My 'other half' must be addicted to riding. He will be 79 in July and still rides, though he had to take a couple months off about three years ago to get a knee replaced, and needs to get the other one fixed soon, maybe in late Sept. after a trail ride he wants to participate in is over. But, our ranch runs on horses so far as working cattle is concerned, so he has always ridden frequently, and pretty hard. He isn't just sitting on a horse, but uses his legs and back a lot. He has had a few spectacular wrecks and done some damage over the years, with probably the most painful and least long term damage from a broken big toe. Scariest to see was when his horse was running full tilt after a cow escaping the herd while passing through some tall grass, there was a badger hole hidden by the grass which the horse stepped in literally somersaulting in air before landing on the ground. Horse not hurt beyond sore muscles, as the hole was pretty big and didn't trap his foot. Spouse had a cracked vertebrae which didn't reveal itself right away even with an x-ray, but a month later pain indicated something was wrong, so went to Rapid City and found he needed repairs. Trimming of cartilage and fusing two vertebra and he walked out five hours later without pain. Pretty lucky and found a great surgeon. It wasn't as bad as when he had to be repaired in a different place after picking a newspaper up off the sofa a couple of years earlier!
I've long been resigned to the worry over him riding, because not being able to ride would be harder for him to deal with than an accident.
But, he needs a smaller horse, 13 hands would be ideal, but 14 works. And an older, say 7 or 8 years old decently trained in working cattle. No fancy stuff necessary. Those kind are darn hard to find! He got a wonderful one a few years ago and it developed navicular disease, a really bad day for us when that was discovered! He still has about three which he can ride and has to change frequently as they are getting older, too. Maybe he needs to go to more horse sales. I do like to travel, most any direction for any reason, and a horse sale is interesting, too.
mrj
