The Fall

I am going to try to write about what happened the day of my accident.  Typing is extremely good exercise for my hand, especially now since I'm trying to work my tendons to loosen them up.  This post will probably take me a few days to write since sometimes it hurts too much to write more than a few words.

It started off fine, like any other day at my dads.  We decided to go riding at the end of my dad's road.  This involved a half hour drive in the horse trailer to the end of the road from the house.  My dad, my brother Alex and his girlfriend T were going to go, my dad on his new quad, Alex on Sev, me on Thor and T on Pawnee.  Since we only have a two horse trailer, it'd take three trips, with T and I staying at the end of the road waiting with the horses.

By the time all the horses and the quad were at the end of the road, we had a quick lunch and then saddled up.  My dad went off on his own with the quad and the three of us headed off on the ponies.  It was a beautiful day, warm, not many bugs.  The ponies were being great.  Thor hadn't spooked at anything yet.  We rode, mostly walking and trotting for the first while.  Then, after about four or five kilometres in, we came to a wide, grassy part of the trail and we decided to run.  T and I ended up in the lead, there was more than enough room for the horses to run side by side and everything was great.

Then Thor finally noticed a small stump that had been there the whole time.  To everyone else it looked like a normal, harmless stump.  To Thor I can only imagine it had mile long teeth and claws ready to pounce on him.  He jumped to the right in half a second.  Which would have been fine, I stayed on for that.  What Thor does that is the problem is after spooking to the side, he immediatly jumps right back to where he was originally.  That, combined with the fact that my saddle wasn't quite straight, made it impossible for me to hang on.

I came so close to catching myself but I just coulnd't do it.  I started to fall and the only two things I could think about was not falling on my head and not falling under Pawnee.  He'd been further away but I wasn't sure how close I was to him now.  I fell with one arm tucked against me and one arm outstretched.

From what we've been able to figure out from my arm is that my wrist hit the ground first and then my elbow pounded down into the ground.  All I remember is lying on the ground and the first thought in my head, sorry for the language, was "Holy shit my elbow is broken."  I knew immediatly it was broken.  There was a big ball of pain in my elbow, which doesn't make sense but is the only way to describe how it felt.  My brother looked at me, said, "Good you're alive, i'm going to get your horse."  And then went to get Thor.

I wouldn't look at my arm until T and my brother told me it looked normal.  I was terrified it would be at an odd angle.  It wasn't, thankfully.  My brother didn't believe me it was broken, because it didn't look like the fall had been bad.  However, I was insistant I was going to the hospital now so he was kind of forced to believe me.  T galloped off on Pawnee to go wait at the trailer for my dad, while Alex tried to get a hold of him. 

I remember lying on the ground, thinking of how far I had to walk back to the trailer.  I didn't think i'd be able to do it.  Alex helped me up and slowly we began to walk.  I got two steps and I almost fell over.  I felt like I would pass out.  Alex kept walking far ahead, forgetting I could barely walk and leaving me behind.  At one point he wanted me to get back on Thor.  How, I have no idea. 

I could walk about 10 steps before I'd have to stop because it hurt so much.  Alex kept asking me how it hurt, where it hurt and then going "Oh yeah it's broken" until i told him to shut up and stop telling me it was broken.  My arm was hanging limply at my side and hurt in my elbow and wrist.  I couldn't move my lower arm but I thought that was because of my broken elbow.  I didn't think i'd broken anything else.

We couldn't get a hold of my dad because of bad service so T raided the trailer and came back with the first aid kit.  In my paiin crazed mind I wouldn't let her sling my arm up, because I was afraid I'd damage my elbow more if they bent it.  So the walk continued.  I was so thirsty, more than i've ever been in my life.  The bugs came out and I was getting eaten alive but I couldn't do anything about it.

We finally got a hold of my dad to find out that the quad battery had died.  So he walked up to the trailer and T went to meet him again.  He came on Pawnee and sent my brother with Thor and Sev back.  He walked with me for a bit and then decided to go get the truck.  So because he sent everyone back I was on my own for a bit.  I was just praying this wasn't when a bear decided to come by.

My dad came in the truck and I got in the front seat.  I regret that.  we were on a trail, not a road and the jarring of the truck hurt worse than anything else and finally made me cry.  He drove me to the trailer where he got out and Alex and T got in.  they drove me to the house where they swithced me to T's car, I finally let her slingmy arm and then T drove me to the hospital. 

this is wehre I'm gooing to end this.  Typing is frustrating, I'm a good typer, I write stories in my spare time and now I can barely do it.  I just want to say, I don't blame Thor.  He didn't do it to make me fall, it just didn't work out for me this time.

My second surgery went well and hopefully it won't take me long to recover from this.  I can't tell you how much I miss riding.

Also, i'm all ears for any blog suggestions anyone might have.  I'm so sick of TV so I'm looking for new blogs to read.  Any ideas?

A Brief Update

I love horses, but honestly, the past month has been awful.  I won't go on about it but seriously, breaking your arm sucks.  I miss being able to do all the things I used to.  I especially miss being able to do things with my horses.  A lot has happen, lots of personal issues and not so many horse things.  I have another surgery this Wednesday on my elbow.  Right now there is a piece of bone in my elbow that prevents me from straightning or bending my elbow completely, and a screw has moved out of place so they need to go in and repair it.  I'm kind of freaking out about it, I've been doing well with physio, I've even typed this with both hands although its not easy and takes a long time.  This surgery will put me back where I was after the first one though, unable to use my right hand.  I'm just praying they don't have to do anymore surgeries after this. 

When I can actually type easily I'll tell more about the fall.  It was an awful day.  In other horse news, Artemis no longer looks like a baby.  I don't have any pictures of her but she looks like a real, proper yearling now, without any fuzz.  My brother's girlfriend came out today and she rode both Socks and Jimmy.  She even jumped Socks, I have pictures and videos but I'm not up to uploading them so I'll show them another time.  Socks did great considering we've mostly only jumped out on the trail.  She jumped pretty high too, the highest she's ever jumped.  She knocked down the poles twice and had two refusals but she honestly did great considering its the highest she's ever jumped and the first time she's jumped in over a year, plus it's been basically a month and a little bit since she was ridden last.  I love my horse, she'll do anything you ask of her.

I figured I'd get an update in while I can, especially since typing is very good excericse for my hand.  But because of my surgery I'll be out of the blogging world for a while again.  I hope everyone else is having a better summer than I am!

No Updates

You won't be hearing from me for a while.  I fell off Thor and broke one bone in my elbow and two in my wrist, shattering my wrist.  From where I fell I had a nearly five kilometre walk to where the truck was, a thirty minute drive up a dirt road to the house.  Then it was another fifteen minutes up the pavement to the hospital.  I was transferred by ambulance to another hospital and spent the last four days in the hospital.  I had a seven hour surgery and have three metal plates and 26 pins in my arm.  I've typed this out very slowly on one hand.  I won't be doing any barrel racing, or riding in general for a while.  Theres also going to be no updates from me for a while, its too difficult to type.  I'm just letting everyone know.

Horse Day

This post is long overdue but I haven't felt like typing since it happened.  April 21st my sister, two woman she works with Di and Un, and Di's daughter A came out to have a horse day.  My mom and I arrived at the stable first so we went out and caught Socks and Jimmy and brought them inside.  We were brushing them when the others arrived.  This was not Socks' first time doing the tourist thing, as we always call it, she's done it many, many times and even now, the stable owner's children love helping me brush her so I wasn't concerned about her with them.  It was Jimmy's first time though so we mostly let Un do things with him, since A is only six.  She helped me out with Socks.  She liked helping me clean out Socks' feet.  M helps me all the time and Socks is great about it.  If there's a kid cleaning her foot, she'll let me hold up her leg for however long they need.

I let them all feed Socks treats.  At first A was afraid to but she wanted to try after she watched me do it.  Un and Di also tried and Un and A loved it so much they kept running back to get more treats for her and Jimmy.  I was a little afraid they were going to make them sick.

After teaching them how to groom the horses we took the ponies outside to the grass pens to let them graze while we all ate lunch.  A was so excited to be near them, she kept jumping up and down with excitment outside their pen, begging us to let her in with them (she was not allowed, not unless my mom or I were in with her.) 

After lunch we went out to the pasture to catch Artemis.  She made us walk to her.  A and my mom reached her first.  Ebony and Oceania came running over to us so I stayed with Di and Un as they gave them attention.

Artemis loves little kids.  It probably has to a lot to do with the fact that the stableowners two kids, M and L have been around her since she was born.  A and M are the same age.  She's used to little kids running around her, although I did explain to A she was not allowed to run around them.  She listened to me really well about them at least.

A loved Artemis.  She couldn't understand the different between a weanling and a pony.  She kept calling Artemis a pony and told me she was too big to be a baby horse.  She also telling me that she wanted to ride Artemis since she was the pony.

Un absolutly loved Oceania.  She thought her colour was the prettiest she'd ever seen.  It was hard to tear her away from her.

A really wanted to help me lead Artemis back.  I let her hold onto the end of the lead rope (my lead rope is insanely long) while I did the actual leading.  A didn't notice though and was happy enough.

A helped me brush Artemis and then it was time for them to ride.  A kept bouncing up and down as she waited for us to hurry up and finish saddling.  My sister, Jillian, took Un on Jimmy while I was going to lead A around on Socks.

After they got led around for a while, Di and I walked a few laps around the arena.

Un and I then rode around the arena a few times.  A wanted to race us so as we walked, she ran in front of us.

A then really wanted to race so Un stopped riding Jimmy so A could race Socks and I.  I think my sister captured it nicely in pictures.

The race did not last for long and Socks is still happily undefeated.  I don't have any pictures, but A loved trotting on Socks.  It meant I had to run around the arena with Socks trotting behind me, A yelling "More!  More!"  as she giggled madly.  It was her favourite but I could only run so much before I couldn't do it anymore.    Running in cowboy boots is not that easy. 

It was a long day, six hours out the with horses but all of them were great.  We might have another tourist day in a little while, a friend of my sisters really wants to do her engagement photos with a horse so she might come out and have Socks in the pictures.  It's not for sure yet but it's a possibility.

I'm Back

I'm finally back and am ready to begin blogging (and commenting) on a more regular basis again.  Last year my mom won a weekend long trip to her choice of either Disneyland in California or Disneyworld in Florida.  She chose Disneyland and ended up extending the trip to a week long.  Orignally all four of us were going to go but my brother and sister ended up not being able to come so it was just my mom and I.  We did everything we coudl physically do.  We spent three days at California Adventure park an Disneyland, one day at Seaworld, one day at the San Diego Zoo and one day at Universal Studios.  It was a very busy, fun week but I'm very glad to be home. 

We got home at 4:30 yesterday and as soon as we walked in the house I begged my sister to take me out to see the horses.  It's the longest I've been away from Socks and Jimmy since they came down to the stable and the longest I've been away from Artemis her entire life.  They were very happy to see me.  Jimmy and Socks came right over, Socks kept making her happy motorcycle noise she makes when she's extremely happy to see something (usually reserved for food or her baby, only occasinally for me).  Artemis was the funniest.  As soon as she heard my voice her head shot up and she came thundering over to us.  She followed us as we walked back up the gate, running in circles and playing with Ebony and Oceania.  She's starting to look like an actual yearling instead of a baby.  She's completely shedded out in the front but her sides need a good brushing. 

I was very happy to see them.  We're going out tomorrow, Monday, but I'm not sure if we'll ride.  They all need a good grooming.

Show Names

I'll get around to posting about this day...one of these times.

I honestly didn't expect to be blogging again before I left but we had such a fun time tonight I figured I might as well.  I wasn't even planning on riding, I was so tired and bleh.  We were just going to go deworm Socks, visit Artemis and leave.  Then my mom decided to ride and I figured I might as well ride too.  I'm glad I did.

L, the little girl at the stable, was out hanging with us and she came in the arena as she rode.  She doesn't usually but it was just us and we weren't doing anything, just walking around the edge of the arena.  She apparently decided that was too boring because she got us all involved in a horse show.  It was a decent sized class, ten horses.  There was me on Socks, my mom on Jimmy and then L on her prize jumping horse Max and Isabel, a five time world champion, on her Appaloosa Spots.  I have no idea who the other riders were but they were tough competition for us!

L was both a competitor and the race announcer.  She asked for our horses show names.  Most of our horses don't have one, and by most, I mean only Jimmy and Artemis do.  Artemis is of course, Artemis Areia, this blog is named after her, Areia meaning Warlike.  Jimmy's show name is Mr. Stewart, since he's in part named after Jimmy Stewart (He's also named after the horse in the movie, An Unfinished Life).  Socks doesn't have one.  I like to incorporate their name into their show name and I've never been able to come up with something for Socks.  It doesn't help that I don't like her name to begin with but really, I don't like Clean Socks or anything like that which is waht most people suggest.

I've had Socks for nine years this summer and in that time I've been unable to come up a good show name.  L came up with one in two seconds.  Socks is now known as A Perfect Pair of Socks.  Honestly, I don't mind it.  I think it's cute.  And since L was our race announcer, I got to hear "--insert my name here...riding A Perfect Pair of Socks!"  many, many times tonight so I'm convinced it won't sound that bad at an actual show.  T, L's mother, likes it a lot too.   So thanks to L, I finally have a show name for Socks!  Before this, it was just Socks.

Jimmy also got a new show name.  I guess Mr. Stewart wasn't good enough.  He is now Chubby Potato.  I burst out laughing when she said that.  Well poor Chubby Potato didn't do so well in the races.  Socks and I won each time, L and Max came in second and poor Chubby Potato and my mom came in fifth.  Yup, they got beat by four imaginary horses, only one of which even had a name. 

It was a lot of fun honestly, she was so funny to watch.  After riding we ended up talking to T and E for a good hour.  I have the best barn owners ever.

We did go see Artemis, since we'll be gone for a week.  She was cute and adorable as always.  She followed us halfway up to the the gate before she got distracted.  It was a beautiful night, muddy, but the rain at least stopped.  I was upset I didn't have my camera.

Also, Socks ate a carrot!  It shouldn't be exciting but my horse hates normal horse treats.  She actually gets angry if you offer her an apple.  She never used to eat carrots but tonight apparently they were tasty.  Artemis did not agree.

Five Day Deworming

It's been raining the past few days.  We chose a horrible time to do this five-day deworming.  Socks also hates the wormer.  I mean, I can't blame her, it doesn't seem like a good experience anyway.  The first two days weren't good at all, Socks-wise.  Tonight we tried to do something different.  This wormer is more liquid than paste so we tried squirting it in her food.  She licked it all up.  It's a much easier way for all of us.

All the indoor horses have been moved outside so Socks now has a new paddock mate.  Streak moved a while ago, I don't remember if I mentioned that.  Now she's in with Feline, a pretty grey mare.  She's pretty nice.  She's at least half Selle Francais if I remember correctly.  Socks is definitly the dominant one, but we all expected that.  There's been only one time in her life when Socks wasn't the dominant one and that only lasted a few days.  That's when we bought Sadie.  Sadie came in, chased Socks off and took over the herd.  Socks stayed by herself for a few days, and then came back and set things right in the herd.  Sadie never challenged her again.

Artemis is doing well, she's been kind of bratty lately.  She's going into Yearling Boot Camp soon to remind her that behaving isn't just for babies, it's still important for yearlings.  She seems to forget that sometimes.  She is doing well besides that though, she's getting really good at backing up.

Jimmy was horrible with his feet but unfortunantly for him, the round pen has been dry enough to use.  I've been waiting for it all winter.  He didn't want his back feet lifted up (that was his new thing) and so into the round pen he went.  He's been much better about it.  Our goal with him this summer is to get him to lunge. 

I know this is a really short update and I promise I'll do a real one soon.  I still need to write about when my sister's co-workers came out.  That was a long day, six long hours of entertaining a six-year-old girl with the horses on a hot day.  I have updates of the horses up at my dad's, although I still haven't been up to see them.  I've been a bad blogger and it probably won't get better for a few more weeks.  I won't be blogging at all next week as I'm gone, but hopefully after that I'll start being better.