Ques about pain tolerance in riders?

[Lill]

Do you think people who ride often and are used (use this term loosely!

) to falling off now and then have a higher pain tolerance than those who say haven't ridden for a while and then come off or those who have just started riding and fall off?

 

[amandathepanda]

I think proper horsey people generally have an exceptional high pain tolerance - a bit like rugby players really as if we stopped everytime we hurt/didn't feel well then we would never get near our horses! Two years ago I spent 6 months running 8 miles 3 times a week & riding 4 or 5 horses a day on a knee that the hospital had missed a hairline fracture on. I was aware that is hurt but being horsey you just get on with it. When I cracked a vertabrae in my back I was told I'd be flat on my back for 3 months but was mucking out stables after 2 weeks(!) and riding after a month. I think we refuse to give in when things do hurt as we have such determination to get on and ride which seems to come before anything else - including our health!

 

[Lill]

See i'm inclined to think they have a high pain tolerance too.

Over the years i've had falls that have meant that i couldn't move my left arm more than 8 inches away from my side for a week (gradually forced it to move more and more each day and was back riding week and half later), the whole of my right leg was black and blue and bruised muscle, sprained wrist, did something to my back etc etc each time i never went to hospital i just got on with it and was back riding and mucking out most times within a week or two at the most!

But i've had 2 friends (who had only been back riding regularly for about 3 or 4 months) fall off my horse (one at the weekend and one few years back) and bizarrely they both bruised their kidneys, both went to hospital to find this out. No offence meant to anyone of course

Going to hospital for something that wasn't obviously broken (i.e. limb at odd angle etc) would just not occur to me??! Am i weird? Have always just got on with it whether it hurt or not!

 

[Hedgewitch13]

No not weird I just think it depends on what type of person you are. I never go to the doctor from one year to the next and only went this year cos I had to have blood tests for something. I think I'm lucky in that I'm a fairly healthy soul.

I remember being knocked flat and run over by a horse once - it was verrry painful but I never went to the doctor about it (I still have a dented muscle in my thigh from it 20 years on). I've had various accidents over the years and none that I think were serious enough to warrant treatment. Non riding friends are usually horrified that I'm happy not to get checked out unless of course a limb is hanging off or I'm bleeding to death. So yes I think horsey people are a tough bunch and I'm quite proud of that

I have a friend though that practically lives in her doctor's surgery and I think it's a kind of attention seeking on her part (she reports every minor ailment she gets) as she doesn't have much going on in her life.

ETS sorry went slightly OT there!

 

[Lill]

Lol my mum works in a doctors surgery and i think there are a fair few people like that! You can tell who visits regularly and who doesn't by looking at the size of their files - mine is very small - only go if i really HAVE to as i hate going!

I think its instinct for some people too my first thought when i've fallen off is to get up and then its to find the horse! My OH has the same instincts when he broke his leg falling off his bike first thing he went to do was get up - big mistake on his part having actually badly broken his leg!

 

[Gorgeous George]

I tend to agree with you, when I fell off at the riding school a few years ago I inisted on getting/being helped back on so I didn't loose my nerve, I then untacked, turned horse out, drove 10miles home. On arrival at home I couldn't get out of the car and on arrival at hospital it was discovered I had broken ribs in my back and cracked my pelvis! Then last year I did a cross country half marathon, fell down a rabit hole and twisted my ankle, I hopped/shuffled a further mile before giving up and discovering I had a broken ankle - and to be honest I think I'm a bit of a wimp!

 

[Lill]

I mentioned this thought to my Mother who promptly said to me well you have no sense, no feeling!

Charming!