Friday, June 13, 2008

5th Wedding Anniversary

Tomorrow my husband and I celebrate our 5th Anniversary!! Congratulations to us! We are throwing ourselves a big party, expecting about 70 people. Apart from starting to panic about what seemed to be a good idea a few months ago, we are excited to see everyone. It's the first big (non-holiday) party we will be hosting at our place since being on the "farm". Preparations are going okay. Our lawn mower starter went kaputt last weekend, meaning we won't have the nicely groomed look that we had hoped to have, our barn flooded 10 days ago, which means we worked hard to get the mold and mildew smell and moldy hay cleared out of there, and the house is messy beyond what our current psyches could actually take, so we have ignored the huge cleaning required until today (the day before the party). Other than that, everything will be perfect. At least we have our health, and that is really something considering all the things that have happened to us in the past 5 years. We are different people from the ones who walked through the vineyard five years ago. But we are still in love, and my husband is still the most precious person and most important thing in my life. I am looking forward to celebrating this milestone with him and look forward to the next 50 years!

Back To Work

Memorial Day weekend I officially put Zoe "Back To Work". That meant I took her to a friend's riding arena for 3 days and longed her each day. Then took her back that Wednesday and found she was lame-ish. While there was no obvious swelling, taking lame steps, or heat in the leg, she was moving conservatively. When I palpated the tendon she never moved the leg, but I could feel her shoulder muscle contract slightly when I pinched the original site of the injury. That was enough for me to do 2 things:
1) Feel horrible that I overworked my horse in the first 3 days of rehab, and
2) Put her away and gave her several days of rest.

Due to bad weather (lots of rain and flooding), Zoe has had about a week longer for resting than I had planned. I took her out 2 days ago and put her on the longe. She still seems to be moving a bit conservatively, but it looked more like she just didn't have any energy or stamina. She was content to just walk and trot on the longe. She was very well behaved, but I think I would have rather liked to see her try some big fancy trotting and some desire to canter. She did get tired quickly. Remember, she is really out of shape and being conservative on both of our parts is just what we need. I am a bit concerned that maybe I did too much Memorial Day weekend and maybe she really did reinjure herself. Aaargh. There is no heat, no swelling, and no other indication of that, but really only another ultrasound would tell me for certain. I am going to give us a couple more workouts to see before I take her in for a re-check. Keep your fingers crossed for us.