So. Update on Earl Gray. I drove to the Les Schwab to get my tire fixed yesterday afternoon, going 50-55 mph in traffic going 55mph in the slow lane of I-80 with my emergency blinkers on. A truck 3 lanes over was suprised by the slowness of the traffic (it was rush hour....) and procedured to careen out of control across 3 lanes of traffic, ending his ping pong game by attempting to ram the front end of his 3/4 ton dodge diesel through the drivers side door and window of my corolla, the recently christened "Earl Gray".
Making a sharp right turn onto the grassy shoulder of the freeway and watching the truck continue to come towards me, literally touching the glossy hide of Earl, the highly appropriate thought of "you m-ther f-ck-r I don't have collision on this f-ck-ng car" roared through my mind, I decided that risking flipping my car on the shoulder and ending up in the ditch was perferable to having this very large truck total my car and possibly take out my skull at the same time as he T-boned me at 70 mph.
In a move remincent of a horse curving its body away from a horse-eating stump as it's travelling along at top speed I bent the frame of Earl with my mind into a C shape (or so it seemed to me at the time) and did some sort of hop/spook sidewise movement while gunning the car forward and managed to get the truck behind me, keep my car upright, and bring my car to a gentle stop on the shoulder some what parellel to the road way.
When it was all said and done there were 5 cars on the side of the road and I was the only one not smashed up. A couple of superficial scratches at the level of my driver side mirror that don't even break the paint layer.
These are the things that we can conclude from this story
1. Earl doesn't care for his name. Perhaps a name change is necessary?
2. My hood ornament, taken from my family's last Toyota Corolla that randomly caught up fire in a parking lot is cursed. Earl came without one, and being the same model year as the '92 just sitting on the property, I "borrowed it" (along with some other random parts that I'm totally not admitting to because I was strictly forbidden to part that car unless I was willing to take the entire thing....). So perhaps a sacrificial burning of the toyota grill emblem is called for?
The other way to look at it is that Earl is actually blessed. After all, if it hadn't been for me going slow and being in the slow lane, I probably couldn't have gotten out of the way. And if I had been in my much higher center of gravity truck, I probably would have been hit (probably would have survived because still no bueno).
So in conclusion, I STILL didn't get to riding yesterday. Or running. :(
Earl Grey is a 1997 model with a rather "roan" metallic coat color.
On a "ride" yesterday afternoon the owner noticed a distinct "Off-ness" in the right hind.
She pulled onto the side of the road....errrr....trail......and evaluated.
Poor Earl wasn't going ANYWHERE. 3 legged lame.
Diagnosis? (sorry - you don't get to guess - check back next week for the case of Geraldine and a chance to win a fabulously cheap prize!) Nail in the hoof (tire).
Earl is my car. He didn't have a name before yesterday, but since I needed a CC yesterday and he managed to obliterate my afternoon plans, including writing a CC post, he has been christened "Earl Grey", being a rather puke grayish/purple color, reminiscent of the color put on tea packets of the same name.
A nail can disable a horse just as quickly as a car.
Things on my "to be done list" yesterday
1. Ride my horse or at least lunge her
2. Go for a run with Tess.
3. Watch required surgery videos for tomorrows lab
4. Review material on wound healing that I missed yesterday.
Things NOT on my "to be done" list
1. Flat tire in a vehicle without a full sized spare.
For Xmas I got a aaa membership and although I'm careful about maintenance and tires, I figured with my commute it as just a matter of time until something happened. This year is the first time I've ever had roadside assistance! I decided that the nice tow truck driver could put my donut tire on since it's in dubious condition (car had a flat before I owned it and the donut is used) and I didn't want to mess with it (good thing because when the driver put the donut on, it was flat and had to be aired up). It was already after hours so why should I do it myself and risk getting fingers smashed before my first surgery lab tomorrow?
And its not like I could have driven home anyways-the donut is only good for 55 miles and home is further away from school than that (and who knows how many miles is already on it) AND theres nothing between school and home so best case scenario leaves me stranded somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the dark. If ive learned nothing else by getting old (in horse years...) its that saving a dime to spend a dollar is STUPID.
So the car stayed in Davis last night at a friends house, I had Matt pick me up from Davis, and I drove the truck to school this morning. And I didn't risk life and limb by entering some "supernatural" type tv episode by driving my car home.....
At some point between learning how to tie suture notes and scrubbing and gowning today, I'll get the tire repaired.
In the spirit of when these types of things happen....of COURSE it was on an incredibly long school day (8a-5p), on a day I had resolved to at least give my horse some exercise (after her having a week off), while having a headache (after a two hour radiology discussion interpreting radiographs I'm convinced that I am the stupidest person alive and feel like I've been trying to drive in the fog in heavy traffic for two hours...), and of course, since it was 6:20p I was starving. Time to bring out the almonds and dates I keep in the car for emergencies.
Btw - just because we are the subject of things happening and the recent post of being prepared.....I also had 2 gallons of water in my trunk. Obviously not a huge concern yesterday, since it was a cool day and I was in the middle of town. But I'm just throwing it out there.....
Driving my truck to school this morning I was reminded just how FUN a truck is. Lots of power, totally zippy when a trailer isn't behind you, you can see for miles and miles (my truck rides high), a LOT less road noise (I guess that's what happens when your truck is 10 years newer than the car...). Too bad it costs a FORTUNE to commute in it. *sigh*.
Go over to Tess's blog (underbakedbrit.blogspot.com) for the commentary on last week's CC.
It turned into a rather long discourse on hip dysplasia (with a few horsey references thrown in for good measure), so that information is better on kept over on the doggie blog.
Deered - if you don't get over to Tess's blog for some reason - you are the winner! Please send me your mailing info and you will get a fabulous prize!
And for the rest of you folks....from now on, if there is no correct answer posted, EVERYONE that put SOMETHING in the comments will be eligible for the prize, to determined by random drawing. So please - even if you don't have a clue, put something funny that makes me laugh :).
My my how things has changed.
This picture was taken in the parking lot at the start of my very first endurance ride.
I didn't have a mentor that was active in endurance although my aunt had some some rides in the past, so I chose my apparel based on what had worked for me during conditioning rides and during weekends of doing civil war reenacting on horse back. I'm wearing my trusty cavalry boots, that to date remain the most comfortable pair of boots I own. Half way through the ride I did switch to a different pair of tall boots that I used to use for polo. I didn't realize that the soles were glued and not sewn, and so when I stumbled my way through several full ditches of muddy water, my soles tore off - but I hardly noticed at that point, being oh so very done and my horse being done and me being incapable of doing anything beyond trudging forward with one foot in front of the other regardless of what was in front of me.
I didn't own a pair of riding tights. A vet I had worked for in college had given me a sack of older breeches (mostly cotton naturals but some other brands too) and that's what I settled on to ride. I chose a singlet from my marathoning days, and then put a long sleeve shirt over it, which is probably the smartest thing I did - that might be the only time I rode the american river trail and DIDN'T get poison oak.
Ironically, although my rider apparal changed drastically in my next couple of rides and seasons, my tack on Minx did not. This is a 1860's repro McClellen saddle, which I used for all my rides up until Minx's death. Farley started her conditioning in it, but I moved to a different saddle quickly because of her back shape.
That isn't to say that the saddle worked perfectly - I remember having to reset the also-period blanket mutliple times during a ride - it constantly slipped backwards. But in general that saddle was perfect for me and Minx. I eventually replaced some of the leather peices out with biothane, but that is a story for future posts, and during this first ride, nothing broke.
Mom packed me a bag full of homemade cliff bars which melted and congealed in my grain bag that I was using as my "food bag".
That year, we had an usually hot April and it was near, if not at 100 degrees the day of the ride. I didn't have my electrolytes figured out and I remember my aunt making me eat pieces of sourdough bread with horse electrolytes poured over it.
My poor horse. We came into the 35 mile vet check and I was leaning towards pulling. It was hot. It was a hard ride, and Minx looked done. However, I headed out. A combination of my ignorance, some advice that was given (although, especially that early in my career) I tended to not hear advice that I didn't halfway want anyways - so it was definitely my full responsiblity.
Things weren't going too badly until I hit training hill (I think that's what it's called). LONG STEEP. Irish horse posted about it a week or so ago. I had been riding with a guy and his stud. He swore at me because his stud got attached to minx and wouldn't leave her, but he finally convinced his horse to go on. I got off and tried to lead up it. I puked every 3 steps. I turned around and Minx was bleeding out her nose.
We sat on the side of that hill for a long time.
I used up my water cooling Minx down.
I remember trying to call my aunt (who was crewing for me) but I can't remember if I got through or not.
Finally. After literally hours, Minx and I crawled our way up that hill.
I mounted up and met a volunteer at a cross roads.
I tried to tell him out done we were. How hurting we were. How she had been bleeding, but he didn't seem to hear.
"She looks pretty good now!" he said brightly. "You can still get this done!"
I had my doubts but since more experienced people than me were seeing the same thing I was and had a different opinion and knew more?
Minx and I continued down the trail for another hour (2 hours? more?). One plodding step after another. I hadn't had water on a very hot day for a while now. Minx did feel better now, thanks to my hand walking and my cooling efforts.
The drag rider finally caught up to me a couple of miles before Cool. He ordered me off my horse ("what are you doing????? She has done enough for you! Get off her Damn back!"). I didn't have the energy to argue. She HAD done a lot of me. And who was I to talk to back at someone with vastly more knowledge? (who apparently didn't realize I had just gotten back ON my horse after I decided I wasn't going to survive the experience if I couldn't catch a bit of a rest).
I walked blindly on behind the drag rider. I remember going through ditches that had water up to my waist in them and neither me nor Minx blinked as we stumbled through.
It was dusk by the time we came into Cool. My aunt was there, where she had been trying to convince the volunteers out there that they still had a rider out there. I remember the vet check being completely out of liquids and drinking something my aunt found for me somewhere.
I didn't buy the ride picture because I figured that a picture was only worth it if I had finished. I have very very few rides of my first season, and I think this may be the only one I have of that first ride.
That's not to say that everything was a disaster. By complete accident I camped next to who I consider the best person in the endurance world who welcomed me into the sport with opened arms. I fell in love with single track. I fell in love with the sport. And I never ever again doubted what Minx what would do for me and I realized that tremendous gift that the horse gives humankind and I learned to never ever take that for granted.
That guy who was riding the stud? I met him again at 20 mule team a couple of years later and I apologized for the incident and told him that I felt badly about it (I don't know exactly for what, but when you are a new rider you don't know what is your fault and what isn't) and we had a good laugh and we both agreed that it felt good to erase that sour note from that ride and clear the air. I saw the drag rider again too, at tevis one year. And thus I learned another important lesson at this ride that I didn't realize until many years later. The endurance world is a small one and you are not invisible - this is a note of caution (in a good way!) to the newbie and the experienced.
And that folks, is the story behind the picture
horsetech was spot on! (leave your email address in the comments or email me at mnfaubel@gmail.com and I'll get your mailing address and I'll send you a little something for playing!)
If you compare the right hock to the left hock, you will see diminished joint space, which is indicative of "arthritis" and is a common finding. I'm told that it is fairly common to see changes in one hock and not the other in ropers, and the side they show the changes on, is related to whether they are headers or heelers. If you are heeler you always turn out of the box on the same side, and if you are a header, you are turning out of the box the other way - thus one hock will experience more wear and tear than the other.
Obviously I made up this case and found the images off the internet.....let's assume that Chester's affected hock has fused and he isn't actually in any discomfort......but he's not moving symmetrically between the left and right hock because one is fused and the other is not. This now is a "mechanical" lameness, meaning that Chester is not in any discomfort or pain, but there is something in his body that is not allowing him to move symmetrically, thus giving the appearance of unsoundness.
Should a horse that is mechanically lame be allowed to do endurance?
I know several horses that have letters from their vets stating that the horse has a mechanical lameness, is not in discomfort and should be considered "sound",even if the asymmetrical gait for endurance purposes.
How not sure how endurance vets handle this situation. Do they look for changes throughout the ride that indicate that the horse is unsound beyond the initial mechanical lameness? What if the vet who evaluates the horse at the vetcheck is different from the one that evaluated the horse at the beginning of the ride?
Theoretically, I think that mechanically lame horses shouldn't be excluded from endurance - after all the point of the vet check is for the welfare of the horse, and if a horse is not suffering or in pain and just happens to move a bit differently, then we are operating within the intention of the rules.
Practically speaking it gets a bit messy. Leaving aside the issue of possible increased wear and tear that could occur with a mechanical lameness after 50 or a 100 miles (notice all the modifiers in that sentence - it's pure conjunction since wear and tear happens with a perfectly sound horse over 50 or a 100 miles - but from the standpoint of physics it makes sense that the biological system is going to end up compensating some how.....) there is the problem of making sure the horse isn't becoming unsound as the race goes on, consistency between vets, and the "appearance" of an unsound horse being allowed to go on. Do we then allow a mechanically lame horse that wins a ride to show for BC? Does quality of the gait matter in that exam but not for completions?
On the flip side, in this case we are dealing with a fused hock.....an issue MANY horses in endurance have bilaterally and thus isn't apparent....So do we exclude a horse that has a common issue, but only on one side, while allowing horses with the same bilateral issue that are "mechanically lame" on both sides (and thus inapparent) to compete? If there is solid evidence that continuing to ride a horse with arthritic hocks that eventually fuse does not harm (and as far as I have researched, this is the case) does it change this issue? Is it an unsoundness?
I think one thing to keep in mind, is that in no sport are the issues completely black and white, and if you can't see the grey, you probably haven't considered the issue deeply enough. That goes for drug rules, the definition of soundness, and practically every other major issue you can think of. Often rules and decisions made by the "authorities" is the attempt to be as consistent and fair to all participants as possible. I'm not sure what I would do with an obviously mechanically lame horse that otherwise should be able to do endurance. As a participant or as a ride vet. It's not a simple issue and having a declaration from that animal's vet is just part of the equation.
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