Hi everyone, I took a fall from my mare, broke my humerus & possibly also have a small hairline fracture on my pelvis only a week in a half ago.??? I’m under strict rules from the doctor to not ride but as most would be I’m going completely crazy not riding when I was riding 4-6 days a week. My question is have any of you experienced a humerus fracture (or similar) before, how long was it before you could ride again?
Humerus is one of the few bones I haven’t broken but I know it’s a pretty serious fracture. Depending on your age I would say 8 weeks before the bone is healed and then you have to get your strength back.
Now as far as when you can ride. That really depends on what you mean by ride. Having a leader with a dead calm horse and a side walker on each side, you could probably do now. You won’t need to use your arm if you had a platform to get on and off a horse. Basically I’m talking about a therapeutic type riding situation. Spending a day out hunting on a spirited horse, you are probably about 4 or 5 months away from that.
I posted in the other fractured arm thread, but I did fracture my humerus just above the elbow joint. There were 3 fracture lines and it took 2 plates and 9 screws to put it back together. I was in the hospital for 3 days due to the magnitude of the surgery. I think I was off riding for about 6 weeks. I still have the hardware in because the operation to take it out is about the same as the one to install it, and the surgeon said it would mean at least 1 night in the hospital. I can’t tell it’s there, so it doesn’t bother me. I would rather have that than walk around waiting for all the holes to fill in.
It was fifteen months out of the tack for me, but in addition to fracturing my humerus, I severed two tendons in my rotator cuff and as a result had pseudoparalysis of that arm. Did your docs opt for a surgical fix, or are you in a Sarmiento splint?
frankly, I would be much more worried about the hairline pelvis fracture than the broken humerus, I would think riding would be painful and impede the healing.
If you had lower arm fractures, I would say to go ahead and ride something quiet lightly. Howèver, a fractured humerus requires that your shoulder be immobilized and that is going to really interfere with your balance.
I would say that if your arm is out of a sling, and you can move the arm, etc., you might be able to ride lightly.
But please also bear in mind that I am crazy and should not be trusted to give a sane and medically sound recommendation. I rode 4 weeks after a total knee replacement, rode 3 - 4 a day with both arms in forearm casts and rode with an ankle in a splint and external pin. I ain’t right.
Thanks guys, the orthopedic doctor said surgery is not needed at this point but if it doesn’t heal correctly by 3 months then I have to get surgery. I’m going into a humerual fracture brace tomorrow (doctor wanted to let it heal a bit & try letting it align itself since at the last appointment the brace wasn’t in yet) so for almost two weeks now I’ve been in a temporary brace from shoulder to my wrist.
Your recovery time will be determined by how your xrays looks, but it would be reasonable to expect to be out of the saddle (serious riding) for 3 months. If your pelvic fracture turns out to not be there, you might be able to go back to 1 hand riding as soon as your comfortable enough. However, that’s not recommended 
I broke my humerus a year ago December…damn guinea hens spooking my horse while I was bareback…anyway…a clean break and I was surprised they just kept it in a sling vs. cast/brace etc. I hated having to sleep sitting up for 2-3 months, horrid.
Once the healing started and the arm stabilized a bit, it was just a matter of time (I was afraid I’d have to get surgery if things didn’t heal well). I was riding 8 months later…I’d forget and pull open a door with my ex-broken arm…Woohoo! that was fun and an eye-waterer. Good luck and be patient.
