How bad a sprain would you ride with? It’s pretty fresh, from this morning, but there’s a riding thing I really wanted to do tomorrow. Got some swelling, some bruising, limited mobility, hurts like a you-know-what, but it’s load bearing and I can fit it wrapped in my paddock boot. . .
Am I crazy or just a horse person?
Just a horse person. We’ve all ridden with worse. If you think you can handle it, I vote go for it. 
You might look into the BOT ankle wrap. I have one for my bionic leg and wear it nearly religiously.
Have you had it checked by a doctor yet? And what, exactly, did you plan on doing?
It’s true most of us have made bad choices about getting on our horses while injured, but we really shouldn’t encourage it because it can lead to more serious problems down the road. Also, don’t wrap things unless you’ve been told to by someone with medical training. My volleyball coach used to threaten to hit us with a newspaper for doing that, you can cause more problems than you’ll probably help and may inadvertently make the joint weaker if you do it too frequently.
I mean, it IS “No-Stirrup November” …
What kind of riding thing? What type of saddle are you using? Western saddle, jumping saddle, or dressage?
If this is a trail ride and your ankle is not painful, you may be able to swing it if you aren’t putting a lot of pressure on it. That is, as opposed to a horse trial with two jumping phases where keeping your heel down is important.
It’s hard to say for certain though since we aren’t there to see it and most of us aren’t MD’s who could evaluate this.
My own opinion is that you are likely to have more trouble from dismounting than anything else. If you landed hard then you could end up doing more damage. Even more so if you landed and twisted your ankle in some odd way.
afterwards remove boot and ELEVATE & ICE !
Sure, as long as you don’t use your stirrups you should be fine.
Depends on what you’re doing. I did a show and a clinic with a broken ankle while I was still jumping big stuff, and I wouldn’t recommend that, but something with longer stirrups would probably be fine. I’d also suggest dismounting onto your non-injured leg or onto a mounting block.
I think I’m grounded for a couple days. 
it’s still awfully tender, even wrapped, and although I think I’d be fine riding, the possibility of dismounting and doing even more damage is kinda scary. I’m not the most graceful gazelle on the savannah to begin with, and I’m not 30 anymore either.
I actually restarted my OTTB with a ‘sprained’ ankle. Really made me appreciate those no-stirrup lessons long ago and good balance! . But my ankle got worse so I finally had it xrayed-yup, broken. First time I missed work in decades.
probably for the best ~ JINGLES for a quick recovery ~
I rode the whole time my leg was in a walking cast ( broke my tibia jogging). Every time I went to my doctor for a check up he would look at my filthy cast and ask just what I had been up to???
Same thing when I broke my wrist.
Oh to be in my early 20’s again.
I rode with a fractured ankle…the air cast kept it stable but I sat trot the whole time…did this for 4 weeks.
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