I am looking at having an L4-L5 fusion done. I am wondering if there are those out there still riding after one? I have read some old threads where some say they can’t sit the trot. I have a horse ready for 4th level and schooling the PSG, and am just facing what all this means. I’m worried that the extra wear on the joints above and below the fusion from sitting the trot may mean no more dressage for me. I’m not much of a pleasure rider in that I’ve always trained to compete, even as a previous event rider. Horses have been my life for 37 years. Anyone faced this before?
I had that fusion 1 1/2 years ago and I am now riding pain free. Good Luck
I am a disc patient and have also worked in medicine for 30 years. IMO, sitting trot would be terrible for the discs. It makes me sad that you can’t post after first level. (Do I have that correct, btw?) Whatever reason they give for it, imo, gets trumped by that there are tons of people with bad discs (lots of horse pros, too) who just should not be jarring their discs more by sitting trot. Dressage is nice but no sitting trot for me.
So glad you are doing well, Nadia!! 
No experience with fusions, but no issues after disc replacement. Could that possibly be an option? There may still be studies covering costs too. The positive is it can still be converted to a fusion years later if needed, but a fusion can never be converted to a disc replacement.
Well, my surgeon ended up doing a Laminectomy. I am about 2.5 weeks post op and am feeling better all ready. I thought I escaped the fusion, and I could happily go on my way to riding my approaching PSG mare. I was told if I keep pounding on that disk (sitting trot) it will be a fusion in a few years. Now I feel like I’m faced with a decision I don’t want to make. Do I keep riding and hope that I can outrun the odds, or do I give it up for both my sake and the sake of my family. I finally have my dream horse doing what I want to be doing, and am finding it hard to let go.
I’ve been told that disk replacements fail at too high of a percentage to consider by both my physio and my surgeon.
I’m so sorry you are in this difficult decision process…I hope more readers here offer more experiences to give you more information. But I’m glad you are feeling better post op. It’s easier to think through things when you aren’t in pain.
I know many women who ride after fusions but not the sitting trot. They still jump but that sitting trot is awful for even a good back. Dreassage ruined my low back but I got out before it was terribly damaged and i still ride .
I have a very degenerated disc from an accident about 10 years ago and I sit the trot just fine. I haven’t had a fusion, but I don’t have much disc left and haven’t for years so it’ll fuse on its own eventually according to everyone. We’ll see I guess.
The canter is harder for me to ride if my back is acting up.
I am 6 months post-op from a full fusion L4-SI (rods, screwed on cage with self bone graft), and I can sit the trot just fine. I had a traumatic vertebral break and lost the cord at L4, so I had significant leg pain and immobility. I was very fit before the accident, and continued with yoga and Pilates for core strength even when walking was not an option. But now I can walk and SIT THE TROT and it’s fine, for me. I was sore for the first couple of rides, but just from getting back on and using the back in this manner.
I hope for the best for you! I am completely amazed at my recovery, as I was told I would never ride again. I’m not a big believer in “never”, so I only listen to my body ; )
I had a fusion (L4-L5) about 15 years ago. I first had a laminectomy on one side (terrible sciatic pain due to a bone spur pressing on a nerve) - that was an easy recovery and I was back in the saddle doing dressage again in one month. Within a year I was suffering from sciatica on the other side and when I saw the surgeon thinking another laminectomy would fix me right up, he informed me that I needed a fusion as my spine had shifted some (even I could see that on the x-ray) and if we only removed the second bone spur, I would likely face spinal collapse. So I underwent the fusion (rods, pins and bone grafts) and after 4 months was cleared to start riding again. But the surgeon did warn me that, with the L4-L5 fusion, the torque of doing sitting trot/ following the canter motion would have to go somewhere (to the vertebra above and below the fused vertebra) and that it would be magnified. He said that I would be facing more fusions down the road if I went back to the same riding routine that caused my problems in the first place. I decided to sell my Holsteiner gelding knowing his size and motion would be problematic. I felt I could not risk another fusion and could be happy on my other, smaller, non warmblood horse, just trail riding and schooling at a rising trot and 2 point canter. The irony is that all that rising trot and 2 point wore out my aging knee joints and a few years later I had to have a knee replacement. The joys of aging!
I am sorry that you have to face this - I know that the decision is a difficult one but thought I should tell you my experience. Hope this is of some help to you.
“I know many women who ride after fusions but not the sitting trot. They still jump but that sitting trot is awful for even a good back. Dressage ruined my low back.”
I think the USDF should start thinking about this. The word needs to start getting out; please voice it (no, stop laughing). My thinking tends to be purist, too, but c’mon, this sitting trot requirement at certain levels precludes lots of riders. The poor OP is getting shut out with her lovely horse because of this, as I’m sure countless others are. Then what about the professional who may have really messed up backs, but this is what they do for a living (may not have another decent way of making a living and need to pay the bills), so what do they do but keep sitting the trot and perhaps get truly ruined. Even if you have a good back, it may soon become bad as that is just way too much jarring.
And, I think it is too hard on the horses, too. (Yes, some riders have wonderful sitting trots on giant gaited, bouncy horses, but not all.)
There - I said it.
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Could you apply to USEF for a medical dispensation so that you do not have to sit the trot?
“Could you apply to USEF for a medical dispensation so that you do not have to sit the trot?”
Oooo, what an interesting idea. I didn’t know they did that.
