Just Horsin' Around

Back date this a little...to 6/8/08 about 11:15 am on a Sunday morning. I'm riding my horse, Hidalgo, across the pasture at our ranch. He's a little high-spirited, but overall doing pretty well. A really large bumblebee started buzzing around us and spooked Hidalgo. He started to bolt and I pulled him back pretty hard, going "whoa"...loud enough for Joel to hear me up at the house. He stopped, but then the bee was on his rump which he REALLY didn't like. He started stomping his back legs and spinning or kind of throwing his around around to the side. I was holding on pretty well until he switched directions! Then it was all over! I flew off his left side and he took off. I guess he figured he needed to get away from that really loud bee and if it meant getting me off...so be it. Well I landed on my left ankle and rolled over. I said a few select curse words and sat up - kinda surprised that nothing hurt...UNTIL I pulled my left leg up to try to stand up. The pain was a little more than I bargained for. I knew something was wrong. I hollered for Joel, but he was already on his way since he saw Hidalgo riderless about that time. Anyway, I pulled my boot and sock off really quickly. Joel showed up on the 4-wheeler and we started the process of getting me up to the house - not an easy task. I was hurt, mad, disappointed and really frustrated that I wasn't a better horsewoman. I cried. Anyway, got up to the cabin and Joel headed out after Hidalgo who stayed in the pasture by the fence. For the next 7 hours, I iced the ankle, took Aleve and denied that it was broken. We headed back to Houston and about the time we got home, the Aleve had worn off and I was hurting. Did I mention the golf ball sized knot on my left ankle. Swollen, turning purple, hurting, ugly! So we went to the Urgent Care center near our house and an x-ray showed a spiral fracture about an inch above my ankle bone (the round ankle bone on the outside of the leg). A trip to the Orthapedic surgeon(someone recommended by my brother-in-law Robert, who's a doctor) showed that no surgery was needed. Only a really cumbersome cast and crutches and pain killers. The first cast was purple. Now the story's not over. I went back at 4 weeks thinking that I would get the cast off and I would get a walking boot - meaning no crutches. Well due to my advanced age (a whopping 44 at this point) and a few other factors that I don't really remember, I got another cast. This one was (correction, IS) a light blue. This stupid break caused a lot of other things-missing a mini-vacation at the beach with Dee and her family, missing most of the summer, missing a REAL shower, cleaning house, getting myself a cup of coffee. So on Thursday, August 7th (Patty Ann's birthday), I go back to the doctor. If the x-ray indicates that I need another cast (instead of walking boot), I will be running (with the aid of my crutches) down the hall and away before they can slap another one of those suckers on my leg!