Until I hurt, I forget that I am technically injured.  Mostly.  I mean, I wear this fugly brace for about 22 hours a day, so there's that.
Wednesday, 9/14: met with knee specialist who told me that if I could do it in a brace and it didn't hurt, I could ride.  Challenge accepted.
Friday, 9/16: rode Archie in my jump saddle.  Mounted on the off side, thinking that would be easier on my left knee.  Swinging my leg over was the most excruciating experience and I couldn't bend my leg well enough to pick up my stirrup.  Ignored trot and tried to canter and contemplated the benefits of amputation.
Saturday, 9/17:  rode Archie in my dressage saddle.  Mounted from the picnic table, so the left leg was in a stabilized position.  Trail buddy helped me get my left foot in the stirrup.  The ride was unremarkable as far as pain, so trail buddy and I planned a trail ride for the next day.

I zip my left boot up half-way and then fold it over and close the snap.  It works and doesn't rub or anything.

Sunday, 9/18:  went on a trail ride and repeated the picnic table and dressage saddle.  Able to pick up stirrup by myself! About half-way through the ride, I asked if we could trot.  Trotting was pain-free, so we picked up a little canter which was also good.  The trail ride lasted an hour and when we got back, I told her that I wanted to ride Ox.

• Tried Ox first in my dressage saddle.  Went through walk/trot/canter and only had a little pain when my gimpy leg swung.  Jumped a cross rail in my dressage saddle.
• Put Ox in his regular County saddle and lengthened the stirrups to an absurd amount.  Then we w/t/c and jumped the cross rail a few more times.  Why am I jumping so early into my recovery?  I can't let it become a phobia, because it will.

Tuesday, 9/20:  played photographer and let the knee rest.
Wednesday, 9/21:  hopped on Ox in his County again and did our normal.  Rode Archie for a whopping ten minutes until the light faded too much.
Saturday, 9/24: ripped the inside hinge off my knee brace because it sucked.  Riding in it broke it and it was too hard to bend.  Rode Ox again, this time jumping just a little bit more with more normal-length stirrups.  Had a fucking epiphany and applied something trail buddy had said:  instead of my overzealous two-point, I leaned my shoulders forward and Ox's momentum took care of the rest.  Took Archie on a trail ride afterwards, where we flushed out two groups of deer with no spooking, but lost our shit at what was presumably a ghost in the woods.  Thankful for my deep-seated Kieffer.

Sunday, 9/25:  Archie led a trail ride for an hour and was just a fucking champ.  Hopped on Ox afterwards and with trail buddy's guidance, jumped all the things.  The only pain is when I have to drive Ox with my seat.  It puts the angry knee in an angrier position.  Also successfully did super-light-weight knee curls and extensions.

A video posted by bekaburke (@bekaburke) on Sep 26, 2016 at 6:54am PDT

Skeptical eye.

His mane has never been this long.

On Saturday, trail buddy, Big G's mom, and I headed over to The Eventer's barn (remember her?) for a jump lesson.  We've all been having fun jumping stuff at our barn, but sometimes it's great to have a pair of eyes on the ground and new sticks to play with.

Everyone loaded and trailered fine and we got to the barn in good time.  The only sad thing about the three geldings we took was that it left Archie all by his lonesome with only the three mares next door to console him.  He survived.

We did a little flat work warm up where TE asked about each horse and what we wanted to accomplish.  Ox looks at fences, baby gelding needs form, and I can't remember what Big G needed.  I'd previously told her that trail buddy wanted grids, so she had a crossrail, a bounce and a one stride with trot poles entering and a placing canter pole.  We warmed up over everything as poles and she started adding in pieces, until everything was set back up.

Legitimately thought I fell off his other shoulder. #ouch #myasshurts #whoopsies #oxthehorse #bigorangebooty #ihatealloxers

A video posted by bekaburke (@bekaburke) on Sep 10, 2016 at 2:35pm PDT

I love you, Severus Snape.

Of course I ventured out for Mexican.

On Thursday, my city shut down.  The forecast called for a hurricane to strike some time Friday morning and so (my) work was cancelled and people were freaking out.  I went to the gym and purse shopping.  And got alcohol.  As you do, you know.

At about three-thirty Friday morning, our three cell phones (one biz, one personal, one biz/personal) went off simultaneously with a tornado warning.  Tornadoes are fucking horrifying.  Tornadoes and hurricanes combined?  I stared at the ceiling for half an hour battling a panic attack and thinking about Archie being lifted into the air like the cow on Twister.

Unfortunately, D actually had to go to work on Friday.  Our jobs have different business models.  Fortunately, the hurricane deescalated back to a tropical storm by the time it hit us and we survived with just a few fallen branches and a lawn covered in spanish moss.  We only lost power a few times, coincidentally only after I'd reset the clocks.


Saturday, we dropped the girls off at the nearly-powerless kennel and headed up to Atlanta for the Georgia game.  We stopped in at a German restaurant for lunch, where D relived his Oktoberfest days.  Then it was meeting my dad and his girlfriend for the pre-game festivities.  The game itself was phenomenal and exciting and UGA fought for that win.




Sunday morning, we went to my favorite store and bought a whole bunch of unnecessary things, including a cart for me to use at the barn.  If this thing works out well, I'll review it and link it.  I currently use one for my metal stuff and it's brilliant.


Then it was driving to Athens, getting greasy pizza for lunch and heading to our favorite brewery.  Many drinks were had, followed by a nice nap at a weird hotel.  Then it was back out for dinner and watching a drag performance for Gay Pride.  We did a little shopping before leaving Athens on Monday and swung through Augusta for more pizza and beer.  I have a tiny addiction.  Then picking the best bitches up and relaxing at home.