brain cancer research and spread awareness across the country.  The good die young.

Today my other 'adult' rider at the barn that I show with lost her mom to colon cancer.  She had only been diagnosed this spring.  On thanksgiving weekend my friend told me that they were giving her 2 months to live.  She died 2 weeks later.  

She was the barn "Mom" and was always around with words of encouragement.  She will be missed.

And yet there is more...

I knew that my former student 'paint kid', E, who now rides with D and C had been having some weird issues at school but today when I mentioned something to my dad he finally told me how bad it is... She is randomly loosing vision, walking into walls and can no longer control her muscles enough to dress herself.  So if anyone has some prayers, or happy thoughts to send to E I would appreciate it.  She goes in for more tests tomorrow and we're hoping to now more by the end of the week.

I have back developments but its nothing compared to everything else today.

My thoughts on Mugs Post and lessons.

Post from Mugs - Bad riding doing good

 Love this and perfect timing!  Oscar is lovely and is helping me just enjoy riding again and not worrying about perfection.  But I think she is correct I need MILES to fix my issues, not lessons where I work on perfection.









I'm tempted to get back into lessons with D, but I realize that it is miles that I need so that I feel more comfortable on a horse.  I know this shit, its just getting my body and mind to work together again. 

So anyone have any thoughts?  1/2 hour lessons once a week plus riding on my own, or just keep riding on my own for now until we are ready to start getting ready for shows?

Oscar update

eating grass

I promised Oscar's owner more pictures so I decided to share with you as well.  Hes doing really well, and gaining weight in all the right areas.

more grass, he doesnt like standing still for pictures

Love this one of him, really shows how he's starting to glow!

October photo opportunity

A ride (finaly!)

So I managed to get a quick ride in last night, my friends mother came and rode her mostly retired show horse with me so I wasn't alone either.  Thanks to my Chiropractor, for the first time in memory I didn't feel like I was off balance when I first got on the horse, nor did I think that my stirrups need to be adjusted.  I was finally 'even'! 

We had a nice walk/trot/jog with Oscar.  Hes a lot of fun right now.  We're both enjoying the challenge of getting to know each other and the things that make both of us happy.  I have been riding him in a snaffle but if I pick up both reins at the same time and push him into it he gets frustrated.  I'm going to take out my french link tomorrow and give that a try.  Its such a challenge figuring out why a horse likes one bit and not another.  The bits that his owner has been riding him in are ok, but she's been having issues with him getting over flexed and getting frustrated with her so its a good time to look at it if this is an ongoing issue for him.

I got his shoes pulled, and he's barefoot now.doesn't seem to be an issue.  He does have some hock issues, but hopefully with some slow building work this winter they will improve.

The picture below is one I took for oscars owner, D and the cats wanted to be in the picture too!

Another former student is a congress finalist! (update)

Will have a full post later but one of the former students (first families to actually 'pay me' to ride their horse) youngest daughter had a great go in the novice trail and is in the finals! I'm so happy and excited for her!

This family started riding at the barn where I worked, and I helped them buy there first horse (they often admired him so when I heard that the original owners *might* be thinking about selling, I let the family know.)  They paid me a little extra to ride there horse on the weeks they couldn't get there, which was a big help financially for me at the time, and he was a very broke horse which helped my riding.  The younger daughter liked horses but didn't have much interest in riding.  Over the years as she developed more interest they purchased a horse that I broke out as a 2 yo for her to show (he was 5 when they bought him).  Both of those horses are semi-retired now and the two girls share one horse to show.  From the little shy girl that she was, I'm so happy to see her dreams coming true.

Still Alive!

I'm just about fully recovered from the cold, still have a bit of a cough, but even that seems to be going away. 

Oscar is good, tonight I actually had a chance to brush him for the first time in over a week.  I think he likes being a pretend halter horse, I'll have to get some updated pictures.  His coat is looking great, he's keeping his blanket on (he is well known for his ability to rip himself out of blankets he doesn't like) and hes gained some weight over the past couple of weeks. 

The chiropractor has really been helping.  I noticed on Wednesday that my ankle was bothering me a little, and I had an appointment but before I had a chance to say anything he said "oh your lower back needs done today!".  I'm also on a type of Flora digestive aid that he recommended that seems to be helping my digestive system.  And biggest change of all:

I've stopped drinking Pepsi!

I do miss it occasionally but I realize now what a huge factor it was playing in my health.  I'm still drinking lots of juice, but its much better for me than Pepsi.  And I have managed to triple my water intake over the past week.

I will say that my face has stopped breaking out, so if the outside is improving we can hope the same thing is happening in the inside.

Down in the dumps

So I am really sick, temperature just doesn't want to go down, I'm coughing up junk and I'm exhausted. C and D left for congress on Saturday and although I fed horses on Saturday AM, I managed to get the other family that is helping to do chores last night and all day today. 

It just sucks.  I don't know what to do about work, I hate missing time, but if I'm too sick I'm not doing anyone any good to be there.  And with the flues and colds that come with winter I know I'll be missing more time over the coming months.

Normally I don't get this sick until March, so its very early but what if this keeps up? 

Just not getting any better!

Yikes!  Well I got my IV last night.  Did work ok until the tubing came apart from the needle that was stuck in my arm. ... And once the drugs aren't flowing in... the blood starts flowing out....yuck....so that was nasty, but the nurse was quick to clean it up, and I no longer pass out at the sight of my own blood!

Today I'm at work when I suddenly start coughing all the time.  This is one of the side effects that is reportable, so i had to call 2 different doctors to report the symptoms, the 1-800 drug company number then left work 1/2 way though the day to get to see a different doctor to confirm it was just a cold that came on quickly. 

I did have a much better treatment at the Chiropractor on Wensday, got new insoles for my sneakers and I go back again tomorrow as well.  Its really starting to make a difference I think.  Oscar is getting his feet done tomorrow or Saturday so I hope to go riding this weekend, fingers crossed nothing else happens!

Bad week

So the adjustment went well, but it was too much for my body.  I ended up getting a migraine and then sleeping for 14 hours, waking for most of the afternoon and then went back to bed for my regular bed time. I do feel more 'balanced' and was able to pull my pants on (one leg at a time) while standing up, I usually have to sit down to do this.

Oscars owner is home from university so she's riding him this weekend.  I did buy him a new turnout and a show sheet for him that my friend had for sale so he'll be almost as well dressed as Lucas was.  Thankfully he fits into almost all of Lucas' stuff, just on the smaller holes. 

I tried to ride Oscar in a new saddle pad and girth on Tuesday but I think that he didn't like them.  He just wasn't himself and I think it was more to the changes than anything else.  So we will go back to the old saddle pad, and the girth that is "almost" to big for him.

C and D's daughter got married on the weekend (and what a party!) so I did chores for them on Saturday and Sunday so that they could have some family time. 

Its not all in my head

Well we got the results from all the tests that the Chiropractor took on Monday.  Turns out that I'm not crazy after all.  My hips/leg length are fine.  No twisting and one leg isn't longer than the other.  However there is a reason that I'm still occasional having issues with balance and uneven gait.  There is a disk in my lower back that is causing most of my problems.  Its not dangerous and the Chiropractor thinks that it can be helped with some minor adjustments (which will include a new pair of custom insoles for my shoes/boots, my old ones are 5 years old and do need to be replaced big time!) I should be back to a better "normal".

It was great to see the x-rays and have him explain what he thought my issues were (and he was correct, down to how my migraines hurt, and how I loose my balance).  And it was nice to realize that the issues I was having were real issues, and that they weren't related to the RA and they might even be fixable!

So basically it gets broken down into 3 areas.
1) bad neck alignment in my spine is causing the tight muscles and then the migraines as a cause of that.
2) one crappy section in my back, right about where my bra is.
3) bad disk in my pelvic region

We have  a plain of attack now, cross your fingers he can improve things!

There are some lines drawn that he was using for measurements on the x-rays 

neck x-ray

back of the neck disks (and teeth!)

back of the neck, shoulders without teeth

spine

side view but it went a bit blurry

funky disk is right above the cross of lines in the middle.

Lower back

Chiropractor for me

Well I know I'm crooked (though my hips) and the local chiropractor isn't doing much for me.  So on the recommendation of my best friend I went off to see her Chiropractor. 

Hes a former Junior A (semi pro 16-20 year old's) hockey player who went to a top school in the states.  He also manages the health of several semi-pro hockey teams in the area.  So he is very big on the "big picture" of how your body works and starting with a correct skeleton and building from that. 

So we started off with a full history, and ended up with a bunch of digital x-rays that he's going to look at. He tested my reflexes and I failed on my left leg, which was interesting...  On Wednesday I go back for a discussion on my x-rays, and a first adjustment.  Lets hope this helps my right hand side!