I'm Back!

I'm really sorry it's been forever, (almost 6 months I think?) A lot has happened and I've finally got an updated browser at work that allows me to update blogger! So the biggest news is that I've moved in with my boyfriend! Our place is about 20 min from the city in a near by resort town. The town only has about 5000 people in the winter, but almost triples in size once the spring hits.

G is amazing. Caring, loving, understanding of my RA and of the side effects that come with it. We've managed to merge two lives into one without any drama or issues what so ever. I never knew how easy a relationship could be until I met him. Not that every day is perfect, we have our bumps in the road, but loving him is easy.

On the horse side, I've been riding a couple of times each month on good old Lucy, G has even gone and ridden her! He's really good with the horses but a bit nervous in the saddle. Lucy kept sneaking looks at me while he walked and jogged her around. She wasn't real impressed to have a new beginner but she was very good for him. He's never ridden much but he's really looking forward to going to some shows this summer.

We're going to hit a couple of small shows that Lucy's young lesser is more than happy to let me ride her in a couple of Sr classes so I get to go to some of the shows.

Chilly is still working out for her new family although it kills me to watch them ride her. But I knew going into it she was going to be sold, and that I couldn't afford her. I just wish they could have sold her a little bit further away.

I promise that I will update more frequently in the future! First show is on July 4th

Final show with Chilly

Well today was a very bittersweet day, my last show with Chilly. We ended up High Point Senior Green Horse (won all of her green classes), and got 2nd in one of our AQHA NA showmanship classes. Our High Point award was a trophy chair, my first one ever!

This means that Chevy has now produced a point earner (well 1/2 a point) in his first foal crop!  I'm so happy of that, I belive in him and in his foals and its nice to show that to the rest of our showing community.

If you had told me a year ago that I would be helping to break out and ride a three year old all winter and spring and then showing her all summer and loving it I would have called you a liar. However the real risk takers were D and C, they gave me the opportunity to ride and show a great horse, when my health hasn't been the greatest (and there were a few people who questioned my decision to ride a green horse!). This summer we've shown what great minded and quality horses they are producing. Sure there were days when I had to take care of Chilly, but there were days that Chilly really took care of me. I did shed a tear or two on the way home, but the closing of one door just means another is opening up just around the next bend.

Our show was great, our final showmanship pattern for the AQHA class was one of our best, and she was fantastic in the ring to show in the pleasure classes.  In our first pleasure class we actually had to go against the assistant trainer of my former boss riding one of his horses.  Chilly was great and won the class.  Normally the old boss can be grumpy when his student get beat but he came over afterwords and congratulated me on my win.

Lucas was at the show, and totally bombed out the first day in showmanship.  So although I hate stepping on toes I asked 'I' if I could tune them up a little bit the next day.  I've forgotten how much fun showmanship was with him.  In under 30 seconds it was like we hadn't been apart for 3 years.  'I' then went in and got 2nd in a tough class filled with kids prepping for congress.

Although Chilly's showmanship is good, she'll never be the showmanship horse that Lucas was, but her slower mind (she needs a moment to process the command then preform that command) means that she'll never be the spooky hot horse that Lucas was either.

And in a month I will finally move out of my parents house and into my own place.  My parents took me back in when I got sick, then kept me while I went back to school and then while I paid off student loans from going back to school.  It will be my first time living on my own with RA.  I still have the lease on Oscar for two months, and his owners have told me that even when that is over if I'm home, to take him for a ride.  My brother is also getting married in October so the next couple of months will be busy!

Chilly had her head twisted to look at the horse being bathed next to the ring but I love this shot anyway.

Off topic,

Chilly is good, as we near the end of my 'lease' were starting to do the advertising, and test rides that come with putting a horse up for sale.  I'm a bit sad about it, but I knew going in that this was not a horse I could purchase, and that we would have fun together this summer but go our separate ways in the end.

We had a person come and try her out last week.  It was hard having someone pick your pony apart and watching her ride, but Chilly handled herself wonderfully, and was excellent and I was so pleased with how she behaved with a strange rider on her back.

We're talking about putting Lucy back to work and I think she's 50/50 on that idea, I moved her to a new pasture today and after I turned her loose, I tried to catch her again to fix her halter and she casualty walked quickly away, I think she liked the new grass more than me!

In other RA related news, one of my side effects of my drugs has been extreme hair loss/thinning of all of my hair.  On one hand it means I only shave my legs about every two weeks in the summer, on the other, my hair on my head is desperately thin and you can see my scalp all over. When I put my hair up in a pony tail I have a hard time finding elastics small enough, and my pony tail is much thinner than the thickness of a person's baby finger (think about the thickness of a pencil, and that is all of my hair).

My brother is getting married in October and my biggest worry is how my hair (or lack of) was going to look in all of his photos.  Apparently my mom was thinking the same thing, last night she picked me up at work and we spent just over 2 hours at a hairdresser/wig shop.

And we came home with a hair piece.  I wasn't sure about the entire process but I love the final look.  Its so easy to put on, just 4 little hair clips, and it looks like my hair!  The girls at work will know is different, but everyone else was so used to seeing me in ball hats they just thought I got my hair highlighted and better shaped.

Home from the show

And I'm so happy with how Chilly went this weekend!  We came home with the high point Walk-Jog 18+ horse! 

We had a great ride in the big scary arena, (Its a hockey rink in the winter, so 4 foot high white boards, topped with plexiglass which reflects just about everything when the light hits it right)  She's so good to take to new places.  Our only hiccup was that we couldn't get her nose clipped, and as she was really getting pissed off at us for trying to clip (or even shave with a safety razor) we decided that it was going to have to wait for another day, rather than making her hard to bridle and halter for the next couple of days.  I was exhausted after being up at 4 am to get to the show and it was 9 by the time I got to the hotel to go to bed.

We were 8th in halter out of 13 (not bad for a slightly down hill 3yo).  Really happy with how quiet she stood for all of the horses to be judged, and she stood right next to the rail with people going up and down the stands to the stairs and just 'people watched' while waiting for the judge.

I made a major mistake in our showmanship class, I completely forgot the back up!  But Chilly really tried, she moved one foot out of the set up but then put it back into place when I asked her.  She did most of her pivot, only slid her pivot foot a little (but didn't lift it).  The judge came up to us after the class and wanted to know how old Chilly was, (she said "I could see by her sweet little face she was just a youngster") and told me that we were bang on with our pattern, and that "you were so confident trotting off at the end of the pattern that I didn't even realize you forgot a movement until I looked at my score sheet".  She then wished me luck for the rest of the weekend.  (We got 4th out of 4)

After that I was done so I went back to my hotel had a nice 2 hour nap and a shower, Chilly took the opportunity to have a nap as well!  I rode her again that night and then put her to bed.  I iced my foot that night which helped with the swelling and pain but it was not a good foot day on Saturday,

Sunday morning started off with trail, she's never done a gate, or a bridge, but we tried it anyways.  It took a couple of tries to get close enough to the gate for me to grab a hold of it then I walked her though and tried to back her up so I could close it.  Although she proved she was quiet enough to do it, she's not broke enough to know how to side pass/turn enough to get me close enough to actually finish closing the gate!  So I ended up dropping the rope, but so pleased that she got close enough for me to do 1/2 of the obstacle.  We then jogged though the cones and around small trees, and then into a back though T set up near a John Deer Gator.  She was at first more interested in the tractor than the back up but refocused.  Her rider however did the back up the wrong way (Should have ended up with our back to the next obstacle but we did the wrong end of the T and were facing it) so we went back into the tail of the T and did it the correct way and finished the obstetrical.  We did ok with the trot poles, and she ALMOST went over the scary bridge, but it had 2 detachable ramps on either side and we think that when her hind feet went on the ramp it might have moved and that's when she decided to back off it.  The bridge was black and orange, with 4 trees and tree truncks surrounding it but it was the movable parts that worried her!  We won trail as we did more of the stuff correctly than any of the other horses, even with all our mistakes.

She was super good in pleasure and managed to beat a big money 3 year old from a famous breeder in the USA that was in the class as a warm up for its breed classes later this summer.  Her only fault was that she was curious about what was going on outside of the ring, she would have rather people watched that jogged around.  It was very nice to be called in first from that class!

Command class was next and we were well matched with our toughest competitor until they called for a halt, then a turn on the haunch, at which point Chilly decided that she had enough of pretending to be a grown up horse and showed that she can still be a bit of a baby, and did only half of a turn before moving both front and hind feet to finish the turn.  We got called in for second place, but she had been so good up to that point, and I was so happy with her performance.  (They even called for an extended trot, then back to a jog and she didn't break, but came back to a soft western jog again).

Our last class was horsemanship, and we were alone in the class and won, but she did a great pattern, and she did it all alone in what can be a very scary arena.

Now I'm home resting and unpacking from the horse show.  Next one is the 6th of July at home for me, hoping to be loping much more by that point but we might do one more walk/trot show before moving up to loping.  If so I'm going to dust off Oscar for the horsemanship and open trail!  

The show is this weekend

I have to apologize for my lack of posts over the past two weeks.  My computer at home is in the slow process of dying, going to the blue screen of death about every hour or so that I have it open, and my work computers internet browser doesn't like Blogger.

Chilly is really starting to come along, and show that she's ready for the pressure that we're applying.  I'm loping a bit, D is loping a lot more, but that's how we starting trotting as well.  We've added trail obstacles (cones, back though, and multiple trot poles) as well as patterns under saddle and on the ground for showmanship.

Today though my glands in my neck started swelling (the ones right under my ears) which meant that instead of going to ride tonight I went to my doctor, got a prescription, and I'm now home 'resting' which means writing here, doing laundry and packing. 

It would be so nice to not have to worry about my health for a while, I know I'm luckier than some but it still sucks not to be able to do the things I want because I'm always worried that I'm going to get sick, or I am sick, or that I'll be to tired...

2ND clinic and first time off the farm

Well it was an interesting weekend.  I was scared to death that Chilly would be crazy but she was absolutely excellent.  We didn't get as much help as I would have liked from the clinic, but it was such a good weekend with Chilly that I didn't mind that much.

Stuff that Chilly has now done that she's never done before-

-got on a trailer
-ridden in a strange pen
-ridden in a huge outside pen.
-got used to an announcing system
-got used to crowds and people walking around the show ring.
-ridden in spurs
-Stayed in a new barn for a couple of nights
-Ridden with more than 3 horses in the ring (9!)

I really wished I had been loping more, and I would have gotten more out of the clinic but I just wasn't ready.  Somtimes that happens.  But J was very happy with the progress that she's made at the jog and that if we work as hard at the lope as we have with the jog we will be on our way..

Chilly was very board at being stuck in her stall all weekend though.  We had a good ride on Saturday, but after that it was too crazy with the trade show to take her out and she was a bit stiff and pissed at me by the time Sunday came around.

The security guards told us she kicked most of the night so its something we'll need to keep an eye on at the shows.  She also managed to kick a board out of her stall on Saturday night, but she didn't hurt her self, so that was a good thing.

And then even though I played it safe (bed every night by 9, staying warm and dry, not walking on concrete too much) I'm home sick today.  This sucks.  Why can't I have a good weekend with my friends and horses without getting sick?

Why hasn't winter ended!

Its snowing, again.  It was so bad this am we had to turn around and come home instead of heading to work.  It was pure ice on the road, with blowing snow, and ice pellets going on top of that. 

This weekend I had a ride on C's Appaloosa which was interesting.  I didn't lunge her nearly enough at the beginning and had a slight rodeo ride when she decided she was still very fresh!  (She hadn't been ridden in several weeks).  Other than that I had a good ride, trying to fix my bad habits that Oscar has instilled in me.  Mostly my locking hips at the lope. 

Thankfully my chiropractor was able to work on me this past Monday, and I did try to loosen up a bit on trotting Oscar on Tuesday but its something I'm going to have to work on.

I also had a bit of a weird moment on Tuesday.  Dr O had talked about getting my thyroid checked again but I never thought anything of it until the lab test paper came a couple of weeks ago.  I took it in on Tuesday and found out it wasn't from my Rheumatologist but from the Endocrionologist (they both work in the same building at the same hospital).  Turns out its been 5 years since the lump on my thyroid stabilized.  Hopefully the tests that we'll do this year will let me sleep easy for another 5 years.

Spring is coming, I hope

Well good news, bad news (like normal *sigh*).  Thanks to everyone that works on my floor at work being sick with the cold, I now have the cold as well.  Which is why I'm sitting home on a night that I would normally be at the barn.

Good news is that I did have a good ride on the weekend with Oscar, and Chilly continues to progress with D.  The co-op student at the barn rode her last week, and she went very well for him.  I hope to be back on her in a couple of weeks.  She is lacking speed or impulsion, but that can be taught, the fact that shes not in a big hurry to go anywhere is good for her future as a western pleasure horse.

So we have a clinic coming up on April 1st with Lucas's old trainer at our barn, and just found out today that we can get into another clinic the first weekend in May with the same trainer.  That will be good to have a follow up on what we have or have not accomplished in a month, but its also at the show grounds where the AQHA and APHA shows are held that we hope to go to by the end of the summer.  It will be a good chance to get her off the property, to a new place without the stress of a show and we'll have some extra hands on deck if I need them.

It will be nice to have an outside perspective that we (D and C and I) know and trust that can let us know if she's as nice as we hope she is.

Some days I dont even know I'm sick

And there are weeks like this when it just sucks.  Right now I'm up for a possible promotion at work, but due to my sick days/personal days the head boss is hesitant to give it to me.  Considering that since Christmas I have had one sick day (the day after I was in a car accident), and missed a total of 2.5 days for Doctor appointments, it sucks.  These are not "my kid has the flu" sick days.  My surgeon  is in a city an hour and 45 min away from work (which means another hour from home).  My CAT scan took 20 minutes of appointment time but 3 and 1/2 hours driving.  Its not like I can say "sure just let me say no to the surgeon appointment that I've waiting 4 months for because you want me sitting at my desk".  Sigh.  And no my work is not suffering.  My direct team lead wants me in the new position.

I wanted to include this link from Lene Andersen Pluck - and I wanted to quote the following passage

" that's the tricky bit, because traditionally, yes, the public only wants to hear from people who "overcome" the challenges of illness. They don't want to hear about the daily struggle unless it culminates in an achievement, unless you're the plucky kind, preferably pretty enough to qualify for poster child status, the one who can smile through the hardship, remind the great unwashed of how lucky they are to be healthy. And you know what? There is no overcoming of disability. Because a chronic condition doesn't improve, you cannot conquer it, you cannot defeat it. Arthritis doesn't go away. Neither does MS, ALS, spinal cord injuries, muscular dystrophy, many types of blindness and deafness. There is only living with it, coexisting - sometimes uneasily, sometimes not. Having a disability is part of what you are, what you do. Sometimes it's a small part and sometimes, it overwhelms the rest. But what remains is this: you live your life anyway. And to the aforementioned great unwashed, this apparently looks like plucky overcoming and I'm not quite sure what they expect - that people with disabilities should curl up in a fetal position and a whimper the rest of our days? Continually bemoan our wretched state? Off ourselves as living without walking is a fate worse than death (an act which many able-bodied people have told me would be their response to disability)?...And I think that's part of the reason why we blog and write: to remove the patina of Other. To document how, within our different experience, we are not different. And most of all, to take the language back from being filtered through the able-bodied perception of disability and illness and ensure that the voices that tell our stories belong to us."

I love this, I put a brave face on all the time, people call me courageous. I'm not. I'm just living my 'life'.  It does suck sometimes.  And yes I do curl up in a ball and cry some days.  But I don't have much of a choice.  This is my life I have to live it the best I can.  Just some days I really want people to understand that there are challenges that I need a hand with or understanding from, without having to tell them EVERYTHING.  I shouldn't have to tell my boss that my bones in my feet are fusing together to have him understand that I need a couple of days to meet with a surgeon.  We live in Canada, if I got in to see a surgeon this quickly something must be seriously wrong.   

Anyways back to the horses!


My ride on Tuesday was ok, (but it was cold) my ride on Thursday sucked, my back and hips were locking up when I tried to lope.  Poor Oscar was trying but he was getting frustrated with me bouncing around on his back... So we gave up, and just walked and jogged.

Today I was going to have a lesson but my right foot was killing me, so we called off the lesson (and D went and tacked up Chilly so I could finally watch her go).  And I rode Oscar around on my own for 20 minutes.  Oscar is such a good boy.  I kicked him by accident when I was trying to get him to lope off, couldn't get a easy squeeze, but my leg did move!  Poor boy just grunted and loped off. 

So I did get to watch Chilly!  And D loped her both ways, and rode her in the bit for the walk/trot portion.  She looks so grown up now, she's really looking like a grown mare and not a baby any more.  He's also got her standing still at the mounting block so he can get on her, getting her used to doing it now, which will be a big help for me.  Shes loping good, her head is up, (of course) but willing to go where D points her, and her legs are SOOO good! 

First lesson of 2014

And oh boy it was a work out.  D is funny, you think he isn't watching you when you ride on your own but then you go in for a lesson and 15 minutes in, he's found each and every hole in your training that you've glossed over for the past 3 months! 

So he has me lifting and pushing Oscars shoulders around, working on loping transitions (jog a sharp turn lope, jog a sharp turn, lope all around the arena off the rail).  All with a loose rein, only picking up to turn, which is hard for me, I like contact!  We were loping circles at one point and D goes "loose rein"  And I go "I know its just so hard to let go!"  he just about fell off the mounting block laughing at me.  Anyways it was good to get back in the swing of things and Oscar wasn't nearly as grumpy after our lesson as he was when I ride him alone, even though he was sweaty.  I think I'm picking on him too much, and the constant reminders from D to "let go" prove that.

Chilly is going really great, I'm hoping to watch D ride her tomorrow.  Hes been riding her at the walk/jog a bit at the end of each ride with the bit in her mouth, but doing the warm up/canter work with a side pull.  She's doing much better and is apparently really coming along.

In the foot news, I've taken to putting my orthotics in everything but my riding boots (normally they live in my sneakers that I wear for work/driving).  I've also dug out some big old spurs, not so much for more spur but because they are kicked in and bend toward the horse which means I don't need to move my foot/ankle very much to use it.  With those two modifications my foot was much better today when I came home from the barn. (Although my hips and legs are sore from riding).

I also go for my CAT scan on Monday, not the 3 months that I thought it would take to get an appointment!  And I go back to the surgeon the next Wednesday after that!

My equine dignosis..... I have navicular

So good news, bad news... No immediate surgery, but we have a plan.  Bad news is that there is very little joint space around the navicular bone, some bone wear and damage.  Really bad news (which I am just figuring out now) is that there is no replacement for that area...

So for now the plan is that we get a CAT scan done of both feet in the next couple of months, then Dr. M will figure out how much bone wear there is in that area, and figure out if this is a 5-10 year plan (slow bone wear) or a 2 year plan (quicker bone wear) for surgery.  He's also going to get a new set of orthotics done up that will support and protect the worn area of my foot, and help me walk better.  (sounds a lot like navicular in a horse doesn't it!)

I'm a little less worried now that I've met the surgeon. .Hes a couple of years older than me (long enough out of school that he most likely won't make a rookie mistake but young enough to know the new technology.)  But very nice and willing to explain everything very well and asked us questions to make sure we understood what he was talking about.  His wife also rides at my old boss's place so we had a laugh about horse people when I told him I rode on my broken foot. (When I originally broke it in 2003 I got x-rays, but was told it was a bad sprain.  I went back to work, taped up my foot and started flatting my afternoon horses.  I couldn't put any weight on the stirrups, so I didn't do more than walk/trot.  Next day they called me and told me I broke it but even then I didn't realize how bad it was until the vet got there and I told him what happened and he flipped out on me that I was walking on it.  An hour later and I was in a 1/2 cast for 6 weeks.)

So I'm kind of disappointed that it wont be an easy (well relatively) joint replacement surgery and done, its going to be more difficult than that unfortunately.

Surgeon appointment tomorrow (for real this time)

This time tomorrow we'll know what the surgeon thinks of my ankle.  If you can, cross your fingers for me.  As much as I want it fixed, September or October would be a much better time to be laid up for a couple of months!

In Chilly news the equine dentist came out this week and did find 2 retained caps.  She pulled those two and did a little bit of maintenance work.  So Chilly's been on vacation this week, while she got over the visit.  Today I took her out and lunged her with a bit in.  Although she was still fussy at a halt and walk she was much better when she was working and busy.  D will start riding her again this week.

Oscar and I are having some minor issues.  We're getting board, and need something to keep both our minds busy.  Its not that either him or I are being bad or mean to each other but I think that he thinks that I'm picking on him.  And I am.  I expect perfection and his aging body cant handle that any more. 

Scary but good news

On Wednesday night I came home to a phone call from an orthopedic surgeon located about 2 hours away.  (only 20 minutes from the old boss's place) Thinking I would now get an appointment 2-5 months away, when I called on Thursday morning I was surprised by the receptionist asking if I could come THIS Monday.  Even the receptionist at my RA specialist was surprised when I told her when my appointment was. 

So now we go on Monday morning to get a ton of x-rays done before I see him.  He sounds like he runs a good office as his receptionist was very understanding of the distance we were traveling and told me that I would have lots of time to ask him questions, and not to worry if we got held up in x-ray before my appointment.

I'm scared but hopeful. 

On the horse front Chilly is doing excellent with D.  Hes ridden her about 3 times this week and is really pushing her to jog and use her body.  Hes getting her tired, but shes staying sweet and happy at the end of the rides which is what we all want.   I went out on Thursday night and did some showmanship with her and she was excited to see me and get some cuddles while we practiced setting up, turns and trotting. 

I got some pictures of her on my cell phone that I will try to add later.  She looks so grown up now!  And so much like her mother!

I got to ride Oscar Monday and Tuesday.  Took Wednesday off to do some laundry (and googling the new doctor) and did showmanship with him on Thursday as well.  He also got some free time in the arena and rolled a bunch and then spent the rest of his time pretending to be scared of the cow.  Shes been in that location for over 3 months, you think he would get over it already!

Did it.

It's -15C, I have RA, I have an ankle that needs replacing, wrists that no longer function, and I need to loose more weight.

But tonight I tacked Chilly up, lunged her for 10 minutes, got the mounting block out (C held her just in case) and I got on Chilly.  Alone with no one else in the arena with us, I walked her around, stopped her, turned her both directions, and backed her up.  

She was so solid underneath me.  Even grown up, broke horses can be 'funny' with a new rider for a circle or two until they figure out the new person.  Not with her, she wanted to follow C, but once I encouraged her to walk away she listened to me.  

What a great ride.

Things are moving faster... at least for Canada

So with the health care system in Canada things can move slowly or quickly, but either way its free!

So we went from a possible 5 year wait time, to less than 2 years in the past week.  I have referrals in to 3 surgeons but the one who will actually do the surgery will most likely see me after another surgeon has passed me on again.  Good news is that my family doctor went to school with the ankle surgeon, and thinks that with my history it should be 2 years or less. (And will be sending an email to the surgeon personal email)

So I still have a long process in front of me, but its a much shorter wait that I thought it was.

The weight loss is going good, down the 3 pounds I gained in September and October, and back on track again.  (Tonight was treat night and I got a burger from Wendy's!)

I did end up doing showmanship with Chilly last weekend, she was very smart and remembered her 'lessons' from when she was a yearling on setting up and standing still.  Also got her to trot in hand and we tried a pivot or two just to ease her into it.

Monday I lunged Oscar and did showmanship and on Tuesday I rode for about 20 min, just to get back into it.  On Monday we got a new sale horse into the barn and I got to ride him on Thursday night!  Hes so much smoother than Oscar!  But was a little 'lookie' and I am glad that Oscar is so solid and non spooky. 

It was fun to get on a new horse and learn and adapt to him quickly.  I'm hoping to start riding Rusty soon, to get more horsey experience under my bum before it comes time to ride Chilly.

Oh and I tried to get pictures of me in my chaps, by myself, but that didn't work.  I need practice with my selfies!  

Another lung infection

Sometimes this autoimmune illness sucks.  My cold from Tuesday turned nasty overnight (maybe I shouldn't have gone for a ride, but I needed a pick me up).  Thankfully my family Dr has a prescription for antibiotics on file for me at all times so I called that in and started them on Wednesday.  Good news is I'm starting to feel better and will get to go out to the barn this weekend.  I hope to see D ride Chilly even if I don't get to ride Oscar.  I think Chilly needs to start working on showmanship as well.

In absolute amazement, last week my parents agreed to buy me chaps from Hobby Horse for Christmas!  Normally they don't like buying me anything 'horsey' so I was super happy and excited for them to agree to purchase them for me.  A friend tried to pick some up for me at Congress but the online price was better, so on Monday night I ordered them and they arrived today!  I ended up getting the elastic inserts to help with zipping, and with getting on and off the horse.  They would have fit without them but I love the extra bit of stretch when I lift my legs!  This is the first pair of new chaps I have ever owned, and I cant wait to show in them this summer. 

Sometimes being right isn't all its cracked up to be

 My bad thoughts about my right ankle (that I originally broke in 2003) were proven correct in my MRI last week. 

There is little to no cartilage left, and significant damage done to the bones due to the lack of cartilage. This means that we start the process of either fusing or replacing the joint. There are very few doctors that will replace ankles (or fuse them) in the maritimes, so its good that we are starting the process now while I am still able to function *almost* normally on a day to day basis. 

The good news is that the new ankle 'joints' are lasting up to 15 years and the technology can only improve while I wait. 

For now nothing changes, any surgery will be at least a year away (rough estimate from Dr. O) as I can function reasonably well on a daily basis at this point. And although the above is bad, all my other joints have significantly decreased swelling, and all my lab results continue to improve. I'll use the time until the future surgery to loose more weight so that I'll be ready when the time comes.

In horse related news Oscar and I went on a 'trail ride' in the outdoor last night.  I was down in the dumps a bit because of the bad news from the doctor, but I still have a bad cold, so I lunged him outside then we walked around the outdoor and over and around the trail obsticles that were still set up just to get us both moving.  We even saw a fox (Oscar wasn't spooking from it but way too interested for me to try and reach for my camera to try and take a picture!) and some Canadian Geese.  

D rode Chilly on Monday and was going to wait for me to come out tonight and he would ride her again so I could see, but I'm sick with a cold.  However he is very happy with her behaviour and eagerness to learn.

I love Oscar, but

I hate his lope.  Its so stiff and bouncy that both of us end up stiff and sore from doing too much of it.  I know he is ride able at the lope, I have seen his owner do it.  And I'm sure that I might not be doing too bad, but it feels awful.  The best thing lately has been to almost be willing to go to a hunter half seat when he gets really bouncy and use my legs to balance on him instead of my seat.  Its working, and shortening my stirrups a hole helped too.  Anyone else have any ideas?

I had my MRI on Monday for my ankle, and my appointment with Dr O is on Tuesday of next week.  Please cross your fingers that they can hopefully figure out why it hurts all the time.  Its starting to drive me nuts.  I feel good, I want to do stuff, but it hurts.

Chilly is fine :) shes growing up in the front end again and is almost level again.  We are hoping to have D start riding her a couple of times a week starting next week, shes ready for a job.

Recovering

I didn't get to ride this weekend, trying to let my body recover so I'll be good to ride this week.  On Saturday I went out and had some 'barn time' and watered the horses for C and D and got caught up on the barn news.

On Sunday I went to the Miramichi (New Brunswick) to visit with my Mom's side of the family.  My Grandfather came from a family of 10, and each of his brothers and sisters each had 4-10 kids each.  Needless to say family reunions are complicated! It was good to see my grandmother see everyone she remembers and my mom had a great time catching up with her cousins.  My Grandmother is loosing some of her memories, mostly her short term memory is slowly getting lost, however she did remember everyone at the lunch.  Shes 85, so occasional forgetting that she already asked a question is not the end of the world.

In horsy news, Oscar will go back to being my part time pony at the end of August.  I'm looking foreword to riding him again and to see if I can handle his lope better now that I have more saddle time under my belt.

Just when everything is going good...

My car breaks... the only good thing is that I had taken it into the shop to have it checked out because it was 'vibrating' somewhat.  You know us riders, we can feel when something is off.  Anyways they thought an alignment and tire rotation would take care of the issue but promised to check it over just as a precaution.  Turns out a part was wearing out in the hind end of my car :(  Thankfully they were able to slip the part into my warranty (got to love Kia's 100,000 km warranty!)  However that was Wednesday and the garage still hasn't received the part (now Friday).  They gave me an SUV the first day, but it was a demo and got sold from out from underneath me and I now have a Rio.  Its a cute little car, and if my car keeps breaking I might end up in one sooner rather than later.

Second part, Wednesday I was fine, had a decent ride on Lucy with Oscars' owners riding him.  My neck was a little sore but I thought I had twisted funny at work and ignored it.  By 2 am the glands in my neck were rock hard and hot and I was running a temp.  I couldn't sleep because they hurt so bad so off to the ER I went.  Fastest I have ever been seen (in and out in under 30 minutes) but got sent home with just some antibiotics.  I did have a no related appointment with my doctors wife (who is a nurse practitioner) that afternoon and she took one feel of my neck and got me an appointment with my family doctor for Friday.

By the time I saw him today the glands had started to go down but he was still concerned about them, and my ears.  So antibiotics for a week, rest over the weekend, and if that doesn't make me better by Monday I get stronger drugs :{

In horsey news Oscars' owners have asked me if I would like to lease him again for the winter.  I think I am going to do that.  Hes a fun horse to ride and it will keep me in the saddle all winter.  I'll have to keep my eyes open for something to show again next year but that is nothing new.  I think I'm going to try and do some low level dressage with him, something different for both of us.  I think this year though I'm going to insist that he stays in a box stall all winter (we got bumped to a straight stall because I wanted him in the main barn) and I'm going to look into getting some mats for him.  His stifles get sticky if he's confined and I think that a box would be better than a straight for the days they are stuck inside due to the weather.  So we'll see how it goes!