Black and Blue Ribbons
— Karen Del Vecchio

In the intervening weeks since my competition horse Spotty was diagnosed with a disorder affecting his legs, I realized that if I wanted to continue to improve my riding and be able to compete on occasion, I’d have to…

While you likely know by now that I have horses, you may not realize that I live on a small, private, horse-breeding farm. The owner is active duty in the military, so I have my own place on…

I’m not good at accepting my limitations. While I’ve gotten better about it over the years, I’m stubborn, and if EDS says I shouldn’t do something, my usual response is to find a way around it. I’m active,…

Back in December I started Pilates. Wow. Seriously, I love it. I never imagined that I’d enjoy working out in the traditional sense, but this is different. In November I took a fall off my horse Spotty (before…

It’s been a few weeks since Spotty received his diagnosis. My vet came out to look at my horse and go over ultrasound images taken by my orthopedic specialist at the referral hospital. We came up with a…

Some days simply suck. There’s no way around it. You get bad news, things don’t go your way, you just have a generally bad day. One particular day a few weeks ago would definitely qualify. I took my current…

One way of managing a chronic disorder, particularly one that affects physical mobility and causes constant pain, is figuring out what treatment works for you. What helps me may not benefit you, and…

Sometimes, we may have so many levels of embedded issues that it can be difficult to know where to start. For my horse Arti and me, massage and acupressure were critical to physical recovery. I don’t remember…

To know me, it’s important that you know a bit about my past and the journey to my current style of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) management. So, in my next few columns, I’ll cover my history and how…

Ten years ago, at age 22, I was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS). I’d known there was something “wrong” with me long before I was 22, but despite having a doctor in the family who had been trying…