I don’t want to quit. I used to live for riding but now I barely ride at all.
it hurts so much.
i have a collasped disc in my spine and a lot of scar tissue through my abdomen from a big surgery.
doctors say I can ride
when I am riding it hurts (hurts a lot) but never afterwards even when I ride for hours.
i used to be able to ride any horse in any saddle, anywhere. I rode open jumpers and evented to prelim.
i just want to ride down the trail at this point.
i’ve done all of the pt, chiro, acupuncture etc, etc etc
i want light weight so I can easily tack up even when my back is bad. I want cushioning. I bought one of those seat saver things for my imperator and it is not enough.
who has tried a Bua, a Ghost? Who has a saddle that can keep me going. I’ve got a wicked clever little mare who will take care of me.
I really like the synthetic saddles. Please any input on a different saddle
Oh, another thing that may help you. Further down in this section I have a “Chronic Pain” post. A back surgeon with 15 years of BAD chronic back pain got into expressive writing, got rid of his pain (as long as he continues the expressive writing), and he now prescribes it to the people who come to him for back surgery. According to him several of these patients ended up with a lot less pain and decided that they did not need back surgery at all.
So far with the expressive writing I have maybe a third of the pain I used to have. This therapy just costs paper, pen and 15 min. to 40 min. a day of expressive writing, no drugs, few side effects (my right arm hurt at first from the writing), and I can do it all by myself.
I have disc problems and find my custom monoflap Solo is helping me to continue riding. I have added a thin line seat saver just for the hell of it but seem to be doing ok. I think it’s because the saddle fits me and my horse so well. Maybe a session with a good saddle fitter?
Thank you for the input. I will look at both of the saddles and the chronic pain post.
I had a session with a saddle fitter and it seemed she was interested in putting me in the saddle that suited her and what she thought I should want to ride in given my background and experience. However, I am not that person anymore no matter how much I would like to be. It’s almost like learning to ride all over again.
Have you tried using a thinline pad?
When I was having back issues, using the Back on Track back brace helped a lot. I think they also have T-shirts. Maybe something like that may be helpful.
Good luck. I hope you find something that works for you.
Yes, Hayla, it IS like learning to ride all over again.
Trying to avoid the pain can really mess up the security of a rider’s seat.
I also have had good results from using the Back on Track back brace. One of the reasons that I think the expressive writing therapy for chronic pain is effective is that I no longer wear my BOT back brace 24/7/365, in fact I think it has been over a month since I HAD TO wear it at all. This is a great blessing for me this summer since it is HOT and HUMID. Unfortunately, with MS, heat cripples me even further than my normal state of being a cripple. Not HAVING TO wear my BOT back brace, boxer shorts and neck dicky when I ride makes me cooler, much cooler.
I also use a Contender II saddle pad, it is a Back on Track pad for the horse’s comfort with ThinLine on top for my comfort and to protect the horse’s back when all of a sudden I lose control and PLOP back down into the saddle.
I have noticed that when I am unstable in the saddle it aggravates my back pain. My silicon full seat tights REALLY increased my security in the saddle AND my back hurts a lot less than it did when I rode wearing my FITS deerskin full seat breeches.
My Millbrook stirrup leathers also help my stability in the saddle.
I switched from Fillis stirrups to the old fashioned Prussian sided stirrups, the Fillis stirrups made the balls of my feet HURT. That pain meant that my stirrups paid no role in keeping my position stable in the saddle. The Prussian sided stirrups do not hurt my feet at all, and my feet stay stable in them.
Together with my Pegasus Butterfly saddle getting me OUT of my over 40 year old chair seat, my silicon tights,the Millbrook stirrup leathers, the Contender II BOT/ThinLine saddle pad, and my Prussian sided double offset stirrups I feel like I am 40 years younger, back when I felt secure in the saddle (when I was riding in a too big Stubben Siegfried or Crosby Wide front PDN, no saddle pad, Prussian sided stirrups, cotton cavalry twill breeches, regular stirrup leathers and jumping 3’6" several times a week.)
Out of everything I’ve use right now, it has been my silicon full seat tights that have made the most difference with my chronic back pain. Everything else helps, but when I started riding in my silicon full seat tights, my considerable back pain when doing 2-point STOPPED plaguing my life.
Oh, I also want to find out more about the BUA saddle. I do not do much sitting trot since my central nervous system is damaged and I do not want to hurt it further by bang, bang, bang. Unfortunately it will take me another year or two to save up enough money for a BUA saddle to see if it could help me.
I have arthritis with spinal impingement in several places in my back and neck.
I usually use a basic Tad Coffin saddle but have been riding in a Smith Worthington since my TC is out for repair…I find the saddle doesn’t matter that much. …but I have to use a good shock absorbing half pad. I like the Invictus pad the best. It doesn’t feel soft, but it absorbs with super high-tech technology. Second best is Thinline. I also use the FreeJump stirrups, which help a good bit.
i agree the silicone breeches are great since I am not as strong as I used to be. I wear the Smartpak Piper full seats for most rides.
finally, I never sit the trot and I ration how much I sit the canter. I balance time sitting with how much pain I want to be in later. I jump but try to make my jumping rides pretty short.
best of luck with finding a setup that works for you.
We are SO adaptive! Very encouraging hearing all the different ways riders keep going.
The most comfortable saddle I ever sat in was a Prestige Aetna ,expensive but sadly did not fit my very short backed little guy. I’m still hunting for that saddle. Prestige also sells a suspended seat trekker saddle but once again to long for my horse . This horse will be mine till i can’t ride anymore, so got to find a saddle for both of us.
Acavallo gel pad is the best and very secure, excellent cushioning. I no longer can ride the saddle it fits but i won’t part with it.
Jackie Cochran how can you ride in this heat with MS? I thought MS meant heat intolerance and reduced eating. I have those issue but no diagnosis and cannot even go out on the sun in if its much above 80. How do you do its?
Hi walkers,
I ride early in the morning–right now at 8:00 AM.
I wear tech fabric. My Kerrits IceFlo breeches, a FITS technical fabric long sleeve shirt, my Moxie ventilated half-chaps and the coolest socks I can find help a great deal in the heat. I wear the most ventilated WHITE helmet I can afford (an Ovation.)
Sunglasses help a good bit too.
While I ride I mostly walk the horse, with just some trotting. I am becoming an expert on the walk and how to train the horses at a walk. My riding teacher uses me to help change horses that have been abandoned at her stable for being too challenging for their riders, I try to change them into proper riding school horses. Since my balance is really poor and I do not have great control over my body the horse has the experience of an unsteady rider who can make them obey (not forcefully, just by gentle repetition.)
I only ride 30 minutes at a time. I still sort of collapse in the saddle after doing the posting trot maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the way around the riding ring.
I often stop for a few minutes when I feel a breeze and cool down some.
The medicine I am on for my MS (dronabinol, off label) seems to help my body adjust to the heat, unlike all the other MS drugs I tried which made EVERYTHING about my MS much, much, worse (Betasaron, Copaxone, and Gilenya, all which crippled me much more than I already was at that time.)
I take private riding lessons since there is no way I could handle keeping up in a regular group lesson. My riding teacher KNOWS (I’ve taken lessons from her for over a decade) that the heat really gets to me. My riding teacher catches the horse, grooms and tacks up the horse so I do not waste my energy before I ride. Whenever she thinks I look too hot she gets me to stop and drink water. My riding teacher also believes me when I tell her I just cannot do much that day and does not press me to continue when I am exhausted. She also does not mind when I just stop for a few minutes, when we get into some pretty technical discussions about riding, horses and horse care. It is as good as a seminar on higher equitation! After my ride my riding teacher takes care of the horse and untacking while I collapse in front of a fan. Then I get into an air-conditioned car as my husband drives me home, get into my air-conditioned house and I collapse for the rest of the day in front of two fans.
When I wear the technical fabrics the sun does not heat up my body as much, in fact the direct sunlight seems to increase the evaporation. One key seems to be wearing a long sleeve shirt so the sun does not beat down on my skin. I feel a LOT hotter in the sun wearing regular fabrics.
The few times I’ve ridden in an indoor ring in the summer helps by getting me out of the sun. Unfortunately I cannot afford to pay for lessons at a riding school with a indoor ring most of the time, but on the other hand I do get more of a breeze outside.
When I go outside when I am not riding I wear a wide brim straw hat to keep the sun off of my head. My white riding helmet serves the same purpose when I am riding.
There are also “ice vests” which can help keep the core body temperature down, but I find them heavy and the rest of my body stays hot. The evaporating cooling vests that need soaking in water do not cool me off at all since it is too humid for the water to evaporate, in fact I get MUCH HOTTER in the evaporation cooling vests. The vests with ice packs helped me the most when I tried them years ago, but as I said they are HEAVY and my body did not seem to do as well with the ice vest as it does with the technical fabrics.
I hope all this helps you some! I remember in my youth LOVING the summer heat and humidity around Washington, DC, but, alas, those days are long gone.
The other thing that keeps me riding in the heat is that my ability to walk degrades when I can’t ride. Even in the heat and humidity I walk better after riding than I can before I get up on the horse.
Have you tried different saddle pads? I bought a saddle pad that came with the ortho-impact pads and it helped but was too thick for my saddle. I bought a slightly thinner one with the poron inserts and it does help absorb impact on my back.
What about the Stubben biomex seats? I think they’re designed to help with back pain.
I recommend you try a Stubben saddle with the biomex seat. I have the Genesis D with biomex/dressage saddle and it has a memory foam where your seat bones rest. I have found it to help me with my riding. I just found out I have degeneration of two disc and are compressed and another issue that causes back spasms.
Thank you all. I found a dealer who has demo Bua saddles in Bend Oregon. I will be going to give one a try soon
Hi Hayla, I am really looking forward to your reviews on the Bua saddle when you get to ride in one!
Hope it works for you keep us posted, please
After much delay I have tried the Bua saddle. I tried it on a variety of horses.
My pain has been my back and also a large surgical scar across my stomach.
the Bua is a win for me.
i’ve tried various other saddles that were billed the most comfotable ever but they felt awful to me.
i am very comfortable in the Bua and feel like I can ride like I did when I was much younger.
i’ve found for some years my pain has been making me tense up in the saddle. Not in the Bua.
the whole saddle is actually lighter than my stirrup irons.
so if you feel pain is holding you back and you are looking for a solution I would order a demo saddle.I’m not saying this will definitely work for you because we are all different but it works for me
