Well, I'm feeling better. I'm still pretty run down and get tired out more quickly than normal, but I think the meds are working. Interestingly, the lab results came back negative for everything (???), but since I'm feeling better, they told me to stay on the Flagyl for the rest of the 14 days (yuck). I'll do it though if it means I'll get better. I just HATE taking all this "stuff", I hate being sick, I hate not feeling good. I'm a healthy person, I can't really remember the last time I had a cold or anything, so I just don't do well with NOT feeling good.
Anyways, since I'm mostly back to normal, I made plans to ride on Friday (without looking at the actual DATE) with my friends Sarah and Kelli. We were going to ride out from Sarah's house in Washoe Valley for a nice slow baby trail ride. Poor Dig hadn't been out in two weeks what with me feeling like crap and all. We got there in plenty of time to lunge him around her arena with Ace and Dandy. Since I had already tacked up, I decided to put the snaffle on Diego (something I had been fiddling around at home with) and ride him in the arena for a bit while they finished getting ready.
Got on and did a small loop around the arena, as we were coming across the middle, Diego scooted forward at something and I checked him up with one rein. Well Mister did NOT LIKE THAT with the bit in and put his head down and took of bucking. I remember thinking, "This is going to hurt... No, wait, I'm okay. I'm centered, I'm with him. Okay sucker - bring it on!" And then Diego got to the corner of the arena, cut a sharp left, hit a deep pile of manure and took a digger and fell over. Well crap!!! I wasn't planning on THAT! I stayed on when he first fell down but when he flopped over on his left side I must have either not been hanging on or lost my grip and I ended up on my side not holding on to anything. As he started to jump back onto his feet, I couldn't get my upper body off the ground to come with him, so I kicked my feet out of the stirrups. I felt something pop in my left hand, it felt weird, and then he was up and gone.
He only went a few feet away and stood there for me to catch him. I looked at my left hand and I had blood pouring off three of my knuckles (pointer to ring finger). They were already starting to turn a little bit purple, not the best sign. I took Diego back to the trailer and tied him up. Sarah and I went in her house and got me doctored up with some neosporin, 5 bandaids and ibuprofen. Went back out and we decided to just ride in the arena, enough excitement for one day and all (I'm getting tired of this theme here). I lunged Dig for a while with some side reins on the snaffle bit, then switched the reins over to the halter/sidepull rings and rode him around. Again, he was pretty jumpy so we just worked on listening, relaxing, and circles. It was also nice because Sarah and Kelli rode around as well so we did some passing and being passed in both directions. I was only riding with one and kind of a half hands, so I didn't really want to do too much where I would NEED to use that second hand.
Spring Break is next week. Hopefully I can get some more regular riding in. Two weeks off and then riding the first "real" time with a bit in a strange place was not a very smart combination for today. I need to remember to take things slower with Diego than I have with my other green horses. He can be so sweet and unassuming, but he's pretty hot inside and can be very reactive to stuff. Sarah's really pushing me to send him off for 30-days with a pro, but we just don't have that kind of extra cash right now. I had a long talk with hubby when I got home (he's retrained some pretty rank horses in his past) and have a better idea of what I need to focus on for now. Lots more repetition, repetition, repetition - need to build that conditioned response.
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