Pain

I rode Cayenne on Tuesday, it was her third ride. She was a little sassy and had some strange moments. For one, she kept shaking her head and holding an ear to the side. I remembered last summer when Milo did the same thing and wondered if something got lodged down into her ear. Her owner and I checked it out thoroughly but couldnt seem to find anything wrong. She also kept stamping her hind legs and swishing her tail. Picking up her legs and handling them with the SMB boots went well, but her general attitude towards the rear was clear discomfort. We thought maybe the small bugs, flies and gnats were getting to her and swiped her down with some fly spray and even cleaned her teats in an effort to make her more comfortable.

Once I was on, she stamped and kicked her back feet. I reprimanded her but clearly something was still up. The ride did go very well but oddly after I got off I was very lightheaded, was seeing black spots, and wasnt "all there" you know? So I headed to my truck after untacking her and tying her to the blocker tie to get some water. It helped for a moment, but as I returned to her and her owner (and my friend who set us up) I had to kneel towards the ground as things were still not good. My back was in a huge amount of pain and I assumed maybe from the jagged baby ride I had.

Some back history here (haha, no pun intended), I have had moderate back pain that just remains with me. Long time readers will probably recognize the times when I have in passing mentioned it, but only those really close to me know the extent that I daily deal with. I am not a vocal complainer about it unless it is really bothering me that day (after a cart-shift for instance, or sometimes just after working in general) but today something really happened to it.

I abstained from riding Milo today even though I was really looking forward to it. Every movement in my truck sent pain shooting in my back, and not just discomfort, but real pain (and, of course, my old F150 is a bumpy ride...). I felt crippled as I got out of the truck and decided against cleaning Milo's stall. :( I tossed hay and grain to him and patted him for a while then went home.

By the way, I noticed today that the Timothy hay and Orchard that I have been mixing was all gone - he ate all of it! I think I had mentioned that he was picking the Orchard out to eat and leaving a lot of the Timothy (and last Thursday I got five bales of nice Orchard from Sarah). But today nearly every last strand of hay was eaten up. Of course, because today was the day I was getting a ton of emails about it from my craigslist post. Still not sure whether or not I will pursue continuing to try and sell it...

But after I got home, I searched desperately for my rice heating pad - I couldnt find it. I opted to just lay on the couch and wrap myself up in blankets. I have been getting real cold chills and cant seem to get warm. When Boyfriend comes home, I will try and have him help me go through my benefits information and see what I might be able to do/afford. For now, I just know that this must be the tip of the iceberg and I cannot ignore my back any longer.