So I forgot my helmet

But I rode anyways :(. I took it home to clean it and forgot it. I know bad me, but I lunged beforehand and didn't lope or do anything silly just a 20 min ride with lots of rising trot. I normally never ride without it now but this day I did.  And I got a picture of me and Oscar, although i wanted one of us riding together, this one will have to do for now.

It's here!

I'm officially a novice amateur. 3 long years of waiting, of having to ride in the pro classes are finally over! Bring on summer.

And the Ankle

So I saw a new brace specialist yesterday who recommended a 'boot' type brace will little to no flexibility. It will not have a hinge, and it will not allow me to lift my toes 'up'. My foot will basically be in a cast. He believes this will make me mostly pain free however he did agree that it would limit my flexibility of my ankle even when out of the brace. He seems to think that my joint 'may' recover. However with the history of this joint (let alone with RA) I don't have any faith in that diagnosis. This is the same theory that we followed with I was having issues with my wrists and it resulted in both my wrists being fused.

I no longer jump, and I only ride western at this time, however the idea of loosing the flexibility in my ankle that I need to ride/cue my horse on purpose seems stupid to me. I'd much rather have it fuse down the road, than to wait out this 'boot brace' possibility and loose flexibility sooner.

So I'm hoping that when DR O gets the report we can have a discussion about getting me in to see an orthopedic specialist. Maybe its time to look at some surgical options.

PS - it was -35 C to day (-31 F) so I'm at home and not at the barn.  My immune system doesn't need to be out in these cold temps!

From -17 yesterday to + 6 today!

And almost all of the new snow we got yesterday (10cm) has almost completely melted.  We got all the chores done, all the outside water tubs free of ice, and all of the inside buckets clean as well.  When its as cold as its been, making sure they have water it tough enough, let alone them having clean buckets to drink out of.

And I had a great ride on Oscar.  I so miss riding when it is warm, you guys down south have no idea!  My fingers and feet stayed warm, and I didn't have to keep my face berried in a scarf the entire time.  We had a good ride with one of the kids, we both needed to work on keeping Oscar's and Annie's shoulders up, which helped a lot with our lope transitions later.  So we did lots of circles and leg yielding, along with walk/trot transitions.  I also did a bunch of rising trot and 2 point which always helps my seat. A little extra work for a lot of extra gain.

Has a lead on a pony (well a horse)

I finally got out of the barn today and spent some quality time there.  It was still on the 'too cold' side to ride (-17C plus windchill which google tells me works out to like 1.4 F for all the Americans out there).  Its just too dang cold to strip off mine and Oscar's layers to go ride for 15 min until we are both frozen.  It is warming up today to about -2 tomorrow, so after chores tomorrow I'll ride.

One of the kids cam over this morning and we took both studs to the out door pen and took a bunch of photos of them to send to the people looking to breed.  We were hoping to get some video as well but, again it was just too darn cold.  We took the poor boys outside with out any blankets and they were more than willing to go back inside after 10 minutes of picture taking.

I talked to C about the wanting to show thing and she suggested that I might be able to use Lucy again.  They are hoping to breed her later this spring, and getting her out and showing will only make the coming baby and Chilly more valuable. So we will wait and see what spring will bring at this point.  Oscar's mom is coming back in Feb for a week on spring break so I might get Lucy out then and give her a spin.

Added some pics of the boys below

Chevy eating hay

Rusty eating hay

Quality isnt good as I was on the other side of the paddock trying to take this shot

Rusty's bum

Looking for treats

so cute, and so much hair!

What to do for the summer

Do I try to find a horse to lease?  Beg rides on the kids horses?  I'm not sure and that's kind of where I'm stuck at,

I'm still not feeling so great but with work and me worrying about the scope coming up in a couple of weeks I think I'm just stressing myself out. 

Stiff but rode

After another Monday of feeling crappy (we did go from -10 to +8 in a 48 hour period) I did go out tonight and got a short ride in.  I was stiff but good old Oscar just kept plugging along for me even though I'm sure it wasn't always the easiest for him when I'm blocking him with just about every part of my body.  He did pin his ears once or twice when I forgot to keep my body loose but other than that he was very good. 

Not much to report other than that, new boots are breaking in good, RA is manageable and other than being tired, and my stupid ankle, I'm doing ok.  I do have an appointment next week with a brace person in the city to look at getting me a new brace or two for my ankle so I'm hopeful that that will help.  That's the only joint that bothers me on a regular basis.

New boots!

So I finally went out and bought myself a new pair of boots! I really wanted a good quality pair to wear at the shows that was black. My pair I got in the USA are good, but not great leather, so they'll be the barn pair (and they are chocolate so they will match my showmanship pants if I get to show!).So they are Boulet boots (made in Canada) calf skin leather which is super soft and soooo easy on my feet.  I wore them at work all day on Friday and didn't even have a rub on my feet.  I rode in them a bit today and although my right ankle is a bit tight (that's the bad ankle) they were awesome!

Chiropractor

So I finally got in to see my chiropractor again today.  And boy he did a number on my back!  It was good though I know that when I rode on Monday I wasn't quite square so it was a good thing I went today. 

He was very happy with the news of my good blood tests, and the fact that I have been able to eliminate two of my drugs.

On the gluten free front I'm getting better at learning what works for my body although its taking some work.  I used to be able to throw together a sandwich or crackers and peanut butter for work but now that doesn't work at all.  On one hand I'm making much better decisions about the food that I'm eating and adding in a lot more fruit and veggies, and almost no pre-made stuff that you can buy in the stores.  On the other hand I'm having dreams about toast!

Thank you

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who follows this blog.  You guys have no idea what a blessing this project has been for me.  From documenting my challenges with the growth on my thyroid, showing horses, owning Lucas, and all the RA stuff in between I know this is a safe place that I can throw out my feelings and my thoughts.

RA Guy recently added me to his group of blogs/links which I really appreciate.  I don't know his real name, but I follow him on facebook, he is an amazing person who inspires me even when I am having a bad day.

So if you are new here from following a link, welcome!  And if your one of the ones who have been with me from the start, thank you!  :)

If you would like to add me to your facebook send me an email to justaplainsam at hotmail.com

Back from the new doctors

And they are going to do a scope on Feb 7.  He does think that it is gluten intolerance that is causing most of the issues, but wants to do the scope to be on the safe side.  Thankfully it will be doing my upper intestine so it doesn't mean much more prep than not eating the night before.  I'll be given a sedative but it shouldn't be much of an issue.  

I did get a ride in today but its -17 plus windchill so we didn't do much more than walking and trotting for 15 min before my feet froze.

Moving on

My best friend and I went into the city today to do a little shopping.  Thanks to RA I have HATED shopping for the past couple of years.  I plan very carefully where I want to go, what exactly I'm looking for in each place and I map out how to get to each store and around each store as quickly as possible.

Mostly I hate walking in malls, but crowds, cramped dressing rooms and heavy shopping bags all add to it!

Today we did very well, we got everything on our lists (except light bulbs of all things!) and I'm home with new sneakers for work, a new bit for Oscar, new reins, shampoo, a birthday present for my mom and I'm not completely exhausted!

We even had lunch in the food court in the mall (my first meal in a restaurant/take out since December 21st!) I stuck to New York Fries as I knew the fries and the oil they were cooked it would be as close to gluten free as it could be.  So far I'm doing good.  I ate a new kind of yogurt on Friday without reading the label first and I paid for it over the weekend.

I see the new Doctor tomorrow afternoon.  Cross your fingers that it is just a gluten allergy and nothing more serious.  This is the best I've felt in a long time.

Follow up from yesterday

The theory is that the colt was so big that he might have had brain damage from being born, but also the blood tests that the vet did before he died are very odd.  The vet thinks that with him being a couple of weeks early, in a first time mare, and being almost too big, ended up just being one thing too many for his little body to handle.

Its very sad, but we are grateful that if something was wrong, he died quickly and surrounded by care and compassion.

Tanker is doing as well as you could expect.  She's out of sorts but not frantic which is a good thing.

This was supose to be a happy post...

I had this written out, and then D messaged me on facebook....

First foal of 2013.  And he made it by 3 days!  This is the foal out of Tanker (Lucas' love pony) and by Chevy.  Hes an average height colt, which is good and bad.  Good because Tanker is short and that is one of the things the owner wanted to improve on, and bad because it meant that he had a bit of a hard time learning how to get his head in the right spot to nurse.  And thanks to Tankers feeding program over the past couple of months he came out with a body looking more like a week old colt than a just born baby.

Hes a dark bay with white on all four legs, a star and a long snip.  So cute! 




I had gone to facebook to grab a photo of the baby to post, and realized that I had a private message from D and C. 

They lost the foal this afternoon.

He was up, he was healthy, passing poop and pee, and eating last night when I saw him.  Tankers poor owner is only 13, the poor kid was so happy last night with the baby. 

This horse thing isn't for the faint of heart.

First post of 2013

And I didn't ride!  D and C's grandson was here so I helped babysit while we continued to clean up from the storm on Sunday (between 30-40 cm of snow!) and did chores for all the horses.  It was a good productive day that made me happy to come home and warm up this afternoon. 

So although not much progress was made in my riding goal, I kept up with my fitness goals so it was a good trade off!

I've also decided to stop one of the pain killers that I've been taking at night for about 2 years now.  We started it when I was having trouble sleeping on the Orencia and I thought that I would try stopping it over the holidays to see how I would feel.  Although I did notice the lack of it the first night I haven't noticed a difference since so another pill that I won't have to take any more!