Had my first 'big' fall yesterday, how long will this hurt for?!

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sophiebailey

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I was popping my friends lovely horse over a few jumps in the school yesterday, didn't sit up enough after the upright and horse chose that moment to pull down for his reins, cue me doing a superman straight over the top of his head!! Did a complete somersault and landed on the small of my back :(

Waddles back to the barn, had a sit down and a laugh about my bad technique then started to panic as I realised my legs wouldn't do as they were told and I couldn't stand up :( quick trip to a&e revealed nothing broken, just a very bruised lower spine and coccyx, two slipped dics and an inflamed sciatic nerve on the right side :O

So currently bored out of my brain in bed with nothing to do but watch rubbish daytime tv!! Although I've fallen off millions of times before I've always just been a bit stuff after, this is my first BIG fall that's left me bed bound!!

Feeling sorry for myself :( lol. Can you all amuse me with hilarious stories of your own big falls? :)
 
awww poor you! I fell off my horse doing XC schooling on sunday, and I'm in pain all over!
Usually it will be worse two days after, and if you've bruised yourself that and the aching will continue for a while, keep taking pain relief, have warm baths, rest but keep moving (or you'll go stiff) and just take it easy for the next week or so :)
feel better!

oh and my fall wasn't amusing but to help with the boredom- we were jumping our last fence, a little brush, horse jumped it massive, jumped me out the saddle, came down landed on withers/front of saddle, he was still cantering off, got a bit upset with where I was sitting and went wizzing off to the left, I just went off the right side at quite a speed! landed on my chest, winded myself horribly, hurt my right leg quite badly, thought I'd broken it, so I'm hobbling around, left knee is bruised, my throat is bruised (oddly, think it may have been my bodyprotector) back, arms, ribs, neck and shoulders all ach and are sore :(
 
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Ouch - hope you're up and about asap!

Ok - I fell off about 6 weeks ago.... first fall for over 20 years (I'm not including a deliberate bail-out off a tiggering Arab :D)

Girlie shied at dreadful horse eating monster lurking in adjacent barn :eek: :rolleyes: Total rookie mistake - forgot to tighten girth! Saddle slipped, she put a buck in and I flew off and managed to knock myself out - in the school...on sand! :rolleyes:

I came to, seeing purple spots and thought it was 1982! Doh! :D

Hope you mend quick!
 
keep moving, pain relief and ice the area and find a good chiropractor/osteopath. Can't amuse you with a good fall, as none of the most recent ones have been "good"
 
Well I'm currently sitting her not wanting to move as I tweaked a muscle that I damaged a long time ago. I continued to keep working as muscles are "so minor". I wish old me would have had a chat with young me. It's what one of my therapists dubbed the "heart attack muscle" Left side near rib cage. Runs around from under shoulder blade. Normally I can just deal with it but alas I'm getting older so in a bit of agony right now. It will ease but darn, it hurts.

So DO AS YOU'RE told by doctors and let it heal properly. Hot baths and TLC!

Terri
 
I fell off, well i was bucked off, landed on the base of my back. Never had a bruise but very sore and lots of sciatic pain. Lots of ibuprofen and pain has disappeared completely after five weeks..
 
Hope you're feeling better soon, It normally takes me 3 days to really get over the worse of the stiffness and bruising, but I have to say when I fractured my coxycs (sp?) it was 8 weeks...

I am not sure why people are told to take hot baths? Muscles release heat when they are injured... maybe an ice bath would be better to relieve the heat from damaged muscles...
 
Fell off about four weeks ago, was riding in the school someone else had jumps up but we werent doing them (or so I thought), I asked for canter and he whizzed off at full pelt towards the jump, i decided to just go with it and try to pull him up on the otherside but then he went left and I went right got my foot caught in the stirrup and thought I'd broken it so trip to A&E. Ended up with a sprained ankle, bruised ribs and back. Hobbled for three weeks just getting back to normal and yes the hot baths feel great on those bruises!
 
Thanks everyone these stories are cheering me up no end!!! :) I'm not sure if i could get up and down into the bath to be honest so ill have to settle for a hot shower!! Xx
 
Ouch Lolo I cringed for you!!! Wish someone had caught mine on video so I could see how impressive it looked!!! :) thanks for the giggles hehe!! Xx
 
I broke my coccyx last year and in all honesty, it hurt ALOT and for about 6 weeks. I was riding again in about 4 but couldnt do anything for the first 7 days. Follow doctors orders, but general rules are ICE for the first 48 hours, 10 mins in every hour, then ice followed by heat for 10 mins each out of every hour until 72 hours post injury and then heat AFTER 72 hours, this is quite important, it will help with the healing- hot baths etc are actually counter productive because it makes bruising and inflammation worse just after an accident
 
Owww! Hope you make a speedy recovery!
My first and only (so far) big fall happened last summer. Hadn't jumped in a couple of years but was loving popping my cousin's horse over cross poles. Then we had the silly idea of playing a chase me charlie. The fence went upto 1m5 and I decided to pull out. I wanted to end on a high! But no... My cousin put up an oxer (not sure how big, but definitely big!!) I was peer pressured into doing it :( I think the horse sensed I didn't want to go over and stopped right in front of it before cat leaping over it, cue me flying off! Instantly I thought my back was broken but after a few seconds lying on the grass, my ankle started getting really hot. Anyway, I was pulled up, hobbled into the house and put some ice on my ankle. My uncle and aunty are both doctors so advised me to sit with my leg up in ice for the rest of the day. The next morning I had a lovely purple football as an ankle! They told me
to walk on it but hopping was the best I could do! After 3 days of struggling to walk, my uncle saw how bad it was and told me it was best to get an xray. It was fractured in 2 places and the soft tissue was damaged. My uncle and aunty were both very sorry for making me walk on it!
5 weeks later I was riding again. A lazy little welsh cob. My friend put up the smallest jumped imaginable, I trotted in to it and the same thing happened! Luckily it was a soft landing though!
Haven't jumped since and still rebuilding confidence on my own horse :(
 
Tinsel Trouble said:
Hope you're feeling better soon, It normally takes me 3 days to really get over the worse of the stiffness and bruising, but I have to say when I fractured my coxycs (sp?) it was 8 weeks...

I am not sure why people are told to take hot baths? Muscles release heat when they are injured... maybe an ice bath would be better to relieve the heat from damaged muscles...
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YES!! Ice is the way to go, not heat!

I went through 2 rails of a post and rail fence, slipped a disc and twisted my pelvis and then my back went into spasm. Nearly 2 years later I'm waiting for surgery as my sciatica is getting worse.

ETA: that's probably not what you wanted to hear so here are some comedy photos for you :)
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Ouch! I hope you feel better soon!

My worst fall was a good few years ago now, but the ride split off into two groups, one who were going to walk around the field and another who were going to canter around the other way. I was in limbo between the two groups, as I could canter, but I wasn't too confident on the pony. Just after the cantering groups had set off, YO said "Why aren't you going with them? Off you go!"
So I set off cantering after them, but pony wasn't too happy about being left behind and tanked off in a flat out gallop!! Pony obviously thought I was weighing him down and threw in a few bucks.
I hit the ground hard and thought I had broken my back. Got up a few moments later when YO came running over. My back was hurt, but not broken, but my knee, hips and ankles were in a bit of a state!
I've never been quite the same, my back hurts almost constantly, my hips click, my knees are awful and I have to ride with abnormally long stirrups or my ankles cramp!!
 
How quickly you get over it will depend how old you are. I spend half my childhood being ejected from various ponies including one with the most powerful buck I've seen outside a rodeo. I was cut, brised and carrying factured bones for years. I wasn't until I had a monster fall aged 45 which badly injured both legs then tried to get back on three weeks later, that I realised quite how much less suited the middle aged body was to recovering from accidental damage :mad:
 
I'm 21 so hopefully still got some bounce ability!!! And when i said cheer me up I didn't mean tell me stories about your very painful long standing injuries lol!!! Xxxx
 
Ouch , hope you feel better asap , I've just got back from an unexpected flying lesson on a hack. Horse is 6, come in with a few deep scratches down his nose so hacked out without his usual grackle looking very western. Little darling was at a decent canter along a grassy track, decided to open his gob , shoot sideways and stop dead. I kept going! Am waiting for my ankle to stop throbbing and feeling a tad embarrassed :-O
 
Ouch! Had my first fall in about four years last week, nothing exciting, horse tanked off when I asked him to trot and I was trying to turn him left and at the last minute he decided to dart right and I fell out the side door! Thankfully not too painful a fall but was very stiff for the next couple of days!

Fall before that was on a hack at a riding school. They had a new horse who had only been for the first ever back that morning, so I took him for his second outing. We went for a gallop, threw a little buck but I lost my stirrups so I clung to the saddle for dear life! Both horses came back to trot but my one decided to trot past the horse in front, turn left and I fell out the side door. However, landed on my hip and rolled onto my head hearing a nasty crick in my neck and the next day I couldn't turn my head left!

Get plenty of rest and take it easy!
 
Back wise: Rest, rest, rest, rest, rest, rest, rest. I cannot stress this enough. I had a very similar fall to you, could barely walk for a week but as I had animals to look after (and I'm generally a stubborn silly soul) I did as much as I could. I now have permanent spinal damage. Hopefully this will not happen to you, just be prepared for a long, slow recovery. Sorry to be so pessimistic but I really don't want this to happen to someone else.
Things to do: If you don't already watch Game of Thrones, then that will be your new friend :p
 
sophiebailey said:
I'm 21 so hopefully still got some bounce ability!!! And when i said cheer me up I didn't mean tell me stories about your very painful long standing injuries lol!!! Xxxx
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Get well soon Sophie :) at 21 your mendability should be quite good so no worries there.

I had an incident like broke-but-happy but managed to save myself at the last minute. I was toppling thinking " here comes the ground, crap, here comes the ground" but at last minute remembered to grab his neck and hooked my foot on the saddle. Ended up hanging on to his neck upside down but managed to clamber back on. Poor horse was totally confused with my rather sudden riding sideways position lol.

P.S. I got knocked over by Cob last year and landed on my sacrum very heavily and that was really painful even though I'd been standing on my own feet so don't even want to imagine how much pain you're in. Take it easy.{{}}
 
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I'm lucky that my mum will be able to look after my horse for me, currently sat at home watching Robin Hood and feeling very bored!! Your stories are keeping me entertained though!! Why do we do it to ourselves! Xx
 
I have found a direct correlation between increade in age: decrease in bounce-ability: increase in pain!!

Thankfully not had a biggie in a long time but seeing as how i'v now cursed myself, i fully expect a trip to A&E in the near future!

Box sets, plenty of cushions (i usually land on my bum) and hot ribena are my top tip!!
 
I feel your pain! I got bronced off a week last Sunday and landed heavily on my pelvis. The left side instantly was agony. This was the second time in the space of a week he'd done this and thankfully this last one was in an arena or god knows how much worse it could be! I went to A&E too but told just badly bruised. A week and a half later I can almost walked near normally but it's still painful and moving in my sleep is a no no. I think some gentle walking will help stop your muscles getting too tight but otherwise you need to rest. It is frustrating but I would say after a week the worst of the pain should subside!
 
I haven't had many 'funny' falls - I don't seem to just plop off...if I'm falling I generally make it a good one :rolleyes:


Two funny ones for you to snigger at though:

1) Had taken coblet to a local show with dressage. We went round for a couple of in hand classes, and left my (non-horsey) mum holding him whilst I checked entries...he ended up in the marquee with me having a sniff around for any food! Riding down the centre line for later dressage test, made it past the judges boxes with scary moving people behind the glass where he normally spooks, relaxed a bit and the marquee fluttered, causing massive spook sideways and leaving me on my back in front of the judges box! He also ******ed off and made a beeline for the gate. Dad almost got the moment on camera - you can clearly see our shoulders are going in diff directions and I'm tipping. Had to explain to worried parents that don't like me riding that honestly I don't fall off often!

2) Took coblet for a few days away at a friends, and he was amazingly well behaved... Boxed to massive common and he was fab, other pony galloping up behind us and doing the hunt jumps while we stood and took photos with no reins :D Unfortunately we then met the scary golfers...Friend videoing canter from behind, and you can see him jink sideways at first golfer, then second golfer was just too much for my balance! By the time I'd spat out the sand, he was stood there looking at me and my friend had managed an emergency dismount from gallop with video camera and was stood there looking at me aswell. Don't know whether I'm more impressed he didn't run off, or that I missed my friend turning off vid, pulling up and dismounting before I'd rolled over! Fortunately had BP on, so wasn't sore at all - just had sand in awkward places :rolleyes:
 
surprised the medical profession has told you to stay in bed. I have slipped my disc twice and have been made to move, albeit gently, on both occasions. Immobility is the worse thing you can do, you will just get stiffer and stiffer and stiffer.
 
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