I'm back, baby!

Never would I have thought I would be so overjoyed at walking again unassisted.  Never would I have thought that I would spend most of the year so far handicapped. 

Last Monday I was cleared by my orthopedic surgeon to start walking without crutches, one of the best pieces of news I’ve received all year.  He set my next appointment up for the end of June and said that he would clear me to start running / regular activity at that point and it’d also be my last appointment.  I attended my last physical therapy appointment that same day and said a fond goodbye to the therapists that had worked so hard on helping me regain my strength and mobility over the last month.  And of course, then I went riding on Wednesday night for the first time in three months. 

Vicious side-eye to the camera

I hadn’t exactly been cleared to ride but then again, I thought a walk around in the saddle wouldn’t do much harm.  The first shock was that the swelling in my ankle and foot had gone down enough to fit my paddock boots and half chaps over it.  I brought Bryan along to the barn to babysit in case something went wrong / I needed an assist getting on or off Maeby.  It was a cool evening (for a change) and I rode Mae at a walk around the arena for around 20 minutes.  It was calm, quiet, and felt great overall.  There were only three points when I felt uncomfortable:

1) Getting into the saddle.  That meant putting my broken leg into the stirrup, transferring all my weight on to it, and heaving myself over.  Bryan held the reins to make sure Mae didn’t move, which she didn’t.  It felt a bit uncomfortable (ankle) but I managed to do it without toppling over.  I still don’t feel comfortable doing this unattended at this point.

2) Posting at the trot.  In the middle of the walk, I wanted to see if we could trot / if I would notice any difference.  The discomfort made itself clear immediately.  I may have to trot without stirrups until the doctor clears me for all activity six weeks from now.  I haven't even pushed into the canter for now.

3) Dismounting.  This ended up being fine because I slid off and landed harder on my right leg and kept any weight off my left.  I didn’t feel comfortable enough dismounting onto the mounting block again (we have those small plastic ones).  Again, I may need supervision for this as well.

Altogether, it was good to go out to the barn with an objective besides stuffing Mae full of treats and dropping off supplements.  I could feel my back muscles reengaging where they hadn’t been worked out in awhile.  Mae has been fat and happy under my trainer’s direction and she didn’t mind meandering around the arena at a walk on a cool evening.  If anything, I’ve learned to be patient the last three months and I can stand to be a little more patient about getting back to regular scheduled programming when it comes to riding.