It was fun! I took my dog, Lyric to Cherokee for a jumping competion. She jumped over 15 feet!

I bought a cute little Honda scooter. It's brand new and I am riding it to and from work and around a few local destinations. I am also learning to drive a forklift type machine at work called a narrow-aisle high picker. Powered Industrial Equipment (PIE) which uses a hand control somewhat similar to the throttle on my scooter. Unlike my scooter, the PIE goes in reverse when you roll the handle down while my scooter goes forward when the handle is rolled down. This presented a problem for me the other day when I had been using the PIE all morning to pick parts. I got on my scooter after getting some lunch there and went to back up only my scooter shot forward, hit the curb and we both went down with a crash. Neither of us is quite the same. The scooter has a few scratches and I have some bumps and bruises. I had completed my motorcycle class last weekend and had to drive a motorcycle with a clutch and gears and a foot brake. My scooter is always in gear and only has the throttle and brakes. So I learned the hard way what my instructor said, "Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from learning from bad judgement" I learned that my scooter doesn't have reverse and if I want to go backwards I will from now on be sure the engine is off!

We have this unquestioning trust for doctors and veterinarians that they know what they are doing with their extensive education and with the emerti ones still in research in the universities. But is this trust warrented when they can't see the "elephant in the room"?
I recently emailed Dr. Rich Redding at NCSU after reading his 2010 presentation to the Assoc. of Equine Practitioners AAEP titled "An In Depth Look at Puncture Wounds to the Foot" Since I have some experience with healing puncture wounds, I wanted to make some contact with him thinking he might be interested in how I did it.
The first email to him he answered by asking "what product" I used. (??!!) As if trimming for circulation and barefoot hoof health was a product!
Here is part of my second email to him:
 I want to bring your attention to the horse's foot you show as the first photo illustration in your article, An In Depth Look at Puncture Wounds.
 It is very characteristic of a shod, contracted foot.  
The black necrotic frog on that white foot is indicative of eschar tissue. Shod contracted hooves have necrotic tissues appearing as dull black in the area of the frog. This is especially obvious in the frog and the skin above the frog but continues deep into the interior structures of the foot. The photo of the hoof you used is a perfect example of this. The accumulation of necrotic tissue is of major clinical significance when trying to heal any wound, including a puncture wound. The eschar tissue is thought to promote bacterial colonization and prevents healing. This is the 'elephant in the room' I was talking about! The necrotic burden is already in existance, even before the puncture injury, and severely hampers any attempt at healing the puncture wound. It's very obvious to me, but you make no mention of it in your article. A contracted shod foot is similar to a chronic wound. The existant necrotic burden can prolong the inflammatory response and mechanically obstruct the process of reepithelization.
It seems a major concern that should be addressed in your article. The whole process of healing a puncture wound is severely complicated by the fact that it occurs in a shod, contracted foot with necrosis.  

I'm working full-time at an auto parts distributor's warehouse. Two things: I needed at least one year at a job that paid in to my Social Security to be eligible for disability benefits and I needed to have a regular income that had a good health care program. The job includes driving too but the warehouse part, called "picking" as I actually run throughout the warehouse picking parts, is very physical. Since the orders come in and have to go out within a very limited time frame, sometimes i have to hustle, running up and down stairs and aisles. It's a job where I can get more physically fit from the activity but it is also very hard on my feet.
I don't have to exert much mental creativity. In fact, the job is actually somewhat meditative in that you have to be in the moment and paying attention numerically, spacially and concious of time. Once the familiarity with the location of the various parts in the warehouse are known, it becomes a quick thoughtful plan to make the most efficient trek to expedite the picking and limit the amount of walking. I can also use some of the equipment to pick the heavier items.
All that walking gives me much empathy for horses with painful feet. I know how an imbalance, even slight, can affect my back and hips. And I know how a blister feels on your heel when you have to keep going.
The driving is relaxing to me even though I have a set route with defined delivery times, I like being by myself. I'm glad the job includes both driving and picking. I continue to trim for clients, managing to fit in the trimming on my days off.

I really liked my saddle and for several years it gave me good service. It needed some minor repair and I thought I would get it restuffed. Well I took it to the closest saddler in my area. He charged me $500 to restuff and put new billets as well as stitch some minor places. I ended up taking it back two more times because the stuffing was uneven. I did not like the thick billets which seemed like inferior leather products. they were too thick to slide in my girth buckles and were rough and ragged on the back side. I would not recommend this saddler for saddle fitting based on my experience. The poor fit was the ultimate reason for my 5 broken ribs.
So I just took it to a different saddler and hope for a better result.

A couple of weeks ago, I was riding with a friend on a horse I have been training. I knew she doesn't have enough withers to keep my ill-fitting saddle on, I also knew she had a problem with water crossings. So I guess I could have predicted what happened but at the time, I just didn't think about all this. She jumped the tiny creek like it was a 5 foot oxer, the saddle slipped, I came off and broke 5 ribs.  Bummer. What really pisses me off is that I went to the hospital and spent way more money than needed to be spent in order to basically confirm that I had broken ribs and get a prescription for pain killers. Because there really is nothing they can do for you if you break your ribs unless you have a punctured and collapsed lung. Although my lung was punctured it was only a small hole and didn't get worse so there was really nothing for the doctor to do. I checked out of the hospital and went to work. I think laying around in the bed would have been detrimental and to prove my point, I actually think I have displaced one of my ribs last night when I tried laying on my side. I'll probably go to the chiropractor and see if I did what i think I did.
I went to the opening hunt yesterday. I'm glad I'm not hunting. I have always had mixed feelings about hunting. It's a terrorist activity really. terrorizing the local wildlife. I think there are other horse related activities that don't involve killing animals.

So the problem was, I had not enough points for my Social Security and needed to work a real job for at least one year. Also it happens that my husband hasn't has a sale in real estate for 2 years and we had pretty much blown thru his retirement and considering taking mine with penalties. :-( Ssssoooo I found a job! I will still trim some, but I will work it around my new work, at least for one year.

One of my very good trim clients has me training her young draft cross. Blueberry is doing great. She's a bit reactive and impulsive but I am really gaining her trust and she is calming down a lot.

Just a few weeks after the young girl took ownership of Corde, she had to sell him. He has a wonderful new home (the girl I gave him to neglected him!) but his new owner is very happy with him. You live and learn. Had I known that the girl I gave him to was going to turn around and sell him, no I wouldn't have given him to her. Hind sight is 20 20 what I should have done is found a trainer up there who would have taken him and could have sold him for me. But he did have to go. We had horribly hot weather and no way he would have survived here.