From: Lulu
My 16 year old daughter is something of an accomplished hunter/jumper rider. But often when she's riding, even on just a light hack, she gets a stitch in her side.
Most of the things I've read about stitches refers to runners and says that one should avoid eating just before exercise. But my daughter NEVER eats before riding (in fact just the opposite, it's all we can do to get her to eat at shows at all!)
Obviously the intense pain of a stitch affects her riding. Any suggestions or advice?
Thanks, Lulu
This does make sense, for humans and for horses - it's one of the reasons that it's not a good idea for either a human or a horse to eat a large meal just before doing something that is physically demanding.
However, I see far too many riders like your daughter, who get so tense and excited at competitions that they don't want to eat or drink at all. This isn't good either; they simply don't realize that by starving all day (and many of them don't drink, either, and become dehydrated as well), they are hurting their bodies AND their chances of doing well in competition.
If you can convince your daughter to eat something at regular intervals during the day, she'll have a better time at shows. I'm not talking about forcing her to sit down at a table for a four-course meal, or even a typical show "greaseburger", but she needs to keep her blood sugar at a level that will let her function correctly. Don't try to feed her sugary foods; cookies and soft drinks are worse than no food at all. But try to get something down her: a glass of milk, a banana, a handful of carrot sticks (she can share them with her horse), a couple of chicken wings, a slice of cheese - just about anything that will keep her body and brain nourished.
I'm sure that your daughter would be horrified if someone told her that she should starve her horse at a show! If she takes good care of her horse, and I'm sure she does, I'll bet she keeps a full haynet in front of her horse whenever he's not in the show ring, takes him out for a bite of grass whenever there's a break, keeps a full bucket of water in front of him, and encourages him to drink. She needs to realize that she and her horse are a team, and that BOTH members are athletes and partners, and both need to be mentally alert and physically able to deal with the demands of competition. She needs to take herself seriously as an athlete, adn treat herself as well as she treats her horse.
As for the stitch, I sympathize, those are indeed extremely painful and distracting. In the long term, staying well-hydrated (take mineral water along if she doesn't like tap water, but keep her drinking all day!) will always help. Warming up her muscles before the ride will always help. In the short term - that is, when she's already ON the horse - one of the best ways to avoid getting a stitch is to practice deep breathing at all times. Anxious riders often hold their breath or do very shallow breathing, and don't realize that they are simultaneously holding their muscles locked in one position. It's the tight "holding" of the muscles that typically brings on the "stitch".
In the very, very, short, immediate term, that is to say at the moment she experiences the stitch, she should put her reins in one hand and use her other hand to apply direct pressure to the stitch. Even ten or twenty seconds of direct pressure is usually enough to stop a developing stitch. If she gets them often, she probably recognizes the signs that she's just about to cramp; THAT would be the best possible moment to apply the direct pressure, because even four or five seconds of pressure can "head off" a stitch before it gets started. She should also use that "oh-oh, stitch coming" feeling as a reminder to BREATHE slowly and deeply, all the way to the bottom of her lungs.
If your daughter can (a) learn to make that deep breathing her default way of breathing, (b) remember to warm up her own muscles before she gets on her horse, and (c) remember to stay hydrated and keep her blood sugar up at competitions, she may find that she won't need to use the direct pressure very often, at shows or at home.
Jessica
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