A year ago...

I signed the purchase papers for a horse known as "Misty" and wire transfered a very small sum of money for her purchase. Included in that sum (which was very small for a horse, not so much that it was a little bit of money) was the transport fee for them to bring her to me. That didn't happen for several more weeks. Agonizingly long weeks.

It's funny, in some ways it sure doesn't feel like it's been that long. But when I stop and try to comprehend that she's only been mine for a year, it doesn't seem possible. She's always been mine, she was just waiting to get here.

She's had a few extra cookies today.

Well that didn't help

I had an injection on Wednesday, basically a nerve block with a mega dose of steroids mixed in. It hurt like hell. I went into the little OR on my own two feet and came out in a wheelchair. It was one of those, "Surely this is not a good thing" moments. If anything it's made it worse because now those muscles are sore from me tensing up while there was a needle the size of a lead pipe in my back. I wasn't able to walk the rest of the day because my thighs were numb, then Thursday wasn't much better and I actually hurt worse than I had before Wednesday, not counting the sore muscles.

It turns out that the ligament isn't torn, it's an actual disc itself. On top of that another one is herniated, and one is a bulging disc. He's hoping to be able to get me started with PT by next time I go in, which is a couple weeks away.

I'm really so on the edge of my breaking point. This has to help.

The sticker

I went on Friday and got a handicapped parking thing.

It's one thing to know you really hurt. But it's another thing to have them hand you a handicapped pass. Even the better parking spot doesn't make me feel any better.

Saddle is here!!

The saddle came today! I think I like it. I'm still deciding honestly. I so wish I could go for a ride and try it out.

Anyway, the hub had to help me put it on her, because I couldn't carry it outside. It doesn't weigh that much, but with my back funked I just can't do it.

Here's the custom tooling:



And the pretty girl with her saddle on. Sort of, I don't have a cinch yet. Since I can't ride, it hasn't been a priority.



The purple suede was supposed to be a dark royal, plum color. It's obviously not. I have no idea if I can have that replaced or not. It'd probably be cheaper for me to find someone local who can replace it than it would be to ship it back. I'm going to look into it...cause that's just too purple.

After a little bit, I put the back cinch on her to help hold it on. After a little bit, I took the lead rope off to see what she'd do. No kicking, no running, no bucking, she just wandered around behind me like, "What are you doing? Aren't we gonna go?" At one point I looked back, and she'd stopped. The saddle had slipped and was practically hanging under her belly. (I didn't cinch up the rear cinch very tight, just enough to keep it mostly in place. She stood there until we got to her and took it off. She just stopped! There was no freaking out, no bucking, no nothing. Just a, "hey, you guys..." I was really impressed. Times like that I really marvel at how far she's come in such a short time.

Hey there lonely girl

IT SUCKS! I can't do anything. The hub is having to feed her most days. Which he's totally thrilled about. I can't even go out and sit on the steps and let her love on me, which we both want.

I walked by the back door today and looked out at her. She was standing about 5 feet from the steps and her head was hanging so low, and she looked so sad. For some reason a line from an old song went through my head. "Hey there lonely girl." It was so sad. And it wasn't just her, because I was the lonely girl, too.

She's official!

We got her registration certificate in the mail today! It's so cool! I finally have some information on her dam's side. That had been impossible to track down, so it's really nice to have. It surprises me since there's a World Grand Champion in that line!

I was standing at the kitchen island and looking at it, and had just put it back into the envelope when my husband said, "She must know, she's at the door waiting for you." Of course I had to take it back out again and show her. She sniffed it a few times and let me rub her nose. She was more interested in the neighbor's dogs who were running loose so she didn't stick around long.

Apparently her blood work matches the DNA and blood work on file for the parents on her registration papers. Which makes her six for sure instead of the 3 (well would have been almost 4 now) I was told she was.

Here's a scan of the certificate. Woohoo!

Soooo frustrated

I've done something to my back. It'd been getting bad for a while and I ignored it. Last Thursday I finally broke down and went to the Chiropractor. Then Friday the company we hired to cut down trees came, and I spent most of the day outside keeping an eye on Anya. I was in a huge amount of pain and could hardly move, but we had to move her out of the back while they were doing trees so I had to keep an eye on her since she was just tied out.

Over the weekend it got worse. I went to the hospital Monday morning for a test for something else. Which didn't happen because after nearly an hour, three people, and an ultrasound machine to find a vein, and a lot of needles they still didn't have an IV line in. It got to the point they were giving me lidocaine injections first so they could dig in my arm trying to hit a vein. After an hour of that, and even with the aid of ultrasound they couldn't get it, I said that's enough and left in tears.

I went to the chiro from there and he couldn't believe how much worse it was since Friday. It was so bad he wouldn't even try to do anything to it, and said bedrest for the next 5-7 days.

This is day 6. I went with the hub and kiddos to get groceries today, and by the time we left, I was in tears again. Hubby's even having to feed Anya most of the time for me. I've tried to do it at least once a day, I don't want her to think I've disappeared or something, and I kinda need that few minutes anyway. It's incredibly frustrating. Our 4-year-old came into the bathroom the other day while I was in there and said "Mommy, I'll flush for you so you don't have to bend over." How sad is that?

And this also means, of course, no riding. Naturally the weather the last two Saturdays has been gorgeous. I think we got to about 77 degrees today. There's a ton of stuff I need to get done, too. We finally got trees cut down, and I really need to get out there and rake, and fertilize and we need to get a fence up. Not to mention I really need to play the porcupine game with Anya more. She's almost there, but not quite. She's bored, and we're both frustrated. I can't even sit on the back steps and visit her because sitting there totally kills me.

I've got another appointment on Monday with the chiro, and I'm going to ask him to do xrays to see what's going on. This is so bad. I'm even very seriously considering acupuncture. I hate needles. But at this point, I'll do about anything if it'll help.

In the meantime, thank goodness for laptops and wireless I guess.