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The Aftermath

My sleep was not restful. Apparently, I moaned and groaned and sighed
and generally was not a good sleeping mate. I drove my poor
sleep-deprived husband out of bed at the crack of dawn. I tossed and
turned and hurt and was nauseas and light-headed and the cramping was
relentless.

At 9:30 AM, Daniel came and got me up. He said to come have a massage
before the awards banquet. The massage was very lovely and helped my
back and shoulder muscles tremendously. At the awards banquet, I
picked at my food and ate very little. Nothing tasted good or sounded
good, although I'm sure the food was wonderful.

I was very happy to receive my completion award. A nice fleece
zippered jacket with the AERC NC logo on it.

After the awards, I returned to crash in bed. My rest continued to be
fitful. Daniel managed to sleep some during the day. I got up and
walked Tanna around some and went back to bed.

Finally around dark, Daniel insisted I see some medical professionals
that happened to be on site. They recommended IV treatment and I gave
in. I was embarrassed and not the best patient, but still grateful for
the help. I received a liter of fluids and reportedly my color
improved as did my attitude, although I still felt sore and crampy and
not very good. After receiving the fluids, we returned to our camper.
Earlier in the day, Daniel had gone out and gotten Subway sandwiches
and I managed to eat half a 6-inch of mine. I also managed to drink
some Propel water.

I went back to sleep and this time I slept quite well. I woke up
around 3 AM and felt not too bad although still sore and a little
crampy. So I walked Tanna around to let him stretch his legs and grab
some grass. Then I ate the rest of my 6-inch sub, drank some more and
went back to bed.

The next morning, I felt pretty good. So we packed up to head home.
Daniel wanted to hang out some more, so I headed out driving the big
truck with the horse trailer, leaving the smaller Tacoma for Daniel to
drive home when he got ready.

When I got home, Serts (horse) and Serena (dog) were ecstatic to see
us. I had to curb Serena's excitement as she was whining loudly. After
she calmed down, I gave her a lot of affection. She was so happy to
see us. I let Tanna out and watched him run around. Serena joyfully
ran with him and stood watch while he rolled. Serts, on the other
hand, decided it was better to hang out with me!! That was a switch
and I gave him lots of pats and some handfuls of yummy hay before
finally driving up to the house and then Serts went to join Tanna in
some enthusiastic races and bucking fits.

Rider treatment is not discussed a lot. I did not want to be treated,
but did it for my husband. I did not feel 100% better right away, but
I was able to eat and drink on my own after the treatment and began to
recover on my own. On Friday I was so sore I could hardly walk. By
Sunday, I was moving much more freely. It seems dehydration has a lot
to do with soreness, for me, at least. The cramping did get further
apart, but did not go completely away until Sunday.

I figure my treatment was a lot like a horse might go through. Before
treatment, I knew I should eat, but did not want to. Did not feel like
it. In fact, I felt like I'd return the food and water if I did get it
down. I just wanted to sleep. The cramps were painful. I looked like
death warmed over. In fact, on Friday, whenever I did venture out, I
jokingly told friends I was colicking. Not so far from the truth,
really. During treatment, I began to feel a bit better, but the cramps
and muscle soreness was still there. Everybody who saw me said I
looked a lot better. But I didn't "feel" a lot better. I wonder if our
horses also look much better after treatment, but don't feel as good
as they look? All the next day, the cramps continued, even as I was
eating and drinking and finally felt much better. I guess part of my
point is, even after a horse is treated and begins to look and even
act better, there still might be lingering effects that make the horse
uncomfortable and a little extra love and consideration is definitely
in order.

On analyzing what went wrong with me and why I got so sick, three
things settled out that seem most likely for the problems. First (and
maybe foremost), I was concentrating so much on taking care of my
injured ankle, I neglected to take as good care of the rest of me.
Second, I set myself up for dehydration because I didn't want to stop
on trail to pee. This goes back to my ankle and the fact that it's
hard on me to mount and dismount without the high mounting block we
have. I drank about 140 ounces throughout the day and night.  While
that seems like a lot, I'm used to drinking about that during the
course of a 3 loop 50. And the third factor was that I stopped eating
after 50 miles. I should have eaten at the 64.5 mile vet check. When
soup was mentioned, I should have taken the extra time to eat the soup
instead of brushing it off in favor of leaving at our out time.

Tanna definitely looked and felt better than I did. I would much
rather me be sick and him be well than the other way around! All day
Thursday and Friday, he had a bright, kind look in his eye, perky ears
and seemed much less sore than I was. Of course, he took much better
care of himself than I did! I am so proud of my horse!

To be Continued...

April
Nashville, TN
http://endurancerider.blogspot.com

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