Crooked

Back story: Before my riding lesson today, I knew that I was 'crooked'.  I know this because I was injured many moons ago while in the military.  A well-meaning but clueless military doctor took that a step further by performing a surgery that ultimately failed - I later discovered one study found that this particular surgery failed 100% of the time.  Yeah, too bad I didn't think to do that research before the surgery.  The ultimate culmination is that both of my feet are shot, with my left being much worse.  The toes on my left foot go from tingly but mostly numb to on fire and everything in between.  I have no normal feeling in them anymore.  This affects my walking, which affects my hips and back on both sides, but again the left side is worse by far.  It is something that I deal with, and honestly, I'm not missing any body parts so I feel like I got off easy.

Last year's riding instructor, Marie, knew this and was attempting to help me correct it in her treed saddle.  Then I had 7-8 months with no lessons, Marie moved, and I started taking lessons with Claudia.  I didn't tell Claudia anything about my history before the first lesson but she mentioned that there was something going on with my left side within the first few minutes of our lesson.  I explained the situation and she said it wasn't too bad and that I was definitely fixable.  After our second lesson, I asked her if I could bring my own saddle to the next lesson.  My saddle is treeless and I feel much more unorganized riding in it; secure but unorganized.  She agreed.  Today was that lesson.

And it was horrible.  The entire time I felt like I was falling to the left.  The cantle of the saddle would not stay centered over Rita's (2nd level dressage lesson pony) spine.  To counteract this, I was trying to put more weight on my right leg, which apparently was only exacerbating the problem.  Basic premise - my left leg doesn't do shit so my right leg does it all.  This causes me to actually push the cantle of my saddle to the left with my right leg.  To verify this, Claudia had me take my right foot out of the stirrup and go into a posting trot around the arena in both directions - wonder of wonders, the saddle was fine then.  Yikes.  Claudia went over my saddle and she said it's even broken in crooked, ugh!  So, what to do?

Luckily Nickers Saddlery has replacement foam panels for the inside of the saddle.  I'm also hoping that they will be able to upgrade my saddle rigging to the multipurpose to perhaps give more stability to the cantle.  Maybe even a crupper, but then I wonder about how it would affect Ruby while I'm trying to learn to ride straight.  Speaking of - I have never felt like I'm going to fall of Ruby like that so she must be seriously overcompensating for me.  

In the meantime, therapeutic yoga for me and possibly more physical therapy, though I can tell you that the crap physical therapy allowed by my insurance has never helped in the past.  I need to start lifting weights and doing whole body strength training.  Running is out of the question, hence the reason I am no longer in the military.  I'm probably going to be riding without the right stirrup for a while, in an attempt to stop pushing my pony to left and causing her to develop back and other soundness issues.  I hope I can get this resolved - Claudia was looking at me a little wild-eyed, wondering what in the hell she's gotten herself into.  Next lesson, she wants to come out and watch me ride Ruby, but due to the higher lesson fee plus travel (she's over an hour a way) and my budget constraints, that's not going to happen right away.  C'est la vie.