Any ideas of how low I will be out. Its a small break and I am in a splint rather than a cast?
Left or right wrist? I broke my left wrist, and the hardest part was mounting – you don’t realize how much you use that wrist and sort of twist it as you mount!
I also wore a neoprene wrist wrap at first, mostly just to make me feel more confident.
I had my right one broke and never realise how this one was essential in my working life…
It took me about a week to get back in the saddle but after a check up and Xrays…doctor found healing was a bit abnormal so he politely told me to stay quiet for a while…
Overall, I recall to stay quiet for another 3 weeks after the warning !
Good luck !
Its the left wrist and yes dismounting was my concern. I can use a tall enough mounting block I can just swing my leg over. Just not sure I trust pony enough to stay still while I swing off.
I’m still a new rider so falling off is my biggest concern right now. I’m off work since my nursing job requires heavy lifting. I have still bee hanging round the barn lunging and turning out but now I’m starting to get teary as I see others and their progression of skills
I shattered my left wrist foxhunting in 06 (8 screws and a plate) and it took a long time to be able to mount well normally. I managed with the help of some picnic tables and other high things but it took a long time to get my strength back. You’ll get it, but be prepared for little things, like when you pat your horse on the neck with that hand to feel like you hit your funny bone. That’s just some inflammation and stuff hitting the nerves, as it heals and the swelling goes away it will get better.
What affected my riding more than the actual injury was the loss of fitness while I was laid up, that took even longer to get back.
I broke my left wrist/hand a couple years ago and it took a long time to get back on… what you don’t realize is that even though your cast/splint comes off after 6-8 weeks or whatever, your wrist will still be painful and tender, and hyperaware of anything beyond using it very politely. I also broke a finger and it was truly amazing to me how long that thing continued to hurt. I rode maybe 3 mos after (as much as I would have loved to have ridden sooner, it was really NOT gonna happen) and it was not comfortable. As a result I began carrying my left arm differently from my right… and even now that the pain is entirely gone, I still carry it that way and it looks funny 
I tore my rotator cuff too and I’m of the personal opinion it healed funky or something, because holding it slightly chicken-winged and up higher than my right hand feels exactly like I’m holding it like my right hand. It’s very strange.
Well shoot! I was hoping to get right back to riding…probably not huh? Guess I have 6-7 weeks in the cast…
I broke my left wrist 3 years ago falling off my horse. Had surgery on it–broke both the radius and the ulna, so I had 2 pins in the ulna, and a plate in the radius. I was in a cast for a week after the surgery, started PT a week after getting the cast off. Even just having the cast on for a week made my wrist so stiff, I had no mobility when it came off. I did my PT religiously, and within 5 weeks from the break (and surgery which was only 2 days after the accident), I started riding again. I felt really weak in my legs from not riding! I had a little bit of pain from the pins, so I had those removed 3 months after the surgery, and rode the next day. I have never had any pain in my wrist, even when I started riding 5 weeks later.
for me it was dismounting!
I didn’t have a broken wrist, it was actually a “near amputation of the thumb at the MP (lower) joint” but I was in a non-removable splint that curled my wrist and thumb. As soon as they started the process of straightening the wrist I was back to riding. The rule was if I could tack up my horse myself, I could ride.
OK, that was MY rule, not the doc’s. I just failed to mention I was riding after his reaction when he found out I went to the barn while there was still stitches in the thumb (hey, those stitches were in for 21 days and it was in a cast AND I wrapped an ace bandage over the whole hand including the exposed bits, I’m not a complete idiot).
But I figured if I could tack up myself, I was good to ride.
Like I said, mounting was easy (it was my right hand). Dismounting? When you are not even allowed to pick up a can of coke with that hand? Oops. I didn’t think that one through too well. :eek: Fortunately my guy would walk up to my tack box and let me swing sideways (a la sidesaddle) and slip off his left side on to my tack box.
So be SMRTer than me - think the whole process through. 
And for the record, I didn’t start breaking the young horse until I was cleared for riding. Well, I didn’t ask for a trot until I was cleared. But damn, that was 5 months later.
After breaking the navicular bone in my left wrist, I got right back on. About 3 days later when it all blew up and turned colors, I went to the Dr and got it checked out. Received splint, continued to ride, including showing horses over fences.
I think I was the same with the broken right wrist. As soon as splinted, riding again.
It all depends on you. If you feel secure getting on & holding the reins…ride. If not, don’t.
Well, I did ride with a cast from fingertip to elbow. Probably not the brightest thing. No contact, of course, and I had to be careful there were no yahoos in the ring with me (I was at a different barn then). But you can really work on your seat and core!
…of course, this assumes you have a horse you can trust in this regard…
I had a dislocation with four fractures of the left wrist when I was young teen. It kept me from riding for about 2 weeks, when I got casted and was able to freely use my elbow again. I was in a short-arm cast though, which helped for protection, and there had been no fracture misalignment.
I’m currently recovering from surgery to repair that arm as a result of those fractures so many years ago. FWIW, this was necessary due to the location of the fractures and impact on bone growth and joint mechanics, not because I rode during recovery. I have no idea when I’ll ride again; I’m looking forward to simply being able to move the joint again… and then I’ll look forward to hardware removal and another fun rehab.
Anyway, if you’re well-supported, pain-free, and can use the wrist comfortably in every way you need to, then it’s up to you whether you want to ride or sit it out. If you can’t use the arm and/or your horse isn’t trustworthy, it’s probably best to wait a while. It is possible to break fingers against the cast/splint if you fall. I think it was a CoTHer that posted once about breaking several fingers against the cast jamming her hand against her horse’s neck when it ran out at a fence.
[QUOTE=rivenoak;5202247]
After breaking the navicular bone in my left wrist, I got right back on. About 3 days later when it all blew up and turned colors, I went to the Dr and got it checked out. Received splint, continued to ride, including showing horses over fences.
I think I was the same with the broken right wrist. As soon as splinted, riding again.
It all depends on you. If you feel secure getting on & holding the reins…ride. If not, don’t.[/QUOTE]
With a splint I would be tempted
I have a full arm cast
And I ride a fjord who is sensible but not exactly light mouthed…
or I could ride the crazy thoroughbred
or the kind of silly walking horse
By the way, this was all typed with voice recognition software. It’s kind of cool, but it makes a lot of mistakes. Sometimes they are very few Moores
That was supposed to be very humorous:D
broke my left wrist two years in a row, surgery the second time. Back riding 4-5 weeks both times - AFTER x-rays showing full bone healing (my orthopod says I am freak for healing so quickly at my age)
yeah, when I got back on I had just had an x-ray showing everything healed, which was at about 5 weeks.
When I broke my left hand I think I didn’t ride for about three weeks. Mostly, because it was painful and swollen.
My orthopedic surgeon was familiar with riders and told me I could ride as long as I didn’t fall off. He warned that if I did, I would really delay the healing. It was probably almost 10 weeks before I could really use my hand and it took many months before all the swelling went away.
The hardest part of the injury was changing the diaper on my then three-month old daughter. That was tricky!
[QUOTE=Bogie;5203233]
The hardest part of the injury was changing the diaper on my then three-month old daughter. That was tricky![/QUOTE]
I’m finding there’s a lot of stuff that’s hard to do with one hand. Like type. But the software is pretty cool. I might keep using it just for fun. They sure have come a long way in voice recognition.
they have a one handed keyboard. According to our corporate HR specialists the voice recognition stuff is good, but it takes so long to adjust to your speech patterns and takes such dedicated effort that unless you have a lifelong disability, it’s probably more hassle than it is worth (from a business needs perspective). But the one handed keyboard rocks.
As for things you can do with one hand… I spent all Sunday in the ER stitching up things, was put in a full immobilizing cast until I saw the hand surgeon. I was still in denial about how bad it was, so I was at work on Monday (I do work out of my home office so this wasn’t that big an ordeal). By the time Monday night rolled around, the frustration of being one handed had kind of boiled over (boy, I had no clue at that point) and I really, really, REALLY needed a glass (or 5) of wine. To this day I am still not sure how I did it, but I opened a bottle of wine one handed. Considering that the original injury was caused by a vase falling more or less through my hand, this shows the level of frustration and/or desperation.
I think it’s worth pointing out I went to Brookstones and bought a one-handed wine bottle opener before I ever made it to the hand surgeon.
[QUOTE=DMK;5203504]
they have a one handed keyboard. According to our corporate HR specialists the voice recognition stuff is good, but it takes so long to adjust to your speech patterns and takes such dedicated effort that unless you have a lifelong disability, it’s probably more hassle than it is worth (from a business needs perspective). But the one handed keyboard rocks.
As for things you can do with one hand… I spent all Sunday in the ER stitching up things, was put in a full immobilizing cast until I saw the hand surgeon. I was still in denial about how bad it was, so I was at work on Monday (I do work out of my home office so this wasn’t that big an ordeal). By the time Monday night rolled around, the frustration of being one handed had kind of boiled over (boy, I had no clue at that point) and I really, really, REALLY needed a glass (or 5) of wine. To this day I am still not sure how I did it, but I opened a bottle of wine one handed. Considering that the original injury was caused by a vase falling more or less through my hand, this shows the level of frustration and/or desperation.
I think it’s worth pointing out I went to Brookstones and bought a one-handed wine bottle opener before I ever made it to the hand surgeon.[/QUOTE]
:lol::lol:
I was frustrated that the pharmacy put my pain medication in a childproof container. Try to open that just one hand:lol::lol:
I guess there’s a use for the electric wine opener my husband’s ex mother in law gave us
I am going to have to find a one-handed keyboard since this is not adequate for the work I do
Pain meds in childproof containers. I feel your pain. I opened that bottle exactly once and ONLY once. Now my pharmacist has changed my profile to non childproof containers as those bottles aren’t entirely out of my skill set, but it’s never going to be the easiest thing to open.
Bless their hearts, they even offered to open up all those stupid foil packs my OTC prilosec came in (I need that on a good day, but w/large doses of abx and a variety of pain meds? Mandatory!)
Oh, and good things that came out of a right hand injury?
I have a right return desk, with my personal PC on the left and my work PC on the right return. I can use both mice at the same time, working the left side as a left hand mouse and the right side as a right hand mouse without even thinking. Too cool for school am I.
