A bag of snow on my knee after the last, short day of skiing at Sun Valley. If I’m going to continue skiing this will, sadly, have to become part of the routine. I’m reading Rinker Buck’s, The Oregon Trail, which reminds me of some of the exploring journeys I made when younger.
So it’s Saturday, the last day of the skiing holiday. Fly out of here tomorrow and back to Australia. Ironically, snow is predicted for Sunday. It was a grey, overcast day with very low visibility. Dense cloud hung on top of the mountain. I had had the previous day off so I was very keen to go up, one last time. The ice and rest days seem to allow the swelling to stay within manageable dimensions. It has been a good learning experience in what is required if I’m going to continue skiing.
Margaret came up and we skied for awhile, through various iterations of fog, hard-packed snow and slush on the lower slopes. It was far from ideal and Marg, who is not feeling well, packed it in after about an hour.
I stayed out awhile longer but the cloud crept slowly down the mountain and the visibility was reduced to nothing. I don’t have the confidence anymore to ski in a total white-out, especially on an unfamiliar mountain.
So after a few more runs on my own, without great pain thankfully, I decided to go in. I never got to ski a single black run at Sun Valley so the trip ended with a whimper rather than a bang, although strangely, I have enjoyed the mixture of skiing, going for coffee, reading, sleeping and doing different things with Margaret. Adaptability is a great asset after tibial plateau fracture.
My goals after surgery were:
- To walk properly again
- To carry a heavy backpack on a long bushwalk
- To swim from Palm Beach to Manly and
- To ski again
I can’t I have achieved goal number four. I managed about 12 days skiing out of a potential 20 and the longest I skied in any one day was about 5 hours. I was in considerable pain for a fair component of the holiday and I don’t believe that my rehabilitation is as yet complete. Much remains to be done.
Still, could have been a lot worse. I’m not complaining.
Marg on the last day at Sun Valley
Kieran: I am a 71 year old retired Civil Engineer, living on a 250 hectare bush property at Copmanhurst, near Grafton. I don’t envy you with your leg troubles!!.(I had a busted pubic ramus , from a bucking horse 15 years ago, but am fully recovered, and still train and ride horses).
I have owned and bred mules for 40 years, and currently have a lusty, 7 year old, part mammoth Donkey Jack who serves horse mares. He has produced about 8 mules so far and the biggest is from a Clydesdale mare. This large molly mule, is now 3 years old, is almost fully trained for packsaddle work, is a total sook, and took very little training. I have 3 other smaller pack mules and 6 saddle horses, and with family and friends, I have led many packsaddle trips, to many places, over many years.
Years ago, I was fortunate to work with the late Maurice Wright (Jeffrey Method of horse handling), and I have some autographed books by the late Tom Roberts of South Australia. I claim to be an OK sort of Horseman and I am still learning!!!
3 of my saddle horses, now 6 years old, (and at the insistence of my 41 yr old daughter at the time), were imprinted at birth, (as per Dr Robert Miller of the USA).
Of the hundreds of horses I have handled, these 3 are exceptional in their docility and relaxed attitude to humans.
Anyhow, enough waffling; if you wish to correspond further, you can reply to my email and I can send you some photographs.
PS I have read the books you have written.
Kieran : It occurred to me after sending the above email, that my comments did not have much relevance in relation to your injury. I am now wondering if horse riding would be a useful therapeutic procedure?
On reflection, maybe not, because as you would well know, in riding your knees are cocked out at a bit of an angle. My own knees are undamaged, but after many hours in the saddle, they can be a bit sore for a while after dismounting.
I skied for 1 day, 55 years ago at Mount Buller in Victoria. Your story has assured me that never skiing since then, was a sensible course of action!!!
I have had many, many exciting horseback chases after cattle, brumbies and wild pigs, and I would class brumby running as an extreme sport. Luck has kept me free of injuries through the years, but I pay homage to the many good horses I have ridden.
The poem by Will Ogilvie, “The Bushman’s Friend”, sums up my approach to horse riding.
Neil,
Thanks for making contact. I presume you know about the book I’m reading in the above post. Its called The Oregon Trail by Rinker Buck. As a “Muleskinner” (that’s the word for mule-wrangler in the USA), you would love this book. It’s about two brothers who decide to put a covered wagon across the Oregon Trail for the first time in a century. The use mules in the traces, not horses. This is in keeping with American history. Most interesting, even for people like me, who have had a fair bit to do with horses and nothing at all to do with mules. I had no idea they were so tough. Try and get it from your library. I’d be interested in what you thought. My only comment, which I’ve written to the author about, is they did not shoe the mules with calkins which meant they slipped around a bit particularly on steep bits where lost of footing could have been catastrophic. When I was endurance riding we often used dimple shoes and my farrier sometimes even used over sized nails with the heads proud of the shoes to give extra grip and ensure that you would have a shoe on at the end of a long event. Not sure why Rinker Buck and his brother, who were experienced horsemen, would not have done the same. Interested in your thoughts. Horses are great therapy but I’m a bit past that now with a history of neck and back injury, some of which came courtesy of our equine friends.
I have to get this leg right first.
Thanks for reading my blog.
Regards
Kieran
Kieran : I have some observations re shoeing horses, which may interest other blog readers.
I have been shoeing horses for about 40 years, and for long treks in rough country, I would always hot shoe the horses.
Done correctly, it does not bother the horse, and burns a seat for the shoe, with about 95% contact against the hoof wall. With cold shoeing, you would be lucky to get about 25% contact; also, you are too reliant on the nails to hold the shoe in place.
With hot shoeing, I hardly ever lost a shoe on a rough trip, and if I did detect any minor movement, I would immediately retighten the nails.
(Nonsense is often written about hot shoeing being bad for the hoof. In fact, all shoeing is bad for the hoof; but hot shoeing keeps the shoe firmer for longer, and lessens the frequency of the need to shoe).
I once read a United States Cavalry Manual of about 1885, which had a diagram showing their requirement for the proper location of the nail holes in relation to the outside of the shoe.
At the sides, the nail holes were central in the metal, (as per modern shoes), but at the toe, the nail holes were about two thirds of the width of the metal, back from the front of the shoe.
When you have prepared a horse’s hoof for shoeing, you will find that a shoe made as above and shaped for that hoof, will have the nail holes correctly following the white line. There will be the right amount of metal at the sides, and with the greater width of metal at the toe of the hoof, you will hardly have any need for rasping once you have clenched the nails.
I have never seen shoes made in Australia, as per the above, and I have had to make my own.
The ones you buy, will cause you to have hoof wall protruding over the front of the shoe, when you have finished nailing. You are then tempted to rasp down on the hoof, from below the nails, to the front of the shoe. In a hot climate, this is a bad idea, as you are removing the natural varnish of the hoof and allowing the hoof to dry out and crack.
Farriers don’t seem to be aware of the better shoe design as described above, and happily go on mucking about with the poor horse’s hoof to make it fit a factory made shoe.