I Have A Hitch In My Giddyup!

Gosh darn it. Just when my back has been feeling pretty darn good, it has to go and putz out on me again! I was going to a few Chiro appointments a week, and we had just gotten to a point where we could slow them down to a couple a week, then once every few weeks. I was doing great. My Chiro was very happy with how I was doing, even though I still had pain, but it was very minimal from what it had been. In the last month or two, on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the worst, I had been around a 3. I have constant back pain still, but a 3 is doable. When it was bad, the pain was around an 8, and that is about what I am at today. So I thought I was doing really well.

I had a Chiro appointment next week, but after today, well, I had to call and see if I could go in sooner. None of the Chiro's were in the office today (just my bad luck, again!) so I am going tomorrow after work.

Since the busy show season has slowed down, I haven't been doing as much bending and lifting. Plus we had some extra help at the barn during the summer. Once of our 14 yr old clients was coming in and helping us do turnouts and getting horses ready. That was a huge help. But school started for her, so now it has just been me and another girl, A. We are waiting for a new girl to start next week. Then A, the other girl, got injured the other day. The same ankle injury I had last February, which I still have some problems with. So she didn't work today. I was all alone. And being all alone is not a good thing when you already have a bad back, are shorthanded as it has been and work at a very busy training barn. So my back went out.

By around 2:00 p.m., I was feeling like I had a hitch in my giddyup. I was walking around like my hip was totally out of whack, which it probably is. I even took a prescription Ibuprofen, which I hate taking. Now I know why, it didn't help me at.all. I am in dire need of an adjustment. Such is life..............

Silly Mustang trailer loading update: I wasn't able to continue trailer loading training the day after the first trailer training session due to a torrential downpour. It rained cats and dogs all.day.long. No break whatsoever. So on Wednesday when I got home from work, the day before my back went out, I brought Chance out for another training session. When I climbed into the trailer, Chance put a foot in, backed out, put 2 feet in, backed out, then she walked right on in. She happily munched her hay. I decided to tie her and unhooked the divider. I slowly shut it and I had to push it against her body to get her to move over. She stepped over no problem. I latched it, stood back and watched. At first she was a little worried about what was going on, but she relaxed and was fine standing in the stall and eating her hay. After a few minutes, I opened the divider and untied her and walked her out. We again went back in, I tied her up and shut the divider. She wasn't scared at all. I left her in the stall a little longer that time, then opened it, walked her out and put her back in her pasture. She is getting really good at exiting the trailer. Once I get her turned around, she immediately stops and waits for the next cue. She does not just jump out. This is exactly what I want. Such a smart little Mustang! This weekend I will load up Brandy and Chance and take them for a short drive. I am hoping that Chance will be okay. I am a very overprotective horse owner, probably a little too much sometimes and I will worry the whole time. But I am sure she will be fine. Plus her adoptive mother will be in the trailer with her, so she should handle it easily.

I got to do something at work the other day that I don't think I have ever experienced before. Well, I have, but not quite like this. My boss asked me if I wanted to ride one of our western purebred Arabians. I was like, yeah! She has been shown in junior horse classes (snaffle and bosal), but since she is over age for the junior classes now, she is going to be trained in the bridle (curb). I have ridden a western horse at work, but mostly english (saddleseat) horses, which is funny because I am not an english rider, I am a western rider. Once I got on Angel, my boss gave me a lesson on her. I was in total awe at how well trained she was and how much I need to learn about training a show horse! Even my show horse I had in my youth wasn't this well trained. I used my body to go left or right, there was no need to use the reins. I just had to move my right hip down and over to the left and she would turn to the right. There was so much involved in keeping her collected and straight that I think I was starting to get confused with everything my boss was telling me to do. I jogged and loped both directions, and my boss said I had Angel going nicely the second direction. Goodness! It was a lot of work. But in a good way. Just trying to listen to my boss telling me which leg to use, when to use it, which hip to use and when to use it, push her back together, how to cue her to lope, use this leg, use that leg, use both legs....I was a little confused, plus trying to remember everything he is telling me and figure it all out while I was riding. I think my stirrups were too long, so I felt like my legs were flopping all over. If only I had video of the ride, then I could critique myself! But my boss said I did well, without ever having ridden her before, I didn't have spurs on and she hadn't been worked much at all in 2 months. I sure hope so, because I sure would love to learn how to ride her, the way she is trained and do it all on my own!

I will be back at the end of the weekend for an update on Chance's first trailer ride!