Fell off and big boy accidentally stepped on my calf on Saturday morning. Tried to ride but hurt too much. I have a show this coming Saturday. How long before you felt okay to ride if they stepped on your calf?
Feeling stupid,
Nancy
Oh you have my total sympathy. I got clipped in calf by a horse during a fall and as soon as I hit the ground, I had a massive Charlie horse. I laid on ground and just thought a number of bad 4 letter words. My coach nearly had a panic attack thinking I had hurt my back.
Unfortunately for me, I was away from home to attend show. We had gone to public cross country course to take advantage of a schooling opportunity and horse ditched me at ditch. I took a lot of Advil and the next morning I wasn’t too bad. I tacked up, got in saddle and thought I could manage. When I stretched my heel further down to post, I saw stars and nearly passed out over side of my horse. I thought I’d have to pull out. However being way too stubborn, I dragged horse back to trailer, took several more painkillers, walked a bit to stretch calf muscle and got back on. The horse show gods were looking out for me that day because all the jump courses I had were 90% left turns - which was a blessing because my right leg was completely useless. In the pictures from that day, it is back behind me with my heel up because I didn’t have strength in it to step down into stirrup.
I think you’ll be ok in a few more days. I would say in a week I was totally fine. Calves are insanely painful. I once pulled both working out with personal trainer and literally didn’t touch my heels to ground for a week. Keep stretching it and hot bath with Epsom salt will help too!
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Oooohhhh, the terrible Charlie horse!! Same thing happened to me, but I also broke my collarbone and 2 ribs. But at that moment after the fall, it was the Charlie horse that was the absolute worst! I had no idea I had broken any other bones, my calf hurt so bad.
I think my calf was good within a week, as far as I can remember (the other injuries became a bit more important!). Good luck!
Alternating 3-4 minutes hot, then cold, then hot/cold finishing on cold.
Wrap, pull on a knee sock and baby the leg for 2 days. Do the hot/cold thing 3 x daily.
After the second day start walking on the foot. Continue the hot/cold and the wrap+sock…
4th day you can skip the wrap and see if there is no swelling, otherwise continue with the wrap.
begin climbing stairs and stretching your calf muscle to drop your heel.
Do not use NSAIDS for pain as the swelling will worsen.
Horses are fun!
About 60 years ago, my Dear Dad got thrown and then stepped on my Mom’s evil mare. She stepped on his calf. He developed a blood clot that had to be removed surgically. Hopefully, all you’ve got is a very bad bruise and the advice here regarding first aid care is excellent. BUT if the pain worsens, or you feel you’ve got something like a haematoma developing, get thee to a doctor!
I’d have it looked at anyway – but I well remember how Dad hurt after this episode. He tried to tough it out for a few days. Turned out not to be a good idea.
Had a galloping big mare step on my left calf during a fall in the late 90s. IIRC, it was almost four months before I could use the leg normally. Be careful - as ThreeFigs mentioned, a blood clot can occur and require emergency care. I was carefully monitored and lucky to not have surgery. I still have a dent in the muscle. Good luck!
If just a bruise and not a hematoma (painful “squishy” collection of blood that will need to be drained) then you should be good. Mine was a hematoma and I needed it drained several times over the course of a month, ended up off except trail walks for almost 6 weeks. Hope just a bruise and good luck at your show.
Beware of NSAIDS that can affect blood clotting. And if you have realllllly bad pain, and your foot feels cool, don’t mess about. Compartment syndrome is horrible. I will NOT post a link.
Horse stepped squarely on my calf after unplanned dismount at a fence about 15 years ago. It took me about 2 weeks to ride again. I ended up with terrible bruising that lasted for a couple of months from my knee all the way to my toes. Thankfully, no complications, but it hurt like crazy! Good luck!
I had a horse step right onto my calf while I was putting studs in before cross-country (I was being lazy and sitting on my bum instead of crouching. Will never do that again). Leg immediately swelled 3x it’s normal size and bruised terribly…it looked just awful. It took probably a month or more for the bruising and swelling to completely dissipate, but of course I wrapped it up and rode that very day. It hurt. Lots of icing and keeping it wrapped helped and of course NSAIDs. Hope you heal up soon!
Hope you will be careful of this…blood clots can be very serious. Just get it checked out and then soldier on!
Thank you everyone. I have been seen by a doctor. Yes hematoma, doctor says to watch for heat and more swelling. It is now 4 days past the injury date and I’ve come to the conclusion I will not be able to make my competition this weekend. 
Am monitoring it very closely and will continue to do so. Thanks for all your replies.
I did this last year! Finishing the last fence of an otherwise-very-good jump course when my mare took a flyer and I came off three strides after the last fence. I landed left (to the outside and into the fence) but didn’t release the reins, so my horse had no way to avoid touching down on the outside of my right calf (though, to her credit, I’m pretty sure she stepped on me as lightly as she could possibly manage - good mare!). It was incredibly, incredibly painful - I hobbled around enough to untack my horse and put her back on the trailer, put her away when we got home, and somehow managed enough range of motion to drive home (though extension of my calf/ankle wasn’t nearly as big an issue as flexion).
The next morning, I was literally unable to walk unassisted and had to call my dear mother to take me to urgent care on a Sunday, where I was diagnosed with a deep muscle contusion. I was told to rest but that I would be back to walking in about a week or so. In the meantime, I borrowed a pair of crutches because it was literally that painful.
Unfortunately for me, as soon as I started being able to walk without crutches (despite gait abnormality), I ditched them in an effort to get back to normal and put myself right back to being unable to walk. Got a referral for physical therapy - it took 6 weekly sessions of PT to get back to full function (shoutout to my awesome physical therapist!). I was able to ride at a walk at about 4 weeks, but riding really did help stretch out the muscle knot in combination with the PT. By 6 weeks, I was able to run and go up and down stairs again.
Don’t overestimate your abilities, and doing exercises that stretch but don’t overexert your injured site is key. I also did heat therapy for the first 3 days after injury, and then did cold from there on out because I had major issues with swelling. Big fan of compression - the fluid from the injury site was draining into my ankle and my horse’s standing wraps worked very well for home wear, though I don’t recommend wearing it out if you’re not the attention-seeking type. I’d also recommend physical therapy if your gait is really impaired, my therapist really helped me to get back to function without overdoing it or causing an overcompensation injury. I was tempted to underplay the extent of the injury, which resulted in setting the healing process back a week. Do what it takes to progress without risking lasting damage.
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I was kicked in the calf dead center last year while trail riding( i tried to turn) . A 2 inch cut, lots of swelling and a huge bruised area kept it extremely painful for many weeks. I did ride though :yes: ( if I can hobble I can ride). I kept it elevated and iced when possible. It took at least 6 months for the swelling to all go away and I still have a numb spot ( and scar) at the site of the kick.
In 2013 I snapped my tibia and fibula after coming off my gelding - open with the bone sticking out. Ever since then I tend to get cramps in my calf, side of my leg, feet, toes, etc. They absolutely hurt way worse than the actual fractures, which I find ridiculous. It always amazes me how much a stupid calf cramp can hurt.
