If all you know about cowboy life comes from watching the drama-prone Dutton clan on the TV series “Yellowstone”, meet the real deal - Mike Wright – a Tri-State born, honest-to-goodness cowboy who lives to be on the back of a horse or mule.
“That’s what my life is about, riding,” the 59-year-old Basco, Illinois native said.
But over the past decade, the wear-and-tear of the cowboy lifestyle caused Mike’s quality of life to suffer.
“From my hips up, I’m fine. From my hips down, I’m a wreck,” he said. “I was getting awful sore. It got harder for me to get into my saddle.”
The cartilage in his hips and knees, the stuff that allows joints to move smoothly by preventing bones from rubbing together, had worn away. And he developed pain-causing bone spurs in both knees.
“I fought it, but it just gradually kept getting worse and worse over the years,” Mike said.
As you might expect from a cowboy, surgery was a hard “no” for Mike. It would take him out of the saddle for too long. The pain was not that bad, yet.
“I’m 59 years old. I don’t want to replace anything. I’m getting by,” he said.
What’s a cowboy to do?
Help rode into Mike’s life at a donkey sort he hosted at River Valley Horse Camp in Farmington, Iowa, last summer.
If you aren’t familiar with donkey sorting, it’s a competitive event during which riders on horseback work to move and guide numbered donkeys from one pen to another in a specific order. It is often done as a family-friendly, fast-paced event to test maneuvering skills.
Mike shares his love of riding with others each summer through his business, Wright's Sortin' Donkeys.
“People just seem to love it,” he said.
Carrie Bennett wanted to see if she would love donkey sorting. To try it out, this horse-riding fan just happened to go to River Valley Horse Camp to participate in a weekend event Mike was hosting.
It also happens that Monday through Friday, Carrie is a nurse practitioner in the Blessing Health System Orthopedics and Sports Medicine department. When she met Mike at the donkey sort and saw the pain he was in, she wanted to help.
“He was not able to walk correctly and looked like he was in pain getting on and off his horse,” Carrie said.
“She gets on her phone on a Sunday morning and the next thing I know I have an appointment in Quincy the next week,” Mike said. “Just that quick.”
Further testing confirmed that Mike’s orthopedic condition was severe. Carrie was also aware of Mike’s desire to avoid surgery for as long as he could.
“Knowing his character, the type of person he is – an outdoorsy, cowboy-kind-of-guy – I understand he wants to ride and keep doing it, and that surgery is going to keep him out of the saddle for at least 12 weeks. If we can keep him in the saddle as long as possible, until he gets to the point where he feels like it’s time for surgery, I think that’s great.”
Mike is riding high
With Carrie’s help, Mike’s treatment consists of daily exercises and injections he gets as needed to numb the pain and reduce the inflammation inside his deteriorated joints.
“It has helped me tremendously,” Mike said.
He tells a story about going to a cattle sale every Monday in Kingdom City, Missouri, with a group of younger friends where they help herd cattle for the sale. Mike says with Carrie’s help he has been able to be in the saddle and working the cattle for nearly 12 hours a day on those Mondays.
“Does it hurt when I get off my horse? Yeah. But I am doing it. I’m having a good time. The next morning, I can actually get up and go. Before I’ve had it were I would ride one day and be down for two days.”
“Carrie has warned me – one of these days she won’t be able to help anymore. That’s when I am going to have to get rid of my original parts and put in new,” Mike said about the surgery that is in his future.
You don’t have to be a cowboy to want an alternative – even a temporary one – to surgery.
“If it’s not the right time for you to have surgery, there are things we can do to help, to make it more tolerable until you are ready,” Carrie concluded.
For more information in the care available from Blessing’s Orthopedics and Sports Medicine team, go to blessinghealth.org/ortho.
Editor’s note: Mike’s wife is a nurse at Blessing Hospital.