Happiness is ... Back in the Saddle Again!!

It has been three months since the ankle injury and today I got back in the saddle! We went for a simple walk but it felt great! The new bigger mounting block helped with mounting and I was able to just dismount by slipping off onto the good right leg. Frank was a gentleman and was happy to just walk around the back fields. The ankle feels OK just does not bend right and I really can't put much weight in that stirrup but I can't tell you how wonderful it felt to ride. Three months has seemed forever!   The best Christmas present is one's health!
 

Riding...sorta!

On a physical therapy bike...working towards the real thing.  Ankle is getting stronger and I am chomping at the bit, tho it is the thought of mounting, using that ankle which stills makes me gulp! Hopefully by Chistmas I can ride.  Thankgiving was lovely but quiet this year as all the kids were travelling.  Always lots to be thankful for, our health, kids and grandchildren, and orthopedic surgeons !!! Hope everyone has a great holiday season.
 

Hand walking ....

 I was fit enough to watch the grandkids for the weekend! These two little ones are a joy to have around and if I can't ride, then I'll happily be Grandma. Handwalking is going well. This is two months post injury and the ankle break seems stable enough to take steps even without the cane.  The doc says no boot by  December so I ordered a "big" mounting block. Shipper said they are having supply chain problems so ... fingers crossed, soon to be back in the saddle. Friends are keeping the horses fit and I, meanwhile, discovered Tik Tok!  There are some really hilarious, stupid ways to waste time on the internet and I found some very exotic horse breeds.

Stall rest....

I'm on stall rest. I have so much more empathy for my horses when they suffer an injury and need to heal. Pain sucks, it wears away at you. Resting is boring. I understand stall walking and cribbing, both take the mind off the tingling nerve pain. But I also acknowledge the wonder of modern medicine. The first picture is my leg at six weeks post -op. The compound fracture wound is healed and I can almost see both sides of my ankle bones. Amazing! Everything was broken and now it is put back together and I am so grateful to my ortho surgeon. It is really stiff and the pins and needles of nerve "regrowth" is pretty bad at night. I can get around on the crutches some, tho its tiring . I can start to use a cane in a couple weeks and hopefully by mid December be walking "normally".  I am hoping to ride mid January! I guess that will depend on weather.  I asked Mike to build me a bigger mounting platform because the idea of mounting and  dismounting is a little daunting. Though for inspiration I have a good friend who recovered from a similar injury to both legs and who is now riding and showing successfully! So I got this and I'm trying to appreciate that I can get away with basically doing nothing for a bit longer . Meanwhile Danny is enjoying hunting for me!

                                                                                                                   

 

Contemplation....

This is the view I am missing. Missing it in my bones, in my breath, in my soul. I know everyone who has ever been hurt feels the same hole. It is the tough part of healing. I can take pain pills, I can read, watch TV, ask Alexa to find music, but nothing really fills the empty space where my wild child played. 

I am lucky that I can watch my horses a little bit in the fields near the house. With the screen door open I can even yell their name and say " I'm still here". The ears prick for a moment, they look up at the door, then go back to munching hay in the feeder. Maybe they heard me, maybe...  

To while away the time I give them human characters as I watch. My only mare, Polly, is Angelina Jolie. Beautiful, difficult, finnicky, kinda likes to be alone but really wants to be appreciated. Don't push her too hard!  There are two geldings in the side field.  Bull, my daughter's horse, who is the "perfect horse", I call him George Clooney. A gentleman, he would hold the door, pull out your chair, wait patiently for you to be ready. He's perfect. My daughter loves him. His pasture mate, Beau, is young and eager. He reminds me of Kevin Hart, fast-talking, kinda loud and aggressive in a nice way. He wants to please but can't contain his enthusiasm sometimes. He bites everyone like a puppy except Bull, so they live together.  I have three OTTB geldings that are my main foxhunters. One, who I have earlier referred to as Brad Pitt, has gone to be a huntsman's horse in Virginia. He is doing great they say. The other two boys keep each other company close by. Frank is a plain brown package and I call him John Krasinzki. He is rugged handsome, strong and take care of business ( think Jack Ryan). I feel safe with him ( the horse), he never spooks or tries to be difficult. He enjoys his job. Then there is Punch, my tall, gangly goofball. He reminds me of Ryan Gosling, ( mainly in Remember the Titans). I worry he will tangle up his legs sometimes so I don't ask him to jump big fences.  He is honest and willing,  just a little off-balance.

Then there are two retirees in the back field who live with my husband's Quarter horse, Raider. Raider is like Dave Bautista. Big, solid, a guy of few words, a few tattoos and needs to be give directions. You want him on your side. Bob, the old chestnut was my husband's first horse, he is now almost 30, which is very old for a Quarter horse. And he seems alright. A Robert Duvall, been there, done that, a wise man. He is very cool. Last but not least is my retired foxhunter, Red.  I asked my vet if horses get dementia because Red seemed to lose his mind about two years ago. Trembling and spooking at ghosts, he seemed to forget how to be ridden. After being bucked off him when he spooked at a stick I decided he had earned a life of leisure with Bob. I would call him Mel Gibson! Very handsome but he lost his mind and got dangerous. I leave him alone now and am always careful around him!  

These are the things that take up the hours while the leg heals. Let me know who comes to mind when you  give your horse a character!  Watch the Maryland 5-star this weekend on MPT tv - should be awesome.
 

Danny Boy has a new job

I gave my lovely Thoroughbred, Danny Boy, to Tim at Bull Run to use as a huntsman's horse while I am recuperating. He is young and did not need to just sit around for months. He seems to enjoy his new job and I hope he takes care of Tim as he did me. ( not the one I came off). He had a good race career and has become a great hunter, with a powerful, nice jump. Likes to be in front which is why I let Tim use him this fall. I love him and call him, my "Brad Pitt" horse. The kind of chestnut every one wants. Thank you Laura Roadcap!

Apparently he does not like the hound trailer- probably says it smells like hounds! But he looks good and I know he will have fun in Virginia.

Tomorrow the TAR Field Hunter Championship starts, at Bull Run. I was going to be there on another TB, Frank, who is better in the field. Hard to ask whip horses to go in field but he was the easiest of mine to do that transition. Oh Well! Not this year. Good luck to everyone. It is the most fun and I am sorry to miss. I will be eagerly looking forward to the photos!  

The leg feels better elevated, so I am trying be a good patient. Rather be riding but watching football will work today. I have been enjoying listening to music ( Thank you Alexa), old songs I remember but never hear on the current kind of radio stations. I am fortunate to have a friend to keep riding all the other horses. Even Michael's Quarter horse will get to go occasionally. I watch as she goes by the window and it is fun to see what my horses look like! I actually never see them that way. And she keeps me up to date on all the news and stories. I love that my MD huntsman gives me a little comment about the day's hunting afterwards, so I can still feel connected. It all helps. Thanks guys!
 

 

Princess Blue Sparkles

 

This is my new "Princess  Blue Sparkle" cast! I thought my granddaughter would appreciate, hopefully she can sign it. So ten days after accident, they removed one cast to check out repair. If you don't like gruesome pictures don't look at next two. The one shows where the bone went thru skin, the nest shows the repair site. 15 screws and three plates! I'm officially bionic I think. The surgeon was great, said he was pleased and he recommended the Princess Blue color. Love it. This one stays on for 3 weeks then maybe a boot-type!  Yay. Still no weight-bearing, wants me to keep it elevated and just stay quiet.  The former Marine nurse who put on the cast was so funny. Tattooed arms, military haircut, gently forming the cast with blue bandages, he stood and said  'Oh, the sparkles", ran out, returned with a little bottle of sparkles to sprinkle. At this point I felt foolish, said that's OK, but he proceeded to gently sprinkle fairy dust on my cast and with a flourish swept back his hair - leaving a line of Princess Blue Sparkles along his head! He looked great. 

I am now set up with physical therapy appointments in a month  and was told to perhaps renew hydrocodone RX then! Yikes. Trying just Motrin now So I'm on the mend and grateful for visits and cards and food. Thanks so much. My horses seem happy and life goes on.                                                                                                                                                      

What you learn when life deals you a strange hand

Thanks for all the well-wishes and food. I have been hurt before and what I remember is that, after the first PISSED OFF emotions, you surrender.  Surrender to the fact you can not do what you did; you can't just fix the manure spreader, you have to tell your husband how to fix it, you can't just unhook the trailer , you have to tell your husband how to unhook. This is exhausting, the telling part. It requires logical mental steps that are so much easier to just jump over and do yourself. But you can't.

So I try to think about recuperation as a vacation! I don't have to cook 😀,  I don't have to vacuum or dust. I get to read books (good) and listen to stupid TV shows ad nauseaum (bad). My fingernails are clean and not broken, my callused fingers are not aching. Except that is about it. And I want to go see my horses now. 

The photo is the glass of wine I desperately wanted. It was great until The Washington Football Club sucked and lost badly. ( if the Redskins had to change their name why do the Buffalo Bill's not have to? Wild Bill Cody was a notorious Indian killer!) This is what creeps into my thoughts now.

Michael has been great. Even tho' we are not sleeping together ( I would kill him if he knocked my leg in the night), we are happy. He brought me flowers and even cleaned the outside of the windows! He has been telling the horses he did not kill me, that I will be back. He says they are kinda suspicious but will let him pick up feet to check shoes! He even bought a cribbage set so we could learn a new game. We both think it is too complicated! 

I am one week in and have a first doctor visit on Wednesday. I hope they rewrap my leg as the bandage is looking a little rough. Off the hydrocodone mostly and thinking maybe I'll finally finish my Mongolia book.
 

 Unexpected Dismounts

Michael told me this morning that this was the third in as many years. All unexpected, all necessitating a complete stop to hunting 😒 and all a complete bummer. And always "could have been worse"! So I am camped on the first floor ( in front of liquor cabinet 😀) and 6 days into recovery and off the narcotics, so I can drink soon!

Not that I drink much. I was worried I would die of an overdose as the EMT's kept spraying Fentanyl up my nose in the ambulance . Definitely helped with the pain but as a lightweight I was groggily afraid it would be too much. It wasn't. Last Sunday, on a beautiful morning at a nearby foxhunting fixture, my horse scrambled to save himself in an unstable crossing. New trail, below an old drainage pond, it looked fine, but in a blink of an eye it went from OK to disaster.  As I watched his shoulders get above my helmet and I was now behind the saddle, I opted to bail off as he continued to struggle up the bank. Felt my left ankle go 90 degrees to the left and knew it was bad. I don't know if I landed badly or maybe he kicked my ankle as he made it finally up the bank. Horse took off and I howled.  Afraid he would come back immediately, and run over me sprawled in the trickling stream, I thought maybe I should start crawling out! Luckily, a young apprentice whip was with me this day and he radioed for help and rescue began. My wonderful husband arrived on scene to literally carry me out of the stream and the gracious landowner friend arrived with the 4-wheeler to get me up to the ambulance. Several friends were very helpful with all of this and I am deeply grateful to all. My horse was found and all arrived home to barn. I went to ER.

As I had noticed blood dripping out of my left riding boot, I suspected it was a bad break. I told the very young, very nice EMT's to NOT take off my boot as it was holding my leg together. They looked undecided, saying they should stop the bleeding, while I said DO NOT TOUCH MY BOOT.  I have learned from others injuries and knew that I needed the boot to stay until we were in the ER and ready to stabilize leg.  This was the point the Fentanyl started helping.  I realize that one never remembers the ambulance drive. I asked Mike if we had lights on and went past cars. He laughed and said yes.

Had surgery Sunday night, screws and plates etc. Hard cast. Non-weight bearing. Saw the nice ( I think) surgeon briefly who said no walking, no weight-bearing for 6 weeks then reevaluate.  Maybe a shoe by January. At least this is what I remember. Pain drugs tend to make me foggy. This brings me to the picture in front of liquor cabinet because I really want a glass of wine! So trying hard to get by on Tylenol, I hope to have a glass tonight! I have driven my wonderful husband crazy by doing logistics, which is what I do when stressed. Made him clean the windows, dust the furniture, polish the table ( because people will see my house). I miss feeding my horses, I miss feeling their breath on my cheek, I miss riding, I even miss mucking stalls!  Thank you to all who helped. Thank you for all the cards and food and well-wishes. It takes friends for sure !!

A fun February hunt, in between ice storms!

Between ice storms we managed to get out on Wednesday. Almost a staff hunt, there were no more than 5 or 6 field members. Our huntsman, who also trains the occasional Maryland Hunt Cup horse, asked me to take one of the steeplechasers along with me as outside whip. No problem, my horse today was OK with company, so off we went, up the ridge path, keeping the hounds on our right.  We were at Patuxent River Park today which really helped with footing as it had been frozen and muddy. In the woods it wasn't too bad so we were able to trot along on the left side of the ravine. Very muddy in some spots but we were all glad to be able to get out at all. The hounds were a little far to my right so I had to keep stopping to listen but I generally knew the huntsman's pace so just kept trotting parallel. We passed Dead Man's Pond and moved across the field heading to the horse farm crossing. I could hear the horn faintly and kept going towards Knox's. We have had good luck here recently in an area that logged this summer. It is a mess of timbered debris but there are fox! Sure enough the whip behind me Tally-Ho'ed a red fox moving west towards the creek with hounds starting to speak. I told Caroline ( the girl on the steeplechaser) that we were  moving up the hillside to the west hoping to keep the fox in country if he ran towards us.  The hound music was fading so I knew the fox was circling to the south and waited,  knowing he might just make the circle complete. We moved back down and and wouldn't you know it, the fox circled and then hung a right crossing the hill where we had been standing. The huntsman asked if I was still up there and I had to tell him I had moved down and was going to stay quiet hoping to not turn him out of country. Good move! We waited watching hounds on the hill to our left and then, out popped Charles James, right in front of us, heading north. A beautiful big red with hounds about 50 feet behind him. One of our young entry from last year, Xman was right on the line, head down, showing the way. Thus began a run that turned out to be about 15 miles according to one whip. Perhaps a visiting dog fox, or one leading us away from a vixen, whichever, this guy put on some afterburners and took off. The hounds sounded magnificent, all on and running for glory. He circled briefly in the logged area and then our road whip, Mark, announced on the radio that he had just crossed Croom Airport Rd and was heading north. 

The huntsman sent me to the west briefly, galloping along the road. As I approached Croom Acres Rd, another smaller dark red fox dashed across the road right in front of me. I briefly wondered where the heck this one was going as he was running right behind a pack of hounds!  Who knows, maybe it was the vixen?  I checked at Croom Acres RD, listening as I heard Mark say they had turned right towards the Nike base. Now, I don't believe there is a missile base in Croom, MD. We all use landmark names that have funny stories that go with them, unfortunately I do not remember why this is called the Nike base, I just know where it is!  Doing a 180, I reversed and started a long gallop back down Croom Airport Rd. I could hear the hounds on my left and knew they were making much better time than we were so I kept up the gallop and headed straight east. 

 I knew Mark was on the left watching Mt. Calvert RD, the Patuxent River was straight ahead about 2 or 3 miles through the park. Jason, the huntsman, was still on my left so I knew to keep bending right. I also knew there was no way through the big ravine that extended past the Nike station except on the right paralleling Park Headquarters Rd. From years past I knew the quickest way to the river was around the station and find the long path on the right of the big ravine. Our huntsman was trying to stay with hounds as they chased through the woods.  I knew he was going to get caught by the ravine, so I was flat out on the path keeping the sound of hounds to my left. Every once in a while I shouted to Caroline asking if all was Ok. She said yes and kept up. That Hunt Cup horse was going to get his workout today! Later she said she actually had to put leg on the 'chaser for the first time to keep up!  I was proud of my guy and glad for all the muddy, mucky gallops we had been doing to stay fit. It would have been brutal without a fit horse. The huntsman and Mark kept telling me the hounds were heading to the river and just south of Mt. Calvert Rd.  There are some small farms and houses at the river so I was trying to get there fast. We made it to the last gravel road along the river running north and south just as the hounds could be seen in some paddocks along the ravine by the River. Mark is trying to keep them from crossing Mt. Calvert Rd and I'm trying to get eyes on and see if I need to try to stop them. As I watch them crossing back and forth in a paddock to my left I see a man, assuming the landowner, running flat out from a barn towards his house, with the pack of hounds right behind! My heart is pounding and I am hoping he is not running scared of them. At this point I'm yelling, trying to call them.  Jason, the huntsman is blowing and calling and Mark is saying they are behind chickenwire in an alpaca farm !!  Sounded a little dicey but everything was OK. The hounds were slowly coming in to the horn. The fox had obviously completely thrown them off by going through the barn and paddocks. The land owner was apparently OK, said everything was fine. I am thinking maybe he was running to secure a farm dog or something. Just glad hounds were all on and excitement was positive. There were donkeys and minis and alpacas all wide-eyed but cool!

It had been an awesome run after one very fine fox that gave us one of the best hunts of the season. All hounds on and some young puppies had a great day learning what it was all about.  We decided to hack back and people, horse and hounds were happy and tired. Now it is icy and snowy again and we are sidelined until a melt.