A Plan is Born

O.K. so it's just barely a plan, but I feel like I'm getting a start anyway. After riding both horses in the arena last weekend, something I have a really tough time making myself do, I decided 'Glory' would be my primary endurance ride horse this year. She showed me she needed a bit more polish and some focus on developing her work ethic. Although she is only 6 months younger than 'Bella', 'Glory' is a year behind 'Bella' in saddle time. I think 'Glory' will really blossom with some rides under her cinch.

I made a list of ride dates for this season that I'll take in to work and see which ones I can get vacation days for. I'm hoping a minimum of 4 LD's and maybe a 50.

Next step, get my clippers fixed and give Glory a partial clip so she can work more comfortably. Somehow I'd like to keep Bella in shape too. You never know when you might need a back up horse.

I rode Glory out on the trail today for the first time since October. We mostly walked and had a great painfree time.

Ride On!

I had another great ride today. A good 3 hours of walk, running walk, rack and canter. My hip feels great. This is my third ride since the Doc cleared me for riding. Riding is a whole new experience without pain. I love to ride and always have, but it had become more difficult to enjoy the last few years. Endurance riding is my discipline of choice, and as you can imagine, requires many hours in the saddle, not only for the competitions, but also the conditioning. When my life aligned to allow me to persue endurance riding, my arthritis had progressed to the point where a 50 mile ride was out of the question. To spend 10 hours in the saddle would have been too painful. Most of the competions offer 25 or 30 mile rides, which is all I have completed up to this point. Completing a 50 mile ride has been a goal of mine for nearly 10 years. One I have yet to achieve. After todays ride, my 50 mile ride goal feels like something that could actually happen.
This is my second week of work, back to full duty. I have had my share of testing moments, especially the mini-donkey that wasn't impressed with having her mouth flushed and examined. 250lbs of pissed off. My hip is holding up fine, it's the rest of me that needs some time to adjust back to working a 40+ hour week.
I ended my physical therapy last week. I just couldn't see how I could fit it all in. I've continued to do many of the exercises at home. I still need to build up some strength. I can't rise from one knee using just my right leg, it is still just too weak. I'm fortunate it is my right leg, since I use my left leg to mount, getting up on my horse has not been a problem.
I'll soon need to put together my ride plan for the summer. I hadn't begun to seriously think about it until now, not knowing how things were going to turn out. I'm thinking a few LD's and maybe even a 50 this year. Ride On!

No Words Necessary

It's A Go!

I had my six week check up with the surgeon yesterday. Actually it has been 7 weeks, but this was the soonest I could get in. They took radiographs of my hip and the surgeon showed me how well my bone is fusing to the implant. Great news!
The news I really wanted though was whether I could start riding. I relived a little of what happened years ago when I originally injured my pelvis. I was a very active teen, lettering in cross-country and track my freshman year before the accident. I also had just gotten my first very own, long awaited and dreamed about, horse just two months before. Then bang, I'm on crutches all summer, no running, no riding. I can still feel the disappointment I felt leaving several of my dr. check-ups back then, crying in the car, no, you can not ride, no, you can not run. I did not want to leave yesterdays appt. feeling like that. My surgeon did not disappoint me. When I asked if I could start riding, he didn't even hesitate with his answer 'Sure'. And he added 'Especially if that's what makes you happy'. Oh, if he only knew (I think he does).
Seeing the radiograph of my pelvis with the implant in there was a bit surreal. I certainly don't feel like there is a big chunk of titanium in there. I don't feel like there is a bunch of rough bone grinding together though either. My hip feels like it's 14 again.
I'll try to get out for my first ride this Sunday. A slow, safe ride. My dog, my horse and I are all a bit out of shape. I'll definitely post a picture of my first ride with my new hip (and a big smile).

Goodbye to 09' and Pain

Nothing to do but take pretty pictures on such a beautiful December day. I would love to be out riding in this, but I won't know if riding is on my list of 'can do' things until I see my doctor this Thursday. Physically, I feel like riding would be fine. I'm sure I will be sore afterwards, mostly because it has been nearly two months since I last rode.
On Christmas Day I went for a good hike. There are some logging roads not too far from our house where I sometimes ride or my husband and I hike. My daughter joined us to work up an appetite for Christmas dinner. The first half hour is a pretty good climb and I was proud of myself for not getting left too far behind:) I kept a steady pace and had absolutely no pain. The most impressive part was coming down. For several of the past years walking down hill has been very painful for my hip, at times near tears and stopping frequently. This day was like night to day, not a stitch of pain. I am so excited about this new pain free active life!
I have been the primary foot caregiver for my two horses for the last year. I trimmed both of them two days before my surgery, knowing that it might be a while before I could attempt to get back to them. I have been checking them this last week, debating whether I feel up to it or not. I'm nervous about getting it started and then not being able to finish, leaving them unbalanced. Working on their feet is a great workout for the glutes. If you doubt this, just try to find a farrier with a fat hiney. I think it has helped that I have the horses on a paddock that consists of all 1/4"minus rock this winter. It keeps their soles exfoliated beautifully and the thrush I battled all last year is gone.
I am hoping to get permission from the doctor to begin riding. It would be fitting to head out for a New Years Day ride on my new hip. If he suggests I wait, I'll wait. I know that it will be soon and that this next year will be full of many pain free rides. I'll be cleaning tack this week just in case:)

Back to Light Work

This last week has been busy. Along with physical therapy three times a week, I have been putting in some hours at work on an inventory project. We also had a couple of surgeries scheduled, so I was able to run a modified version of anesthesia to fit my restrictions. The anesthesia cases ran pretty similar to normal only I didn't perform the pre-surgery physical exam, blood draw, or place the i.v. catheter, somebody else did. I also delegated the task of knocking the horse down, as rarely they can have an adverse reaction to the sedation and things can get crazy, dangerous quickly. I'm not quite ready for that yet:). I was able to place the endotracheal tube and help place the horse on the surgery table after it was down. I stood for most of the first surgery like I usually do, but I was really sore the next day, so for Tuesdays surgery I sat off and on. I helped as usual to recover the horse, but only the first part, when the horse is still down and I am helping it breath with the demand valve, waiting for the horse to breath on its own, then waiting for the horse to begin to have the swallow reflex so that I can pull the e.t. tube. Once the tube is pulled and the horse is breathing well on it's own I step out of the room and we bar the doors and recover the horse with a head and tail rope. The rope recovery part can be strenuous, so I just watched this time. Both horses did very well. I was pleased with how I held up too. It will be another two weeks before I go back to the real horse handling duties of my job. I've been given an inventory project that will keep me busy in the mean time. Along with getting back all my household and barn duties, I am busy enough.

On The Road Again

I have started driving again! Last Wednesday was my first outing. I drove myself the 15 or so miles to where I'll continue with Physical Therapy. I wasn't so sure how this would go since my car sits so low and it has a manual transmission. My hip did get a little achey and uncomfortable, but I think most of that was due to the firmness of my car seat. I still have some swelling and the firm seat did nothing but create pressure on that. Getting in and out, and running the gas and brake pedal was not an issue.

Physical Therapy has become more demanding, but also more rewarding. I'm noticing daily improvements in both strength and flexibility. It was pretty pathetic though to be nearly breathless after only 6 minutes on the stationary bike. No where to go but up from here.

I have been able to start doing the daily horse chores. I still let hubby dump the full wheelbarrow, but he has been happy to let me fill it up. It feels good to start to get back in the routine of things again. I don't think the horses missed me much. They are as fat as ever.

I have gone back to work this week part time. It will be office type work for the next two weeks. I'll get to run a couple of anesthesia cases, but kinda from the side for safetys sake.

Moving around is nearly back to thoughtless. My hip is still a bit stiff after sitting for a long period. I think that is still muscle and soft tissue healing. I'd say most all my daily activities are pretty comfortable and easy at this point. I'll be happy to take the compression stockings off once and for always. Only two more weeks of those, yeah!

I'm getting a taste of what recovered is going to be like and I LIKE IT!