It's the climb...

I have been run pretty much off my feet all the month of May but I am finally reining things in and getting them under control, hurray!

My week started off with a bang, literally. I spent the last two weekends bragging to Suzanne and Bob from the Wind Rider Challenge about how great and awesome Bronwyn is and how she never leaves me behind, and then got a rude awakening on Monday evening. I rode her in the roundpen and she worked top class... then I pulled her out of the round pen to work on some long lateral movement... and all of a sudden, there was a cat. And not just a cat, but a cat climbing a tree. And then I was on the ground.

It happened so fast, I hardly had time to figure out what was going on, I was just laying on the ground, then sitting up, watching Bronwyn run away from me to the barn, going "WHAT just happened here?!". From what I figure, she stopped hard and popped up in front, effectively throwing me off balance because I didn't have weight in both stirrups because I was pushing her with my leg badcore. Then she spun right (I think?), and I slid off, bounced my head off the ground (thank god for new helmet!) and somehow landed on both my left boob and left butt cheek at the same time (no idea where my arm was!). When I finally got my senses about me, got up and followed her, I found her in the barn, standing obediently in her stall. I imagine the act of me falling was almost as traumatic for her as the cat climbing the tree.

Tuesday, I worked, but did very little as I was extremely sore through my head and neck. Wednesday, I was killer sore in my shoulders and back. I couldn't have gotten on her Tuesday if I had wanted to and by Wednesday, my butt was hurting - I could have got on but no way could I have ridden any of her gaits, so I worked on the ground with her some. I really like desensitizing my horses to enough stuff that they get to the point that when they see new, scary things, they don't even care anymore.

So I got out the plastic-bag-on-a-stick, and the hula-hoop-of-death, and put them to work. I swung the bag around her head, rubbed her legs, over her back, chucked it in the air, smacked her with it, and she stood fine and perfect. Then came the hula hoop which I threw in the air to let it bounce off her butt, put around her neck, made her step into and then walk with around her legs, falling on her knees, rolled it underneath her, hit her with it, flipped it back and forth on her back, etc. All of this stuff didn't bother her... but the next time I see a cat climbing a tree, I bet it will.

The reason I am so sour about the whole thing is that I was carrying on an 11 year not-falling-off streak - so I guess I was due for a fall. The longer you go between falls, the more evil they become in your mind, so really, I needed it so I could think "Hey, that's not so bad, I can live with this, and I don't have to ride in absolute horror of it happening.". I also decided that Bronwyn is a decent height to fall from.

I went in for my physical last night but since I was on my period, I couldn't do the pelvic, so we put off the whole thing. My doctor chatted with me a little bit, which was nice because we're both horse people, and she poked and prodded and palpated my spine and neck when she found out I had fallen, even though I told her I didn't hurt anymore.

I FINALLY picked up the cream and shampoo she prescribed me over a month ago (had the pharmacist check, it was back in APRIL when she prescribed it!), and I took a picture of my face pre-rosacea treatment, so we will see how it works.

She also said that the results of my bloodtests were mostly alright - except a bit of slightly elevated cholesterol which she wasn't super worried about. With that said, she is referring me to a dermatologist to see about my acne and facial hair growth to see if he can find a cause (mostly for the hair), and if he can't, she is referring me to an endocrinologist. I go back for my physical on the 26th of this month.

The last two days have been spent in First Aid courses for Mal and I, during which I discovered that I am attracted to (or at least distracted by naughty thoughts about) the worst person possible. He is a gypsy, practically, that squats on other people's land, and drives a refurbished firetruck and is old, probably older than 35, but it's hard to tell because his face looks young generally. BUT he is great with horses and came to the course with his boots smelling like horseshit (for once, I smelled and wasn't like "is that me?!") and works his horses on his lunchbreak - he's a teamster.

Everyone will make fun of me but dude.