riding after injury

[Jazz18]

I had a bad fall from a young horse and broke my hip and L2 vertebrae .I'm 64 and seriously wondering if I should give up riding. i wondered what other people's experiences are? it will be several months before I will be able to ride I suspect but not sure if its wise. I certainly wont be riding young horses again.

 

[Britestar]

If you do your rehab religiously, there is no reason to not ride again.
Have you been plated or replaced hip?
8 weeks ago I broke my hip and got given a new one. I'm 57.
I'm still on track to get back on in around 5 weeks. I won't pretend it's not been hard, and I still have pain, but physio and determination keep me going.

 

[Jazz18]

If you do your rehab religiously, there is no reason to not ride again.
Have you been plated or replaced hip?
8 weeks ago I broke my hip and got given a new one. I'm 57.
I'm still on track to get back on in around 5 weeks. I won't pretend it's not been hard, and I still have pain, but physio and determination keep me going.

Thank you. I've been extremely fortunate as both fractures stable and not had to have plates. The back is the worst though . I'm nearly 6 weeks in and getting much better . Its the mental issue that I'm struggling with .

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

Provided you behave yourself throughout your rehab and listen to the docs and physios then there is no reason at all why you couldnt/shouldn't ride again.

If you get to the stage where you can ride but don't want to then get a couple of shetland ponies to show and have fun with instead!

 

[Jazz18]

Provided you behave yourself throughout your rehab and listen to the docs and physios then there is no reason at all why you couldnt/shouldn't ride again.

If you get to the stage where you can ride but don't want to then get a couple of shetland ponies to show and have fun with instead!

Thank you for the positivity! Just what I need . Doing everything I can to get back on track.

 

[Britestar]

Thank you. I've been extremely fortunate as both fractures stable and not had to have plates. The back is the worst though . I'm nearly 6 weeks in and getting much better . Its the mental issue that I'm struggling with .

That's good news re stability. I have to say weeks 5/6 were the hardest for me. I made a lot of progress, and then just felt static. I allowed myself a bit of self pity, then just worked a bit harder, and suddenly I seemed to jump forwards in what I could do.

Hang in there, another couple of weeks things will look different again.

 

[Jazz18]

Good luck! Sounds like you've made fantastic progress. I see the drs next week and will get a better idea of my prognosis.

 

[nagblagger]

You could always look into driving as well as riding, or showing the (Elfs) shetlands....and the enjoyable part, which you could be doing now, is tentatively peruse the adverts for all of the above types 'just to see whats out there'. I think we all enjoy window shopping...

 

[Errin Paddywack]

My farrier broke his back some years ago. The hydraulics on his lorry tailgate failed and bent him backwards. He is now past 70 and still shoeing though giving it up at end of year and just doing trims. Amazed us all.
Work hard at the rehab and no reason why you shouldn't be able to ride again if you still want to of course.

 

[Jazz18]

My farrier broke his back some years ago. The hydraulics on his lorry tailgate failed and bent him backwards. He is now past 70 and still shoeing though giving it up at end of year and just doing trims. Amazed us all.
Work hard at the rehab and no reason why you shouldn't be able to ride again if you still want to of course.

Thank you.
I guess my concern is whether or not I will damage myself even more if I was to come off again and I suppose that is always a risk. I think I'll try to get some help in overcoming the anxiety which I'm sure I'll feel once I get back on. Good to hear some positive stories though.

 

[Flicker]

I can’t comment on your physical recovery, but mentally when you are ready to get back in the saddle I would recommend planning out how you’d like to take it. I took a crunching fall a few years back that landed me in A&E with a suspected hip fracture (fortunately just bruised) and definite concussion. When I was ready to get back on board, a very good friend rode side by side with me at all times. We started off doing a few circuits of the school in walk, just chatting about life and putting the world to rights. Or we did some short hacks round the estate. I was still very bruised so couldn’t trot for a week or so and then only for a short time. It honestly took me about 3 months before I was riding independently again, and even then I would have someone on the ground for a few months after that.

My horse at the time was an absolute saint, so his bucking me off was very out of character, which I think knocked my confidence even more. I was trying out a new saddle that clearly wasn’t right for him, asked for canter and flew 10ft in the air…. Sometimes coming off the good ones is harder psychologically than coming off the naughty ones because you aren’t expecting it and it knocks your trust.

I hope your physical rehab goes well.

 

[Sossigpoker]

I broke my L2 nearly two years ago.
It took a year before I was mentally in a better place , at times i was so scared i couldn't even get on!
Karl Greenwood's Facebook page,book and hypnotherapy tape have helped me massively.
I'm now mentally in a good place. I bought an air jacket after my accident and wear it religiously now - I've come and at a high speed and suffered no injury at all. For my physical safety and mental stability I now won't ride without it.
It helps me massively mentally now, knowing that the extra protection is there should things go wrong.

 

[Jazz18]

I can’t comment on your physical recovery, but mentally when you are ready to get back in the saddle I would recommend planning out how you’d like to take it. I took a crunching fall a few years back that landed me in A&E with a suspected hip fracture (fortunately just bruised) and definite concussion. When I was ready to get back on board, a very good friend rode side by side with me at all times. We started off doing a few circuits of the school in walk, just chatting about life and putting the world to rights. Or we did some short hacks round the estate. I was still very bruised so couldn’t trot for a week or so and then only for a short time. It honestly took me about 3 months before I was riding independently again, and even then I would have someone on the ground for a few months after that.

My horse at the time was an absolute saint, so his bucking me off was very out of character, which I think knocked my confidence even more. I was trying out a new saddle that clearly wasn’t right for him, asked for canter and flew 10ft in the air…. Sometimes coming off the good ones is harder psychologically than coming off the naughty ones because you aren’t expecting it and it knocks your trust.

I hope your physical rehab goes well.

I totally agree. Unfortunately my lovely trusty horse of a lifetime is too arthritic to be ridden so I've been trying to find a replacement. I stupidly ended up buying unseen from Ireland. Super horse but VERY green. I also ride my husbands horse who can be very spooky( I've never come off him) and was actually Having fun with him doing dressage. He's not a confidence giver so I think I really need to try and buy schoolmaster but as illusive as a unicorn!
Hopefully, with alot of support I can get back on him.

 

[Jazz18]

I broke my L2 nearly two years ago.
It took a year before I was mentally in a better place , at times i was so scared i couldn't even get on!
Karl Greenwood's Facebook page,book and hypnotherapy tape have helped me massively.
I'm now mentally in a good place. I bought an air jacket after my accident and wear it religiously now - I've come and at a high speed and suffered no injury at all. For my physical safety and mental stability I now won't ride without it.
It helps me massively mentally now, knowing that the extra protection is there should things go wrong.

That really is a very good idea. I will definitely do that. How long did it take before you could muck out and poo pick and dare I say , given the all clear to ride again?

 

[Sossigpoker]

That really is a very good idea. I will definitely do that. How long did it take before you could muck out and poo pick and dare I say , given the all clear to ride again?

I rode (well mostly just walked ) in a riding school after about 5 months.
My biggest physical problem was my lack of fitness, to start with , even a20 min walk would leave me exhausted. So when I bought my new horse about 8 months after the accident, I was still not fit enough to easily do the stable jobs. To start with, if I did a full muck out , I would struggle to ride as well.
It took about a year for the fitness to improve. Although from a fracture point of view , I was cleared to do anything really after 6 months.
I know a lot of people do ride earlier, but IMO it is best to make sure the fracture is fully healed before you undertake potentially risky activities like riding.
If your fractures are stable and there are no bone fragments loose, then once it has healed , the area will be as strong as any other area that wasn't fractured.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

My experience (I broke my leg badly , just over a year ago there's a thread in AAD about having a frame on it), your thoughts and intentions will change as you go through the healing process. At first I was determined that I would be getting back on asap, then I wasn't sure that I would ever get back on. During the months immediately after the break and treatment, I was diagnosed with osteoporosis and Atrial Fibrilliation, so that made me think perhaps I shouldn't ride again. I wasn't keen on the idea of driving, we've had R&D horses and never been comfortable driving.

We keep our horses at home, our horses live out but I started doing the associated chores around May time, after I had had the frame removed and no longer needed to wear the boot. I bought a pair of lace-up biker boots to support the leg. I started walking the dogs in mid-September.
I spoke to my GP several times and his advice was to ride but not jump, which I have never been keen on, anyway.

I haven't ridden yet but I am volunteering with RDA again and have just arranged to ride the RDA horses after I have had a few sessions on a mechanical horse to try to get my muscles tuned up a bit again. I am 66.