My Valentine

Happy Valentines Day! 

I couldn't resist. I had to take Flecky out to celebrate V-day with my love. It was a little cold and windy but it was sunny. I put on the bareback pad and almost went in his halter but decided I needed breaks just in case he decided that he wanted to go buck wild. We headed out to the cross country field to graze. And we did. Then we headed to the lake for a little visit to our happy spot. And then we headed back in. 

It was wonderful. It was great to just chill and relax and not worry. Someone mentioned that perhaps my worries about Fleck were filtering through to him. And that's not fair to him. I shouldn't spend all of our time together stressing about him. I need to savor the moments we have. 

 

So we did. We savored it. We savored being together. We savored the sunshine. We savored the magic of Ashland. The lake was especially cool with the wind and sun causing a dance of ripples whipping across it. We savored nature. Fleck savored the grass. :) 
We thanked God for all he's given us and done for us. We savored each other.

Happy Valentines Day my Love. 

 

Day 11....

And we both caved.... 

I hauled the truck to the front field because the boys were out front. Fleck came screaming and galloping (and bucking and cavorting) up to the gate, so.... who was I to tell him no?! I figured I could groom him and put some keratex on his feet and with him sitting in the trailer it could soak in. And give him his pentosan shot. So he got to come. :) Which made him happy and me happy.

We did just that and luckily Peri had brought Sunny too so him and Fleck were able to hang out while we each rode our other kids. After I finished with Dan, I unloaded Fleck again. I just couldn't help it so I hopped on bareback with his halter! I was hoping to go graze him in the cross country field but I was running out of time so we just meandered about the parking lot briefly talking to Peri. But it was worth it!! 

I miss that bony butt of his. ;) And I think he felt good to be out and about too. Yay! 
So... he'll get more lasering and maybe, just maybe, if the weather cooperates, he can be my valentine and we can go for a short walk in the field together tomorrow. :) 

 

Deep thoughts... and handsome faces!

Oh how I miss riding this guy. It's just not the same... 

But... perhaps... it's for the best. Sigh... So, maybe it's Gods way of helping me cope with his inevitable retirement (not that I think it's soon, because we will do LOTS of things before he's officially retired and even then we will trail ride for fun until we can't and then we will hand walk and graze). Maybe it's Gods way of helping me devote the time to Dan, the time to my business and the time to my husband. Maybe it's a good lesson for me to learn. Patience little grasshopper. I'm just not good at it. I'm always striving for more, going for broke, hitting it hard and pushing on through. Maybe both Fleck and I need a REAL break. But it doesn't mean I have to like it. It's really hard not riding 5-7 days a week. It's really hard not getting our fitness work done, doing our homework and planning out our season. And it's especially hard when the weather is nice and my friends are competing, doing fun grids, going XC schooling, and beach riding. Sigh. 

But we will survive... because I won't give up.... I'm giving you all my love.... 

you belong to me and I belong to you

Day 6....

Dear Diary... it has been a rough 6 days.. I'm not sure if I will survive another week... Morale is down... 
 
Hee hee... Teasing, but it has been HARD! Tuesday wasn't too bad because I was driving around all day doing work stuff so it was frustrating that I didn't get to ride, but at least I didn't really miss out on riding Fleck. Then Wed Peri and I went to Full Gallop to jump judge. So I couldn't have ridden then anyways. (more on that later.....). Then Thursday I rode Dan, after ANOTHER Flat tire.. Sigh. So Peri came to pick us up and poor Fleck came cantering up to the gate and then was cantering around briefly before heading back to Roany. Riding Dan was nice but I was really starting to miss Fleck. He's... home! He's like your favorite pair of jeans that just fits perfectly. Then Friday I had a lesson with Cindy and had to leave Fleck at home. He was upset too and was cantering in the pasture neighing. Ugh...it made me so sad. Although I think he was more sad that Danny was leaving than he was sad that *I* was leaving. ;) Saturday was Kristin's baby shower so I didn't have time to ride anyways. And then Sunday I had my lesson with Kelly Eaton and Danny, which was a blast. But I missed jumping Flecky. Sigh..

So I came back and spent some snuggle time with him. I lasered his right hock, right stifle, both knees and his butt. And he got some good scratches. So that helped me feel better. :) 

 So..... not to bring this post down, but... Full Gallop... well, it was awful. Jump judging was fun and it was great to hang out with Peri, but... we got through the majority of the prelim horses and suddenly we heard a really loud thunk. And then "rider down, horse down" on the radios. It got super quiet and we all sat waiting to hear more. We were up on the bank complex and the horse and rider fell down in the mare pasture by the sunken road, so luckily, we couldn't see anything. The next thing we heard was "rider okay and out from under horse... horse not moving, vet doing what she can".... Oh no.... It was awful! There was a long 30 minute hold and it was deathly quiet. And then we saw the bobcat head that way and someone grabbed ropes from the back of the truck. My stomach turned... I knew what that meant. That poor girl... that poor horse. She ended up with a broken femur I think. They took her out in the ambulance and then behind her... they moved her horse out... under a tarp, on the flatbed. I can't even imagine....  Just...... ......

There are no words..... I just kept picturing that being Fleck.. and I don't think telling myself that he died doing what he loved would help me. I started to think that perhaps this was God's way of telling me to "Let it go"! With the "it's never enough" church sermon, the broken butt muscle and having to not plan on Sporting Days and then Stable View and Pine top, and then seeing this poor girl lose her horse... maybe I should listen.

It turns out that they believe the horse died of a heart attack or aneurism just before he hit the fence, not as a direct result of the fence. Which.. maybe makes it a bit better... I don't know. I mean, I know they can do things in the pasture. Or to each other. Or in the trailer... But man...

So yeah.. rough day.... I came home and just held him... and didn't let him go for a long time...
Love this guy

 

Answers

Well... Fleck has a broken butt! Hee hee.. He pulled a hamstring. We got to Dr. Browns... eventually. Sigh... I woke up and went to load him and we had a flat tire. Sigh. So it took me an hour to get it fixed, but we got on the road and were only an hour late to Dr. Browns. And then I got the trailer stuck in his driveway. Sigh.. Mondays! Once I unloaded Fleck and it dried out, I was able to get the trailer moved without any trouble. Phew.

Anyways... I was telling Dr. Brown what was going on with Fleck and he was already zooming in on Fleck's hind end. He was looking at his butt and said that he thought he had pulled a muscle. The magic sticks agreed so we ultrasounded him. Sigh.. yep. You could see the bruising and such. The left semimembrinosis. So... I asked how much time off... "like 6 weeks?!" and Dr. Brown said "Yeah.. maybe... sometimes it can take much longer... like 5 months!" Eeeks..... 

So...fingers crossed. It is great news... he should heal fine eventually and we shouldn't have any secondary issues unless we get any scar tissue. And it will respond well to laser therapy. So yay... because guess who's business just got a laser!? :) :) 

So... I'll do my very best to give him time off and let his butt heal and I'll laser it daily or almost daily and.... HOPE AND PRAY that it doesn't take too much longer than a week to heal. ;) Ha! But seriously... how on earth am I going to survive!?!? I don't think I've gone more than a week without riding Flecky in 10 years. Even if he was on vacation we still did some walk hacks...

But it's not too bad. It'll be just fine. And after his vacation, we can get back to it. :) 

And... check this out. :) Kaitlyn was there with her mare and snapped this picture and posted on facebook how she was glad to finally meet the famous Fleck. :) And how he was so sweet. Awww...

 

Better... and Worse... and Better....

 So... I adjusted Fleck and he seemed to feel MUCH better although still not 100%. Then Wayne came out and redid his shoes. He was overdue and I was hoping that was contributing. It was for sure as Wayne said he was also a little footsore in both front feet. He told me to try to harden up his feet with keratex. So we'll do that. He felt so much better the next day and we had a decent dressage school and then went for a hack. It was a good day. However the next day when I rode again, he was sore again. Still not as bad as he was the one day, but still not back to normal. It definitely seemed more aggravated after the shoulder in to the right and our left lead canter, which would indicate right hind. And I believe it's a hind end issue as I can feel a weird difference underneath my seat when he's trotting. So... fingers crossed Dr. Brown can fix us on Monday.

 Interestingly enough, we've had some lovely relaxed soft canter work. He's been quite soft and hanging in his neck. And he's still happy and game to try. We even got some really soft canter to walks. Our back to canter still has that moment of inversion, but at least our downwards are getting softer. 

Sigh... it makes me hurt to know he's hurting... So hopefully we'll get answers on Monday.