DJ
Well-Known Member
This will be long, get yourself a cuppa:
As some of you will know i`m currently out of action after a nasty fall (spine broken in 2 places and spiral fracture through my sacrum/top of coccyx). Currently 9.5 weeks into rehab lol ... though it feels like 9 months I swear. So, the first couple of weeks were all about getting the use of my legs back and hobbling about with the aid of the zimmer frame in hospital, and then crutches at home ... by week 3 i was walking unaided ... by week 4 I was out walking pooch again and could get up and down the stairs unaided (and had some fair old momentum once I got going) ... Week 5 saw me starting back at work on light duties 2 days a week, and also clambering on my lad bareback, whilst strapped up in my body brace (laugh a minute) just to see if I could still sit on a horse, which after a potter about on him eased my mind i`d be ok in the long run (he was a good lad too, even though his tantrums are what caused all this lol).
Weeks 6/7/8/9 have been me actually behaving myself, resting, walking, rehabbing, doing as i`m told (for the most part), doing my physio exercises and not rushing out there and buying the first thing I fell in love with (Moi, learning patience and restraint ... that IS a miracle) ....
Then a couple of weeks ago a good friend told me all about a place at Lincoln who have an "Equi-simulator" (pm me if you want the details as I don`t want to get in trouble for "advertising when i`m not). So knowing how foobared my insides now are after how serious my accident was, I though it had to be worth a try (core muscles? what core muscles). It gave me the chance to see how I felt back on horseback, in a saddle, at walk trot and canter with out the worry of the horse bogging off with me HA. It tells you how balanced your seat is, as it has sensors under the saddle, under your leg and on the reins.
The lady was fab, I honestly can`t praise her enough .. I did an hour (and that hour flew by) ... starting off at walk, to help me relax my hips and pelvis, then moving on to sitting trot, back to walk, slow walk & medium walk, into sitting trot again and then on into canter
.... and then at the end I did a "rider assessment" where it gives feed back as to how you are sat/balanced through all 3 gaits, whether you are in front of, or behind the movement, and if you are level. I loved how it gave me the option to actually think about "what are my legs doing, how are they feeling, am I tense anywhere, am I breathing, am I relaxed" ... and then to be able to rectify those things and feel the difference once i`ve changed each of these things to make myself more comfortable, and to help build new muscle memory.
I`m no where near as "bad" as I thought I was ... my seat is still central, and balanced, with just the tendency to pull my right hip forwards at canter (left canter lead) as I was subconciously guarding my right hand side where the damage to my spine is, but that is totally to be expected. Now given I haven`t been near a horse properly in nearly 10 weeks, my core muscles haven`t been used correctly due to wearing a huge brace, and i have put on weight as obviously I have been no where near as active as I usually am, I am simply thrilled with how "good" the printout was. Don`t get me wrong, I still have work to do to get me right, but I`m thrilled I haven`t been set back anywhere near as much as I thought I would be.
So, going forward, I don`t need to go for "lessons" as such, as my seat/legs etc are ok, so she said there`s no point me paying for that, so instead she`s offered me a "fitness" package ... where I can go every couple of weeks for an hour and she`ll put me through my paces, this combined with walking (which i`m already doing) swimming and pilates (which I start in the new year) will mean I`ll soon be properly riding fit again ... **woohoo** ... and ready to start looking properly for my new horse Feb/March time.
If you have an Equine Simulator near you I honestly cannot recommend going highly enough, go, seriously go give it a try, see the difference it makes to your seat/hands/legs, confidence, core muscles and over all fitness
As some of you will know i`m currently out of action after a nasty fall (spine broken in 2 places and spiral fracture through my sacrum/top of coccyx). Currently 9.5 weeks into rehab lol ... though it feels like 9 months I swear. So, the first couple of weeks were all about getting the use of my legs back and hobbling about with the aid of the zimmer frame in hospital, and then crutches at home ... by week 3 i was walking unaided ... by week 4 I was out walking pooch again and could get up and down the stairs unaided (and had some fair old momentum once I got going) ... Week 5 saw me starting back at work on light duties 2 days a week, and also clambering on my lad bareback, whilst strapped up in my body brace (laugh a minute) just to see if I could still sit on a horse, which after a potter about on him eased my mind i`d be ok in the long run (he was a good lad too, even though his tantrums are what caused all this lol).
Weeks 6/7/8/9 have been me actually behaving myself, resting, walking, rehabbing, doing as i`m told (for the most part), doing my physio exercises and not rushing out there and buying the first thing I fell in love with (Moi, learning patience and restraint ... that IS a miracle) ....
Then a couple of weeks ago a good friend told me all about a place at Lincoln who have an "Equi-simulator" (pm me if you want the details as I don`t want to get in trouble for "advertising when i`m not). So knowing how foobared my insides now are after how serious my accident was, I though it had to be worth a try (core muscles? what core muscles). It gave me the chance to see how I felt back on horseback, in a saddle, at walk trot and canter with out the worry of the horse bogging off with me HA. It tells you how balanced your seat is, as it has sensors under the saddle, under your leg and on the reins.
The lady was fab, I honestly can`t praise her enough .. I did an hour (and that hour flew by) ... starting off at walk, to help me relax my hips and pelvis, then moving on to sitting trot, back to walk, slow walk & medium walk, into sitting trot again and then on into canter
.... and then at the end I did a "rider assessment" where it gives feed back as to how you are sat/balanced through all 3 gaits, whether you are in front of, or behind the movement, and if you are level. I loved how it gave me the option to actually think about "what are my legs doing, how are they feeling, am I tense anywhere, am I breathing, am I relaxed" ... and then to be able to rectify those things and feel the difference once i`ve changed each of these things to make myself more comfortable, and to help build new muscle memory.I`m no where near as "bad" as I thought I was ... my seat is still central, and balanced, with just the tendency to pull my right hip forwards at canter (left canter lead) as I was subconciously guarding my right hand side where the damage to my spine is, but that is totally to be expected. Now given I haven`t been near a horse properly in nearly 10 weeks, my core muscles haven`t been used correctly due to wearing a huge brace, and i have put on weight as obviously I have been no where near as active as I usually am, I am simply thrilled with how "good" the printout was. Don`t get me wrong, I still have work to do to get me right, but I`m thrilled I haven`t been set back anywhere near as much as I thought I would be.
So, going forward, I don`t need to go for "lessons" as such, as my seat/legs etc are ok, so she said there`s no point me paying for that, so instead she`s offered me a "fitness" package ... where I can go every couple of weeks for an hour and she`ll put me through my paces, this combined with walking (which i`m already doing) swimming and pilates (which I start in the new year) will mean I`ll soon be properly riding fit again ... **woohoo** ... and ready to start looking properly for my new horse Feb/March time.
If you have an Equine Simulator near you I honestly cannot recommend going highly enough, go, seriously go give it a try, see the difference it makes to your seat/hands/legs, confidence, core muscles and over all fitness
