Have any of you had this, and how long did it take you to get back in the saddle?
I had a bad “bone bruise” rather then a real fracture… (took a spill onto a jump riding cross country).
It happened back when I was a whipper snapper 
just 15 years old. It was probably a good two weeks before I was riding (with pain). But I was a full working student at the time, and had to get back to the barn and in the saddle.
It hurt when I sat certain ways etc for months, even years later it would give me twinges.
Now at 33, I don’t feel it at all any more.
Did you break yours?
Apparently I fractured it. I’m 58, just worried about how long its gonna take. 
A long time…but it does depend on your pain threshold. Mine took forever to heal, and like Appsolute said, it hurt for months and years when you sat the “wrong” way. And there’s not a darn thing you can do for it, either — other than to eat more chocolate, because there’s milk in chocolate, and that’s calcium, and that’s good for bones… 
Donkaloosa - How long did you take to get back in the saddle?
I fractured my tailbone several years ago walking down my icy front steps with my then-infant daughter in her carseat. I took one step on my wooden steps and both feet flew out in front of me and I came down on my tailbone on the edge of the steps with the infant carrier +infant in one hand and a huge bag of horse stuff (saddlepads, riding clothes, boots, etc. in a bag) in the other. I was on my way to a horseshow in April and wasn’t expecting ICE (did I mention it was April?). I talked to an ER doctor who advised me not to come in because he said he wouldn’t x-ray anyways. He said it was clear it was broken and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it except sit on a donut pillow and take it easy (he didn’t know me :lol:).
It was about like other broken bones I’ve had. It hurt like you wouldn’t believe for about 3 weeks and then it turned into more of a dull ache and hurt for months when I sat the wrong way (and by months, I mean it took 2 years before there weren’t any lingering twinges). Of course I don’t know for a fact that it was broken since there wasn’t ever an x-ray, but it was hands down one of the most painful falls I’ve ever had.
I was back in the saddle immediately…as in, later that day. I couldn’t sit in the saddle, and it KILLED if I accidentally came back a bit after a jump. But I showed my mare in the 1.30m jumpers all week at the show. I had a bunch of percocet and prescription strength tylenol left over from having just given birth to my daughter 10 weeks earlier, and I lived on painkillers that week.
If I was to say how long it took me to be comfortable in the saddle again, I would say 3-4 weeks.
Sorry to hear that you hurt yourself and here’s to hoping you’re back in the saddle sooner than expected!
One of my barn buddies cracked her tailbone when she came off her horse. I know she took several weeks off from riding. She has an Albion Original Comfort GP, and as comfortable as that saddle is, she got a Cashel seat pad, and said it made all the difference in the world.
Per doctor’s orders, my fractured sacrum kept me from riding for 2 months. The pain was much less after a couple weeks and I could have ridden sooner but the doctor warned that if I fell on it again before completely healed I could cause myself to have permanent problems including incontinence. The possibility of peeing in my pants for the rest of my life was not a chance I wanted to take.
[QUOTE=cargirl123;5892175]
Per doctor’s orders, my fractured sacrum kept me from riding for 2 months. The pain was much less after a couple weeks and I could have ridden sooner but the doctor warned that if I fell on it again before completely healed I could cause myself to have permanent problems including incontinence. The possibility of peeing in my pants for the rest of my life was not a chance I wanted to take. ;)[/QUOTE]
Wow, thank you Cargirl. That would explain why I peed myself when I fell. Thanks.
with hindsight, I say, give your body time to heal; what type of riding would you be doing / not doing?
Oh man good luck with that, it is the WORST. I fell on the stairs like PNWJumper but not on the ice, I fell in the house. I fell in February after having sinus surgery so I wasn’t riding any time soon. When I finally got back in the saddle in March I was a hurting unit. That was around 2008 and I still get sore sometimes when sitting.
Ditto to everyone who said it depends on your pain threshold. Mine wasn’t actually fractured, it was a severe bone bruise, but I did re-injure a fractured pelvis too. I was supposed to take 6-8 weeks off, but only made it about two weeks.
Get yourself a sheepskin seat-saver. It is a lifesaver!!! (and hind-saver!)
