November to Now
So here's a basic update because my posts are always too long:
- Moved Chet to 'the farm' in November
- A pony at 'the farm' was diagnosed with strangles
- Had one month of quarantine
- Realised the only riding on property was in a field with 30 broodmares and their foals
- Sam's companion pony Ziggy was pts
- Quarantine was lifted in December
- Tried to organise riding out with A, failed
- After Christmas, V accompanied us on foot for our first ride off property
- Realised the only way to ride off property means going on a 40mph road with blind bends/hills and no cameras to enforce the 40mph limit
- In January, C asked V and I if we would have Sam back at 'the park' because he was depressed and we said yes
- V and I picked Sam up and brought him home as co-owners (C is covering his finances but has told us that he's ours)
- Sam settled in at 'the park' instantly, like he'd never left
- Realised I no longer actually spent time with my pony because of the long journey/traffic/feeling isolated/feeling too unsafe to ride
- Chet got severe mud fever due to different bacteria in the soil and had to be stabled on antibiotics etc
- Chet was so stressed he was making himself ill/destroying the stable so on vet's advice I turned him out and hoped for the best
- Chet and his herd broke into the huge back fields occupied by a herd of 50 gypsy cob broodmares, their foals and a stallion
- Realised, while walking up the steep gradient of the totally over-saturated field in torrential rain and wind to check for broken fencing, while seeing my pony's rug torn right through at the shoulder by what could only have been an angry stallion who shouldn't be turned out so close to our horses, that while 'the park' had its cons, 'the farm' had plenty as well
- Made the decision to move Chet back home
- Moved him back to 'the park' in February
- Realised that no situation is perfect, but when you love something, you make it work
- Started to have fun with horses again, with Chet, V and Sam
- In crazy winds a storage box blew over, Chet, who is always so careful, spooked and knocked V over, then tripped over V and almost landed on her
- V got up after a sickening moment of stillness and said she was fine
- In March V went to the doctors because she'd lost feeling in her left leg
- They sent her for an emergency MRI scan
- V had damaged her spine, in her lower back and her neck, and needed urgent surgery
- V didn't hear back from the hospital
- V continued to work at her very physically demanding job out of fear of losing it
- V's condition deteriorated over the course of 3 weeks to the point where she was falling over a lot, throwing up, had no feeling from the neck down/below her elbows other than her thumbs/index fingers and had very little control over her legs
- This month, V finally went sick from work after walking into a wall and falling over
- V is scheduled for surgery on Friday
- The surgery will hopefully stop further deterioration, but there's no guarantee that she'll recover fully
- V may be disabled for the rest of her life
- Not only am I heartbroken for my friend and fighting the guilt that it was my horse that caused her injuries, but I'm also stressed out over suddenly being left without a solid support system again, now with two horses to care for instead of one, along with various other extra issues that have arisen now that V is out of action for the forseeable future
- I'm trying so so hard to stay positive and I'm so glad I've got two wonderful, sweet horses to help keep me smiling through it all
And that's the basics...