What Happened to Kelly?

When I visited my sister for the Daniel Stewart clinic, a conversation about the trials and tribulations of me came up. My sister suggested that I have a column on the Oakmont Farm website entitled "What Happened to Kelly?" Well, pooh, I thought. Yes, exciting things do happen to me and yes, they usually involve some sort of animal, but I don't think I need to have a column focusing my adventures.

I have my own personal blog.

So, this is what happened earlier this week.

I was at Oakmont practicing with Blue for the filming of the second portion of my Parelli Level 1 test. I decided to work on mounting while Blue stood still. I had done the saddling portion and began working on bareback mounting.

Okay, so there I was...one foot on the mounting block and the other foot on Blue's back. Things were okay for a few seconds, then she decided she would play "hide your heiny." Basically, she began to scoot her behind around and away from me. In my precarious position, I was slowly being "wishboned." Had she stopped after two or three steps, I would have been fine, but no. She took several steps and eventually, I fell.

As I was falling, I thought to myself, "I really don't want to land on the mounting block. That would really be a bad thing." I leaned away from the mounting block and ended up hitting the arena floor. My right knee connected with the ground and I heard a distinct crunching sound.

Let me say this...It really hurt. To add insult to my situation, Vanessa had just dumped a big bucket of water in the arena and naturally, I landed in the wet spot. So, there I am rolling around in wet arena dirt holding my knee and trying not to vomit. I didn't even care that I was getting really dirty, that's how bad it hurt.

Eventually, the nausea subsided and the pain calmed down. Blue just stood there looking at me with her head down. Clearly, she was asking me, "What are you doing down there?"

"Thanks alot, Blue," I said to her and made my first attempt to stand.

Yikes! It hurt, but I was able to stand and sort of walk, okay, hobble. I knew I had hurt myself and there would be no way I would be able to teach the two horseback riding lessons I had scheduled for later that afternoon.

With lessons cancelled, I drove home. Good thing I was driving the truck. It's an automatic.

At home, the pain just got worse.

During the night, I had to get up to pee. The pain was very intense and I was seriously struggling to walk. My nonsympathetic husband suggested that I crawl.

By 2:00 am, I knew I would not be attending school Wednesday morning. That really chaps my behind. But, there was no way around it. Off to the clinic.

At the clinic, my first examination yielded a trip to orthopedics. Orthopedics ordered an X-ray. X-rays revealed no broken bones, possible bruising. Further manipulation of the knee resulted in lots and lots of hurting. The initial diagnosis was a possible tear to the MCL, grade 2. Treatment options would consist of a hinged brace and crutches. Medications: Tylenol 3 and Ibuprofen. Follow up in a week to determine possible injury to the ACL.

Meanwhile, I have to keep my knee elevated and I can't ride Blue. No horseback riding. That means filming is out for the weekend. CRAP. I guess it's a good thing this test isn't on a deadline.

Today is Friday. My knee is much better and I really don't think surgery will be warranted. The brace is extremely helpful and the crutches are bothersome.

My husband, well, he keeps saying that he won't take care of me if I "Christopher Reeve" myself on this horse. He pointed out that my mother's condo is not wheelchair friendly.