Annagain
Well-Known Member
Yesterday marked one year to the day that I picked up Wiggy. I've had a bit of a rough year - none of which has had much to do with Wiggy! My grandma died in December (she was 100 and so ready to go but it was still hard) then the next day I slipped a disc bending down to pick up the dog. Between January and March my Father in Law was admitted to hospital 6 times. Each one was thought to be potentially end of life (he's still with us!) so resulted in two hour emergency dashes to get there. My Mother in Law has mobility issues and he's her main carer so we've been trying to get them to get help. We're two hours away and both work full time so there's not much we can do. My FiL wants to get help but MiL won't hear of it. Every time we think we've made a breakthrough, she bullies him into giving in. She's not an easy woman. She's a size 24 and must weight a least 18 stone - he's 85 and having to drag her up out of her chair (she won't even get one of those stand up chairs as it will mean being measured) while dealing with his own diabetes (he had his pancreas removed due to cancer and is one of the tiny percentage of people who survive pancreatic cancer) and heart issues. We then lost our lovely old dog Mabel in February. She was 18 and we knew that day was coming but it wasn't any easier. I was just getting over that and my slipped disc when it went again in March - this time the prolapse is pushing on the sciatic nerve and I've pretty much been in agony since then. I'm now waiting for surgery in Sept as after 4 1/2 months, it hasn't healed itself so is unlikely to. That will mean no riding until January.
Throughout the whole thing, Wiggy has been a delight. We won our first Prelim test in November, and came second in the Novice at a little local competition. The following week we got thrown in at the deep end having to do our first novice (we were supposed to do the prelim but they needed someone for the novice, replacements would do prelim but not novice) for the riding club at the areas. We were the only combination not to have done any BD and a lot had elementary points but we held our own and finished 7th. Then, in our second ever jumping lesson, we did a whole course at 80cm - the highest I'd jumped since Monty retired from jumping 5 years ago, I also fell off him (after the jump, he clipped it, panicked and took off while I was off balance) but it didn't bother me in the slightest (given I''d never fallen off Charlie but was still terrified of him this was huge). My confidence plummeted with Charlie so to do that with Wig so quickly meant the world to me. Then my back went.
Since then I think I could count the number of times I've ridden on my fingers - certainly on my fingers and toes. I was just getting back to normal and did my second team for the riding club in March. Again we were respectfully mid table and I was really pleased with how he went - 2 days later my back went again. I ended up having to do another dressage team in June, they were desperate so I went along with no prep, in a lot of pain and zero expectations. I warmed up for 10 minutes with no canter work as it hurt too much and rode with one leg. I think I may try it again as he went beautifully, scored a 68% and came third. I say he as I was literally a passenger. Our team qualified for the regional champs so I have to do it again in 3 weeks!
Had I been through all this with Charlie I'd have given up long ago. With Wig, I just want to get better to get on him and ride properly again. I couldn't have done it all without my wonderful sharer and friends who spent weeks doing my mucking out and looking after the boys but I couldn't have done it without him too. Archie has been wonderful too as ever but he's retired and I'd keep him no matter what so giving up riding woudn't ever mean giving him up. He's also been a source of a bit of stress with a fractured tooth, a few abscesses, dropping weight over the winter and, for the first time ever seeming old. Wig always being his same old calm self through it all has been a godsend.
Throughout the whole thing, Wiggy has been a delight. We won our first Prelim test in November, and came second in the Novice at a little local competition. The following week we got thrown in at the deep end having to do our first novice (we were supposed to do the prelim but they needed someone for the novice, replacements would do prelim but not novice) for the riding club at the areas. We were the only combination not to have done any BD and a lot had elementary points but we held our own and finished 7th. Then, in our second ever jumping lesson, we did a whole course at 80cm - the highest I'd jumped since Monty retired from jumping 5 years ago, I also fell off him (after the jump, he clipped it, panicked and took off while I was off balance) but it didn't bother me in the slightest (given I''d never fallen off Charlie but was still terrified of him this was huge). My confidence plummeted with Charlie so to do that with Wig so quickly meant the world to me. Then my back went.
Since then I think I could count the number of times I've ridden on my fingers - certainly on my fingers and toes. I was just getting back to normal and did my second team for the riding club in March. Again we were respectfully mid table and I was really pleased with how he went - 2 days later my back went again. I ended up having to do another dressage team in June, they were desperate so I went along with no prep, in a lot of pain and zero expectations. I warmed up for 10 minutes with no canter work as it hurt too much and rode with one leg. I think I may try it again as he went beautifully, scored a 68% and came third. I say he as I was literally a passenger. Our team qualified for the regional champs so I have to do it again in 3 weeks!
Had I been through all this with Charlie I'd have given up long ago. With Wig, I just want to get better to get on him and ride properly again. I couldn't have done it all without my wonderful sharer and friends who spent weeks doing my mucking out and looking after the boys but I couldn't have done it without him too. Archie has been wonderful too as ever but he's retired and I'd keep him no matter what so giving up riding woudn't ever mean giving him up. He's also been a source of a bit of stress with a fractured tooth, a few abscesses, dropping weight over the winter and, for the first time ever seeming old. Wig always being his same old calm self through it all has been a godsend.
