8 weeks on

Camping at Ngaroma

 

 

 

  

Friday night bonfire.

And I have been riding again. Actually went riding with friends and family last weekend too. It was very quiet though and all designed to see just how much my broken body could actually cope with.

 Me and the lovely Trix. Well the back end of us anyway!

 This lovely wee chap rode like this all day Saturday. Sure he nodded off to sleep a few times but how cool is that!

6 weeks and hospital discharge!

So I had to rethink the 6 week goal, which was to get back on a horse, after some friends and my husband thought this not such a great move.
But I did go for a drive to Raglan so that will have to do instead. The seatbelt was a bit irritating so I won't be going far just yet but another thing ticked off the list.

Had my 6 week follow up and x ray appointment at hospital during the week also. Everything healing as well as can be expected so am now officially discharged from the hospital.
Doctors comments "you've copped a decent sort of a bash and will be fragile for a while yet"

Lucky and her foal are now down in Taumaranui with Chanelle. We will go back and get her foal probably about the end of March.
He did amazingly well and handled the trip without a moments fuss. Helped no end I am sure by Lucky being so easy and well travelled herself.

Tomorrow marks 7 weeks. We are going riding with friends as a test to see how strong I am and just how much riding I can cope with.

Had a bit of a sit and a small wander on Trix yesterday and have to admit to feeling a bit vulnerable.
In saying that though, I felt vulnerable walking down a corridor in the hospital 2 days ago with people coming towards me on my sore side. Concrete pills required ;-)

a busy weekend for some

Week five's goal was to see if I could go without pain relief. For 2 days now I have coped pretty well and not taken any drugs during the day. Just Ibuprofen at night to ensure I get to sleep.
Yay for small achievements. Actually I have been feeling heaps better this week and managing to do quite a bit more each day.

A friend came and stayed for the weekend to help catch up on the horsey jobs. Things were starting to pile up and really needed to be done.
The frustrating weather hasn't really helped. So much rain this summer.

Lucky and foal are off to Taumaranui next weekend so Lucky can get in foal to our friend Chanelle's, lovely sporthorse stallion, Oakley.
Chanelle is keeping Lucky and once he reaches weaning age, we will go back and pick up her foal.
So today he had 3 big sessions of being caught, learning to lead, and spending time on the float. He really handled it all very well. So far his temperament appears to be sound so that is a big plus.

They also scouted another fundraiser trek for the dog trial club. This one sounds awesome and they both said it was a bit more challenging than the last one.

Next weeks goal for me was to get back on a horse. 3 people have now  said they don't think that is such a good idea so I might have to rethink that one. maybe it will be to drive the car again.......................

Welcome 2012

Not much to say but a few people are asking about my progress and it seemed a fairly positive post to start the new year off with.

I didn't quite make the first goal of being home from hospital by week but the next goal was to be able to shower standing up by week 2.
Sad aye that I couldn't even stand long enough to wash myself. Actually I couldn't even wash myself properly. Week 2 coincided with Christmas and I didn't want anyone seeing the plastic chair in the shower.
That goal was achieved a day early.

Week 3 goal was to sleep in a bed again. Lying down was very difficult and painful so I spent most of my time in a lazy boy chair.
The drugs were affecting me badly at this point too and I made to decision that pain was preferable to throwing up 3 times a day (inflicting more pain) so paracetamol and ibuprofen became my friends.
Sleeping lying down is still not great, but I am sleeping bed every night.

Week 4's goal was achieved 2 days early. It was too walk around the horse paddock. It's about 20 something acres in size and normally takes around 20 minutes to walk round. Yesterday I did it in 30 minutes. Had to come straight in and sit down for a while but I did do it.

Not my best year.............

2011 has thrown up more challenges than I really wanted and it hasn't finished yet.

Last Saturday, 3 of us headed off for a normal farm ride. Without going into too many details, I got into trouble very quickly on the unpredictable Chief and this time it ended badly.

My memory is sketchy at best of events but it involved an ambulance ride to hospital.

I have multiple rib fractures, a collarbone broken in 2 places,  bruised lung and bruises that are amazing, especially as I don't normally bruise very much.
There was some concern over my left hand but it is just heavily bruised.

So after 8 days in hospital, taking in some heavy duty drugs, I have been home for a few days now and am starting to feel a wee bit more comfortable.

Chief was gone by the time I got home, to the one person I would trust with him. I truly believe he is grass effected but know that he will not trust me again and I will never be sure of him either. 

So stay safe everyone, enjoy the holiday break and roll on 2012 aye

Juno goes to the big kids school

After removing Miss Juno from the paddock full of lush green grass, yesterday the sweet, submissive pony returned.

We only did a short ride as things were going so well that I didn't want to push it.

So this afternoon, I pulled on my new 'brave boots', loaded her in the float and headed to Waikato Equestrian Centre for an afternoon lesson with the adult riding club.

There are a few members on youngsters so it seemed as good a time as any but I guess, 2 weeks under saddle is a bit more challenging.

There was quite a bit of activity with horses going around all over the place. A western show is being held over the weekend and people have turned up early and were working in their horses. I was a wee bit concerned but in all honesty, Juno behaved like a star.

She was sensible and tried hard. We didn't get much of a canter out of her but she was getting pretty tired at that point.

Some times, it really is the small things

Today, while attempting to do a bit of tidying up in the garden, I found an old birds nest again with some white mane hair. It made me smile for a moment and then sad to think that the reminders become fewer as time passes.

Day 2 today of riding Juno at home. Lets just say, lesson learnt and she has been removed from the 20 + acres paddock of grass and is now confined to a much smaller area with minimal feed.

It's quite different bringing them home to where they have never had to really work, compared to when you do all the work at home.

She is really trying it on a bit, or as Charlie says, she is BEING trying!  But it's not too bad and we are working through it.

So Juno had to work a bit harder today till she decided to be the nice submissive pony I know she can be.

There is a good chance I won't be able to lift my arms high enough to feed myself tomorrow, but at least the pony behaved ;-)