BIG JINGLES! …but you knew that…
I was in a horseback riding injury, and broke my neck as well as t10, t11, t12, l2, l3, l4, and ribs and crushed tailbone, be very careful, which you know that already, allow quite a bit of time for healing, do not rush! Years after my injury i decided to have surgery which left me a walking paraplegic, so that is another thing, if you need surgery in the future, pleaseeeee think twice and maybe three times because you can’t recover from a bad surgery, Jingles your way, hope you make a complete recovery.
So I have had a bad couple of weeks, I am actually still having a lot of pain. I have also realized that my target date of being able to ride is going to be pushed back, which makes me sad. On the positive side I have decided to by myself a custom made saddle. Hopefully when it arrives I will be able to ride. My horse is doing very well with the trainer. I got to watch her ride him today and I cannot wait to get on him. I just need to vent and throw myself a little pity party.
That’s okay. Sometimes things just suck.
Pity Party! Break out the spiked eggnog!
How about about some malamute singing in chorus to cheer you up?
We are having a very special snow storm/blizzard. Could be the biggest snow storm on record for the month of December. We haven’t had more than a couple of inches over the entire winter for at least 4 years, maybe more.
We don’t really believe that it will actually snow in Virginia. The highway depatments don’t budget for it, since we get ice storms and freezing rain instead. Everything comes to a grinding halt as no one knows how to drive in the stuff. Being all type A’s, who are Very Important People and therefore the world revolves around them, they still drive way over the speed limit. Very quickly, we have multiple accidents and the highways are closed.
So we party in Virginia when it snows. Everyone is snowed in with their hoard of t.p. and we consider it an adventure and “bonding” time. One of my sons took off last night to his girlfriend’s house, so he could get snowed in there, and take care of her and her family. He should make major points with her parents…
Our own family history notes that in the blizzard of 96, my boyfriend and his daughter came to be snowed in at my house and my 2 small sons. At the end of 10 days of enforced togetherness, we had had such a good time that no one of us wanted it to end. That is when we decided to become a family. We married on a Valentine’s Day, with snow for good luck.
I have alaskan malamute sled dogs. They love snow and are happiest when covered in it. (They have air conditioning in the summer) Right now, Tabitha, all 135 lbs of her, is lying outside in a snow drift, with the snow fall covering her. All you can see are her eyes and a big malamute grin. She looks back into the house to check on us, but her attention is on the fields and the horses, making sure that all is well in her realm.
The horses have decided that they are going to stay in their stalls and turn-out sheds rather than the paddocks. I see them sticking a nose out and shaking their heads in disbelief. The mini is going to need a big horse to break trail for him. He is only 24" at the withers and we already have 16" of snow.
And proof:
DG -Luv the picture of your dog! :winkgrin:
I am also “snowbound” and my lab does not like the snow! She goes out, does her business, and runs right back to the house as fast as she can leap the snowdrifts!
Oh Tabby!!!
Tabitha looks so cute. She is so adorable without snow, but even cuter with it. I love your dog, Whicker, but then again you already knew that!!! Thanks for posting the pic DGRH!
Tabby says thank you
Thank you for posting Tabby’s photo for me, DGRH!
The snow is now over the outdoor dining table. The spot where the photo was taken is filled in with snow. Tabby is going to need to have a snow blower to break trail to the yard.
I just checked the weather forecast - apparently the central US will be punished on Tuesday-Thursday…when am I (or maybe I should say, when was I supposed to!) fly out? …Wednesday.
I have a feeling not many people will be finding their way across the US for family gatherings this week…
Cheered up
I love the pic, we don’t have much snow, but enough to make me really concerned about falling. My brother had a malamute that did the same thing, it always made me smile. I had a pretty good day, I have decided to have a semi custom saddle made while I am recovering so I have been meeting with the saddle fitter, she brough out some samples and was able to get on my mare and “try” them out. Actually I sat on her and walked around half the arena. I don’t feel to bad. My shoulders are sore from grooming two horses. But I think I needed some quality time at the barn.
Yes, be careful!! Especially when it melts, then ices over!
Tell us more about the saddle? I know whicker has been trying to do the same thing for her needs.
Definitelty start a new thread about your saddle venture. Many of us NQR folks need special saddles and it is nice to know which companies a great to work with,etc. Please share your semi-custom adventure with us!!!
The latest
So over the weekend I started have shooting pain and numbness in the legs, so bad that I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t think much of it, but the boyfriend was very concerned. Called the doc and said it was nerve inflamation and was completely normal. So they put me on Lyrica, not sure if I like the meds. Any one else use this med. My main concern is the weight gain warning. Lord knows I need to loose some weight, not gain any more, especially since I cannot do anything physical at the moment. Any ideas, I don’t expect to be able to loose weight right, it would be nice, but I don’t want or need to gain any? Thanks for listening to my vent. On a positive note the horse are good, I should really post some pics. I will work on that this weekend.
Angela
I’m in this club, too, unfortunately ;).
Briefly, I cracked my L1 and L5 in an unplanned dismount Sept 08. The next day I passed out in the shower due to pain and whiplashed my neck, further messing things up. However, my awesome doc refused to xray me, saying, “No, you’re doing OK. It’s only muscle damage.” I could barely get out of bed for 10 days, but our area’s ONE english show a year was coming up, so I sucked it up and rode in ~6 classes 14 days after the break! To be fair, I didn’t know it was broken, although it hurt like hell. In retrospect, I might have passed out again, so maybe not the best idea?
Only 6 weeks after the fall did I finally manage to get xrays after threatening to sue my doc. So, I basically waited 14 days to ride… aside from the show, I would 2-point for 10 minutes at a walk 2-3x a week. Once I finally found out it was broken, it was too late for a brace. So I just kept riding. It took maybe 3-4 months for me to post at the trot, and I built from there. I finally got a good ortho and pain doc maybe 3 months after the fall.
To this day, I still have pain and I “baby” it - I make my husband sweep and muck stalls. I think that’s very important. I don’t sit the trot more than half a lap, and I don’t ride without stirrups… I compensate by 2-pointing a lot. For me, stretching and massage has also been key - but making sure they don’t go near the broken spots.
Because of all this fun, plus old injuries, scoliosis, and arthritis in my back, I have a good deal of pain. The nerve damage has resulted in myofascial pain/trigger points all over my back. Therefore, I tried Lyrica a few months ago. For about 5 days. It made me incredibly dizzy. I got on a horse and the world kind of spun… no thanks! It might have worked, but I didn’t have 3 weeks to ramp up the dose. As you can gather, I am kind of stubborn about riding, and didn’t want that to suffer, even if it meant more pain. :rolleyes:
I’ve had a number of steroid shots in trigger points, steroid epidurals, etc… and I was concerned those would affect my weight or metabolism. They haven’t. So while I can’t answer about the Lyrica weight thing, I find that it’s hard to know how it will affect you until you take it. One side effect that I experienced from Lyrica was a heightened sense of skin sensation (?) - I could feel my clothes touching my body, the texture of chairs… it was really quite trippy. Not sure if it increased that or just numbed the internal signals… either way, I found myself touching a lot of things. :lol:
Hang in there, it WILL get better. Keep taking care of yourself, in the end it will make it a lot easier and give you a shorter recovery time!
Update
So I went to the doc, 11.5 weeks after the accident. I have been release to start PT, I can swim, walk and bike. No bending or twisting, no weight lifting. And no riding for at least another two weeks, and then I have to take it slow. I am happy, wanted to ride today. But I have come so far I am not willing to re-injury my self. I go back in 6 weeks, if all goes well I will be completely released. I may have a show season yet.
terrific news!
My sister broke a vertebra (L1 IIRC) a couple of years ago. (Bucked off a client’s horse)
The surgery basicly “superglued” it back together- by the time she left the hospital it was “stronger than new”. But she had a lot of soft tissue damage, and it took a while before she could ride again.
Now she says that taking pilates classes is what makes it possible for her to continue riding.
I was 19 (20 years ago) when I was bucked off. I tore muscles in my back and both legs, and knew I was in tremendous pain. My cousin drove me to the local doctors office. Was told to take pain pills, muscle relaxers and to take it easy until I felt better. Jump ahead 18 years. I was bucked off a horse and broke 5 ribs. Went to the hospital to make sure I hadn’t punctured anything. They took X-rays and said, “You have had a broken vertebrae.” That would explain the back pain that I have been dealing with for SOOOO long. About 5 years ago I started seeing a chiropractor. I went regularly for 6 weeks, I no longer go regularly. It made a huge difference in my level of pain. I was in pain daily and had a level of pain of about 4 or 5 on a scale of 10. After seeing the chiro I no longer have daily pain, and it is usually at a lower level of pain. I haven’t had any seizing muscles since seeing the chiro (Knock on wood).
I would say give yourself lots of time to heal and make sure that your muscles will allow you to move the way you need to. Especially since you are going back to a somewhat hot ride. No since spending the time to heal to go ride and get hurt again.
Wishing you a speedy recovery!!!
I second what Janet says about Pilates. Having a strong core takes a load off your spine. It also makes you body aware. Are you loading evenly, etc…
