Riding gone to pot after time off for babies!

Orchardbeck

Orchardbeck

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Help! Got on my mare yesterday for the third time since having my second baby (two short hacks) to school in the field and I felt like a total beginner again, even having ridden and owned for 22 years! I can't believe how bad I felt, plus pony was dead off the leg which didn't help.

I've been using my time off riding to read up, and learn via books and videos and I somehow had this idea in my head I could actually ride ok ish - when you would have been forgiven for thinking it was my first time yesterday! Plus I felt as though I was trying to correct everything all at once, ineffectively.

Any tips for how I can get back on track? Starting with getting my horse moving forwards I guess!
 
I've only had the one baby but know exactly what you mean! It'll come back. I tried to think of it as starting again and the opportunity to retrain muscles out of their previous bad habits. Some of those bad habits have gone now... replaced with new ones:)
 
I also had this, mixed in with a complete lack of confidence and I never had confidence issues before. You have to take it easy with yourself at the start, I got back on about 2 weeks post birth and by the time my daughter was 6 months old it all started to come back, she was 12 months before I felt as I did before baby. It was a shock for me to be honest because I rode throughout my pregnancy (off road, in walk and on a safe old gelding) until I could no longer get on board.

I suspect your horse is picking up on your emotion/tension when you feel like you've lost it all and not going forwards as a result. Are you allowing her to go forwards?
 
Know how you feel! Whan I came back after 5 kids and an 8 year break I could barely even get on never mind do anything! My hips were so tight and stiff I couldn't even get my leg on.
I found it does come back eventually though, but it was definatley a case of the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak!!
You haven't been off that long, I sure you'll be fine in a few weeks, just keep at it and do lots of those annoying rider suppling exercises that we all love :)
 
I haven't had any babies but did have a 17 year break and came back thinking it's like riding a bike and you don't forget. Turns out you DO forget! I think it helps if you work on one thing at a time and don't try to fix it all at once. I also got my OH to video me schooling so I could see what I needed to work on; like one day it'd be lower leg position, then another day it'd be hands etc. Lessons really help, and so does giving yourself a chance to get 'match fit' again as the muscles are all out of use and you can compensate by adopting bad habits; I spent months trying to turn right without turning my upper body at all, and actually turning my right shoulder inwards, blocking my own bend and the horse's! Finally, don't be too hard on yourself! I think it's tough for people who know how to ride on a technical level but their bodies aren't doing what is expected - I am extremely self critical because I know what I'm looking for and what I SHOULD be doing, I just can't do it as well as I used to. Good luck, it'll come!
 
Just take your time, you need to get fit and supple again. I have just had only 7 weeks off riding and fitness gone. Do not push yourself too hard, it will all come back.
 
It happens!

Be gentle on yourself. It takes 9 months to make a babe, it will take more than 5 minutes to get back to yourself again!

Remember that you are full of madly powerful hormones at the moment too, so just relax, enjoy your baby and give yourself kindness and time. :-)

Congratulations!!
 
Mistywoo said:
I suspect your horse is picking up on your emotion/tension when you feel like you've lost it all and not going forwards as a result. Are you allowing her to go forwards?
Click to expand...

It is possible, I sometimes feel as if I'm putting a lot of pressure on her and rushing her as I don't have a lot of time and I think this may be backfiring on me - she's perhaps more like my stubborn 2.5 year old daughter than I thought!

Hollybear - that's exactly it! The spirit is certainly willing but the flesh is very weak. I don't think it helps that I have changed her saddle from before I was pregnant, so that feels different too - for the better thankfully though. I was similar after my first baby but never got back to how it was before, due to the sheer lack of time I had available to ride I guess. Have to make every second count...but then that causes the problem above with rushing my mare...arrrgghh!


SadKen - your post sums up how I feel exactly! Like you say, I technically know how to do things, can visualise it, can explain exactly how to do it to someone else, but when it comes to me actually doing it I feel such a fraud!

Misty - gosh if seven weeks makes such a difference then I'm in trouble!

Inthemud - I know, I still have to be careful with joints etc - thank you for the congratulations! Baby is very sweet and daughter number 1 loves her too. I started a Pilates class this morning which I hope is a positive step in the right direction.

It is all just frustrating, plus I'm conscious my horse is getting older too which adds to the pressure - I may not have many more years left (she's 23!).

My mum keeps trying to encourage me to ride her (younger, more forward going) horse instead, saying there is no point wasting my time with my mare, she's too old etc etc which riles me - am I wasting my time? Is 23 too old to pick up schooling again, or teach things to? Plus with my limited time available, I want to spend it with my own horse, not schooling hers for her! It's a bit of an emotional subject, must be my hormones!
 
Just enjoy riding your horse until you feel ready to try anything else. If your horse is happy in her work carry on and enjoy her. I came off at a gallop and had a small fracture in pelvis, I was able to walk about but painful. Just got to find my confidence again now I am riding again.
 
I found that I no longer had ANY core muscles after having a baby, so my balance had gone to pot and although I felt I was sitting up straight photos showed me I was almost bent double haha :)

It does come back, just enjoy it for now, the last thing you want to do is push yourself and end up with an injury or lose your confidence
 
Lots of Pilates and schoolmaster lessons and after riding for the last 4 months after a 3 year break after having my daughter I now finally feel like I'm getting somewhere again.

I found I lost my feel completely. I couldn't tell what was wrong with a horse and I couldn't tell you what I needed to do to make it feel better, let alone do it. I was riding literally like a sack of spuds.

My instructor said the difference between my first and second lessons was like a different person. He pulled my position apart, I read a lot for a week and went back much more clued up and switched on.

When did you have your baby? Why not just ease yourself back in gently and just pootle about in walk to allow your muscles and your nerves (emotional nerves) time to remember what riding is all about? Have fun and enjoy your you time.
 
My daughter is 2 now and I first got back on a horse when she was 10 months old, having not ridden at all throughout my pregnancy. I felt RUBBISH! All over the place, unfit and generally useless. I had a few lessons and then decided that enough was enough with faffing about, I needed a goal. So I signed up for training for my Stage 3 exam. Training started in January and I passed my Stage 3 riding 7 months later! It really helped to have the exam to focus on and now I have my mojo back! Sometimes you need something to focus your attention and give you a kick up the proverbial. Am sure you will get back into it in no time :)
 
Its tough, and when you consider what your body has done its no wonder things have gone a bit pear shaped. I was getting no where when I started back riding after my third, didn't help that I had just purchased a new young pony too, so I booked up for lessons. I am now re-learning 'properly' using a rider bio mechanics trained instructor and whilst I am no where near where I hoped to be a year ago, my seat and stability are better than they have ever been and I have high hopes for continued improvement.
 
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