That’s kind of impressive, really.
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I can’t believe you’re riding already. Broken ribs are SOOO painful. I remember asking my doctor when I could hunt again (and I only broke two) and she looked at me like was insane. So I did. And boy did it hurt. Dismounting is the hardest. When I broke my ankle and collarbone I taught my horse to stand by the mounting block so I didn’t have to drop so far to the ground.
Hope you heal quickly. And after reading your Facebook post, I went out and bought a new helmet as mine was pushing 5 years of use.
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My doctors grew up on ranches and rode bulls. 
My follow-up instructions were, “Pay attention to the pain and don’t screw things up worse.”
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For me trying to get into and out of bed without horrific pain was bad. Well, pretty much anything that involved moving and breathing really… lol
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Yeah, when I told mine I was hunting, she said, “don’t fall off.”
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My Ortho doc told me that his “worst” patients are "Doctors, Nurses, People Who Ride Horses, and Rodeo Cowboys.
He seemed a bit frustrated by that, but seemed to appreciate the “worst” ones better than those that were very dramatic about their injuries.
I’ve always asked any Doc that I’ve had for surgery if they’ve ever had surgery themselves. I find the ones that have had experience themselves are better equipped to understand their patients.
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Yikes. Is that the hard packed felt/ GGT footing? I have seen a few crashes like that in the past couple years where the lack of sliding seemed to make any fall much more abrupt and worse.
I have also tried to walk away from a hemothorax. I didn’t make it very far either. The last thing I remembered was the EMT saying “I told you that was gonna happen”.
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Glad you’re on the mend and Peanut is sound! That looked painful!
Yes, pay attention to the pain. I will take pain meds for headaches, but try to avoid them for injuries. I need that pain to remind me that I’m injured and shouldn’t push it.
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I find it amazing how many thoughts can go through your brain from the moment you know it is going to be bad until you actually hit the ground.
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Mine is usually just “f***, I can’t save this one”
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My pediatrician growing up had a niece who exercised race horses, so he knew the drill. When I got my first concussion, he was like “I know I can’t stop you, but please wear your helmet and don’t fall off or make it worse.”
So the deal was I could ride my saintly pony who I’d literally have to throw myself off of for a month, then I could ride other horses and get back to jumping.
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Hope you heal up fast, Reed! I don’t know you and don’t event (I really don’t even ride any more these days), but I would be an old rider and so admire those of you “of a certain age” that are still out there doing your thing.
There was an orthro doc in this area for a while that worked multiple sports at the Atlanta Olympics. His comment afterwards was that the equestrians are the toughest competitors of all - he described the cyclists as wimps in comparison to the equestrians.
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May you have a smooth recovery!
I broke a rib last year (well, my horse broke it when he kicked me), tried to canter a handful of circles about eight weeks after, and was promptly so sore that I didn’t make another attempt at anything beyond posting trot for another month, so I’ll echo those saying to let yourself heal. I’m sure your body will yell at you if you overdo it though, mine certainly did.
I also had a liver bleed and my brother’s friend is a surgery resident who was involved in my hospital stay and appointed himself as my “don’t do anything stupid” compass so I didn’t go anywhere near the saddle til my final bloodwork came back clear
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My thoughts were, “Sit up. Let peanut go. I can ride this out.”
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I gave myself the boundary that I have to be able to posting trot pain free before any other gait. That is keeping me in line.
I am continuously telling myself to treat myself no different than if peanut was hurt. I am flipping the script from having to recover and rehab my horse to recover and rehab me. It sucks!!! I am such a child, “but I wanna go jump!”
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Don’t want to appear to be a smart-ass, but, it may be worth practising your fall safety training over the winter.
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So glad you’ll both make it through this (relatively) unscathed!
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No smart-assery assumed! I know you mean well! Greatly appreciated.
The reason my shoulder is seperated is because it took the full hit. I think most of us who grew up riding and training pukes from the field have the instinct to go to our back/shoulders in a fall as in the video. The big variable is the footing. That GGT footing had absolutely no give or slip. That is why I barrel rolled after the first hit. Had I slid I don’t think anything would have happened.
Two weeks before I had a fall on XC (training) when I shorted a bending line to a skinny, basically making the skinny even more skinny (bad ride on my part). Peanut said, “You’re an idiot.” I got chucked off the same side but that time slid along the fence and ground. Hopped back on and fixed it all. Finished the day like a super confident horse.
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That’s what it looked like – just, WHUMPH! Very unforgiving.
Is this type of footing so much better for horses that it’s worth increased injury to fallen riders? Serious question.
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