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06/12/2003: "Another One Of THOSE Days"
Sigh. I’ve never believed in “jinxes” or any such thing, but I swear I’m beginning to wonder. Ever since the turn of the Millennium, VERY strange things have been happening - none of them good. I’m not trying to be funny when I say that I’m getting SO paranoid I’m afraid to get up in the morning.
Take last Tuesday for example. Mike and I were in the barn doing morning chores. I’ve been keeping Indy in the upper paddock these days to - hopefully - keep him from gaining any more weight. I will go back to letting him out 24/7 after we cut the hay.
Anyway, we let both Indy and Ami go out into the pasture while we’re doing the pre-breakfast chores. Before we open the gates, I put Indy’s flysheet on because he will be staying out all day, and the bugs drive him CRAZY.
So anyway, here I was in the stall with Indy - while he was devouring his morning treats - trying to figure out how I manage to put his sheet on upside down and backward no matter HOW carefully I fold it when I take it off. I stepped back while trying to ascertain which end was up, when Ami - who was at the other end of the barn eating HER morning treats - suddenly spooked HARD. I heard a crashing sound myself, and then all h**l broke loose.
Ami went flying out into her paddock; Indy whirled around to see what the heck was going on and somehow, I managed to fall down in front of him. I don’t know if I tripped over my own feet - a distinct possibility - or the sheet or what, but the next thing I knew for sure was that Indy stepped on the side of my right foot. Thank God, we were in DEEP shavings and Indy doesn’t wear shoes - especially since, when I managed to look back at my foot, my BOOT WAS OFF! How THAT happened, I will never know. I’ll also never know how Indy managed not to step on anything BUT my foot. It must have taken some fancy footwork on his part.
It all happened SO fast. After staring at my bootless foot for a second, I looked up and there was Indy, almost nose-to-nose with me, with the most worried look I think I’d ever seen. That is until Mike came bursting into the stall looking pretty worried himself. He had to almost carry me out.
I sat on a hay bale gasping and trying to take stock of my foot. It hurt - I’d never had the SIDE of my foot stepped on before - but my foot has taken harder hits - by SHOD horses. I was reasonably sure nothing was broken, but it was turning purple already and my ankle felt like it was sprained as well.
After a few minutes - it took me a while to get all the shavings out of my sock! - I was able to put my boot back on and help Mike finish the chores. It hurt, but I could walk.
I also figured out what spooked Ami in the first place. Cats. There is an overhead that runs half the length of the barn isle, and the back of it is adjacent to Ami’s stall. We use it for the storage of seasonal stuff and generally things we don’t use often. The barn cats have decided it’s a great place to fight, and they’ve been causing poor Ami problems all spring. She tends not to like it when they start yowling, spitting and crashing around up there. I certainly can’t blame her. They’ve made me jump out of my skin a few times myself.
I spent most of the rest of the day with my foot elevated in an attempt to keep swelling to a minimum. I was able to take the horses their lunch myself as well as go out for my regularly scheduled afternoon visit. Needless to say, ALL I did was visit. Indy and I won’t be doing any working for a few days at least. :o(
Now we have Friday the 13th coming up tomorrow. I have NEVER been the slightest bit superstitious, but, with everything that’s happened the last few years, I think I’ll just hide under the covers all day.
