I HATE ice!

Warning there are no pictures in this post and when you hear what happened you will probably be glad!  The reason I hate ice is because I fell THREE times (twice in one day)!  The first time was while playing with the dog and it didn't hurt.  The second time was after the snow had frozen overnight and was so hard I could walk on the crust without breaking through it (the snow was around one inch, so not much at all).  I have a step leading up into my feed shed and I had already gone in and back out once.  Then I walked back over to step up again and my foot slipped off of the step.  I slammed my right shin into the raised wooden floor and then slammed my elbow into the step.  My elbow only hurt for a minute, but my shin hurt like crazy!!!!  So you would think I learned my lesson right??  No!  I went out after dark (the first fall was in the mornign)  to let Chrome out of his pen (he gets his feed and a couple of flakes of hay in the pen so the others can't steal it)... As I was leading him through the gate my foot slipped and since I walked through the gate ahead of him I fell right in front of him.  He was already on his way through the gate and had nowhere else to go so he stepped on my leg.  His hoof landed right on my left shin and slid off, scraping the hide right off of my leg through my clothes.  It hurt soooo bad!!  And it was terrifying!  Being under a horse's feet is one of the scariest things ever.  Luckily it didn't break my leg or damage my clothes.

He didn't even realize that he stepped on me because the gate to the pen has a pipe that sits on the ground... I think he thought he stepped on the pipe.  He is so used to me crouching on the ground to take pictures of him that I don't think he thought anything of it.  Heck even my scream didn't bother him because I can be a loud person and he's used to my squealing, screaming, laughing, etc.  So he wasn't traumatized at all and I don't blame him at all, but dang it hurt!  Luckily I was leading him by his chin (I taught him to lead by his chin because he doesn't have mane lol) so there was no halter or rope to take off of him.  He stood a short distance away watching me as I cried, struggled to my feet, shut the gate to his pen, opened and closed the gate to the pasture to let myself out.  By that time my husband, who heard my scream from all the way up at our house, had gotten there and helped me limp what felt a VERY long distance to our house and back inside.  The scream was more from fear and shock than pain because I didn't really feel him step on my leg... I mean I felt it, but it didn't hurt because of the adrenaline... it started hurting almost immediately after though and it hurt all night.  I barely slept.  I toss and turn a lot anyway, but doing it with a bum leg is not fun...

So there is a hunk of skin missing (kind of like a road rash abrasion) in a spot about three inches by three inches, there's a knot the size of half an orange and LOTS of bruising (I bruise very easily, slightly anemic).... luckily today (this happened yesterday evening after dark and did I mention yesterday was my husband's birthday?) the pain is a lot better unless something bumps it.  It hurts when I first stand up, but I quickly walk out of it, so no broken bones or anything thank goodness.  So yeah that's why I HATE ice....  :(  And what is so ironic is that we didn't have ice or ice packs in our freezer so my husband went out and chipped ice off of my car into a bag for me to put on my leg... the ice that caused the injury also numbed it and helped with the swelling...

Anyway the other thing I wanted to mention is that I have not been getting any email notifications of comments you've left or follow up comments on any of the blogs I comment on... not since Thanksgiving!  I was beginning to think everyone had quit blogging for the holidays.  Today I realized that EVERY SINGLE blogger email is going to my spam folder!!!!!!!!!!  There were two hundred emails in my spam folder!!  So if you've been wondering why I have not responded to comments that is why.  Sorry.  Also thank you to everyone who has commented on my blog and offered compliments for my handsome boy, advice and encouragement.  I appreciate every single one.  Your comments mean a lot to me.  :D  So if you have ice and snow please be careful out there!!  I'm going to hide out indoors for a while (until this crap melts).  Lucky for me my husband took today off work and has been taking care of everything for me.  I'm spoiled! Hehe.

Also before I forget to mention it, the weather moved in sooner than we thought so our farrier didn't make it out to do Chrome's hooves.  So sad!  However I think the shivering that first night from the sleet and then walking on the snow (they have been walking around a lot more than normal to stay warm) has worked out his stifles and he's not locking anymore.  :)  I still hope she can get out to trim him soon though.  I'm 99.9% convinced it's his hooves causing the locking stifle.  I'm still looking for a chiropractor too.  I've been wanting to get one even before his stifles started locking, but they are so scarce around here!  Then the ones I do find I can't find any recommendations... I can't afford to have someone out who doesn't know anything about horses and pay for them to do nothing.  Anyway I'll keep looking.  I found a really nice equine vet about thirty minutes away that I'm probably going to ask for recommendations.

Well I'm off to bed.  The lack of sleep last night is catching up with me.  Maybe since my leg isn't as sore I'll be able to sleep better.  I'll get caught up on the 100 blog posts in my reader tomorrow.  Sorry I've been scarce!!