Re: That Ankle Injury

I mentioned this briefly in a previous post, but I've got a bum ankle. It's one of those things that I didn't really understand as it happened. It went like this: breaking in new tall boots at A show lead to blisters. Blisters meant I wore flip flops around at the horse show because I couldn't wear anything that covered my heels. Simultaneously I rode more this week than I had in awhile, not to mention walked a lot more as well.

My left leg got really sore - really, really sore. I started moving slower by Thursday at the show, I was noticing that I really couldn't keep up with other people and that my leg was HURTING. But it wasn't until Saturday night that my ankle swelled up to twice its normal size. I'm not kidding you - I had cankle. I make that singular because my right leg remained absolutely normal, while my ankle bone on the left lost any and all definition. It got even more painful to walk.

Sunday I actually had to skip the show to get it checked out. Here were the 3 biggest theories:
Gout
Infection
Sprain
(The x-rays they took were clean)

Gout, really? Well I have a family history of it, and I guess the way it swelled made this what the doctor suspected, but he started me on anti-biotics which really have done a lot for the swelling. But I am still in mega-pain. I am supposed to be resting this ankle for the rest of the week - that is pretty much impossible for me right now, because I need to stay busy. So I spent the day limping around the barn and helping unpack from the show, which is not ideal. I missed a dose of my anti-biotic (which I have to take 4x daily) and I definitely overworked it. I'm a lot more sore now than I was this morning.

When my shoulder was messed up I was ready to replace it with a robo-arm, and I'm about at that point with this ankle, because it is really slowing me down. When I am in a bad place emotionally, I just need to ride. I can't ride when my ankle is swollen and it hurts to walk, because I can't even fit my foot in my boot right now. Plus I need to let these blisters heal. So basically I am wearing my ladybug clogs and not really touching the horses because I don't have any real foot protection. Not exactly what I had in mind, you know?

Also, I went to the barn today in the first place to watch my trainer ride my horse - he got last week off because he didn't go to the show. It was a nice vacation for him, but he ended up throwing a shoe last week anyway. We got it fixed after a few days. But this morning we went to pull him out of his stall and he had thrown another one. And it was right there - in his stall. Do you know how hard it is for a horse to throw a hind shoe in his stall? Patrick has talent - he's really special. And I mean that in the "short bus" way.

I'm going to re-cap my week for you:
-Dumped by boyfriend
-Horse shit on my head
-Messed up my ankle
-Horse refuses proper footwear

I have to laugh about it, it is too ridiculous.