Reality check

[Peglo]

So I injured my knee and 17 months ago I had surgery. I was lax with physio for a while at the start of the year and through summer, too busy playing with my new pony. My private physio came back to work after some time off so went back to see her. She’s also a horse physio and T is one of her clients.

long story short my knee is still bothering me but I had made a bit of progress. But it’s been sore a lot and this week I hurt it again. Back to my physio today and she’s disappointed with another injury but also the decline in muscle. Even me looking at my legs can see the one with surgery is skinnier.
So I asked if I could still ride with the injury. She said I could manage it and it would likely be good strengthening exercise BUT it wouldn’t be good for Tali as I am so weak in that leg in comparison to the other and I wouldn’t be able to ride straight. She said a short hack in walk might be OK but advised against it until I regain some muscle.

I am so lucky to have such a good physio with such knowledge of horse and rider but will also tell me straight for the benefit of me but mostly my horse.

Has anyone else had a reality check with health or horses that they might’ve overlooked without a professional, YO or friend?

 

[jkitten]

First time I rode at my riding school, I was struggling to keep my horse straight and the instructor told me it was because I was dropping my left shoulder. Problem was, I couldn't correct because I legitimately felt straight. I had to basically guess and ask him to confirm when I looked straight because I had no sense of it myself. It perturbed me so much I went to a physio after, only to discover that years of dragging around heavy handbags with laptops in them on my right shoulder, with very little other exercise, had caused my left side muscles to tighten in order to compensate, meaning when there was no heavy weight on the right shoulder I was indeed subtly but undeniably crooked!

Fortunately it was just a musculature issue, nothing wrong with my spine, so was fairly easy to correct with physio exercises, a little general conditioning and replacing the handbags with backpacks. Amazing how sensitively horses are to the little imbalances in us that we ourselves don't even notice.

 

[Widgeon]

I am also wonky and the thing that eventually made me realise it was my inability to get a decent canter transition on the right leg. I went to a physio and it turns out it's because my legs are different lengths (not unusual, apparently) but rather than compensating with my hips, which would apparently be more normal, I compensate with my back. Then for related reasons my left shoulder is tight and collapses forwards and down. I would never have found any of this out if it hadn't been for the impact it has on my riding. It's still a problem but now I'm aware of it I can adjust accordingly.