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I got dumped off of my Mom's horse yesterday. The crazy thing is there actually is a race trained thoroughbred stallion that I'm getting paid to ride. But I feel safer on him than my Mom's horse. Which I have to be clear, my mom's horse means well and is a sweetheart and means well. But when he spooks and flips out it's not pretty. Even when he's being good I don't feel safe on him. However, we started him on calmex, and it made a HUGE difference. I was actually thinking about pushing to keep him again. This particular incident wasn't really his fault so I don't blame him. He moves like a really cute hunter so we've started him on jumps. Things were going AMAZINGLY. Picked up super fast. Then we tried a little bit higher every day. Then we got to the point where the standards couldn't be any higher as a cross rail anymore so it was that or a vertical. I don't want to consider the jump "high" as anything but. But considering he had less than 40 jumps it was too high. The first time was eh but he went over it. The second time was beautiful and we were going to call it a day. However other people at the barn saw us jumping and wanted me to jump in front of them. He got scared and refused. I'm usually quite sticky and although it made me mad wasn't a big deal. For the next 2 rides, he refused somewhat frequently. Then 2-3 rides ago it finally clicked in his brain again and when I trotted up to a jump he would actually ask to canter off and was enthusiastic. Well, we were gone on that trip for a few days. Mom and Lane bought me a super cool self-guiding camera stand for my phone. Long story but my horse isn't with me right now. So I decided to try it on, Joker. We were probably having the best ride we've ever had. Walk trot canter. Something DID bother him but all he did was look with interest and not try to spook. There were people on the property but no one actively watching me. I trotted, and picked his head up like we were going to jump. He acted super enthusiastic. Cantered off. So I was certain he was going to jump it. Then last minute he got scared and started refusing. (Which I could have had a bit more energy than I did have.) I was caught off more balance than I normally am. I don't know if he could tell I was unbalanced or what but he changed his mind and leaped forward. I was thrown backward. PUlled on his face. He did a low rear or high pop his front end off the ground. I slid behind the saddle. In my stupid panic mind, I thought I could pull him to a stop and then I could regain balance. Then I just came off the side. We are going to try a different bit for him. Mom and Carla (one of my trainers) both insisted that he had to have a baby curb on. But I loved him in my mare's English bridle (super super soft snaffle). So we compromised on a somewhat harsh snaffle. But I never got too bad of a reaction from him from the bit so I said ok. I have pretty soft hands and he never acted like he didn't like it. But then the other day Mom got to yanking on him a little bit and he freaked out. So they FINALLY agreed that we can try a softer snaffle on him.

So anyways I'm mostly mentally doing great. Have been saying I'd be grateful to be bored for a while now. But I'm a tiny bit disappointed with how this week is going. I had grand plans for this week. Ride 2-3 horses yesterday early then go to my Dad's by noon. Stay there 24-48 hours. Help with dump load with truck. Then go and take a lesson on my horse. (long story but I don't currently have her. One of my trainers borrowed her for a show). Then I was going to ride the horses at Carlas again and stay at Mom and Lane's house. Then I was going to take our new dog to agility practice. Then world is my oyster probably repeat but do whatever I want. By the time the truck started (different story) it was noon. Then the first horse dumped me. Then I spent the rest of the day trying to decide if I should go to an ER then deciding if I should leave the ER.

I’m sorry it always sucks when you have fun plans that get changed last minute. Have you tried a epson salt bath? They always help me when I hit the ground or have an extremely hard work day.

I’m currently working my way through a show called Numb3rs on Hulu. It’s an older show, FBI crimes that they solve using math. Really fun, pretty clean, and not too gory.

Glow Up on Netflix was good. It was a makeup contest, kinda like cooking shows where they eliminate poor performers and such. It a more fun interesting show less serious. Personally it was a little emotional for me so I fast forwarded some parts and just watched the art or makeup parts. I find it funny I actually liked the show since the most makeup I wear is mascara and a lip tint on special occasions.

My mental health is starting to plummet. I want to go back and ride..maybe not that horse but my horse. I hate doctors but the fact that I would be willing to consider going should tell mom just how much pain I'm in and I feel she should be running me there. I literally cant move and she wants me to do the dishes and stuff. I still haven't returned dad's truck and haven't told him I'm hurt. If I knew it was muscular of course I'd stretch and try to fix it then take some advil and go ride. But I think weird positions of stretching is a horrible idea of it is broken. My one shoulder is literally 1-2 inches lower than the other right now. But maybe my back is just out? Because I try to tense my muscle before I even try to get up and it hurts. Maybe try calling a doctor except mom is being unhelpful about that too and I don't technically have a primary care physician. I have a nurse practitioner I went to 2-4 years ago but that's it. I'm not upset at mom but I want to know if I'm safe to push through the pain and go ride. (Although considering even with advil I can hardly stand so idk)

My little panic attack is finally over. I had only 2 advils and that was enough to take me from can't get up from a lying position to me walking around. I've talked to a few more people and done a little more research and I'm starting to get convinced its muscular too. Now just hard should I be pushing it?

Thanking you FeldingFields. What you describe sounds EXACTLY like mine, so I'm feeling a lot better now that there's hope etc. Recalibrating your pain scale is a perfect way to describe it. But yes, its definitely my back, upper hip area.

The steroid pack is definitely a great tip. I'll ask Mom if she happens to know of anything similar here. I haven't but that isn't to say they aren't here. (More of a retirement community place with monopoly of doctors etc its a huge mess here).

I'm considering getting a jumping vest when I'm riding this horse, and every time I'm jumping. There was one online for only 50$ but no one seemed to think it was worthwhile. The brand that everyone recommended was 200$ which is way out of budget. But most people said it can be worse instead of better unless their fitted, but there isn't any place that sell them within 2 hours and I'm not planning on going to the big city any time soon especially since this is one of the worst places in the world for covid right now.

Although four weeks is kinda scary/bummer. That's most of my vacation/break.

I don't know. I'm trying to debate. Stuff doesn't happen until it happens. Lexi normally (actually always so far) has the scope to get out of anything I mess up. But if I go back to the cross country course near school again... There the jumps are bigger AND they are unbreakable cross country jumps.

Yea, his old owners rode him in a curb but best I can tell he HATES even a baby curb. Won't let me get on contact at all. And if you get after him he throws his head and threatens to rear often causing a bigger issue than the original issue. If that makes any sense.

I keep forgetting to mention to Mom about the steroid pack. She suggested a chiropractor and I looked into and found two that I think would be really good. Same day appointments etc but Mom has had a change of opinion stating that my insurance probably wouldn't cover it and "only if you really think it would help"

The bath was doing really well for me. But cooled down way faster than normal because my bathroom is super cold. Then I did some stretching. But I think I did too much stretching. My breathe got all funky and my eyesight got all funky and now even after more ibuprofen than I have been taking its almost as bad as it was this morning. :(. Still way better than yesterday and the day before though. I was thinking going to get my truck (which is still at the trainers) would be a good test of doing a little something but when I was supposed to go get the truck is when I got worse again.

Oof, now that you have explained it more it sounds like the accident I had four years ago. I got dumped twice on a day we were moving cows, it was the beginning of the day and I ended up having to ride the rest of the day. Driving home that night was horrible, nothing helped with the pain. I went to work Monday i was a swim teacher at the time and I literally changed how I taught the kids because I didn’t have the strength to do anything. I had to swim in the deep end and it felt like someone was trying to pull my spine apart. I was in pain and trying to function, and I was Crabby, not something you can be when working with very young children.

I got a massage and called a chiropractor within a week. Only after seeing both did I start feeling better. The massage was the first time I truly didn’t hurt anymore, I actually dozed off on the table. The chiropractor appointment was the more lasting relief. The chiropractor took x-rays and I ended up seeing him twice a week for awhile then once a week slowly spreading out the appointments. I honestly don’t think I would have healed without the adjustments. However I wouldn’t go to a chiropractor who doesn’t want or see the need of weight bearing x-rays. A chiropractor who doesn’t take them is only fixing the obvious injuries, one with x-rays can fix the underlying issues that cause the pain. They would also know if it wasn’t safe to treat someone aka a broken or fractured bone.

Have a chiropractor appointment for first thing tomorrow. Talked to the lady and although she was extremely hesitant to give me a quote with my insurance its in the 200-300$ range. They do have an X-ray machine. Its in this area. So I think this will be good! I wish I would have done it two days ago but I don't know how I would have gotten in the car then.

How did your appointment go? I hope you’re feeling better.

The reason she was hesitant is because literally every insurance pays a different amount for each person. I’ve had one insurance company pay nothing for several people, then pay 70% of someone else’s bill. So it really just depends on your insurance/plan. Also some Aflac plans pay for some chiropractic.

I'm glad the chiropractic appointment went well and you feel a little better, even if full healing will take a while. Insurance is a nightmare! Last year I had to get some shots for international travel and my insurance company completely lost my file, as in I didn't exist in their records for that span of time. So I had to spend $500 out of pocket for three shots, and that really sucked.

Your mom's horse sounds really sensitive. I wonder if there are some non-mounted activities that would be helpful for him to learn some self-regulation skills? Maybe some basic desensitization, or yielding to both pressure and draw? He sounds very talented! My gelding is picky about bits too - anything but a soft O-ring snaffle and he gets unbalanced and behind the bit with the barest of contact. I have a dog bone snaffle with a tiny 3" shank for the rare occasions we show, but he stays in the O-ring for everything else.

Wel over the weekend my x-rays did get sent to a specialist. He noticed two small fractures that the original chiropractor had not noticed. Whoops.

Okay. Thank you. I'll go see if I can find that gel now!

Okay! I'll look him! Right now I'm dabbling in over fences because I love jumping, but I used to a little bit of everything including warming up horses for a roper.

The chiropractor wants me to start coming a lot more often but I have a super high deductible from my step mom's insurance and my mom's insurance doesn't cover chiropractor. Do I go to my regular doctor? I was considering just not coming back after this but I was worse and the chiropractor makes me feel WAY better. Chiropractor advises against steroid pack and muscle relaxers because he says it interupts healing. Do I get a different opinion

Wonder why doctors don't like chiropractors?

But yea I can see how the chiropractor can make a huge difference. The first day his pulse machine worked from bringing my shoulder from 2 inches lower than the other to almost even. (Although last time the electro thing really really hurt)

I'm going to suggest the dr recommendation to mom and see if she'll ask her insurance

That makes sense. I guess it always does seem to be about money in the end.

Yep! That's true. I've always known the risks of horse riding. Even when I was little. But of course my Dad's being all upset about the whole thing. Surprised I didn't paralyze myself etc.

The first inevitable little squabble with Mom happened. I just feel like I'm not being supported. One minute she's agreeing with me that we can't afford to a whole chiropractor schedule, and then the next she's telling Dad about this whole routine. But then I go to ask what i should be doing and I get noncommital answers. Then I call her on it and she's like well that's on purpose. I'm like what the heck is that supposed to mean? But same thing its always been she's trying to play money games with my Dad. As it is my Dad actually IS in a better financial situation than my Mom (even if you take out the horses), but its also true that Mom spends money we don't have on horses so my Dad's like well if you're spending money on horses than you're rich because only rich people should have horses....

Which I don't know why I picked a fight now. Its too late all said and done balls in Dad's court on getting me a doctor appointment (he was supposed to give us an update on appointment time today), but I really feel like I should have gone to a doctor a long time ago. But Mom claims I never said that. Well I'll have to go back, but I'm pretty sure I wrote about it on here right after our little incident so I know that I said something! But then I was accused of being a wimp and we've all been dumped just push through! I know we didn't know about the two completely broken off TVP's then, but still! When have I been a wimp my entire life? I had a mare flip over backwards and trap me for crying out loud and I got back on right then and there! I will admit that a decent share of the blame goes to me. Mom and I have had issues communicating for a while now. But almost every 5 minutes she has a miscommunication with Lane and other people, and I rarely have miscommunications with other people so I really wish she would stop blaming ALL of the miscommunication on me.

Sorry for whatever it is I'm doing. Ranting maybe. But I'm just having a little mentally down minute.

But even when last week she didn't understand that I wanted to go to the doctor, because I never clearly said, I was like "This is me clearly saying!"

But then again there's no point in going to the doctor anymore, but I just had Mom yelling at me 10 minutes ago that HER insurance wouldn't do anything for me its all Dad's fault because its all his insurance (the truth is its his wife's but still).

So long story short, my Mom has no money, my insurance deductible is high, my Dad won't pay for it because its a horse thing so I'm going to have to personally pay for all of my chiropractor. And how much of it is their sales pitch on me needing to come to 36 appointments over a 22 week period, or could I get away with more like 8 appointments over a month period? (Not including all of the appointments I've already done). Everything I looked up said 4-6 weeks of healing.