Time for the vet?

I think I have said before that when it comes to my horses I'm a bit paranoid. What horse owner isn't? If the boys have anything ailing them that I can't manage, we are straight off to the vet. I can't say that I do the same for me!

As a rider, as many of us do, I tend to push my own pain and physical issues to the back of my mind and get on with things. I don't have time to be injured, I can work through niggles and if things are a bit sore I'll just take some panadol or nurofen and keep going. I will see the physio occasionally but I'll book the horses in before I book me in. Usually I have to be dragged to see a medical professional kicking and screaming and worrying about wasting peoples time, or taking time off work.

Artie loves having me home

A few months ago I fell off Henry. He was feeling fresh and I wasn't paying enough attention and I hit the dirt. I landed on my left hip/butt and knew straight away I had concussion. I've had it often enough to know the signs right away. Other than that I was ok, so I hopped back on and schooled Henry for a bit longer because no way was I letting our ride end like that.

I went home and monitored myself and went to the doctor the next day. I had a pounding headache and the whole front of my neck hurt from whacking the back on my head I had whiplash. The doc sent me home with good painkillers and I was told to take it easy for a few days. Everything seemed to sort itself out and other than being a bit stiff for a few days I felt fine.

Since then I have noticed my neck has been stiff. I mostly notice when I am running and I look over my shoulder before I cross any roads. I noted it as something to ask the physio about next time I went but didn't feel it was worth a physio visit all on its own. Boy was I wrong.

Saturday I woke up and I knew my neck was sore. I thought I had slept funny and had woken up with wry neck. I took painkillers and got on with it. It was sore all day but nothing too crazy, nothing I couldn't handle. Sunday my neck was stiff but not sore so I thought I was int he clear. Monday I woke up and felt fine, but twinged my neck getting out of bed. White hot pain shot through my neck and I knew I was in trouble.

In true insane lady style I dragged myself for a run and managed nearly 3km. Every step was pain but I pushed on. Andrew and I argued about going to see the physio. He told me that I should go ASAP, but I didn't want to take time off work, but going after work would interrupt horse time. I told myself I would see how I go and would book if it got worse. I went to work and driving there was a trial. I popped some painkillers and waited for them to work. They didn't. I sat at my desk and realised I actually just couldn't. I felt like I couldn't hold my head up and moving even a little bit hurt. After an hour of struggling I finally gave in and went home.

Andrew dragged me to the physio and the physio (a 4* event rider) told me that most people wouldn't get to the stage I'm at. Just horse people. Turns out I should have been to see the physio because ignoring my problems made hem about a billion times worse. I spent the day feeling like I couldn't move and nothing I did made the pain go away. I shouldn't have worried abut missing a ride, I missed it anyway because I couldn't move. It's still sore today and I'm not at work. I have the physio again but thankfully I am feeling better. It's still not great. You can see the muscle bunched up, and they are so angry when you poke them but I can move a bit better.

Don't have time to take away from this guy who is too cute (and whose mum needs to make the jumps bigger!)

So the moral of the story is maybe I need to look after me like I would look after the horses. If something isn't right do something about it, don't just ignore it. Being this crippled sucks, and I am bored out of my brain not doing anything. I just have to hope it improves quickly and I am back in the saddle soon. The last event of the season is rapidly approaching and Coolie has not had enough saddle time!

As a rider I need to be just as well looked after as the horses and by getting onto niggles early I might be able to avoid bigger injury. Which is the exact same logic I apply to the horses. From now on I need to think about me like I think about the horses, would I take the horses to the vet? Better take me to the vet too then!