It has been very frustrating to have this broken arm.  I am not allowed to do anything except sit here and “keep it elevated.” 

I can’t feed the animals, I can’t even brush my own hair. I certainly can’t go out and ride my horse. It is very depressing in a way because I have been working so hard the past few months to really get better at my riding skills. The doctor says with this type of break, I may not be able to ride a horse for up to six months.

Oh well. There is nothing to be done and why feel sorry for yourself if nothing can be changed.  Well maybe I will feel sorry for myself a little longer, but not too much.  The good news is I discovered that my computer will do dictation. It was so difficult to write my last column for the newspaper typing with just one hand.

Anyhow since my horse is the culprit in all this, I thought I would introduce one of them to you.

This is Tarik. I have owned him since he was conceived in his momma’s belly.  He is the first horse I ever trained myself. And he is such a sweetheart.  Okay yes he is the horse that bucked me off and broke my arm.  BUT he seemed so sorry about it when it happened.  My family actually had to take him out of the riding arena because he wouldn’t leave me alone and kept trying to push in to be next to me.

And to give the guy credit, his back has been hurting him.  It didn’t seem too bad so I wasn’t really worried about it.  You can tell when a horse’s back is hurting because when you brush it he flinches or at least this is how Tarik showed that his back hurt.  Sometimes you can run your hand down there back with your fingers on either side of the spine and they will flinch. Tarik didn’t flinch when I did this.  Another sign is that they don’t like to be saddled. They might switch their tail or bite at you or try to move away while you are tightening the saddle.

Of course the ultimate gesture of back pain is bucking you off.

www.giphy.com

I had given Tarik a week off and when I checked his back again he didn’t flinch. I thought he was okay to ride.  He did fine in the walk and the trot, but when we went into the cancer he bucked. Just a small buck so I thought maybe he was just throwing a little temper tantrum because he hadn’t been ridden in a few days.

To make matters worse, I had just purchased a new dressage saddle that made me feel really secure on the horse’s back.  So instead of trying to figure out a safe way to handle this situation, I thought to myself I will just try to push him through it. I can make him go into a canter.

Well you know how that ended. Instead of going into a canter like I had hoped for, he went into a bucking fit.  I stayed on for a few bucks but I am no rodeo cowboy. Eventually I lost my balance and over the side I went.  It probably wouldn’t have been too bad but my riding arena has very hard ground. So instead of landing in soft soil like it should be, I hit the desert’s version of cement.

Man did that hurt.

Well this story isn’t ended yet. On Monday I go into surgery to have a plate screws and pins installed.

I am just hoping I won’t set off metal detectors.

 

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