Of course I just came back into riding a little over a year ago taking lessons and leasing.
After 31 years of appreciating horses from a distance, I finally think I’m ready to buy one. He’s the most gorgeous boy! And the most sweetest thing. He really wants to do good things.
I had an accident about 5.5 weeks ago. Let’s just cut a long story story short and say that he finally let me know the hard way he was a hurting unit.
I was just putting my leg on after walking warmup to ask for trot when he took.off and threw in a few bucks.
The wall was approaching quickly, so my first reaction was emergency dismount! Well I dismounted alright! Straight onto my feet with a thud, then onto my back, then a ringing in my ears and vision went black. I rolled over onto hands and knees gasping for air while ppl in arena rushed over asking if I could move and if I was ok.
Anyway, turns out I ended up with a compression fracture of my T11. No brace or pain meds prescribed to me, but I sure as hell have some anxiety about getting back on.
My horse is being ridden by professional trainer while I’m out to keep him in shape and to be able to learn him for when I start up lessoning with her again.
My boy was in pain. Chiro said he was locked up on his whole right side. Trainer says he feels better but continuing chiro work on.
My question is, have any of u had this type of injury? Will another fall cripple me? I’m so scared!
Only thing that’s keeping me sane is the tough of never riding without a crash vest…?
I got a 20% anterior compression fracture of C7 while competing at HITS Ocala last year. I took some time off to heal and deal with a family member health issue and then had to work through some fear issues jumping again but I’m back at it. Lots of riders have compression fractures they don’t even know about. I’m not worrying about it. Riding is my passion.
Would a crash vest have stopped this injury? Take your time getting back to riding and be good to yourself
Any fall has the potential…
…to cripple you. Fortunately most of us survive to ride another day. :winkgrin:
I had compression fractures of L1 &L2 almost fifteen years ago after my gelding literally slam dunked me onto the hard ground. No brace (Ortho said he knew I wouldn’t wear it), but did have painkillers. At that time I was a School Resource Officer at an Alternative high school and taught a class for academic credit. Ortho said ten weeks out of work, (I got hurt the first day of Spring Break). 
I protested. There was no one to take my place, so I received permission for “restrictive light duty”. No duty belt, absolutely no vest…only my 9mm and radio. I was to be on duty a maximum of 3 hours a day, and 90% of that was to be sitting. And the only reason I managed to get that concession was because I had a week to start healing before going back to the school.
:no: uhh no. That didn’t work at all. I never managed less than 5 -6 hours a day. My students knew I was hurt, and although they had a lot of issues we had to deal with, they were very, very protective of me…even after I healed. None the less, by the time I got home each day I was literally in tears from the pain. I really should have taken those 10 weeks off…but…
I’ve since had both hips replaced and have severe arthritis with numerous bone spurs in my lower back…but they are BELOW the vertebrae I fractured. I lost about a 1/2" in height due to the compression fractures. I returned to riding at 10 weeks after the back injury. 
I did find that I had to do a lot of PT to strengthen my core and back muscles.
I have also come off my horse twice since the first hip replacement seven years ago. Once hard enough that I knocked both my contact lenses off my eyes and had a nasty concussion (Thank goodness for a good helmet!). Two weeks ago I started back riding after having my other hip replaced. Modern medicine has helped me to not be crippled. :yes:
Do I hurt? Yes! All those broken bones and “ground inspections” haven taken a toll on my body. But I’m still riding, and walking and hitching up my trailer etc albeit a bit stiffly at times. Was I scared? Yeah…to a certain degree. But I recognized that my confidence was shaken and needed support as much as my injuries did. I am fortunate to have a fabulous trainer who is patient and willing to work with me thru my issues. After each bad fall or surgery I started back on the lunge line and built from there. Don’t hesitate to reach out for help. There’s no good reason to go it alone, and there’s no shame in starting back on a different horse…a quieter schoolmaster for a bit and then as you regain trust and confidence in yourself back to your own horse.
Good luck. I hope you will soon be back to enjoying your rides.
These types of fractures usually heal with little or even no future pain issues. Make sure you take about 4000 units of vitamin D a day,unless you have already been on at least 2000 or had a normal vitamin d level in your blood.
There is an injectable medication called forteo used for osteoporosis that can help with the pain and healing if you have some osteoporosis and sometimes without osteoporosis.
Cement can also be injected into the vertebra by a neurosurgeon if needed.
Good luck,Tylenol and ice are your friend. Ibuprofen or other NSAIDs if you can take them.
At age 59 my spook proof mare spooked and long story short I took a hard fall, broke my heel and had hairline fractures of one hip and several bones in sacrum area. Extremely painful and because of the broken heel I was in a wheel chair because I could not walk on crutches with the broken bones in my back so that added to the fear. I could not ride for six months.
Getting back on was really scary. I did ride in a vest for quite some time and that really helped me mentally.
Have faith…you will overcome this! I am now 65 and going as strong as ever. I ride dressage and I am enjoying every minute!
If you need to chate just PM me.
[QUOTE=Hspooner;8395103]
Of course I just came back into riding a little over a year ago taking lessons and leasing.
After 31 years of appreciating horses from a distance, I finally think I’m ready to buy one. He’s the most gorgeous boy! And the most sweetest thing. He really wants to do good things.
I had an accident about 5.5 weeks ago. Let’s just cut a long story story short and say that he finally let me know the hard way he was a hurting unit.
I was just putting my leg on after walking warmup to ask for trot when he took.off and threw in a few bucks.
The wall was approaching quickly, so my first reaction was emergency dismount! Well I dismounted alright! Straight onto my feet with a thud, then onto my back, then a ringing in my ears and vision went black. I rolled over onto hands and knees gasping for air while ppl in arena rushed over asking if I could move and if I was ok.
Anyway, turns out I ended up with a compression fracture of my T11. No brace or pain meds prescribed to me, but I sure as hell have some anxiety about getting back on.
My horse is being ridden by professional trainer while I’m out to keep him in shape and to be able to learn him for when I start up lessoning with her again.
My boy was in pain. Chiro said he was locked up on his whole right side. Trainer says he feels better but continuing chiro work on.
My question is, have any of u had this type of injury? Will another fall cripple me? I’m so scared!
Only thing that’s keeping me sane is the tough of never riding without a crash vest…?[/QUOTE]
I have broken T10 and T12. Broken in two separate incidents, not both horse related, and no treatment for either other than pain meds, which I hate to use anyway. It hurts like crazy for the first couple of weeks. I have come off my horse since and had no problems. I also broke C2. That was the one that really scared me after being in a halo. No issues with that one either, actually cannot even tell anything ever happened and I broke it clean across.
But, do what your doctor says, and whatever you do, don’t move any furniture or lift anything until it is. I got bored sitting around the house and did a bit much and caused one of my breaks to shift. The one that shifted will hurt if I sleep wrong on it, but otherwise, just take it easy until you are all healed up and you will more than likely be just fine.
