Who rides with a slipped disc against medical advice?

D

DirectorFury

Well-Known Member
Joined
18 February 2015
Messages
3,373
Visit site
All experiences welcome!
I have a very large prolapse L5/S1 and all the fun that comes along with that - sciatica down both legs, weak reflexes and muscle weakness in my right leg (can't raise right foot), losing feeling in my right foot if I sit too long, plus tailbone pain. Amytriptaline + codeine is working wonders and my pain levels have dropped to 4/10 so I'm feeling a lot better than I was a few weeks ago! I'm still having some breakthrough pain but Tramadol takes care of that. Regardless of this I've been told not to ride until I have surgery but this could be over 2 years away.

Horse needs to be ridden (EMS) daily for 2-4 hours unless I can set something up on hardstanding for the summer. I can't find a reliable sharer and am not about to pay someone £50-£60 p/h to hack around the lanes (and can't afford it anyway, it works out at a minimum of £700 p/w :eek: ). Leaving her unridden for 2 years is absolutely not an option. Selling is a final option but I really don't want to - the horse is sweet and safe but has her issues (mainly physical) that mean finding a good home will be hard.

So who's ridden with this issue and while waiting for surgery? I've been referred for nerve root injections which I'll be having in a few weeks which mean I should be able to come off the pills too, though the disc issue will still be there.

(Please don't suggest physio/yoga/pilates/chiro/acupuncture/homeopathy/some other magic solution - I've heard of them and looked into them and have my own reasons for doing what I'm doing)
 
I have no idea about your condition but do think your being rather unrealistic about the options for your horse, you may find it difficult to find a sharer but I cannot believe you would need to pay £50-60 per hour for someone to hack out a safe horse, if you keep her at home then set up a suitable turnout area, it will not cost a fortune and will last years, then find a reliable person to come in daily to exercise or offer a full loan to stay at yours, probably more appealing than a paid share if they have a fairly free rein to enjoy her.
If at livery it may be more tricky but full livery with exercise will be far less than your suggested £700 per week, if you find somewhere setup for restricted grazing even if it is a bit of a distance it will allow you to relax a bit and you can still try to find a loaner/ sharer or possibly buyer if you want to further down the line, risking your own health is not worth it when there are options for the horse that need looking into more thoroughly.
 
I've got a lot of empathy for you and the pain you're going through.

I've had surgery in my late teens (L4/L5) due to a disc prolapse, and for a few years afterwards had no problems, but my lower back gradually got worse again to the point where I've now again got the same excruciating pain which comes with another disc prolapse. No painkillers touch the pain in my back, coccyx or the sciatica and I've constantly got spasms along most of both sides of my back. I'm just trying to grin and bear it as best as I could as I want to put the next surgery off for as long as possible.

As far as riding goes - my horse had a suspensory injury which meant a long period of rehab. After he healed enough and was able to be turned out in a small area, I started in-hand walking for only 15 minutes a day which I gradually increased to 45 minutes, whilst also gradually increasing the size of his turn-out. I then started long-reining. All done on a hard surface, not the school, as the latter would be too soft and deep-going for him to cope with. However just when I got him to the point where I'd be able to start riding (only in walk as he's a veteran and semi-retired) my work situation changed and I'm needed at work during the week from 07:30 to at least 18:30, a few hours less at weekends. So I'm basically back to square one as the only exercise he's getting at the moment is when he's turned out (every day for as long as there is daylight) and I'd prefer to harden his legs up again from scratch with long-reining before getting on board.

So in short, yes I'm carrying on with life as normal and providing my work situation changes soon, fingers crossed, it would include riding, albeit only in walk, off-road hacking at the livery yard.
 
Last edited:
I have ridden with a slipped disc in that area of my back, but I don't think as serious as yours and I was pretty young (15) so healing was probably easier. From what I remember at the time, the advice was that exercise would help recovery.

Is it just a slipped disc you have or is it actually herniated? Maybe long reining might be a compromise?
 
It's a pity you won't consider pilates, it has been proven to be effective in slipped discs. IMO it would be very risky to ride with the symptoms you are having, as you would be at risk of causing further damage. it might't necessarily be the movement of the riding, but the tacking up, getting on/off which would be more problematic. I'd avoid lunging as there is every chance she could pull you suddenly and you would get a sudden jerk on the back. Riding may be beneficial but I would be concerned with the numbness and unable to lift your foot. if you are still mucking out and doing all the other horsey chores without too much bother then a walk around the roads is going to be ok.

Could you leave her unridden and put her onto grass livery for a while? Or loan her out to a pony club rider or similar. Is she being turned out daily?

A minimum of 2 hours a day riding seems quite an ask tbh, why does she have to be ridden this long?

Is there anyway you could re-train her to drive? At least then she is getting exercise and can be managed while you are off your feet as such.
 
be positive said:
I have no idea about your condition but do think your being rather unrealistic about the options for your horse, you may find it difficult to find a sharer but I cannot believe you would need to pay £50-60 per hour for someone to hack out a safe horse, if you keep her at home then set up a suitable turnout area, it will not cost a fortune and will last years, then find a reliable person to come in daily to exercise or offer a full loan to stay at yours, probably more appealing than a paid share if they have a fairly free rein to enjoy her.
If at livery it may be more tricky but full livery with exercise will be far less than your suggested £700 per week, if you find somewhere setup for restricted grazing even if it is a bit of a distance it will allow you to relax a bit and you can still try to find a loaner/ sharer or possibly buyer if you want to further down the line, risking your own health is not worth it when there are options for the horse that need looking into more thoroughly.
Click to expand...

I didn't want to make the post miles long so missed out a lot...I can't send her to full ridden livery because (based on personal experience) they have no idea how to manage a horse with EMS or one that is barefoot, let alone one that is both! I also don't agree with 'handsy' riding, draw reins, beating the **** out of a horse to get it to jump, or shoving a horse in a double bridle to 'teach it a lesson' which rules out basically every full ridden livery option within 50 miles. A lot of these also refuse to hack and instead prefer to do endless circles in the school which bores the mare to death (at which point she becomes dangerous, tbh) and does no favours for her soundness. The only person round here I'd consider is £200 p/w which I also can't afford long term.

No one round here wants a share horse that's not the 'arrive and drive' (aka tacked up and waiting) type and that they can't gallop round on endlessly - some consideration needs to go into her riding because of her feet. If she would be easy to sell/rehome I'd be advertising her already. When she was previously on full livery and shod I offered a free full loan (i.e. I pay for everything, they just ride whenever they want) including use of my box and tow car; the only interest I had was from 13 year-olds with little experience or people expecting me to pay them!

She's kept on a friend's livery yard and YO is very happy to work with me to find solutions to the management issues, she's looking into fencing off a chunk of the hardstanding track to the fields for the summer which will solve nearly everything if we can make it happen. She will still need exercise in this case, just slightly less of it.

Thanks for your perspective npage, I'm glad the surgery worked for you for a while. I hope you manage to get your boy back into work with the lighter nights :).
 
DabDab said:
I have ridden with a slipped disc in that area of my back, but I don't think as serious as yours and I was pretty young (15) so healing was probably easier. From what I remember at the time, the advice was that exercise would help recovery.

Is it just a slipped disc you have or is it actually herniated? Maybe long reining might be a compromise?
Click to expand...

I've had an MRI and it's a large herniation. Doc made noises about trying to fast-track me through the waiting list but I'm not holding my breath!

The mare won't long rein - she panics and is dangerous. I'll fix it when I'm able to hold nearly 15.3 of panicking Welsh D! She was like it all through backing (tho lunges nicely with 2 reins) so the guy who backed her stopped trying and did it without long reining.

only_me said:
It's a pity you won't consider pilates, it has been proven to be effective in slipped discs. IMO it would be very risky to ride with the symptoms you are having, as you would be at risk of causing further damage. it might't necessarily be the movement of the riding, but the tacking up, getting on/off which would be more problematic. I'd avoid lunging as there is every chance she could pull you suddenly and you would get a sudden jerk on the back. Riding may be beneficial but I would be concerned with the numbness and unable to lift your foot. if you are still mucking out and doing all the other horsey chores without too much bother then a walk around the roads is going to be ok.

Could you leave her unridden and put her onto grass livery for a while? Or loan her out to a pony club rider or similar. Is she being turned out daily?

A minimum of 2 hours a day riding seems quite an ask tbh, why does she have to be ridden this long?

Is there anyway you could re-train her to drive? At least then she is getting exercise and can be managed while you are off your feet as such.
Click to expand...

Doc has explicitly said to avoid stretching exercise (yoga, pilates) as after the symptoms started I went back to yoga and made everything worse. And then fell off the horse (my idiot fault, not hers) and made it worse again!
I agree that the getting off is going to be the riskiest bit, I could dismount onto the mounting block but it's risky if I've only got feeling down one leg.

She's currently living out in a bare field so no mucking out etc. with the YO putting out 2 (small, soaked) haynets a day. She's unclipped and wearing a no-fill rug and still putting weight on which is the EMS. She'd be perfect for a PC rider to do dressage on (tho not flashy enough for higher levels) but they tend to want to jump and she's very...ungenerous and unforgiving. I've /mostly/ sorted out her dirty stopping but it's a fragile thing. She needs the exercise because of the EMS; I've had her on restricted hay, muzzled when out, riding 2-4 hrs 6x a week and this was the only time her weight was under control.

She's a panic-runner unfortunately, there's no way I'd teach her to drive because she'd probably kill someone or herself in a panic. Again, this behaviour is basically solved now (I've had her since she was broken in 4 years ago and she's not done it in 3 years) but there's always a seed of doubt.

I'm really sorry I'm rejecting everyone's ideas - this has been going on for ~3 months now and I spend most days trying to figure out what to do so have pretty much considered everything. Like I said - if she was going to be easy to find a good home for I would have done it already.
 
Why is your surgery so far away? I had mine done within 6 months of seeing the physio, and I wasn't in as bad a way as you sound to be. I live in Scotland but that still seems a huge difference. Is there any way you could afford to go private?
I did ride when my back was bad, but I could only manage 3 hours per week (1/hr per horse) so it wouldn't really help with your problem. I couldn't do more than that - it made the pain worse. Can you walk out with the horse instead of riding (I could walk well some of the time but not all of it, and when I could I'd take a horse on a walk with me) or lunge to at least get a little exercise into her?
 
You are numb in one leg and 'had an MRI and it's a large herniation. Doc made noises about trying to fast-track me through the waiting list but I'm not holding my breath! '

Can you ask for a second opinion and/or to be transferred to a hospital with a shorter waiting list?

Riding the mare you describe sounds like madness to me, and I've ridden with casts on broken bones. I can understand flour dilemma though. If you do it, please wear an air jacket.
 
Last edited:
Yes I did, legs would go dead enough that I would collapse on landing and have to sit on the floor until feeling came back. I also had a left leg that would not move unless I told both legs to move, and if I tried to use the left leg on its own it would have a kind of time delay then a random uncontrolled twitch.

I had Diclofenac, and although I agree with the doctor not to stretch (as this opens up for more gunk to come out of the spine) I did a 2 week residential physio process where it was all about managing to manipulate the spine and lean backwards to encourage the gunk back into the place it was supposed to be. I was banned from touching towards toes etc as this would undo all the work.

My back is not perfect, but I did not have surgery. The residential clinic was private but did the trick for me.

I also have to still get on via mounting block, and off via mounting block, plus I had to dismount and quickly wrap the stirrup leather round my hand in order to stay upright until my legs got their feeling back.

TBH once I was on board I did not do so badly.

I also used back braces. I was pretty much immovable once strapped up!

£200 a week seems fair, if that would solve the issue. Paying for it would be another matter, I understand that.

Have you looked at doing the first part of treatment privately? Sometimes by doing one thing privately you can do the rest on the NHS. EG I had a scan privately so any other treatment could be progressed on the NHS quicker.
 
I had a L4/L5 slipped disc and rode pre spinal fusion - it was ok. Actually, riding was the least painful part of daily life......Carrying tack was hard though!. Actually, the recovery period is harder so even if you get through the waiting period please be aware the 12 weeks when you really CAN'T ride post op is still going to be there! Sorry
 
ive had herniated disc, not as bad as you you poor thing. I know you said you didn’t want to consider it - but my life saver was getting referred to a physio, by the orthopaedic specialist i was under. This particular physio works with him and specialises in such things. She also does physio led pilates - entirely different from a regular pilates class. I pay £40 a session and was initially going once a week, then once a fortnight and now I am down to once a month. I was advised not to ride initially but after a couple of months I was able to start again.
 
Not had it myself but my husband had a huge prolapse and spent quite a while in hospital. They strongly recommended surgery but he started looking into other things in the meantime, if only to ease the pain. Someone recommended a book called 'The back sufferers bible' and there was a lot of useful stuff in there. The main thing that helped was using a foam block under the spine immediately before getting into bed - I'm reluctant to call it an exercise as it was more a case of lying there and moving the block in a particular way. The idea was to open the vertebrae allowing rehydration overnight - sounds barmy but it was a huge help.

He didn't ride while things were really painful but he started riding again much sooner than I expected, in spite of being told by the consultant that he must give up riding. Once he had got stronger he did start with Pilates but it's absolutely essential to go to someone who specialises in Pilates for people with this condition as a lot of the 'normal' Pilates exercises are, apparently, extremely unsuitable.

He ended up not having the surgery after all and manages the condition well. He finds that riding can actually help a lot on some days if his back is really stiff (but he has got an armchair heavyweight cob - probably wouldn't be the same if he rode the springy Connie!)

I understand your present dilemma but there's a chance that things could improve. We found that, when it came to expert opinions, it was a bit like dealing with horsey specialists; one would say something, another would say something completely different. Obviously you do not want to worsen your condition but if my husband had listened only to the one specialist he would have given up riding and restricted his movement severely while waiting for surgery. I think he's been very lucky in some respects but nevertheless he is living proof that the prognosis is not always as bad as it seems. He has certainly had his very best days out hunting since the prolapsed disc episode!
 
I think you would be completely daft to be riding - really could screw up your longer term health/mobility - and for what?

I honestly do understand your predicament, but I think you need to put yourself first here. If you are to rely on someone else to do the exercising then whatever way you look at it it will cost £££.

My suggestion would be to look around for someone who does hunt livery - those yards mostly hack and they are adept at ride & lead. So yours could just be led off another for miles every day.

Or you full loan.

Or you send away to one of those paddock paradise type set ups that are starting to pop up. I saw one advertising my neck of the woods recently, think it was about £100pw for full livery in that set up
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top