crash and burn

Since my last post I've hardly ridden Kiki...there was a huge thunderstorm on Thursday so I didn't even leave the city...and thank god...B told me it was like armegeddon out there, they even lost power. I went out Saturday for a make-up lesson and to work on fitting her saddle. Our customizable Mattes pad arrived and I was eager to try it on her and figure out the saddle issues once and for all. B had me stand behind her on a stool so I could see just how uneven her shoulders are. I was shocked. I feel partially responsible for it because I have intentionally avoided her right side in training, especially at the canter. But I know it's really NOT my fault. All horses are asymmetrical, and it would be a perfect world if a medium-wide (AND VERY COMFORTABLE) Albion could fit more than one horse there. She had a full week off when I saw her Saturday but she was dead quiet. She was happy to see me and I took my time grooming her since I got to the barn VERY early for my lesson. Then B and I spent the next 2 hours trying to fit the saddle. I warmed her up on the longe line, got on and trotted her around and the saddle immediately started slipping off to the right. B came in and we removed the tack, put some shims in the pad, and started again...rinse, lather, repeat...over and over. It was, if anything, a good tolerance test for Kiki. At first she was giving B and I the stink eye over all the fuss, but when she realized we weren't heading back into the barn when I dismounted she quietly stood and watched the two of us fool around with the silly white pad. We settled on the idea that the saddle itself may be a little uneven and that it's possible TOO wide. We got fairly close with the shim-pad combination, but it still slipped off to the right. You could actually see her evading the saddle when tracking left. Ouch. B put a call in to try another med-wide saddle (this time a County) owned by one of her students. She was going to ride Kiki the next day it in to see how she felt. I am certain that County saddle is wayyy out of my budget and I know they have it up for sale since it doesn't fit her mare anymore. What a dilemma. Kiki rides SO much better since we put her in a wider saddle, I just want to keep moving forward. **Kiki was ridden in the County on Sunday with just a fleece half pad and a regular square pad and she was a superstar B said. She had a jumping lesson and was fantastic, no stops or hesitation!

If there is one thing that mare has going for her it's soundness. Reading lots and lots of horse blogs every day I feel grateful for that more than anything. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be for all of the riders here who are tormented with soundness issues and mystery problems. If only our horses could talk to us -- what would they say??? Kiki is, above everything else, one of the most sound horses I've ever met -- and if she were my horse, she'd be barefoot.

But me? Well, that's another issue entirely. I am accident prone and a self-proclaimed klutz. When I fall, I fall hard...not unlike a giant sack of potatoes with no self-control. It's amazing I am have not come off her with everything she's offered in the way of goofiness, but apparently I am good at staying on, period. Otherwise, I am certain I wold have been sent into orbit plenty of times by now. Statistically, I am overdue for a fall from a horse...I had an 11 year streak once. For those of you that don't know, I live 45 minutes-hour from the farm in downtown Philadelphia. Big city, and the living is easy, er....sometimes. I ride my bike to work which is about 1.5 miles, a 7 minute bike ride when I am going at a leisurely pace. There are bike lanes nearly the whole way (though I am very acclimated to riding in full traffic patterns) so it's relatively safe. As far as bike riding in the city goes, my route to and from work is barely a blip on the danger scale...I have ridden in crazy alley cats (semi-illegal bike races around the city), to and from the suburbs in search of fine beer (once we did 82 miles in one day), and up and down almost every street in every neighborhood with buses and crazy drivers everywhere...probably my biggest fear as a cyclist is the inevitable "DOORING" that seems to happen to everyone at some point. You know, a careless driver opens the door while an unsuspecting bike rider careens into it with no time to stop. Shudder. So you would think that a woman pushing her toddler in a stroller at 9 am (granted she was jay walking) through a crosswalk would be a non-issue. HA! (Insert my bad accident proneness here) Part of being a skilled rider in the city is being able to time the trajectory of all the obstacles you have to tango with en route. Traffic patterns, cabs taking up too much space, buses stopping to pick up new fares, and the arch nemesis of bikers everywhere, the unaware pedestrian. I saw this woman scurrying across the walkway against traffic as I moved from the bike lane all the way over to the left lane to turn north...I thought nothing of it since there was no oncoming traffic and people often cross against the light...so in my mind -- as I have done a million times before -- I contemplated where she SHOULD be when I arrive at the intersection (much like counting strides) I push on making my left and WAIT!!! she's stuck at the end of the cross walk, the stroller caught on the side of the curb -- she shouldn't be there, she needs to move or I'm going to -----

----- hit her -----

bike stops abruptly (it's a fixed gear with no ability to coast)...flips over itself launching me into the intersection. I land, bracing myself lightly with my hands, and then take the impact on my elbow, hip, and knee, roll over and sit up now facing oncoming traffic. I managed to be quite graceful in my somersaulting even protecting my face and head enough that my glasses stayed on. I finally got up (and was yelled at by 2 drivers and one cabbie for being in the road) and took inventory of the damages. Skinned knees? Check, what else is new. Broken elbow? Maybe. Yikes. Another cyclist stopped to help and walked with me to my office where I cleaned myself up a little and iced my elbow all day. One thing about living in the big city...there is very good health care to rely on here, however emergency rooms are like mini-purgatories and I would almost rather amputate my arm with a plastic fork than have to go to one. Don't get me wrong, if I was gushing blood or hit my head or if there was an obvious protruding bone, I would go in a second, that's what great health insurance is for. But I am going to stick with my wait-and-see theory for now. I found a few more points of impact last night (my hip especially) and the swelling at my elbow has gone down a bit. I woke up around 5 in excruciating pain though, but I'm not sure if I just rolled over on it, or what. It looks pretty gross, and I can't straighten it out, but I think that's because of the scab. More ice, a little more time and I will make a decision.

What does this have to do with Kiki? Well, I was supposed to have a lesson on her tonight but I think I should cancel. The little kid on me just wants to go, but I have a feeling B will take one look at my elbow and refuse. My shoulders are killing today, I guess from taking the force of the impact and I can hardly lift my arms. I feel like the muscles in my left shoulder are seizing up. Ugh. I am not sure what this means for the show either. I can't ride her again until Saturday because of my schedule and I'm not sure I will be strong enough then or if B would even risk me riding her off property injured...and well, if my elbow IS broken I'll be in a cast anyway.

Here's a photo of my elbow from last night: