Not riding. But mucking out advice with the use of 1 arm ?

Hiya

I'm currently awaiting a diagnosis, poss an early onset arthritis (I'm 25)
My main issue physically is my hip's, which makes riding a nightmare, But reciently I've been having a lot of pain in my shoulder / arm, to the extent yesterday the weight of my own arm on the shoulder was unbearable.

So mucking out (with shavings fork and wheelbarrow, was impossible) and doing haynets etc has not been easy

In the end I mucked out using a rubber glove and bucket, using my good arm to lift the bucket onto a barrow, that I couldnt empty

Does anyone have any tips for making life easier with arm disabilities / immobility / weakness ?

Thanks

Jill
 
I use bucket and gloves and go to the muck heap twice with half loads.

Deep litter, so only do wet every few weeks when I have the energy, so only need to do droppings daily.

Use small bucket to top up water with two or three trips.

Use trigger clip from rugs etc, to hang up haynets so dont have to do knots.

In the morning I do muck in bucket and leave it in corner of stable for later and hang haynet and do half the water, so later I only have to do other half of water and muck bucket, he has four so I can save them to put on the barrow every four days, or take half buckets to muckheap.

Leave turnout rug on so dont have to change twice a day.

Hope that helps a bit.
 
daffy dilly - if cost is a factor you can also use a black bin and put haynet sides over the bin handles, black feed bin, not wheelie bin. lol.

I tend to put two slices straight in net like a pillowslip without even fluffing it up, but then I give it a rinse under the tap to get some of the dust out as it has not been opened up and shaken. At one stage you could buy square nets so the slices fit straight in.
 
I use a twin wheeled trojan barrow so that i can pull with one arm as it is more stable. I also have the garden wheeled water thing which works well but mine was about £15 from homebase.I use mountain climbing hooks from decathlon to make hanging nets easier.
 
That water wheelie thing looks great, but I have a piece of wood across door to keep bedding in, so I use a small paint pot, plastic, and do two or three trips, also section A so doesnt need much.

Mountain climbing hooks may be easier than my leg rug snaps though.
 
My muckheap is on a vertical downhill, which is too slippery to walk down (leg problems and back), so I leave my small bucket, only 11.3 pony, for the other lady to add to her wheelbarrow and I hang all her nets during the week for her. They have automatic water, but when snowing, I fill there waters as well in exchange.

Small things can help each other. When my hands are swollen they do my rugs and when they are not I will do theres for a few days. Or I just leave him in turnout rug.
 
Hiya

I'm currently awaiting a diagnosis, poss an early onset arthritis (I'm 25)
My main issue physically is my hip's, which makes riding a nightmare, But reciently I've been having a lot of pain in my shoulder / arm, to the extent yesterday the weight of my own arm on the shoulder was unbearable.

So mucking out (with shavings fork and wheelbarrow, was impossible) and doing haynets etc has not been easy

In the end I mucked out using a rubber glove and bucket, using my good arm to lift the bucket onto a barrow, that I couldnt empty

Does anyone have any tips for making life easier with arm disabilities / immobility / weakness ?

Thanks

Jill

Jill,

RE: the arthritus. I have a bad left hip, tendonitus in both achilles tendons, sometimes it occurs in both tendons at the same time, and, whilst me crawling around the house on all fours causes great amusement for the kids but alot of pain for me!! I have arthritus in the joints on my right hand, which is worse in winter, and I sometimes get what the doctor calls a frozen shoulder in my left arm. I used to take all kinds of things to help with the pain, especially the tendon thing as that the worst of the lot when it bad, but then the doctor prescribed me with these tablets called Arthrotec 50.

They are amazing!!

I don't get any trouble any more, haven had a tendon flare up for 9 months and my shoulder and hand feel almost like new.

Just thought I would mention it hon.. I am sure your doctor has you on some kind of anti inflamatories anyway, but I had other anti inf's before I tried arthrotec and none worked half as well for me. I also take glocosamine, and codliver oil every day.
 
Hey thanks for that I am seeing doc on Monday snow allowing of course already cancelled once this week.......I am going to ask to try arthrotec 50.:)
 
Jill,

RE: the arthritus. I have a bad left hip, tendonitus in both achilles tendons, sometimes it occurs in both tendons at the same time, and, whilst me crawling around the house on all fours causes great amusement for the kids but alot of pain for me!! I have arthritus in the joints on my right hand, which is worse in winter, and I sometimes get what the doctor calls a frozen shoulder in my left arm. I used to take all kinds of things to help with the pain, especially the tendon thing as that the worst of the lot when it bad, but then the doctor prescribed me with these tablets called Arthrotec 50.

They are amazing!!

I don't get any trouble any more, haven had a tendon flare up for 9 months and my shoulder and hand feel almost like new.

Just thought I would mention it hon.. I am sure your doctor has you on some kind of anti inflamatories anyway, but I had other anti inf's before I tried arthrotec and none worked half as well for me. I also take glocosamine, and codliver oil every day.

Thanks for that I'll mention it when I go back to the rheumy for my results on the 13th.

I've been on narproxin with little effect, and am now on Lodine and I still dont notice a difference, I havnt been prescribed a pain killer yet, just ibroprofen (when not on lodine) paracetamol/ codine over the counter, but it takes a double dose to even take an edge off the pain, so I'm hoping they will give me something better

I'm a strict vegie, nearer vegan, as I'm dairy intolerant:rolleyes: and only eat egg's from our chucks - So I cant take glucosamine and cod liver oil.

But I have reciently heard about the negative effects of nightshade vegies (tomatoes / peppers / potatoes / chilli's / aubogine) , on arthritis. And have already noticed a huge increase in pain when I have tomatoes the day before - So I'll try cutting down / cutting them out:( and see if it makes a difference

Thanks to all for the tips, there all great, and will make bad days easier:)
 
I bought some fab clips at Ingatestone saddlery which you put on rugs to convert the buckles to clips which i find easier to do up with gloves on.They were really cheap but saved some time.
 
Just come back from doc, Arthrotec 50 is a mixture of diclofenic and omeprazole the stomach one because of the diculfenic action on stomach, so a two in one. I am already taking both. Did change to Oruvail though which is ketaprofen which I used to have before. 200mg.
 
I have one of these for my water. The design means the water does not tip out when you wheel it across the yard. I leave it in my stable just as it is. You would not believe how many people asked me what was the point and how did I get the water out into my water bucket :rolleyes:
It's made from quite a hard plastic rather than the soft tub trug type of plastic so if you have a bucket wrecker/kicker then it probably wouldn't work. I positioned mine away from the stable door just in case.
So far has been a great success.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produ...t_12107647|Gardening+accessories|12107662.htm

I got one for 9.99...i think they have twigged that us horsey people use them!!!! but they can tip so dont try being too clever with them...believe me :eek: wet leg in -1 winter is NOT fun lol.

But i second using clips to do nets rather than knot, ive used a climbing sort of clip (am i making sense?) and thread the net rope through, as you would normally, loop it round the haynet as you do normally then clip the string on :)


Im not good at ideas lol but try your best to keep using your bad arm, even if you fill a bucket half the weight that you good arm is carrying because doing things one sided can hurt your back! You can manage even slowly with one arm less but not without your back remember!! xx
 
Thanks all for the tips

I feel I'm going to be a regular on here, although not classed as disabled 'yet'
I went to the hosp on fri 13th :rolleyes: and I have to have more tests / scans on my shoulder and an operation on my hip, as I've worn cartilage and am wearing the bone :eek:
I've been telling them It can be agony :rolleyes: but its taken prob 2 yrs and changing hospitals to get results:rolleyes:
 
one handed mucking out

Hi,

Only joined recently so don't know if this info is still needed. I have one arm and muck out every second day (OH does alternate days!). We have 2 ID mares - they eat A LOT and as we all know what goes in must come out. They are stabled at night so plenty of clean up each morning.

I use 3 of the large soft plastic lightweight buckets (about 40 litre size) for this purpose (they are the sort people usually use for feed). They have 2 handles. I half fill each. This means they stack into each other even with muck in them - handy for movement purposes. I put them on a handtruck we bought in B&Q. It has a single bar handle so I can push/pull it with one hand. Hint here though - if you are buying one of these get the one with the pumpable wheels (like mini bicycle wheels - the ones with the hard plastic wheels are useless).

Hope this helps - if not a bit late......
 
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