Whats the most ill/injured you've been while competing?

[woodlandswow]

Feeling sorry for myself… and just a musing - having dreams of going round west wilts hunter trials where I was meant to be yesterday, competing for the first time in a year due to glandular fever/a levels….
All preparation done, pony clipped and shod, air jacket serviced, new boots i got for my birthday waiting to be used.. then at the last minute the glandular fever comes back and says no..

I was feeling a bit better on sunday, so musing… whats the illest you've been or felt or most damaged when you've been competing????? I was trying to pursuade the parents that a little hunter trial may make me feel a bit better

 

[Santa_Claus]

I think it is very dangerous to go XC when under the weather as your reactions are delayed etc. I will admit to doing the Blenheim challenge when not at my best but was bullied into shape in the workin to make sure I rode properly. I would not have gone xc properly though that day.

 

[mil1212]

This reminds me, I read in H&H this week about the jockey in one of the WHP classes at HOYS who was so nervous they were sick all over their pony apparently the stains could be seen when they went back in for the judging!
I haven't really competed when I have been that ill, have had to beat off some mega hangovers though!

 

[woodlandswow]

This reminds me, I read in H&H this week about the jockey in one of the WHP classes at HOYS who was so nervous they were sick all over their pony apparently the stains could be seen when they went back in for the judging!
I haven't really competed when I have been that ill, have had to beat off some mega hangovers though!

haha! … i always count myself lucky I dont get that nervous.. you can tell from most of their faces how terrified they feel..

you hear a lot about riders competing with broken bones… so if you fell off, i suppose there are less bones to break!

 

[tilly_monster]

I've completed nurstead horse trials a couple of years ago with 3 broken ribs with a double clear at novice, the worst bits where getting off that was painful

 

[Goldenstar]

Rode at Bramham a few days after dislocating my finger .
I didnot tell my Oh it hurt like hell I sneaked off to the physio and had it ulrasounded .
When I got there I kept sending him off for ice for the drinks and sat sneakily dipping my finger in my v and coke .
On cross country day I strapped it to the finger next door ( my horse was very strong) as we turned to the water she saw the crowd and flung her head back caught my finger and out it popped I dropped the rien without thinking and then had no choice but to drop the other to keep her staight as I jumped the fence in the water and thumped it on her neck and it went back in we had a run out two fences later as I just could not get hold of the riens evenly then found a method and got round .
Not sensible but I was young and not sensible.

 

[lucemoose]

Went to the yard with severe tonsillitis, had a horse box ramp fall on me and flatten me! Competed an eventers challenge, went to hospital about the possible head injury but came out with antibiotics for the worst tonsils the doctor had seen!!!

 

[Firewell]

I did dressage on my late mare with a stomach bug. It was one of her first shows and I didn't want to miss it. We had to pull the lorry over several times on the way over so I could jump out and be sick. I felt about as useful as a wet dishcloth tbh!
I've jumped loads of times with raging hangovers.

 

[Scarlett]

I've got a heart problem that has kicked off twice while I've been riding, once xc and once hunting. My heart rate shoots up to around 200 bpm which, after a little while will make me feel fairly wobbly, my chest and arms hurt and I struggle to breathe properly. Both times I literally tucked a hand under my neck strap and let the ponies bring me home. The hunting one was the worst, we were at full gallop when it happened, was on OH's lovely gelding who calmly came back to trot with everyone screaming past us and then just trotted around the edge of the field we were in to join the rest of the horses where they were stood.

The xc one was a bit different, it was a local unaff ODE so the quickest way home was to stay on the course... my lovely mare just kept going calmly, splashed through the water and delivered me through the finish to where my OH was waiting - we got 6th It was a wake up call though to loose some weight, get a bit fitter and take some of the strain off my own heart rather than having to expect my horses to help me out!

 

[TarrSteps]

This reminds me, I read in H&H this week about the jockey in one of the WHP classes at HOYS who was so nervous they were sick all over their pony apparently the stains could be seen when they went back in for the judging!
I haven't really competed when I have been that ill, have had to beat off some mega hangovers though!

There are all sorts of similar stories! I knew someone whose student threw up purple Gatorade all over a grey horse just before dressage!

The best was a friend of mine though, who coached a lot of pony kids. His student was in the chute at a big show, waiting to go in, looking green. He walked up and put an arm around her, gave her a little squeeze and asked if she was okay. . .whereupon she turned, nodded, and threw up all over him!!!
The worst was there wasn't much he could do as she was next in the ring!

 

[camilla4]

I once did a university competition (dressage and showjumping) with a broken rib and torn ankle ligaments -but I was young and stupid in those days and I'm really not sure I'd do it again!!

 

[HotToTrot]

I was actually thinking about this today. When I was between 7-14 ish, I had lots of pretty invasive surgery on my inner ear, and had to have huge bandages round my head for a while after each one.

Obviously I was meant to spend some time afterwards recovering, and my balance was out of whack as the balance nerve is close to the ear..... but the main thing concerning me was that my riding hat wouldn't fit over the bandages. So I just used to get on and ride without a hat! And my parents okayed it as long as I wasn't riding on the road! WTF was I thinking?!!

 

[First Time Mum]

erm broken wrist while competing XC that had only half healed

 

[wench]

I have only competed once when ill, at Norton Disney BE a couple of years ago. I had a stinking cold that had me laid in bed for a couple of days earlier on in the week. I was back at work, and went to the show. Big mistake.I felt so ill whilst I was there. I got rubbish marks and felt like a rag doll in the dressage. Needless to say I packed up and shipped off home.

 

[kerilli]

I evented my homebred years ago when my knee wasn't fully healed post-op... BUT she was a very easy straightforward little horse, and it was only N level, so it was fine.
I did LD a few weeks ago on virtually NO sleep (long story) which wasn't good. In retrospect I probably shouldn't have run... but what happened was down to a rare 100% horse-mistake I think, not a riding mistake... our approach was fine. Normally I'm the 1st to admit if I screwed it up.
I won't compete if I feel really really under the weather. I know a few people who've had stops or run-outs recently xc (on horses with previously unblemished records) because they were suffering from a v bad cold, flu, etc. It's too dangerous to do if you know you're really not right...

 

[kirstykate]

I have evented with a dislocated thumb and a wrenched shoulder and ridden at home with my leg in plaster!! Other half Show jumped with a dislocated shoulder, he used to go to the Local rugby team Physio to get it strapped up and he unknowingly competed with a broken leg for months.

 

[YardGeek]

Dressage with a fractured lower vertibra and several bruised ones after coming off while training the day before.
I was on so many painkillers that I can't even remember riding the test but we didn't find out that it was broken until my dad dragged me to the hospital the next day as I was bawling trying to get out of bed!
Looking back this was the stupidest thing I have ever done as it has caused me so many long-tern problems due to increased trauma!
At the time I knew that if I didn't compete then someone else would take over the ride and I had spent the past 6 months producing this horse and wanted to be the one to take him to his first competition.
We were still placed with a score of 65.9% though! Lol

 

[Bubblegum]

My daughter tried to compete yesterday, as she was determined she didn't have the flu. She has been battling on all week.
I think a competition environment sealed the fact for her that she was ill, had to retire and thankfully there was no harm done.
Thank good ness she didn't attempt to go XC.

I have done this myself in the past, and not ridden well, as I too have tried to kid myself that I am ok. Stable duties are one thing when you are under the weather, competitng is quite another.

Please don't do it!!!!

 

[charlimouse]

I competed in a BE JAS competition with (unknown to me at the time) a broken ankle, not only that I somehow managed to get a style score of just 1 penalty, and would have won had my horse not been HC, I also managed to come 4th in the open class! In my defence I had gone to hospital after I had done it (about 5 days before the JAS), mainly because I had fairly impressive concussion as well. They x-rayed my ankle which was huge and somehow missed the break, so sent me home saying it was sprained. A week later when still being unable to weight bare on it, and it was still 3 times it's usual size and black in colour, I went back to A&E and they found it was broken. I had couldn't get my competition boot to zip up as my ankle was far too huge so had to tape it onto my leg!

I also rode at Norton Disney last year with my jaw wired shut, after breaking it sepctacularly 6 weeks previously. They said I could ride after 6 weeks, and Norton Disney was exactly 6 weeks since the incident, so despite the fact I still had a mouth full of metal, off I went, as technically I was allowed to ride right?! The metal work all came out the following week and they then told me I could start riding in a further 3 weeks. I hadn't the heart to tell the surgeon I had already completed a ODE!

 

[caberston]

went eventing with a broken middle finger once.... i couldn't bend it at all because it was so bl**dy painful so you can see from the pictures that im bumbling along with it stuck out in a rather unsavoury gesture.... oopsie...

 

[AbFab]

Not as serious as some of these, but I went to a working hunter show the day after I had fallen off XC and badly hurt my back. I told my other half I'd be fine, which I was, until Saf ballooned over a piddly little fence and I came off the side! As I felt myself falling I just thought 'ohhh *&$£@' I managed to land on the other side of my back, which meant months and months of back pain on *both* sides and lots of money in physio bills! We did win our later class though

 

[Ahrena]

I went to a 3 day SJ show jumping 4 classes a day (on dif horses)with glandular fever.

Admit tingly I pretty much slept whenever I wasn't riding but I was determined to go.

Also it was in like the first week of it (so hideous temperature, headache, couldn't eat for the sore throat ect), I had a bloodiest the day before I left to the show and had the phone call confirming my blood test results whilst I was there.

 

[Bettyboo222]

I've done ridden showing classes with a bleed on the brain ...

I also did a in-hand showing class with my arm in a cast that spanned from my knuckes to just before my elbow, they were cunningly disquised using a jacket and HUGE gloves

 

[Littlelegs]

I did a ht with my lower arm in plaster, I had done the tendons in. Was more like a very rigid bandage than a massive thick cast so easy enough to hide, & was years ago when h&s less inquiring. Didn't do much more with my right hand than stop the rein hanging loose, but in fairness both pony & I were competing below capability, so I was confident she could have jumped clear if I held the buckle. And just went one handed after first fence with rather loose reins.
Did cr with a broken foot I couldn't bear weight on properly. I just used it to push up, then gripped with my knee. Again, years ago in my late teens & well under our normal level. I jumped her round to prove to the novice teen who'd had an attack of nerves that she wouldn't do anything their own naughty pony usually did, so not really risky.
And sj with cracked ribs, just took massive doses of painkiller.

 

[PapaFrita]

I broke my collar bone in a fall showjumping. Twas my mother's birthday and she yelled at me down the phone almost the entire journey to hospital in the ambulance, and tried to get me to give up horses *rolleyes* Never mind that I was 40 at the time!!! Also in the trip to hospital my then OH showed me the video of the fall to spot my 'mistake', LOL. I was back at the show within a couple of hours only to discover that darling PF had broken her jaw, luckily not too badly. Video is on YouTube

 

[Jenni_]

I ran a lead rein class with torn ligaments in my left ankle with one of my clients when her mum couldn't remember the 8 jump course of 1 foot poles...

Or should I say I 'hopped' it. We went clear too. Go me!

I've jumped many a times with suspected cracked ribs, strained / torn ligaments in ankles, with horrific migraines etc. We are HORSEY folk we do not get ill!

 

[Llanali]

Whoever rode with a bleed on the brain is a fool. Obviously if you knew, not much one can say if you didn't lol

I think there isn't a competition worth my life, or my horses. As Kerilli says, you owe it to them to be up to the job.

It's a little different, but made me change my perspective. My uncle went to the newcomer regionals with three horses, he was an alcoholic and he tipped the second up at the third fence, the horse was destroyed on the scene. Everybody knew they tipped up because he was too drunk to and had an enormous misser.

I couldn't bare to have that on my conscience.

 

[daffy44]

I think competing xc ill is a whole different thing, and i've never done it. Ridden at home with an arm in plaster from shoulder to knuckles, ridden with cracked ribs and wrist, did sj with the ribs and wrist. Took two horses to the Winter Regionals (dressage) a couple of years ago with puemonia, got placed in two classes, but goodness i felt awful, temp of 105 and couldnt breathe, dont think i'd do that again.

 

[MandyMoo]

This reminds me, I read in H&H this week about the jockey in one of the WHP classes at HOYS who was so nervous they were sick all over their pony apparently the stains could be seen when they went back in for the judging!

haha!!! oh dear!!!

to be honest, I've never been that ill when competing - nothing compared to glandular fever anyway; the odd bad cold/cough, some KILLER hangovers (including the odd vomiting episode en route to shows), and once with a rather embarrassing stomach upset.......lets just say I was panicking about wearing white jodphurs.....!!!!!

as for injuries, I've competed with a broken foot before, but nothing else major really.

I'm not giving much of an exciting reply to this thread am i?! haha

 

[cruzing]

I've competed with pneumonia at Sansaw Park BE. Didn't know that's what it was at the time but did the next day in hospital Went double clear tho