Huge bruise!

Dust Bunny

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Evening everyone. Just returned from my riding lesson where I really hurt myself today and it was totally my fault. Riding at a trot on a circle I had too much inner leg and my horse edged out and my right leg hit a wooden post. Now I'm at home and I have this huge - at lest 10cm by 5cm swollen egg-shaped bruise on my shin. I've cooled it and I'm lying with it raised. Has this happened to anyone else? How did you treat it and how long did it take for the swelling to reside? I can stand on the leg, even on my toes, it's just extremely painful. Appreciate any advice!
 

Red-1

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I did a similar thing, 3 weeks ago, practicing barrel racking round wheelie bins. My horse turned REALLY sharply, he cleared the barrel but my shin cracked it and brought it down.

3 weeks on, I still can't comfortably touch it! There is still a swelling too even though the bruise is coming out.

I used ice, anti-inflammatory tablets and arnica.
 
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Evening everyone. Just returned from my riding lesson where I really hurt myself today and it was totally my fault. Riding at a trot on a circle I had too much inner leg and my horse edged out and my right leg hit a wooden post. Now I'm at home and I have this huge - at lest 10cm by 5cm swollen egg-shaped bruise on my shin. I've cooled it and I'm lying with it raised. Has this happened to anyone else? How did you treat it and how long did it take for the swelling to reside? I can stand on the leg, even on my toes, it's just extremely painful. Appreciate any advice!

This probably sounds really weird, but if you place thickly sliced onion on the bruise, and gently wrap them in place, that will take the swelling down a ton! I have used this with amazing results several times.
 

Dust Bunny

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Thank you all so much for the advice ? Arnica and cooling have helped and today the swelling has gone down quite a bit. Really appreciate your advice ?
 

Ratface

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Poor you. I was always taught to follow the nemonic RICE: Rest. Ice. Compression. Elevation. Plus an over-the-counter analgesic, a strong cup of tea, some mindless TV and a comforting cat.
I do hope that you're feeling better soon.
 

Dust Bunny

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That’s so nice … got the rest, ice, compression, elevation… even the cat❗️Spent the day with a couple of mindless TV programmes, too ? Feeling better, and swelling going down.
 

Toby_Zaphod

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Get yourself an ice pad which you can freeze, if you haven't got one a pack of frozen peas does as good as any. Wrap the peas in a damp tea towel & apply it for up to 25 minutes. After 25 minutes you remove it as the pack won't get your bruise any colder than it is by then, Put it back in the freezer. Do the same again in about 1.5 hours & do that as many times as you can. Do this for a couple of days & you should have seen some improvement. If there's no improvement then see a doctor as you could have done something more serious. My left knee took a wallop & I had a big bruise & a lump come up. The cold compress didn't do any good. It transpired that one of my bones had been clobbered & marrow leaked out of the bone & set like concrete on my leg. Doctor said he could remove it if it got any bigger by opening up my leg & using a hammer & chisel to cut it off. I decided not to have it done. That was many years ago, I still have the lump & I'm 67 years old.
 

Dust Bunny

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Oh my goodness! I'm cooling it and using Arnica cream. I'm definitely off to the doctor tomorrow to have it checked out. The swelling has gone down considerably, but it's rather hard and still painful. Thanks for your advice.
 

Dust Bunny

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To all of you that answered my plea for advice thanks once again??Had an x-ray done today and fortunately my shin bone has not been affected. Your advice was exactly what the doctor would have ordered❗️Have to take a break from riding until the pain subsides … hope it won’t be too long ?
 

Dust Bunny

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Arnica - how long it takes to heal depends on the severity. Can we have a picture-we do all love a good bruise!
Hi Lady Jane. Remember the bruise? Well, it's finally gone, but it has taken up until now to disappear :eek: All the help from forum members was really good. Some things just take time. I was able to ride again about 2 weeks after the accident, and it wasn't painful anymore. Just needed about 6 months to subside!
 

Red-1

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Hi Lady Jane. Remember the bruise? Well, it's finally gone, but it has taken up until now to disappear :eek: All the help from forum members was really good. Some things just take time. I was able to ride again about 2 weeks after the accident, and it wasn't painful anymore. Just needed about 6 months to subside!
Gosh, that has taken ages, I'm glad it subsided in the end.

As this thread popped up again, I re-read the original post. One thing stood out, I don't think it was your fault at all. Not that I think anyone was to 'blame' exactly, but you were under instruction, learning a new skill, in an arena with a protruding post.

I was teaching in a flat-fenced arena some years ago, but the gate was slightly recessed into the fence-line. One day, someone learning a new skill, allowed the horse to drift out, it drifted into the slight recess (6") and carried on forwards, banging the rider's knee on the fence corner as they re-joined the normal track. The rider wasn't injured other than a small ouch, but it was recorded and we had the gate re-sited so it was flush with the fence.

Although I had previously thought the arena safe, the small ouch alerted me to the danger a recessed fence would cause with learner riders.

Did the riding school alter the poles, so they are no longer protruding into the riding area? Because, with learner riders, such an accident is highly predictable and even if they had not predicted it, now you have had your accident, it is obvious. I bet you are not the only person to be crashed into the pole. Most arenas have regard for this and have panelling to protect against the risk. I would say that, after this accident, the riding school would be negligent to not now change the arena side.
 

Lady Jane

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Hi Lady Jane. Remember the bruise? Well, it's finally gone, but it has taken up until now to disappear :eek: All the help from forum members was really good. Some things just take time. I was able to ride again about 2 weeks after the accident, and it wasn't painful anymore. Just needed about 6 months to subside!
That was a good one!
 

Dust Bunny

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Gosh, that has taken ages, I'm glad it subsided in the end.

As this thread popped up again, I re-read the original post. One thing stood out, I don't think it was your fault at all. Not that I think anyone was to 'blame' exactly, but you were under instruction, learning a new skill, in an arena with a protruding post.

I was teaching in a flat-fenced arena some years ago, but the gate was slightly recessed into the fence-line. One day, someone learning a new skill, allowed the horse to drift out, it drifted into the slight recess (6") and carried on forwards, banging the rider's knee on the fence corner as they re-joined the normal track. The rider wasn't injured other than a small ouch, but it was recorded and we had the gate re-sited so it was flush with the fence.

Although I had previously thought the arena safe, the small ouch alerted me to the danger a recessed fence would cause with learner riders.

Did the riding school alter the poles, so they are no longer protruding into the riding area? Because, with learner riders, such an accident is highly predictable and even if they had not predicted it, now you have had your accident, it is obvious. I bet you are not the only person to be crashed into the pole. Most arenas have regard for this and have panelling to protect against the risk. I would say that, after this accident, the riding school would be negligent to not now change the arena side.
The riding school hasn't changed anything - like your situation, it was exactly where the gate was setback from the wooden fence line. However, I have certainly learnt my lesson and steer well clear of it! As you know, there are always accidents waiting to happen - on an outride one is also confronted with situations where things could go wrong. I hadn't expected the riding school to change anything and simply saw it as an accident. When you're on a horse you should be in control. I was in control and the horse simply did what I asked it to do! I can't say that I blame the riding school for the accident. I just hope nobody else has to go through what I did! Enjoy the long weekend. I'm leaving for Vienna and have tickets booked for watching a training session and doing a tour of the grounds at the Spanish Riding School on Tuesday :)
 
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