Post-Op Days 125 -131 - Weekly Update for Aug 17 - 23

Day 125- Monday Aug 17 - Physio @11:30, it went really good, my ankle felt good afterward. I had to go check on the cats before heading to North Bend to do a few things. I went to the ranch later on around 4pm and worked with Nikon in the round pen then took him to the ring and rode him for about 15mins, he was awesome. I even rode him out of the ring down the pathway and back.
Helene came around 6pm and we rode together, though I finished up with Nikon and got on Karma so I could do some ring work then do the waterfall trail.

I came home and relaxed before calling my mom on the phone as she was released from the hospital tonight. My aunt came down to stay overnight with her so that is good


Day 126 - Tuesday Aug 18- went to the ranch and had a great ride up the hill on Mercury. I went with Julie and Toah, a trainer from Arizona. after the hill ride we spent some time doing lateral work in the round pen and that was fun but tiring. haha!


Day 127 - Wednesday Aug 19 - went to physio and it was tiring but good. After I went to the ranch to help out with the vet etc... , busy day at the ranch!!

Day 128 - Thursday Aug 20 - went to the ranch and went riding with Julie and Toah again, we had a lot of fun riding the waterfall trail. We took a break after that and then went riding again but over to the RIVER~ YAHOO~ Now that was awesome, we had a great time riding through the trail and then into the river. Karma was a bit silly on the way over but once in the water she was a super star. We were all tired after all that riding and called it a day. haha! My ankle did pretty good considering how much riding I did. :-)


Day 129 - Friday Aug 21 - I woke up early and head down to the ranch so I could go over to the river again with Toah. We explored all sorts of trails, went over big longs, up and down steep hills and finally found the access to the sandy part of the river. We cantered through the sand, went into the water for a bit then head back to the ranch as he didn't have that much time to ride. Phew, I was ready to crash n burn! haha!
Though later on I got a text from Helene saying she could come out around 6pm so I said OK....haha, I left the ranch for a little bit then went back and did some round pen work with Nikon before Helene came to ride Mercury. I hopped on Karma again and we did the waterfall trail plus some toodling around the property.
boy I was beeeeeeeeeeat! oh well, went home and chilled out for the rest of the evening. haha!

Day 130 - Saturday Aug 22 - I went down in the morning to ride with Julie and Pepper(ranch owner), we had a nice ride through the waterfall trail and the perimeter trail. Then I helped Julie in the ring for a bit.
I had to leave around 12:30 because I needed to go let out some dogs for a client--actually was staying the night as well.
Adam & I went to Bellevue for a bit then head to Issaquah for dinner. I was falling asleep around 7pm haha!
I was happy that my ankle felt so good considering my busy week of walking and riding.

Day 131 - Sunday Aug 23 - Adam and I just hung out and relaxed. The week really made me tired plus dog sitting overnight takes its toll as I don't sleep good at that house. haha!
the weather was nice and so we enjoyed some time outside.

Post-Op Day # 17 - Saturday Sales Pitch

Well today was fun, I got a call this morning from Julie(the barn manager @ RRR) saying there was a lady coming to see Mercury( a lovely nearly 3yr old Rocky Mountain gelding) and she wanted to know if I could go down to help out.
Of course I'm in no position to ride right now due to the ankle but I told her that I would be happy to come down for a bit.

This is the 3rd person to come see him.....................maybe 3rd time's the charm! 1st person didn't want to pay his full price, 2nd lady thought he was too small...........this lady was looking for something in the 13HH- 14hh range....................ah yes, that would be MERCURY(Im guessing he's 13.3hh)! LOL

Pepper(Mercury's owner) agreed to ride him(for the past 6months I've been the only one riding him) so the lady could see how he went.
Mercury hadn't been ridden since the Monday before my surgery, so basically 3 weeks off of work. One nice thing about the Rocky Mountain breed is that they are usually very good even after having a bunch of time off -- this is definitely the case with Mercury, one time he had a month off during the cold winter then I rode him and he acted like he hadn't missed hardly any riding - I loved it.

We got him ready and I head out to the ring with her so she could get on and do some work in the ring for a few minutes before the lady showed up.
Mercury wasn't too sure at first, he was a bit confused as to why I wasn't on him! HA HA! He was so good though, he tried so hard and after 15mins or so Pepper had him gaiting quite well on the pathway between the pastures.

The lady showed up with her friend, so both of them ended up riding him around the ranch for about 1.5hrs in total......phew, what a long day but it was worth it. They both loved him, he gaited very well for them, I was so thrilled.

The lady(prospective buyer) rode him all over the place(perimeter trail, in the ring, pathway, fields etc..) with her dog along side and Mercury was so good, very happy to toodle around the ranch.
It was kind of exciting to watch how good he was, this is the first time I've seen anyone(let alone three people) else ride him(esp gaiting, we've been working on that).

The lady wants to come back again and take him on a trail ride along with Julie(and who ever is around at the time) so that is exciting, she really liked him. She didn't want to get off him when we were all saying that we had to get going for lunch! haha!

By the time we finished up with them I was pooped, lots of moving about on the crutches took its toll.

We went out for a nice lunch with Pepper and Julie at Jay Berry's then Adam and I head home for a bit. My poor foot was so sore, I needed to elevate it for a bit to help reduce the swelling. My calf muscle feels not too bad, still a bit sore but nothing too bad so that is a relief -- I was a bit worried it might get worse from all the moving about today.

I tried to nap but couldn't get comfortable enough so I decided to get up and have a bath. I got lots of skin of my foot today.......haha, ewwwwwwww but it felt good and looked a bit better afterward.

Its 11pm and my foot is still sore so I'm going to take some Advil, maybe put some heat or ice on it and see if that helps.

Tomorrow I'm going to take it easy but it was good to be out in the fresh air today for so long :-) - the weather actually held out too, it definitely threatened to rain! HA HA!

Well that is it for today, thanks for checking up on me

Here are two pictures of Mercury, isn't he handsome! (2nd Photo credit: Ryder Schwartz)

Mercury & I gaiting on the pathway - March 2009