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@PaintedDesert Yikes! I'm kinda glad that I didn't have to have screws. They just removed the bone piece. I wish a fast recovery for you. And yay! for hubby. It's always satisfying when a good meal comes together. I can't cook worth a darn, but the few things I can make turn out well when I do. Thanks for your stories!

@bluchrystals Holy Chuck. They are gorgeous! I'm incredibly envious. Just... Wow. :O

That’s no fun I was in the same spot a couple years ago. Had surgery right before Christmas, and spent most of Christmas motion sick from pain pills. So no fun.

A Day Moving Cows / Diamond will be the Death of Me

Last Friday me and my Aunt Peggy had to move cows home, and since my mare (Diamond) doesn’t know how to back out of a horse trailer, I had to ride a 2yr old gelding named Cinnamon. Now I’d never ridden Cinnamon before so was obviously a little concerned on how he was going to handle the day. It was about 30 degrees Fahrenheit and it was had some snow on the ground as well as ice. So we unloaded the horses and then had to ride about a mile or two to where the cows were at. We’re of course in a slight hurry because we don’t want the cows to scatter since someone else was gathering them. So we were trotting along and the Cinn was doing great, except he kept trying to trot over the ice. He’s already a bit clumsy since he’s so young, but add me to the picture plus ice. Bad Idea! Diamond would have altered her corse slightly and just went around it, not Cinn I had to steer him away from the rough spot. Fun. Anyway we get to the cows and start pushing them along, usually they will spread out and just move nicely. Not that day, they just wanted to eat. So we went back and forth constantly moving to keep them moving. About an hour in my ankles are killing me and I’m trying to figure out why they hurt so much, when I realize the way my boots were making my feet fit in the stirrups I was riding on the outside side of my feet which was twisting my whole leg. Now if I’d been on a different horse I would have kicked my feet out of the stirrups and dealt with it. But I was on a colt, a colt who was double amazing but still a colt. So taking my feet out of the stirrups wasn’t going to happen. As the day progressed I dismounted and walked for awhile, to help with the pain. But I had to get back on. We had about 3 more pasturers to go through when we realized we really needed to get them moving better so then we were trotting back and forth just to keep the cow somewhat moving. I’m posting on the outsides of my feet, which hurt horribly, poor Cinnamon was fading fast he just didn’t have the stamina of an adult horse yet not to mention he wasn’t really in shape. We finally got the cows to a spot we could leave them for the night and finish moving them the next day. The last mile we rode with the cows took an hour, which is horrible. Then we started the long trot home. I was wanting to cry since from pain, but knew the sooner we got home the sooner it wouldn’t hurt. So we trotted down the road and came to the pasture where Cinnamon’s buddies were at and he fought me about going past them. A couple miles later we get to my house where we stop so I can change boots. Then we continued further down the road to my father in law’s house. The relief was instant, with the change of boots. We were almost to the yard and I look to my left there is the bull lot and the pen beside it Diamond is running circles, all anxious to have her buddy back (Peggy’s horse). We open the barbwire gate and close it again and start riding to the trailer to unsaddle and I look over and there is Diamond in with the bulls. Now the only way she could get in with the bulls is going through the barbwire fence or jumping the fence. So we hurry up and unsaddle I tie Cinnamon to the trailer, grab an extra halter and go see the damage my horse has done to herself and the fence. I quickly catch her and run my hands all over her no blood no puncture wounds nothing. We look down the fence it all looks like it’s standing, well there’s a post that’s broken but was it broken earlier or did she do it. We walked to the post and there were about 8ft of skid marks leading up to the post and a couple on the other side. So she must have run up to it tried to stop hit the post and just kept going. We set the post in the hole it broke off from. Then I look up and realized Cinnamon is up on the road looking like he’s going to head up and find his buddies. We raced through the bull pen, and the only thing going through my head is he either went through the fence or over the cattle guard. We grab the lead rope (apparently he untied himself) and look all over him for injuries nothing. So we turned and lead him back down the road to take him into the yard again. I’m watching the fence looking for tracks from how he got out, and I’m just not seeing anything. While Peggy starts opening the gate to take him through I go look at the cattle guard. There are tracks at the corner of the guard and tracks on the road. He jumped up into the cattle guard and then somehow managed to get up onto the road. I’m stunned Peggy is stunned. We look him over again, not a scratch. It’s amazing he didn’t get a scratch as least, or break a leg at the most. So after he was put away in as close to a padded pen as we have. I went home ate dinner and took a bath. We rode about 15miles, in 7hrs, and had two heart stopping accidents. I was done.

That was a crazy day, they are both so lucky they didn’t injure themselves beyond repair. Cinnamon has already cut his throat open twice this summer, so he is accident prone. Diamond is just an escape artist. :)

@Pagan Thank you! That was incredibly thoughtful of you.