Thursday, December 09, 2010

Rather Upsetting Day

Never Did Warm Up

The hose to the water trough was frozen this morning, so I had to carry the water in buckets. Not a big deal, but a sure sign of dropping temperatures.  The wind had died down and the sun kept peeking out, so I had some hope--to little avail.

All day long, something was nagging at me. I was restless and kept feeling there was something "hanging over my head."  There was something I needed to do, or something wrong I wasn't going to be able to fix.  I kept going over and over in my head a list of all the things I've done or not done for the last few days to no avail.

Then somewhere around 3 PM, the phone rang. It was my church choir director and friend telling me he was cancelling choir rehearsal this evening because his wife--my dear friend--was in critical condition in her battle with cancer at the hospital.  He was really upset, so I know it was a pretty serious setback.  I took on the job of contacting the rest of the choir to tell them what was going on and that we weren't going to rehearse.

Dawn, my friend, is one of the sweetest people I know. She had just finished a round of chemo and radiation therapy with great success only to find the cancer had spread to another place, requiring a new type of chemo treatment. They may be moving her to the a specialized Cancer Institute soon where, I hope, they will be better able to deal with all the side effects and problems she is suffering from. All I can do for now is pray. Good vibes and prayers from all of you would be appreciated.

Once I got Don's call and called all the choir members, the sense of "something is wrong," eased a bit, so I can only guess I was getting psychic connections to Dawn.

At that point, I needed to do something useful, so I headed outdoors.  First I considered doing some leaf mowing only to find three--that's right 3--flat tires on the surviving lawn tractor--I may have "killed" the other one.  Since that meant an entire adventure of pulling out the air compressor and the extension cord and sitting in the cold garage hoping to get the tires pumped up, I opted out of that chore and headed for the barn.

I checked out the footing in the arena and found that there was at least a 20m circle thawed enough to ride a little and told Tucker I only wanted to ride him for a few minutes to see how he was feeling after his 4th shot of Pentosan.

He came over to me and helped me put his head in the halter. As agreed, I only rode him for perhaps 5 minutes at the most.  Once again, on the right rein, he fussed about trotting off, but when I turned him onto the left rein, with a little encouragement--no real walk warm up this time--he trotted off.  At first it seemed a little tentative, but after a few strides he began moving out quite nicely. I reversed and trotted on the right, reversed again, did a few half halts/walk/trot transitions, walked a little and trotted again. He seemed pretty willing to keep going.  I did not try to canter as I wasn't keen about the footing. There just wasn't enough cushion.

I keep thinking that his reluctance to trot off is an anticipation of pain more than pain. I only say that because once he gets going, he seems relatively willing to work.  The other day I even did lateral work and he just kept going without problems.

It's not the best time of year to jump to any conclusions about his soundness, though--at least not with the footing like it's been for the last week. But so far, so good.

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:17 PM

    So sorry to hear about your friend - that must be very hard. Sending good thoughts and wishes.

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  2. I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. She will be in my thoughts. I hope she has a speedy recovery.

    I am glad to hear that Tucker seems to be feeling a bit better, though! I'm hoping this cold spell clears up soon, too.

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  3. Sounds like you've had a very upsetting day to say the least. My good wishes for your friend and a speedy recovery.

    Too bad about the tractor tires and the water. Ours froze today too. Bummer.

    I think that Tucker may be feeling a little better from your description of him. You're probably right that he's anticipating pain rather than feeling it. Then again it would be nice if they could talk and tell us what's the matter.

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  4. I have had Elizabeth Edwards' death in my mind these last few days. And my brother's best friend succumbed a few weeks ago after 5 years of fighting cancer. It's so sad and seemingly unfair.

    On the other hand Tucker sounds pretty good and it was good for you to get outside today - I find that always helps.

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  5. Good positive thoughts towards your friend and her friends and family. Some of the side effects of treatment can be worse than the disease, It is very good that she will be in a place with specialized care.

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  6. I am happy that the pentosan works for Tucker. I bet it is teh anti-inflammatory effect kicking in.

    I am sad to hear about your friend. She will be in my prayers sending as many healing vibes as I can.

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  7. sorry to hear about your friend;

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