Can't get on, then can't get off

[ACP]

Last Thursday I rode for the first time in almost six years since I had a stem cell transplant. At 69 I know I’m out of shape a bit. Okay, a lot. Even when using a three step mounting block, my left leg was not strong enough to get me in the saddle. My daughter had to shove me up. Thank God for the patience of my gelding, Legend. I flopped down on his neck and could not get my right leg over his croup. He stood there like a rock. Eventually we got my right leg over to the riget side, and I was able to use my by now shaky arms to sit up.

And then I rode for the first time! It was WONDERFUL. I didn’t do anything except walk, but after a few minutes we were doing bending circles, and going deep in the corners, etc.

Then I had to get off. Again, my left leg wasn’t strong enough for me to stand up and swing my right leg over his back. And my right hip just did not want to cooperate either. I must have banged Legend’s croup a half dozen times, and he never moved or got irate. My daughter finally had to drag my leg up and over, and then catch me as I slid off.

My perhaps unrealistic goal is to be able to do a Walk-Trot Dressage Test by early spring. I know what exercises to do for my quads, but what can I do for my stubborn hip? Any suggestions? If you didn’t ride for a long time4, how was your rehab? Did it require guided physical therapy or just an at-home exercise program?

My horse has been kept in shape by my daughter, and is such a sweetie. I don’t want to sprawl all over him or bang him a bundh of times.

Any help, advice, suggestions would be appreciated.

[Lilykoi]

Do you belong to a health club or have access to a personal trainer? Some will come to your house. If you explain your issue to them they can create a workout for you to strengthen your legs. Was the stem cell for your hips? I guess I’m not clear where you are weak. Sounds like quads and core, but a trainer could really help you a lot. Good luck and good for you for getting back in the saddle! Even if it was a little awkward

[ACP]

The stem cell transplant was for cancer. I had a great many rounds of chemo and the lymphoma kept coming back. It was follicular, not Hodgkin’s, and left me very weak.

We just moved to NC, there is a nice parks & recreation building here with all sorts of gym equipment and an indoor track. I have not been yet, but plan to check them out Monday afternoon. There may be a trainer.

I am weak in my quads, I have a hard time going up steps.

[kdow]

If you’re having difficulty recovering, I would say that’s a general health thing, not a horse thing, really. Do you have an oncologist you stay in touch with or someone else managing your care including monitoring recover from the stem cell transplant? If so, I’d ask them about sending you for some rehab physical therapy to help you build your strength up again. I’d do that before going to a general personal trainer.

Also, make sure you’re eating well to support and promote muscle mass. I know chemo can do a real number on your appetite (my mom has multiple myeloma and is on chemo daily and says it makes food taste weird, and that’s without her particular chemo drug causing nausea - I’ve been on a chemo drug for my arthritis and stuff tasted fine, but man was my stomach touchy about things) so you should also make sure your eating habits now are good. If you aren’t getting enough protein in your diet then your body plain and simple can’t repair or build muscle. So check on that, too.

[Jackie_Cochran]

Hi, I have MS, and for a while I was too weak to dismount. The first time this happened I was on an 18.2 hand horse.

Finally I figured out that if someone on the ground would press my left knee into the saddle I was able to get down. After a few months I got strong enough again to dismount on my own (so long I can press down somewhere on the saddle in front of me.)

It sounds like your horse is taking care of you. You are fortunate!

I often have trouble clearing the croup with my right leg. I ALWAYS tell the horse “I’m sorry” and they always seem to forgive me. I ride other people’s horses, but most of them seem to accept my apologies for my clumsiness, as long as I try to do it better.

If you are content to just walk a few months this will give your muscles a chance to recover better. As I get older I find that it takes me longer to regain muscle tone and strength. The only reason I am still walking (2 canes) is because of the strength I gain from riding horses, mostly at the walk.

[Ambitious_Kate]

Yoga. You can find people to come to you. Wonderful, easy to do, and sooooo strengthening, before you even know it.

[Frog_Pond]

[QUOTE=Ambitious Kate;8191501]
Yoga. You can find people to come to you. Wonderful, easy to do, and sooooo strengthening, before you even know it.[/QUOTE]

Yoga - yes! It addresses strength, flexibility and stability, all of which you’ll need to ride comfortably and effectively.

Also, there’s no shame in a taller mounting block. I think it’s much kinder to yourself and your horse to find a temporary (or permanent!) spot that gives you an extra 12". I use a rock that’s 36" high at the peak, and it’s lovely to just step over and gently sit down on my tall old guy.

[red_mares]

I second the PT recommendation. You need to be able to go up steps. GA is a direct access state, so a doc’s prescription is not needed for PT. Check with your local practices for a senior fall prevention program.

Call me hard-hearted, but I figure my often graceless mount or dismount is the price my horse pays for the care received. For a couple times a week, the horse can suck it up. In the grand scheme of things, my leg barely making it over her back isn’t a big deal. Compared to some of the kicks thrown in the field, it’s nothing. It’s embarrassing for me, but not a big cross for a horse to carry.

[Highflyer]

Is your right side stronger than your left? Could you mount/ dismount from the right?

[ACP]

[QUOTE=Highflyer;8191950]
Is your right side stronger than your left? Could you mount/ dismount from the right?[/QUOTE]

I am not sure. I plan to wait until I’ve done two to three months of physical therapy, yogi, walking, maybe lose a little - okay, a lot - of weight. Then I will try again.

[Nadia]

Well, to start, I am old also…I have had severe nerve damage do to spinal compression. The only way I get get on the 3 step mounting block is to pull myself up by grabbing my stirrup. I have been bumping my sweet gelding both getting up and down for over 5 years. I had my back fixed last year and I just finished a full year of PT. It is a very slow process , but I am now clearing his butt going up and down. The actual riding is going well also . Take your time and be patient.

[Piney_Woods]

I am also over 60 and was in the same shape as you after a severe illness and knee surgery. First I went to a therapeutic riding center for a few months and they taught me how to mount safely in that state of fitness, or unfitness. PATH instructors are professionals who are well trained to help those of us with severely atrophied muscles, they have the appropriate mount blocks, appropriately trained horses and volunteers to keep you and the horse safe. Often they have retired dressage horses that will respond when your aids are correct. Each time I mounted and rode I got stronger and the muscle memories of may years of riding seemed to help fire up those muscles for mounting and riding.
For home, I purchased a set of mobile home steps with a 3x4 platform at the top. This allowed me to mount and dismount my 16.3 hand horse without putting my foot in the stirrup. It was not pretty but I could do it. I had a trainer work with my horse so he would line up at the mounting block and remain still until I was ready to move off and I always had a knowlegeable horse person ready to hold him and help me if needed. Again, each time it got easier.
Also, I agree with those who advise seeking the advice of a physical therapist and or beginning some basic yoga stretches. I went back to some back and hip stretches given to me by my PT after an automobile accident and found a CD of basic yoga stretches at the library. Believe me it was hard, but I was motivated to do what it took to ride.
I am happy to report that within 6 months I could easily mount from a three step block and I can get on and ride by myself, although I make sure someone else is at t he barn and I am not cantering yet. As for the dressage movements, I was surprised to find how much leg strength that takes but i am having fun practicing the geometry of school and lateral movements and getting stronger every day. As a warm up, I do a little trail ride in the trees around the barn, leaning over under branches, stretching right and left and back to touch the horse’s tail. My goal is to canter by the end of the summer and do schooling dressage and hunter pace events by next spring and I am well on the way.
Don’t wait until you are strong. If you can find a safe way to get on a horse, mounting, however awkward, and the horse’s movement will help you so much toward your recovery.
Good luck and happy riding.

[stillhere]

I am inspired by you!! I have been caring for my husband who has lymphoma and my horses have not been ridden for a year. I have now retired and am now hoping to return to the riding.
Sending you healing prayers and many days in the saddle.

[ACP]

Can’t get on, then can’t get off - Update Post 14

I was gradually increasing my day to day activities, walking more, climbing stairs, helping out at the barn, etc. And feeling pretty good physically. Then all of a sudden I felt very very tired. Long story short, I have a bad UTI, and have been put on antibiotics. Of course they are the type that make one very prone to tendon tears, so the doctor said no unnecessary activity. Craptastic. And the potential problems don’t go away as soon as you stop taking the meds. I will go back in a month and at that time will probably be told I can resume the gradual increase of activities.

Why do so many good drugs have bad side effects?

[red_mares]

There are antibiotics for UTIs that don’t destroy your tendons. I had a doc try & give me Cipro 4 days before tendon surgery! So much for reading patient history. I freaked when I read the drug insert & called got different drugs. Bactrim doesn’t eat tendons like Cipro does.

[ACP]

[QUOTE=red mares;8213183]
There are antibiotics for UTIs that don’t destroy your tendons. I had a doc try & give me Cipro 4 days before tendon surgery! So much for reading patient history. I freaked when I read the drug insert & called got different drugs. Bactrim doesn’t eat tendons like Cipro does.[/QUOTE]

I had no idea about Cipro vs. Bactrim. Dang. Will call the dr office tomorrow.

[IdahoRider]

OP, I had a very similar problem. I had a spinal cord injury in 1995, which left me with loss of sensation and strength in my legs. Then I had two surgeries on my neck that left me much weaker in my legs.

My gelding was a rock solid boy and was very steady as I mounted and dismounted. But I had to retire him last year and the mare I purchased did not handle my somewhat funky dismount. At all.

I reached out to a Para-Dressage group and got some good feedback. Someone suggested plastic steps used for boats, but the cost was fairly steep, and the steps came in a size that was either too short or too tall.

Then I started looking at different steps for boats, which led me to steps for RVs and I ended up buying this:

http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/econo-porch-3-step/37120

They just got delivered this week and we got them set up at the barn today. It was freaking fantastic. I can step up onto the platform and just swing my leg over. I don’t even have to put my foot in the stirrup to mount and I don’t have to pull myself up at all to do it. For dismounting, I just ride up to the platform, I take my left foot out of the stirrup and place it on the platform top, and I swing my right leg over and I am done. Using the railing to steady myself is a great as well.

Good luck!
Sheilah

[ACP]

Is this portable or permanently assembled? I want something we can take to shows. I may never show again, but I can walk around to warm up/cool down a horse.

Edited to Add: Okay, I really looked at the ad, and I see now that it is portable to an extent. Wonderful idea.

[IdahoRider]

[QUOTE=ACP;8214853]
Is this portable or permanently assembled? I want something we can take to shows. I may never show again, but I can walk around to warm up/cool down a horse.

Edited to Add: Okay, I really looked at the ad, and I see now that it is portable to an extent. Wonderful idea.[/QUOTE]
Yes, you’re correct: it is portable to a certain extent. Since it was made to be used as RV steps, it wasn’t meant to be fixed in one place forever. But, that being said, they are too heavy to drag around like you would a traditional, plastic mounting block (nobody thinks twice about picking one of those up and moving it). Two of us were able to move it around easily yesterday while we were trying it in different locations in the arena (trying to find the placement that gives good access, but doesn’t get in the way).

You can lay it down flat by removing the screws in the braces. If I were to use it at another location, that is how I would transport it: remove the screws, lay it down flat and store it in the bed of the pick-up or the dressing room of the trailer. I was able to drive it from my home to the barn in the back of my Subaru Outback once I laid the seats down. It was a tight fit width-wise, but we got it in.

I looked at these boat steps initially:

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=6334

I ended up going with the steel RV steps because the RV steps were the perfect height for me, and they were a little less expensive. But I have heard from others in the para-equestrian community that the boat steps are lighter and easier to move than the RV steps. And at least one COTH member commented they use the boat steps when I started a thread in Off Course about finally ordering the RV steps.
Sheilah
Sheilah

[ACP]

Woo Hoo! a FOUR step mounting block! My sister and daughter are sharing the cost with me, so it wasn’t too bad. I am really looking forward to getting more fit, and being able to ride.

http://www.freedomrider.com/Mounting-Ramp-Plan-Non-Skid-Step-Stool-Block.html