From: Lisa
The first week in April I was in a car accident (I flipped my car) and broke/fractured my neck in two places (between the C5 & C6 and the C6 & C7). If one of the breaks in my neck (which were on a slant) had been a fraction lower I would have been a quadrapalegic.
I have been wearing a halo for 7 weeks and the neurologist is planning to take it off in 3 more weeks, he is very happy with the x-rays and how my neck is aligned. After I get the halo off he said I will need to wear a collar for a couple of weeks and I only need a little therapy. As I am still young (22), the healing and recovery time is decreased.
Everyone was nervous of me going to the barn to see the horses. At my first appointment with the neurologist (I had the halo on for 2 weeks) he told me that he had no problems with me working around my horses. He trusted that I would know what I could handle. I am careful and I don't do anything that causes pain or discomfort. For nearly a month now I have been able to lead, groom, and lunge my horses without any problems. Recently I found I can also pick their hooves (as I have gotten used to the weight of the halo and it doesn't bother me now to pick their hooves up).
One thing I have not asked the neurologist is when I can start riding again. I will ask him in 3 weeks at my next appointment but his knowledge of horses is limited (his niece has one). A nurse that boards at the stable told me I should not ride at all this year because I would be susceptible to stress fractures and I might not be so lucky next time. This of course is not what I wanted to hear. I am very anxious to start riding as it is already well into show season. One of my horses is a quiet lazy western pleasure horse, while the other I may not be able to ride for a longer period as she is younger and barely green-broke.
As I value your opinion, I would like to know how long you think I need to wait before it is safe to climb up on a quiet horse. Have you known any other riders that have been in a similar situation and when they were able to start riding again?
Thanks for any advice, Lisa
I don't think you should be riding for at least six months - and how soon after that you should plan to get on a horse is a subject that you'll definitely want to discuss with your neurologist and perhaps with an orthopaedic surgeon as well - you need to understand how long the healing process will take. Bones take time to heal, it's an excellent idea to work on your overall fitness and strength so that those bones will have some protection and support from your muscles, and - you won't like this - I really think that the nurse at your boarding barn gave you good advice. She knows the medical side of things - AND she rides. It sounds as if she has been around horses long enough to know that when it comes to horses and riders, anything can happen. Even the quietest, laziest, slowest-moving, most peaceful horse, even if it is just this side of totally INERT, can spook. It can also trip - and it doesn't sound as if your body is anywhere near ready to handle the consequences of a fall.
Please don't take the chance. You're young - and it really is worth taking the time NOW so that you can heal properly, get strong again, and enjoy riding for many years to come. If you let your body heal and work to make it strong, you'll probably be able to ride from age 23 right up to age 90. ;-) On the other hand, if you take an unecessary risk at 22, resume riding before your body has healed and become strong, and experience another fracture, you might not be riding AT ALL by the time you are 23. I know that right now, being told to be careful is NOT what you want to hear. You're frustrated, you're sick and tired of feeling sick and tired, you're enjoying handling your horses, and you want to begin riding again NOW. But truly, it's not a good idea! You've been in the halo for quite some time, and inevitably, that means you've had considerable muscle atrophy and probably some bone loss. Your tendons and ligaments are less strong than they once were. Your muscles will come back quickly with good physical therapy, but that's only PART of the healing process. Let it take the time it takes to rebuild your body.
Talk to your neurologist, talk to your physical therapist, and also talk to the nurse at your barn. People who don't ride can have a very strange idea of what riding involves, and sometimes they believe riders who say "I'm a good rider, my horse is broke to death and super-quiet, I won't go fast and anyway I'm in no danger of falling off." It sounds reasonable - if you don't know horses! All it would take would be one car backfiring at the wrong moment, or your calm quiet horse crossing an unexpectedly slippery bit of ground, and a simple spook or stumble could have tragic results. Be honest with your neurologist, and ask what the worst-case scenario would be if you fell NOW, and if you fell in six months, or a year. Then make your decision based on what's best for your long-term health. I've taught riding long enough to know one absolute truth: The only way to guarantee that someone will never fall off a horse is to keep that person from ever getting on a horse in the first place. ANYONE can fall, any horse can spook, any horse can trip. Sometimes we take more chances when we ride the calmer, quieter, older horses, because we don't think anything can go wrong - in the same way that we may take more chances with our driving when we're near home and everything is very familiar and we feel safe... but the accident statistics in both cases tell a very different story.
Think of what you would do if it were your young horse, not you, that was injured. You wouldn't want to rush the horse's return to ridden work - you would want it to heal first, then undergo a conditioning program that would prepare it for ridden work. If the horse's injury set your planned schedule back by a year or more, you would live with that change, because you would have to do what was right for the horse's long-term soundness and health and ability to perform. That's what horsemen DO. You should treat your own body as sensibly and responsibly as you would treat your horse - so please don't be in a hurry to get back in the saddle.
Jessica
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