Over my shoulder

Hello my friends,

I know...it's been a very long time since my last entry...over a month.  Eeee gads, how did that happen? Well, there is a complicated reason, which I'll get to later, in another entry, and there is an easy reason. I'll tackle the easy one now.

One word. Horses. I feel like a little girl again and I've renewed my love...ummm, okay, obsession...with horses. I haven't felt this giddy in years, and it feels so very good. I feel alive again! This obsession of mine must not be too excessive, because Sam isn't sick of seeing and hearing horses...yet.  :) Oddly enough he's even getting into it. A few weeks ago he came home and immediately told me about a two horse trailer he'd seen for sale. This is fantastic, and so not like it was when I was a horse crazy child; I drove my family, especially my older sister Lyn, absolutely crazy. Seriously, I did. And I don't think they ever got over it, tee hee. I know I didn't...but the dream of owning a horse just wasn't practical and so I tucked that dream away...deep into the recesses of my soul and left it in a restful slumber until such time in the future when circumstances were more favorable.

Finally, that time is here.

And since I've decided to awaken my long slumbering childhood dream, I've realized I am starting from square one and there is much work to do. The horse, of course (which I've found, btw), a trailer to tow the horse (for trail rides at the cabin, and maybe more), saddles, bridles, hay (currently $150/ton thanks to the hay shortage...ouch), a place to store all the hay, hoof care, stabling...oye! At least we already have a heavy duty pick-up to pull the horse trailer. I'm sooooo excited!!!!! At night I find myself dreaming of hoof falls and four beat gaits, swishing tails and kind eyes. So, that's where I disappeared to this past month..I've been researching everything horse related.

The horse I found is a 16 year dark bay Morgan mare and she is gorgeous. I have a photo of her with her current owner but the sale won't happen until later this spring for two reasons. First, my left should is messed up and I must get it fixed before I do anymore riding, and second the mare hasn't been rode much lately and the owner/trainer wants to spend time working with her before handing her over to me.  I've been undergoing physical therapy for my left shoulder since before Thanksgiving; it's really causing me immense distress. It started as a little annoying pain in early August and escalated into an inflamed rotator cuff. There's talk of either surgery which I'd rather avoid, or manipulating the shoulder under a local anethesia in order to tear through the scar tissue that is restricting my range of motion. Progress with physical therapy has plateaued and the pain is getting worse each week...sometimes it takes forever to get dressed in the morning. I'll know more in the next few weeks what will happen after I see my doctor next week and then get my first consult with the ortho surgeon.  And so, I wait...

In the mean time, I HAVE to share this video I found. What you are about to see is a young woman named Stacy Westfall doing bridleless reining. She is fantastic, amazing and such an inspiration to me. The flying lead changes are smooth, flawless, and send the crowd into a awestruck frenzy. WOW!

 

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