Stupid last few days.

I am seriously tempted to load up Izzy and Ginger and drive south until I find somewhere warm and dry and just ride off into the sun. I am so tired of wet and mud and SNOW!

Before you ask how the show went on the weekend...I didn't go. I did go on Friday to school her and that went MUCH better than last time, so progress is being made with my silly spooky mare. I really wanted to show Saturday as the schedule was ideal: I was the second rider of the day meaning I would be able to warm her up, then review the test, then show without much waiting. Alas we got as far as the highway when the trailer started to slip so we turned around and came right home. No show is worth driving on slippery roads. Izzy seemed confused to be right back where we started, and not that thrilled to be put back out in a blizzard!

I could have shown on Sunday, but the schedule was far from ideal: last arena time to warm up was well over an hour before I showed, and I just didn't see that being the ideal situation to get her better in the ring...plus I just felt unmotivated for some reason. I blame the never ending winter, but there was also a lot going on towards the end of the week:

On Friday I also took Dexter in to the vet to get his neck x-rayed. Turns out he does in fact have a broken neck: C2 looks like it was broken, and C2 and C3 both have some arthritis at the top. The break in C2 is long healed, but the new bone that developed from the break is putting pressure on his spinal cord, and causing progressive damage. Fortunately it is unlikely to be painful for him, and he likely has no idea his hind legs aren't fully listening to him. Also fortunately there should be some warning signs before he progresses to the point he is no longer safe. Unfortunately this puts an end to the hope I will one day be able to ride him again. I know it seemed unlikely given he has been off for so long, but the hope was still there, and I am mourning that loss of hope. Dexter was a great horse to ride, and I don't know if I will ever again have a horse as nice as he could have been (and was on good days!).

Thursday I went to the Dr. and he feels we are getting closer to a diagnoses (apparently there are 250 connective tissue disorders which is why it has been so hard to narrow it down), but now that I have Dexter's diagnoses I am not as sure I want to know. Maybe it is better to have false hope than to know? I am not sure. Of course it will likely be months before I get to see a specialist, so lots of time to think about it.

What else...

Oh, I wrote up new barn rules that will be posted in the barn. It is a shorter list now that I no longer deal so much with beginners/kids. I was tempted to add: "Belts must be worn on pants with belt loops" and "improper use of the phrase 'did good' will be punished by loss of stirrups", but I refrained.

Also the barn is closed Friday morning until 1:30ish. If you need to be there during that time, come talk to me and I will explain, and you can decide if you still want to come out.

Karen