daylight!

after work - not a lot, but a lot lighter than last week, not be long before there's proper light nights! freezing though.

Gaynor worked Charlie this evening, i just caught the end of their session, he's looking really good.....

knee blocks, fingers and little toes....

knee blocks - are now on the saddle. i had never used them as i was never at all clear about where the right place for them was to help me, so that's now sorted..

fingers - i had been doing too much with them!

little toe - weight slightly towards them to help keep the leg still and in the right place...

also, early on, my right leg below the knee was somewhat disconnected from my brain, developed a life of it's own, nagging, when my left leg didn't very odd.

anyway, i improved and he improved, which is all good..

Gaynor and Charlie also improved ... all i want now is Gaynor to come down earlier and video me! a fond hope...

ferrying mother about

meant i ended up not seeing Monf at all today :-(.

she insisted i was to pick her up at 3 ..... .she was wrong, i had to sit for an hour! had i known....

lesson tomorrow, we'll work on my position (that was the plan when we left things in November!).

may 4th

the plate comes out. as a day case.

as for the rest - he thought, since it seems to be settling, see how they go and we can review next time.

the wrists are of course aching after being poked about! (and doing a shade much on the lifting/carrying front at work, more files than i should have picked up at one time!)

first canter under saddle

but not ridden by me, LOL, by Gaynor. I had to get someone else to put the saddle on him ... my shoulder started twinging whilst i was reading a book this morning, grrrhhhh - anyway, Gaynor offered to ride him, so i said yes please, and the last thing she did was canter. Considering it IS the first time he has been cantered under saddle since I got him, and in a relatively small arena, he did well.

bring in....

slow introduction back to the yard... bringing in tonight! i had planned to see if i could manage mucking out today, but it was done this morning before I was even up, I gather! so will try tomorrow. Partner came to help with the bring in, which i was pleased about, Charlie behaved for her and i had to troop across the field for Monf, who looked a shade puzzled to see me, LOL.

Got some of the mud off; have mislaid a brush, which i've obviously put down somewhere and now i can't see it :-(

Doctor has arranged for an MRI scan of lumbar spine/hip, hurray! and appointment with wrist consultant a fortnight earlier than was otherwise planned, hurray!

and just to keep me entertained

whilst the right arm is no longer screaming, and is even moving better..

the left wrist (the one with the plate in) is now swelling and has paraesthesia.....worst it's been since I smashed it! and probably because I've had to use it more with the right arm being b'd last night & today...

loud screaming from durham

literally. by yesterday teatime i needed help to remove cardigan and put jacket on. did not improve. gp this morning - but at least i did stop screaming eventually

improving again...

went to bed screaming last night, but it slowly improved through the night so i was able to get up without help in the morning..... stayed at home, still in pjs at this moment ... moving round, one seat, then another, then stand up for a bit, and so on, so don't get wholly stuck in one place

I'm sure M must think I'm abandoning him the way I keep vanishing every now and again, not good for the relationship, but, gaynor said "told you so" after i'd done too much yesterday, and she was right to say that, she had told me so....

partner got to do the shopping - normally, that's my job.....

it was -4 (c) this morning, and everything was white until about 2 pm with the frost, then thawed out .. so glad i wasn't out in it, in one way...

aaarrrggghhhh

the back muscles have unspasmed - that was on the right - and now the left hip is killing, what's that about?

in other news, gaynor tells me that Monf got his haybar off the wall, it's totally down, and one screw is missing, so that's not good....

it's my hip, not my back....

yesterday morning i started getting twinges in my back, felt muscular .. gradually got worse as the day went on, couldn't work out why..... time i got into the car to go to the yard it clearly wasn't good... back muscles seized up overnight to the extent that i could barely walk this morning .. the right leg proving difficult and the pain had been over the hip as well as the back when lying down (I'd ended up in the recliner, again!). so went to GP , and sat and waited until he could see me.... he could see the muscles all spasmed, but concluded after examination that it is more likely to be the hip that's the root of the problem than the back .. i could touch my toes and stuff, but straight leg raising on that side was very hard and limited, as was sideways movement of that leg, with pain in the hip area. so, stronger painkillers and waiting for Xray to send for me to get it xrayed.

this is the hip that had tronchanteric bursitis for years, and which i landed on when i had that smashing fall in august 2010......

and of course, ii sometimes then have to haul myself about and that puts consequential strain on the left shoulder ....

so hacked off, thought i was recovering from everything quite nicely!

so Gaynor had to sort Monf out for me today, and probably will have to tomorrow..

bitless!

Haven't ridden Monfils in the bitless before, so it was interesting to know what he'd do. He was a good lad! he was actually quite forward (think that was as a result of the work last weekend, and Gaynor's efforts lunging) but I DO find they feel VERY heavy in the hand with the BB on. Still, at least it means I can ride even when he has got a cut lip (which is healing very nicely).

it was quite funny - Gaynor came in later with Charlie, and she was trotting more than me ((I'd managed to forget a strategically important item of clothing, so trot was not at all comfortable) ... but anyway, Monfils really wanted to catch up = funny that, even in the arena if he thinks he's behind, he doesn't want to be. Yet, at the same time, quite happy to carry on in walk patterns whilst Charlie was cantering.

cut lip!

Monfils, that is! lord knows how. it was relatively freshly done when i spotted it as we got them in ... happily not deep enough that we felt we needed the vet, but it got hosed off (he likes the hose to drink from, so that wasn't a problem!). will keep a close eye, though, just in case...

so, no bit for him until that heals. it's not wholly in the corner, but a bit close to it and i wouldn't be happy bitting him until its healed.

so, bitless bridle, and he was lunged - by Gaynor. i lunged Charlie, albeit not quite as hard as Gaynor would have (he knows her, of course!).

Shall i ride bitless, do I think? or shall i try the longlines tomorrow? mmmm

bouncing

round the box, was monf tonight - don't know what that was about, save that the stable light had been left on, and i rather think someone had been hosing something off (using my hose, which they didn't put back properly :-( )

so i left him to that!

hopefully, the weather tomorrow is as the forecast suggests ... calm and dry (cold i can live with, LOL)

scary

listening to the more howling gales outside - glad not out in it though, know monf is tucked in stable away from wind, but no doubt stuff getting blown about the yard....

and yet more howling gales!

all day... dropped now, but will still be windy tomorrow. partner drove back from Scotland, forth road bridge closed so huge diversion, lots of power lines down so hard to find a petrol station open, she saw 2 wagons and a van blown over; chap in Kent killed when tree fell on his van, bus driver in Surrey hurt when tree fell on his bus, a Facebook/EE friend had lucky escape, tree fell narrowly missing outside office and house .....

aha!

whatever we did Saturday and Sunday showed in a really good onward walk today, lots of circles, changes of diagonals and the like with barely a slowing, only one stop, the slowings and the stops quickly corrected - I DID remember my schooling whip this time, but he didn't need too much reinforcement of the leg with that.

overall pleased...

not so pleased on the saddle front, I was dubious about the saddlecloth I bought at YHL, and think I was right to be dubious.. back to the griffin (when i can prise it out from under Gaynor's saddle, she borrowed it and, rightly, likes it, LOL)

teamwork

for the next few lunge sessions, Gaynor will lunge Monf, and I will lunge Charlie. Because Monf isn't listening to me at all and being a right stubborn g** and I can lunge Charlie no bother.....

Mind if you'd seen Monf's paces once he did decide to cooperate .. wow.

We'd decided not to ride and it had been raining on and off all day and it was unclear whether it would rain again, or not... lunging safer, easier to dash back to stable if necessary!

and my lightweight green check Fal rug is now leaking... I've had it a few years, so owes me nothing, but a shame, i might see if another reproofing will help but often if they've been proofed once, they don't proof well again.... and I've liked that rug, but can't replace it as it isn't made any more .. (plus, got it cheap in local factory shop, which also isn't there any more i don't think...)