Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Surprise!


Who is that? I know a few of these might seem a bit dark. I played with the angle I held the camera phone at, then the settings and brightness- it got better, then a few with the brightness, zoom and angle were right and, yeah.
 
Festival Fanfare or Fancy as she is known, is one of the cutest little Morgan mares I have seen with the biggest, softest sweetest doe eyes any horse is allowed to have. And is she ever HOT in Cones and Hazards!  Anyone remember hearing tales and talk on Fugly about OKC and Morgan Horse Nationals?
 
It's not quite OKC, nothing like I imagine Nationals, chilly, drizzly and breezy like her home state of Washington...
 




























But here she is with one of Many big Smiles I seen throughout the day.



And another one to end the day. I FINALLY got to meet Liz who used to post 'back in the day' on Fugly as the farmers wife. She is a blast to hang out with and since she is friends with a few other people I know in the driving club, we were sure to have fun.



Between her red hat and my red hair, we both figured we wouldn't be hard to spot. If that wasn't enough of a give-away, I have seen her horse in action before, know a few others in the same barn with her trainer... she has seen pic's of Kat in action so by the rule of nature in horses- we should be able to find each other by the horses.

Liz might not make it back for the CDE next month, but whenever she hops a plane headed south again, I look forward to meeting up with her again and maybe doing lunch, dinner or even just coffee or something.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Pop goes the what?

Some people know that I do yoga as a benifit to keeping some of my flexibility. It is relaxing, enegizing and helps you build strength as well as improve your balance too. Many health benifits to be found in yoga. But what happens when a little is actually too much?

Not this just passed Sunday, but the one before (the 20th) - I tore my piriformis muscle. Only doctors don't like to say torn as much as they would rather call it a strain. Either way? It hurts!  When it is at the height of hurting, it feels as if someone is stabbing a knife into the hip joint itself. Not fun!  And when it popped- it really POPPED! I didn't know muscles did that, but you learn something new every day.



Here is a pic of the piriformis muscle. Basically it affects movement in your hip and leg.  Every step hurts a little and sitting down is misery. It feels like I have my cell phone in my pocket all the time or sometimes I just cannot get comfortable. 

Reading everything online, there should have likely been swelling, could be bruising, etc. No sign of either one until that Wednesday night when I decided a good long, hot soak in the tub would surely help. Boy was I wrong there! As soon as the hot water came in contact- it felt like my rear end and the back of my leg were on fire. Stubborn me figured I was in, so I was staying in. When I did get out, it still hurt and now it had swollen some.  

Friday night found me at the Urgent Care on the corner. An exam and 3 x-rays later, nothing was severly damaged, broken or needing surgery, but sheesh, now I was hurting all over again like I had just done it.  When positioning my leg for the 3rd x-ray, my hip popped. The tech had his hands on it and felt it as well as hearing it. He paused for a minute as if contemplating what to do. I'm wondering if he thought he broke something? I assured him it was all right and he seemed to relax a little. Aging sucks! I was given pain meds, muscle relaxers and told to also take over the counter NSAIDS to manage things.

Physical therapy told me this is not a common injury they see. It is treatable, but not common. Figures it would be me though, right?  Usually people tear the hamstring, which is what I originally thought I had done.  It hurt down the back of my leg as well so it sounded reasonable.

So far things are going all right. The meds are warding off enough of the pain to keep it bearable, but not enough to make me feel awesome and go blasting along doing more damage in the process. I obviously won't be riding for a while.... I am still planning to compete this weekend though and get pics of the surprise for everyone.  I can't let a little pain in the butt stop me.

How did I do it? I was doing a series of long, deep stretches. If you have never tried it, it can be very relaxing. As you cool down, you stretch. Hold the stretch for a little while before sinking down deeper into it. As I sank deeper into this stretch I heard and felt a strong, loud POP! This was strange since it felt really easy to sink deeper into the pose, going further than ever. I sat up, laid on my back and thought- That was Not good!  So there it is. I don't even have a 'Cool' story to tell. Like doing something wild, thrill seeking or scary dangerous. Not that I would try some of those, but who knows. When things go wrong, it can get scary dangerous in the blink of an eye.