Day One was the clinic with Jill and Jim Cook. I rode with Jim. We worked cattle the first half of the day; we did saddle work in the afternoon. We had a fantastic BBQ that evening--thanks, Dan, for cooking! WOW--tender juicy steaks (no, none of the cows below were eaten), a delicious salad and au-gratin potatoes curtesy of Dan's wife. There was an adult beverage or two as well.The competition was the next day. There were 20 riders, divided into Novice (me), Intermediate, and Advanced. I was happy to be in the Novice division. Ranger was off all of last year with that pelvis injury, and we haven't done much training at all thus far this year. Thus, we were both rusty.
We started with Ranch Conformation, in which he took 6th. I really need to learn Showmanship, because most of the deductions were my fault--not presenting correctly, not being on the correct side as the judge, not setting Ranger up to his advantage. To be fair, ADD-boy has trouble standing still, and you can't set a horse up correctly if his feet don't stay in place. Guess I need to start insisting--he's old enough to stand for 5 minutes.
Ranch Riding was next, with a simple walk, jog, lope, stop and back pattern. We took 5th--I screwed up a couple of cues.
Ranch Cutting was next. We drew a nice enough cow--#14. Here I am approaching the herd. They are nice and quiet and bunched together--that's perfect! The horse & rider need to come in slowly so that they don't get excited. You can't cut out an excited cow. We scored a +1 for our entry. (Scoring starts with a basic score. 70 is the starting score in cutting. A Zero is "correct," so if you score all 0's you'll score a 70. However, if you do a maneuver really well, you can get a +1, +2 or +3. Do it poorly, and you are deducted -1, -2 or -3)
#14 was east to spot--the tall cream Charolais-cross. Ranger is in perfect position. Diane, in the background, came up from Santa Fe for this clinic, and was kind enough to be one of my turn-back riders. Paulette was the other. They were outstanding, and made it easy for me, which is what a turn-back rider is supposed to do.
Ranger has her out of the herd. The Angus-crosses will peel off as soon as they realize that the attention is not on them.
SUCCESS! A nice cut, and we keep her out of the herd. We took 3rd in cutting.
I met a lot of nice people, and wish I had more photos of them. Ted, and his lovely wife Carol, are old hands at this. Ted was a navigator in the Navy. Tony, who parked next to my trailer, is the retired meteorologist. He & his wife have 3 horses, including a Wyoming BLM Mustang. He has a grade pinto gelding named Ty, who is a really cool horse. Did I get a photo? No...darn it.
Working Ranch Horse was next. Here we are doing our small, slow circles at a lope. We used an AQHA pattern--start with a run-down and a roll-back both directions, then small left circle, medium right circle, large fast left circle, large fast right circle, then a left run-down with a stop, back up, spin right 360 and spin left 360. After the reining pattern, we called for our cow.
The point here is to "box" the cow, or work it on the short end of the arena, controlling its speed and turns.
We were off to a decent start, but that was once damn fast steer! He got away from us, but Ranger was right up there. Notice Ranger's ears--they're pinned, and he's pissed that the steer got away from him. We lost 3 points for that error. Intermediate and advanced riders also have to work the cow along the long side of the fence, then rope and stop it. We aren't ready for that, yet.Regardless, we took 3rd place. Ranger did a FANTASTIC job! By the way, did you notice the spurs? We've graduated to real cowgirl gear!
Ranch Trail was our last class. We took 4th--I wasn't thrilled, because this is usually a breeze for us. The problems started at the gate. The instructions said "Push," and I pulled the gate to us. -1 point. 
Trotting over logs scored us +1. Since Ranger is primarily a dressage horse, he has an outstanding trot.
The judge really kept a good eye on the competetors.
Ranger scored a +1 on the log drag, but I cost us -3, because I trotted to the log--we were supposed to walk. A lot of horses don't like dragging logs--you have to dally on the saddle horn, and that places unusual pressure on the saddle. They don't like something following them, and they don't like ropes pressing hard all over their body, especially around their hocks and tail. Ranger doesn't care at all. He throws himself into the pull, and doesn't blink, regardless of the position of the rope on his body. GOOD BOY!!! Sorry I screwed us up!
We got a +1 for his sidepass to the mailbox, where we had to open it and check for mail, then sidepass back to the end of the log. Again, Ranger was totally unconcerned. Many horses are terrified of mailboxes--weird, I know, but they are.
Ranger deserves nothing less than the biggest smile!
One of the best parts of the weekend was the number of friends and converts Ranger made. Everyone LOVED him--he got so many compliments, and they were multiplied when people found out that he was a mustang. "Wow, he's so cute!" "Gosh, he's really well behaved!" "What a kind eye!" and my favourite, "You have the neatest relationship. It's like you are soul-mates!"
All good weekends have to come to an end. Mine did, with a surprise--did you know that your lips can get sunburned? We were outside all day, both days, and even with SPF 70 I ended up with colour. By mid-day on Sunday, my lower lip started swelling, and by last night I looked as though I got silicone injections! Nope, just burned--and wow, that hurts!
With that in mind, my day today was a joy. I had to go into the hospital for an epidural injection in my neck. I was sore, sunburned, splitting headache from the sun yesterday and lack of sleep from the stress.
The Doctor was terrific, though. He explained everything, and explained it thoroughly. We looked at my MRI--have you ever seen an MRI? I think it's fascinating. He showed me the problems in my spine, where the nerve at C-6 is pressed against the spinal column, and where the other degeneration and calcification is going on. It'll probably mean surgery at some point, but he was confident that the cortisone will help a lot. It might mean two shots, the next in a month or two, but the cortisone should take down the inflamation in the nerve. I should know in a week or 10 days; it takes that long for results.
They put me to sleep for the procedure, because it involves injecting directly into the hole in the spine that the nerve enters. Yeeks--but it's interesting. After I was out, they took me to the OR and put me under an ongoing XRAY. He started the injection with the XRAY looking down the needle so that he could line it up with the hole. He injected about halfway into my neck, then turned the XRAY in order see how deep he was, and used that to guide the needle into the opening, without getting deep enough to be near the spinal cord. He then injected dye, to insure that he was inside, and in the right place. Once that was established, he injected the cortisone. Later he told me that it was a perfect procedure, because he was able to inject extra cortisone that spread up and down my spinal cavity--all of those nerves got a dose. Several others needed it although not as badly as C-6. C-6 got SLATHERED!
Today my question is, why has it taken so long to get to this point? My neck has been hurting since 2001, when I was hit by the semi-truck. They took XRAYS, but didn't do an MRI, even though I asked for one repeatedly. I was in Physical Therapy for 2 1/2 years. Wasn't that clue that it wasn't just a muscular injury? Weren't the ongoing complaints of chronic neck pain--burning, tingling, spasms, pain--another clue?
When I did chiropractic, my chiropractor only did one set of XRAYs at the beginning of treatment, and never XRAYed again, yet kept manipulating my neck without knowing what was really going on in there. I do think chiropractic has value, but I think continued manipulation without continued diagnosis is irresponsible. My regular doctor truly believes that some of the damage was caused by the popping of joints that shouldn't have been popped, but even he didn't request an MRI.
I guess I'll have to be happy that it's getting done now, but I wonder about whether I might have lived with a lot less pain for the last 8 years if an MRI had been done in the first place, or somewhere along the line.
Please keep your fingers crossed that one or two shots should do the trick, OK? I'd sure like to avoid surgery as long as I can!
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