Vienna

With sad news to report, Vienna will be out for the 2009 season. At the end of November, Vienna's left fore began showing swelling after two rides. We immediately stopped riding and had a the vet out. An ultrasound showed there may be a small tear somewhere around the fetlock, but nothing specific. We decided to stall rest her and ice.

With no improvement, Vienna last week went in for an MRI. The MRI showed two tears in her lateral sesmoid tendons. The bad news is we do loose her for this season. The good news is we can probably expect a full recovery if all goes well.

She will be laid up for the next 9 months. While I am sad that I am unable to continue the training I had with her at the end of last season, I am very happy that the mare should be back at the end of 2009 and will hopefully be back in full for 2010.

She is only five and a half and if we loose one season at this age, it really doesn't make a difference in the long run. We can still expect a lot from her over the years!

Here's to a healthy recovery to Miss V!

I'm Back.....Back In The Saddle Again

So today is the third straight day that I've ridden since the injury; and so far, so good. I wasn't planning on beginning any sort of riding until next week, but it started feeling good enough to try. I've done limited riding, only 2-3 horses a day, and not doing full work (20-30 minutes in duration).

I'm very happy to report that I have experienced absolutely no pain; as there was one ride where I was stressed and I had no response! If anything, I'm more stiff than anything else. It feels like I've done a couple heavy days of weight lifting.

I can tell my timing is slightly off during the rides since it has been over 3.5 weeks since the injury. I'm pleased where I am at, and I can start back up where I left off fairly quickly.

I'm going to take it easy through the weekend if the response is good, then full bore next week!

One Hell of A Winter

The title says it all. We have finally got out of the deep freeze that sabotaged the last two weeks of December. However with the warmer weather and heavy rains we now have a new monumental issue on our hands: floods!!

As of today (1/8) River Run is completely flooded. The Snoqualmie River reached 8 ft above flood level about 10am this morning. This meant there was 2 feet of water in both the barn and arena. The horses were moved last night to the critter pad (an elevated section of land with portable stalls). The horses are completely safe and sound!!!

I feel completely fortunate to have such wonder owners in Julie and John Bennett, and barn manager Ramon Their care has been absolutely tremendous. I have not been to the barn since Tuesday and not once have I had to worry about the safety of the horses.

I was unable to get to Storybook Farm today because all roads to it where washed out or under water. The farm itself, minus the lower pastures, is completely fine.

So......a reevaluation is now in order. Between the deep freeze/snow, my broken ribs, and now the flood, the horses are now a little bit behind in terms of their fitness. BUT it is only the beginning of January so I'm not stressing at all. I'm hoping to be back riding full time by the beginning of February and will now push back the goals a little bit. First show isn't until the beginning of May.

In regards to the ribs, they are better but I am no where close to feeling pain free. I got on Sabu for a couple of minutes on Tuesday and cantered him for a short time. There was no pain at all during the ride!! However, I've been pretty stiff since. I'm getting massage work done tomorrow and hopefully acupuncture in the next few days.

Let's already write January off and look forward to February and beyond!