Field Trip

My knee has been slowly getting better. It still isn't so much the knee that is the problem but the calf muscle. It's been very achy from below my knee to my ankle, with the aches changing through the day. I am, of course, probably putting too many miles on it, but I promise I am trying to take it easy whenever I can.

Cows showed up the day before the horses were moved into the new pasture. I made sure Stitch remembered that he had previously lived with cows and knew that they weren't going to eat him so that he behaved when someone else led him past them to the pasture.

I am hoping to be back in the saddle during my next week off in mid-July, even if it's just for a few minutes at a walk for the first bit. I'm not too worried about getting on - it will be the getting off that's tricky. I'm not very good at lining myself up with the mounting block when getting off, and always seem to only get part of my foot on the step and end up stumbling to the ground.

Moo cows.

Stitch has been enjoying his time off. His group moved to a summer pasture with grass to graze. It's a further trek out from the barn, which has kinda sucked with an achy leg at the end of the day, but I've been lucky so far in that I've only once had to traipse across the field to catch him. Every other time the horses have been up by the gate when I arrived.

He's back to walking up to me - I may have been showing up with treats for the last few weeks. He is now sporting the circus tent fly sheet, partly because of bugs in the grass, but mostly so that I can spot him easier in the group of bay horses.  

We haven't really done much of value (except getting used to the wash rack - he got his tail washed for the first time today). But we did get away for our first field trip - a visit to the vet clinic for teeth floating.

What's going on?

Stitch loaded up pretty nicely - he stalled at the end of the ramp and I had to pick up the whip, but it just took a couple of taps and he was on. It was about an hours drive to the clinic. When we arrived he was worried and a little bit sweaty, but stood quietly while I sat in the doorway waiting for our turn. The clinic prefers that the horses stay loaded until they are ready for them. 

He unloaded very nicely, led into the clinic with his eyes bugging, and was good to sedate and put into the stock. He is way more of a lightweight than Phantom ever was, so it only took the initial dose of sedative, and a few minutes later he was done! No need to walk the sedation off in the parking lot for an hour before trailering home! Amazing! (I also got to watch a bit of surgery on a horse that looked like it was getting something done on its fetlock. Sadly, Stitch was too well behaved and I didn't get to see much more than the first few cuts and a lot of blood before he was ready to go outside.)

Eyes not quite all the way open.

So sleepy.

Stitch loaded up even better for the trip home (the drugs might have helped). We arrived home and unloaded and he was very happy to realize that he was going back out to the pasture with his friends. I suspect that the last few times he's been trailered were times that he moved to new homes, so it was good for him to leave and come home on the same day.

He had a few sharp points so he should be looked at again in another 6 months. No other concerns were noted - his adult teeth in the back have all erupted, his lower canines are just below the surface, and he still has his little baby teefs in the front - all normal for his age. The vet said that at his age his teeth are changing so much that needing to be done every 6 months is pretty common. 

I was super happy with him, he was very easy to handle away from home. I wasn't anticipating problems based on how he stepped off the trailer when I got him and when we moved earlier this year, but you never know how it will go as they get bigger and stronger. 

 

Stall Rest

I am on stall rest this week. 

I hate stall rest. For me and for the horses.

I made it out to the barn on Sunday with my mom helping me by doing all the horse leading. My leg wasn't feeling too bad, the knee was mostly fine and the cramp in my calf felt better with some movement. I was out there for at most 1.5 hours, and otherwise spent the day sitting on my butt. 

Stitch is looking mighty fine at the moment.

Come Monday morning, the cramp was fully back, and maybe even a little worse, so I took myself to a walk-in clinic to see a doctor.

I got my hand slapped. 

Basically, I sprained both my knee and my calf. The knee doesn't appear to have suffered any significant damage, there is no pain in it, just weakness. He was much more concerned about potential compartment syndrome in my calf. 

So I am to do as little walking as possible for three days, keep my leg up, ice it a whole bunch, and take a stronger anti-inflammatory for 5 days (with a refill if needed). When I go back to work next week I need to try to ice it every hour, and I'm not supposed to add additional walking until the following week. Then, I can decide about physio.

So yeah, not going to be riding for a bit.

Oh well, fall is always my favorite time to ride.

I'll come up with a plan for Stitch next week. I'm not sure how long it's going to take to get some strength back that I would feel comfortable doing much while attached to him (like lunging or long lining). His group goes out on grass in July and I'd like to find something I can do to keep him moving.

In Which Stitch Gets Another Vacation

 Everything worked out this week and I managed to get a few rides on Stitch. 

After his little vacation his balance isn't feeling as good. Not sure if it is because of his growth (which wasn't really that much, though he's starting to fill out now), or lack of strength, but I figure our 2-3 days a week of walk/trot won't be any issue.  The plan was to be able to start cantering in June, but there's been a bit of a curveball thrown into my plans.

I kinda, sorta, had my first fall off of Stitch. 

Really, it was more of an unplanned bail. 

But, it kinda messed up my leg. I definitely won't be riding for a bit. 

The ride itself was fine - his balance at the trot was getting better through the ride with lots of easy changes of direction.

Someone had left the exercise ball on the arena surface before I entered the arena, and I was letting Stitch kick it during our walk breaks. He's done it lots of times when I was on the ground; this was the first time we were doing it under saddle. He seemed to enjoy it, there were lots of good kicks.

I presented him to the ball on what was going to legitimately be the last time before hopping off.  Instead of kicking the ball, he decided to kneel on it. With both front legs. In a very unbalanced fashion.

Stitch's front end disappeared in front of me. There was a moment of is he going to go down all the way, at which point the possibility of me getting chucked over his head and getting badly hurt became likely, so I opted to quickly bail off the left side of him.

Because he was basically standing still, for a moment I thought I was going to stick the landing - until I felt my right knee pop while still in the air. Out of the corner of my eye that leg seemed to bend from the knee at an angle it isn't supposed to bend. 

I think I hit the ground first with my left leg and then fell back mostly on my butt and immediately said "I've hurt my knee".

Much thanks to the multiple people who were at the barn that night and took care of my horse (who may have been slightly traumatised by this) and helped me through my body's involuntary reaction of wanting to pass out or vomit that always happens when I have a sudden sharp pain. Once that cleared I hobbled around the barn with an ice boot wrapped around my leg until my parents came to drive me and my car home. I probably could have driven, but I knew it would stiffen up by the time I made it back into the city and didn't want to risk not being able to move it quickly to brake if needed.

I'm quite certain it's just a sprained knee, and honestly don't even think it's that bad. There's actually very little pain in the knee for the most part - unless I take a wonky step on an uneven surface. The biggest problem today (Saturday, it happened Thursday evening) is that everything else in my leg has tightened up, and I have a giant knot in my calf that tightens up every time I sit down and makes walking very uncomfortable. 

I had to work on Friday, and honestly spent too much time on my feet, which is probably part of the reason it's so tight today, but now I'm off for the next week so can rest it - though I have many things I need to get done. I was planning on trailering Stitch over to the vet clinic on Wednesday to get his teeth floated, but if there isn't significant improvement by Monday I might have to delay it. He's not a perfect loader yet so if I have no strength in my leg I might get into some trouble. Not to mention the drive, which would mean sitting for about 2.5 hours and stiffening up each time. 

The last time I sprained my knee, about 12-15 years ago from falling off Phantom twice over the same jump at a clinic, I was back in the saddle a week later - and realized right away it was the wrong decision. I think I tried again another week later, and then ended up having a bit of a forced break when my dad ended up in hospital for a week, so it was really at least three weeks before I was able to ride - on a reliable, broke horse. Which does not describe Stitch. (Reliable, yes - he's been good, but nowhere near steady enough at the moment.)

So far, I don't think this sprain is as bad as that one was, but the next few days will tell. In the meantime, my massage gun, and the tens machine and diclofenac that I had gotten for last year's torn rotator cuff will be getting lots of use. 

And Stitch will be getting fat.