One VERY screwy B-day

Ugh...

Thank you all for your kind birthday wishes, they mean A LOT to me, especially since I don't think I've had a birthday that sucked quite to this magnitude yet.

I woke up at about 9:00 this morning, to find it nasty and rainy. Perfect, no birthday trail ride for me. That's okay, methinks, I'll go online and talk to some people, and wait for this storm front to roll through, and hopefully it'll be nice enough to ride by the time Micky gets off of school, so we can ride. I kill some time before I decide that I want to bring up the idea of a Parelli course in January to my parents.

Now WHY I'm so stupid as to think I'd get anywhere with that argument today, I don't know, but I opened that can of worms, and it made for a miserable discussion, in which I was reminded of how ungreatful, lazy, and unreliable I am, and how, no, I need to earn that money on my own. Okay...I'm a good saver, but $6000 in 4 months is IMPOSSIBLE, especially since my mother has decided I have to pay rent, now that I'm 18.

So, frustrated, hurt, and annoyed, I head up to the farm. I get up there, and it's misty as can be (Couldn't see the horses thru the fog) and mushy, and just not nice riding weather. I get out there, and finally spot the horses...on the other side of the wire...in chin-high grass that they're NOT supposed to be in. UGH...so I plod back, get my halter, herd everyone back into the pen (By this time, I'm soaked to the bone from wet grass) then proceed to grab the only horse I forcibly have patience for right now; Cadance.

That went okay, little Cadance is such a little spitfire, and makes me smile, even when I feel like crap. We didn't really get a whole lot accomplished, but she DID learn to do trot stick to me on the 12' line, which was cool. Very smart little bugger she is!

So I head home, and sit on the computer for another hour, until Micky gets to my house. We head out to the farm to go for my annual Birthday trail ride. We tacked up Cresty and Cricket, and head out. Crest was doing REALLY GREAT, so coming up onto the flat on the side of the road, I let him stretch out into a bigger trot, enjoying his elastic movement and cool head, since that is a rarity for both of us. We're trotting along, and all of a sudden, I hear something...not sure what, so I turn around, JUST in time to see Micky go FLYING through the air, land HARD on the ground, roll 3 times, and sit up, grasping her wrist. Cricket stops dead, and puts her head down.

Now at this point, I reached a crossroads mentally. I'm on Crest. Crest panics when I panic, so I opt for keeping it cool. I walk back to Micky, trying not to freak out. I get to her, and it's VERY clear she's in a lot of pain. It takes a lot for Mick to tear up, let alone to cry, so when I saw her trying to choke back tears, I immediatly got off. "Fran, my arm is broken. I can tell it is. It feels REALLY WEIRD!" she says. Oh SHIT. "Stay cool, Fran, stay cool." My brain says. "Okay...um, can you move it at all? Can you wiggle your fingers?" I say. She flexs it a bit, wiggles her fingers, and winces in pain as she does it. "Fran, I think I need to go home. I'm sorry, it's your birthday, but I need to get this looked at. Really, I do. Can you call my mom please? I'm REALLY sorry, it's your birthday, and I just ruined it!" Oh SHIT...again. "Yeah, and don't worry about it." Hesitantly, I pull out my cell, and call. "Hi Susie, this is Fran. Hey listen, I KNOW this is the LAST thing you want to hear this afternoon, but Micky just got bucked off of Cricket, and we're thinking she's broken her arm, and should probably have it checked out. I don't want to make her get back up on a horse, can you come pick her up? We're between your house and Richard's. Not quite down the hill."

Micky's mom arrives, ushers her into the car, and drives off, promising to wait the 10 minutes or so it'll take me to get the horses back so I can go with them to the ER. This is where things get good for a while. I start to lead the horses back down, and it's just taking TOO LONG. I decide that Crest is still in a VERY good state of mind, and that I want to pony Cricket. Well, I get on, and Cricket FLAT OUT refuses to move. Now, time out for a sec. Can you imagine what this makes me want to do to her right now?

"You B****, get MOVING, NOW!" I think...And like magic, seemingly without being asked, Crest stops, backs up, and CHOMPS Cricket on the butt. Just absolutely CRUNCHES down on the dock of her tail. "GET MOVING!" he seems to say. Cricket speeds up FAST, and tries to run past us. Crest speeds up, and blocks her. For the next 10 minutes, Crest collects himself into a solid mass of responsibilty, taking complete and total control of the situation, keeping Cricket toing the line, while providing the kind of solid leadership I needed, being a mess myself. I was SO proud of him.

Anyway, we spent close to two hours in the ER, and find out that Micky's arm is fractured in one, possibly two places.

So I get home, and have a lovely dinner, and go to my presents. And I can't sell it short, I really did have fun. They're pretty good overall, but I got one that just BUGGED me. My Aunt has never been very fond of my Parelli stuff, but she REALLY snubbed me with her gift; "The Complete Guide to American Universities"...gee, why don't you just come out and SAY it..."Fran, you failure, screw your horses, go get an edcuation and quit being stupid." Ugh...

So that's my lovely day. I'm trying not to get too down, but this was really a shit birthday. Thank you to everyone, particularly my mom and dad who tried their damndest to make this day special, despite everything. Hopefully tomorrow will be better, but GOD this sucks.

Night.