In a message dated 8/17/2006 10:30:41 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
Karahtykids writes:
Perhaps Kat should read Phil Gardner's inspiring account of getting
his
10 nth TEVIS buck el last year in Tevis Forum..After brain tumor
surgery, fungus invaded his
body, after losing an eye to it, than lung surgery etc he rode in
unbelievable pain even
with drugs to get his 10 nth buck el.. Since than he had to have both
hips replaced and a shoulder just a few weeks ago, the week before he ran the
Forsethill vet check at Robinson Flat giving back to sport he loves so much,
He also know the bad end of drugs as that is what destroyed his joints, but
that is only drug that they knew would keep him alive so he had NO CHOICE, He
stll lives from day today in pain he knows he may face another shoulder
replacement in future.But he has ridden after his hip replacement in
May,and he talks about planning to ride Tevis next year,I sure would not deny
him that hope even if he needs some drugs, I broke my leg in 1999 was 2nd in
Tevis following year with some help from pain killers
along the way as one leg is now little shorter and also gives me a lot of
back pain, I was almost 65 then and thing I hated most was not feeling safe
enough to help my horse out by running down some canyons. Since than I have
had my face broken near lose of eye 3 broken ribs a few months ago my
horse and I were near run down on top of a mountain by guy on ATV, broke my
wrist and re broke my ribs. So now and then to feel I ride straighter I
resort to Advil and Vicaden only for race I have kept to use for extreme
cases. Many years ago with my first broken ribs I had to ride Swan ton Pacific
100 championship ride against
Becky and Rio the following week took a few Advil than too. But my
personal hero is Phil Gardner his desire to keep on riding keeps him alive I'm
sure. Many years ago at AERC convention Dave Nicholson gave a talk on
Butte on horses, he said Butt does not make a hose perform better or run
faster. I will never forget Smokey Killen standing up and asking"Will
if it don't hurt um and it makes un feel better why can't we give it to
um? " We all laughed.
No Dr Nicleson was not recommending giving Butte to our horses,Just
talking about some aspects of it.
