Back pain, not allowed to ride, now what?

[equestrian28]

I recently went to the doctor for some back pain I was having and was told that I should take a 2-3 week break from riding to see if this makes a difference. I can walk and do a small amount of trotting, but that’s it.

Does anyone have any specific exercises they like to do with their horse that are strictly at the walk/trot or even on the ground, but aren’t too hard on the lower back?

I ride English and Western, though I think I’ll be sticking to Western for a little while so I don’t have to post/have a more stable foundation, but I can do pretty much anything that doesn’t involve cantering, jumping obviously, or an extreme amount of muscle work.

I’m thinking maybe like pole exercises/ground exercises? I show in trail and showmanship so I can obviously work on that stuff in general but anything else?

I feel like this is really vague but I’m just looking for something to keep me busy without injuring my back. Any suggestions would be great

[OdieJump]

There are lots of great exercises that you can do on the ground and at the walk and trot!

Starting with ground work:

-lunge work is always good. Things to work on are ques (upward and downward transitions) and improving the quality of your horses gait. (Depending on if you’re horse is at that stage)

-desensitizing (even my most bombproof horse can get spooky sometimes!)

-teach your horse to ground tie

Ground pile exercises:

-use four poles to make a circle. Walk or trot over the poles while working on your horse bending to the inside (think of your inside leg like a pole that you horse is bending around and then your outside like about four inches back supporting the turn and keeping your horse straight) also work on keeping your horses back hooves following the tracks of his front hooves - straight.

-trot poles. I suggest not elevating them in case your horse tries to jump them just to be safe. You can use trot poles in a lot of different uses. You can make a square in the middle of the arena (like two diagonal fences) with these you can trot (or walk) across the arena diagonally. With this exercise I would work on keeping your horse straight and not cutting off corners or falling to the inside.

-another exercise I like to use is called serpentine. It’s hard to explain so there’s probably a good visual online somewhere if you don’t already know what it is.

I know this wasn’t a lot but I hope it helps!

[betsyk]

I’m going to throw a whole bunch of thoughts at you, so pick and choose what makes sense.

I"ve had times when my back bothered me every time I rode and for a while afterward. When I went a few days or even a week without riding, it felt a LOT better. So, I looked hard at my horse and her posture, my posture on and off the horse, my tack**, my level of tension indoors/outdoors, even my boots! And every single one of those things was a factor.

One solution that worked for me was to make a commitment to deconstruct my seat. My horse has some soundness and consequently, posture issues (she loves that head up, hollow back way of going and if she gets going forward enough to use her core correctly, her stifle bothers her). We started with a Connected Riding instructor who showed me ground work I could do with her, and mounted work I could do for both of us, and it has made a world of difference.

In the course of this, I realized my saddle was contributing to the problem so I"ve mostly ridden her bareback for the past year. Now I need to do some serious searching for a saddle that helps us both sit and move correctly. Need that winning lottery ticket!

You asked about stuff you could do mounted/unmounted while you’re taking it easy on your back. If you have someone who does any of the Tellington-Jones groundwork, it’s fun and complicated enough to be challenging and not boring, and it’s good for your horse and you. There are books to show the basics. Don’t worry about the funny names for things, try to see how the horse is standing and moving and give it a try.

Oh, and the boots – tight hamstrings will make your lower back miserable, and some boots contribute to tight hamstrings. I spent 3 months going to spine class at one time, and hamstrings and quads were as much of the workout as traditional core work. Just like our horses, we learn to compensate and then end up with even more problems.

[Simkie]

It sounds like you have a lot of riding planned during your “not allowed to ride” time You’ve gotten a lot of good advice on how to have fun on the ground with your horse–clicker training is particularly interesting, IMO, for both rider and horse–so maybe best to just commit to staying off for the duration? If you do ride, posting trot is kinder on your back than sitting…

[theresak]

@Simkie

It sounds like you have a lot of riding planned during your “not allowed to ride” time You’ve gotten a lot of good advice on how to have fun on the ground with your horse–clicker training is particularly interesting, IMO, for both rider and horse–so maybe best to just commit to staying off for the duration? If you do ride, posting trot is kinder on your back than sitting…

Yeah, depending on your back pain, you might find that trotting is not great, posting or sitting. For me, I could walk and canter, I think posting was not terrible after a few laps, transitions were painful, and any time I had to put my leg on fired my sciatica.

[Magicboy]

Take the time off. And just do groundwork. Or take your horse for a walk. Probably your horse can use a break too.

[fanfayre]

Use the “off” time to begin core-strengthening exercises, so that when the pain subsides and you’re ready to get back on and go, you won’t have a relapse.
Also, I find sitting trot causes more issues than rising trot, maybe because sitting causes the discs to compress. YMMV