Wrecked

Last night I went out to ride and got to the barn early enough that I decided to ride outside. I was offered the opportunity to do a ride up the mountain, but I was too lazy to put the boy's boots on. I also wanted to work with him on the slalom poles for WE, so figured I would just hang out in the dressage arena.

As we walked out he was a little tense. I think there were a lot of horses going a lot of different directions and he was feeling a little bound up with what they were doing. I handwalked him to the WE area and picked up the three orange cones and pvc poles to make a three pole slalom course, then headed back to the dressage arena to set up. Ashke was really snorty and up as we walked into the dressage arena because someone had set up the A marker at the entrance (instead of leaving it laying on the ground where it had been).

About a third of the way into the arena, I put the first slalom pole in place and was about to grab the other two poles when Ashke suddenly reared, spun hard away from me and tried to take off down the arena.

My arm ripped off my body at the shoulder. Blood went everywhere. Ashke then spooked at the dangling zombie had still holding the reins, as I keeled over and exsanguinated in the dressage arena.

. . . .

Ok, not really, but it was a close thing. I was holding the reins in my left hand and something in my left shoulder snapped out of place when he hit the end of the reins. My arm went both numb and in incredible pain at the same time. I wanted to cry. And I wanted to kill him.

I think he recognized both. It did not help our situation.

I was in so much pain I could not lift my arm at all. I was afraid I was going to be sick. It was that kind of pain.

I tucked the reins around my right elbow, daring fate and my horse to rip the other arm off, and lifted my left arm with my right hand and popped the shoulder back in. That actually made it feel better. I do not believe it was dislocated, entirely, but I do believe it was out and needed to be put back in. I walked around and cussed under my breath, while Ashke eyed me like I was about to rip his head off.

We walked over to the mounting block and I realized how much I use my left arm to mount my horse. My first attempt ended up with Ashke stepping sideways away from me, me collapsing onto the side of the saddle then sliding off to land on the ground. Ashke really spooked at me then and I loss my temper and yelled at him. He stood stock still the second time as I flooped my way into the saddle, my left shoulder feeling stiff and swollen.

As I turned to ride back into the arena, he began to throw a fit. He reared, he cavorted, he jigged. I was so done. I let him jig to the outdoor arena, then got off him (not so graceful at all) and led him into the outdoor, asking Michelle if I could use her lunge line and whip. She said yes, so I gathered it up and headed for the other end of the arena.

As soon as I had the reins looped up out of the way and the lunge line hooked on, Ashke took off. He galloped, doing the Arabian scootle butt on the corners and throwing a couple of bucks in at the beginning. He ran for ten minutes in one direction. Then he turned himself around and ran for ten minutes in the other direction. I just stood in the middle and held the rope.

One of the drawbacks to having a really fit horse is that it takes a lot of time for them to finally wear themselves out.

Also, he is much better on the right lead than the left. He still cross-canters to the left.

After lunging, I went back to the dressage arena and put the poles away then went to the outdoor arena and we cantered at the end of the arena for several minutes in both directions. Then I was done. I went back to the barn, unsaddled and rinsed him off, then put him away. He was still worried I was upset at him. I don't think he could tell the difference between the pain pouring off of me and the anger I had earlier.

It confuses me too, sometimes.

Today, my shoulder is stiff and uncooperative. The muscles feel swollen and hot. and I can't lift my elbow. It is better than last night though, and I am hoping alternating heat, cold and Rider's Rescue Rub will make it mostly better by tomorrow.