UPDATE: good news! Broken 5th Metatarsal. Recovery time? Stirrup suggestions going forward?

[Kottbulle]

So I getting ready to school my horse at a local schjhokjng show when I took a funny step in a very small divot, rolled my ankle and heard an aduible snap. Being a true equestrian, aka and idiot, I actually rode ( I mean he was already mostly racked up just needed a bridle ) and only managed to fall off once due to favoring my very painful left foot.
X-rays the next day confirmed that it was indeed broken. I was told after a follow up visit that it isn’t displaced but it needs to be in a walking boot. And only partial weight bearing. I’m trying to be ra ally good and give it the rest and healing it needs. Optimistic that at 3 weeks I can get cleared to full weight bearing so I can at least hobble around and be more productive at work and around our small farm where he have our 5 horse and 9 cattle.

I have plenty of stuffed sole shoes for walking around and I’ve actually put in an email request to ariat to figure out what their softest soled riding boot or paddock boot is.
I currently ride in the HS fekibke stirrups and the have served me well for my knees and hips. But I’m starting to wonder if I should consider something different at least while the foot co to he’s to heal. I don’t want to be bad and ride before it’s healed but if I can figure out something that might help me get into the saddle sooner would be great.

[Scribbler]

I broke a 3rd metatarsal close to the ankle. Horse stepped on me so lots of bruising and soft tissue injury. I was lucky it wasn’t displaced and tendons werent ripped and didn’t need surgery.

I had 5 weeks in a soft cast. Three weeks totally not weight bearing, 2 weeks allowed to put the heel of the cast on the ground. I was out of the tack 3 months.

In general 6 weeks is what you need for a broken bone to knit properly no matter how small. If you skimp on healing time on a foot you can create long term problems and dislocate the bones.

Follow doctors orders.

[Kottbulle]

@Scribbler Thanks for the response… I am trying my hardest to follow Doctor’s orders. I did go thru something similar in 2016, were after ignoring horrible foot pain for 2 months went in to find out i had 2 features of the 2nd and 3rd metatarsal… since i had tried to muster thru the pain. one was already healing! oops… I was allowed full weight bearing then. and was good and didn’t try to ride during the 6 weeks i was banished to wearing the boot.
I was relieved to find out I can be partial weight bearing… basically I hobble around on one crutch. But it is very limiting when it comes to barn chores, though my spooking retired gelding still isn’t 100% sure about the crutch.

I’m curious to know what type of stirrups you now ride in?

[Scribbler]

I had a full recovery and went back to my plain filis irons just regular English stirrups. I researched wider stirrups while I was laid up but never needed them.

I did however take a few months to get fully fit again. Both my feet were weak from no use and my knees felt stressed in compensation. It was several months before I felt that my walk was 100% true and sound. I could ride better than I could walk around the mall

[BlueDrifter]

Boyfriend has 4th metatarsal broken for 4 months before he went to doc. Doc said to find the stiffest hiking boots he could for support and to rest foot as much as possible. She didn’t give him a walking boot since so much time had gone by, he has a standing/walking job, and she could tell he would likely be non-compliant.

He rides a motorcycle daily to commute and moto boots are nice and stiff. He switches to stiff soled work boots at work and then low cut hikers at home. The pain went away right away, but it is still healing slowly at 9 months in. He can tell it isn’t fully healed because of “pressure” he feels when he pushes motocycle back onto it’s center stand.

(Probably the perspective of what happens when you don’t take it easy the first month!)

[Kottbulle]

@Scribbler, I advent been able to use the regular filis Stirrups in years but love the jointed ones for knee and lower back relief. I have been debating about the wider foot bed ones and just haven’t heard anything yet that can seem to convince me one way or the other.

@BlueDrifter I am hoping it won’t take me that long… Working for our family business and having my horses at home is not making it easy to take it easy… Though I did tell the SO that he needed to step it up at home or I would take longer to heal. That seems to be keeping the grumbling at a low simmer… UGH.
It’s just going to be hard to be patient, last time it was already starting to heal, and so I could be more mobile, and my OTTB was new to me and hadn’t really been started in re training, so while I was dying to ride, I was also impressed enough with his airs above grounds on the end of a lead rope, that I was more inspired to get completely healed before trying to ride him. Now I am trying not to get depressed, as we have been making some huge progress and his jump is getting so good, I feel like we are getting so far set back. so frustrating . But i keep reminding myself he is a quick learner and he will pick right up where we left off.
And I agree about the stiff soled shoes… I already have a high end pair of hiking boots that i bout after the first broken foot. And I have some sturdy Keen work boots that ortho approved of last time as well. Just wish I could figure out the same fro riding in… but usually once in the saddle its not so much an issue…

[Bluey]

Decades ago in March, I broke 3 middle metatarsals jumping off a fence and landing wrong.
Was in a hurry, we kept working, that night foot was all colors and swollen.
I used horse liniment and wrapped it in the soft ACE bandages we had to wrap broodmare tails and that seemed to help.

Too busy for Drs, I hobbled all summer until my yearly checkup in October, when I mentioned my still sore foot.
Dr x-rayed it and sent me to specialist, that told me it had healed by now and to wear thick, stiffer soled shoes, like hiking boots and made some inserts for that foot to wear.
I had to go back for a checkup a few times and he changed the inserts and after a while foot was back fine, as long as I use thick soled shoes, even slippers around the house need firm soles.

Healed fine, never gives any problem.

I hope yours heals as well, it is a real pain to hobble around everyplace, is it.

[Kottbulle]

@Bluey Yes it is a huge pain. Hoping I can go to full weight bearing in in a week when i get the next X-rays. Unfortunately it seems like the 5th metatarsal is the worst to break because its not as protected by the rest of the foot, and it has limited blood supply… it also is the place where lots of the foot tendons attach, and can actually displace the fracture. Thankfully there is very little swelling. and only hurts when i don’t have the boot on and put more weight than probably should on it. so trying to be careful and let it heal. I just really want to get back to riding! the weather has been perfect and its killing me!! Yesterday i did hobble out with a crutch to feed the horses and my guy came up tome like “Why are you not riding me.” He was being very gentle and careful, which isn’t always his strong suit, especially at feeding time.

[EmilyM]

after about 3 weeks of the same injury, I rode without stirrups until about 6 weeks. then just went back to normal stirrups. Mine was broken but not all the way through.

[Kottbulle]

@EmilyM good to know it felt good enough at # wks to try riding again. I’m Hoping the 3 wk X-ray will so callus forming and I will be brave enough to ride without stirrups. My OTTB is pretty level headed but can be a handful at times… so I’m somewhat nervous about no stirrups, but maybe I can cheat and keep one… sort of as a dumbo feather. lol… It would be nice event just get back on and walk. Not riding is killing me… we have been having lovely weather for riding.

[EmilyM]

@Köttbulle

@EmilyM good to know it felt good enough at # wks to try riding again. I’m Hoping the 3 wk X-ray will so callus forming and I will be brave enough to ride without stirrups. My OTTB is pretty level headed but can be a handful at times… so I’m somewhat nervous about no stirrups, but maybe I can cheat and keep one… sort of as a dumbo feather. lol… It would be nice event just get back on and walk. Not riding is killing me… we have been having lovely weather for riding.

to be honest, i just couldn’t afford to pay someone to ride mine for extended periods and he was a 6 day a week type. i broke the right foot. so i climbed on with the left stirrup and then just removed it.

[Heinz_57]

@Köttbulle

Optimistic that at 3 weeks I can get cleared to full weight bearing so I can at least hobble around and be more productive at work and around our small farm where he have our 5 horse and 9 cattle.

I think this is overly optimistic… prepare yourself to be told 6-8 weeks in the boot.

I broke my 5th metatarsal (left foot) 6 or 7 years ago, also during a random freak moment. No great story, all I did was hop off a boat and landed wrong on the dock. I limped around for several days until I went to work and my coworkers forced me to go see the doctor (who thought I was nuts, walking around on an obviously broken foot). I was sentenced to the boot for 8-10 weeks, but I was a bad patient and only wore it when I was at work. I still rode my horse bareback - and had to mount from the right side. Fortunately, she was very patient while I hopped and flailed and squirmed my way on.

Even after I was cleared at 8 weeks, putting weight in a stirrup was still painful for another month or two - your weight is very concentrated on the broken/healing area and you can feel that “pressure” BlueDrifter mentions.

[ActNatural]

Did the same thing about this time last year at a beer festival. No idea how it happened. Anyways, I hobbled around in the stiffest sandles I could find. I could not stand a closed toed shoe as my break was the part of the tim that’s up in your foot… If that makes any sense. Vionic by orthoheel makes awesome sandles that I wore everywhere! I would stuff it into a very loose tied tennis shoe for barn time. I rode without stirrups for 6 weeks. I tried my very hardest not to land on it when dismounting and iced the heck out of it. Took 8 weeks to fully healed.

I broke the same toe but on the other foot about 8 years ago by being stomped on. Broke the bottom part. Didn’t listen, didn’t stay off of it. Well, it never healed and I had to have surgery to put a metal pin in it. The pin stuck oro of the toe. You could spin it around! That stayed in my toe for 6 weeks while I hobbled around in a boot! Fun times!

[Kottbulle]

@Heinz 57 thanks for the feedback. I’m not going to be too overly optimistic. Just hope I can at least go from partial weight to at least full weight bearing in the boot. So I can at least not have to use the crutch. And thank you for the very funny description of trying to mount from the opposite side. I have a funny feeling that would be pretty similar for me trying to mount my horse. It’s something Im considered trying to do. I just am afraid I’m too uncoordinated to to attempt that. I did after all rolled my ankle and break my foot. Lol

[Kottbulle]

Happy to report I’m back to ridding after 6 weeks. I was tempted to try riding sooner but it just seemed a little to achy so I gave myself the 6 weeks off. I did invest in some composti wide tread stirrups and they seem to help. I’m also riding in the carbon graphite insole plate which I think has been great in helping keep the foot stable my only real issues in the saddle have been my other foot which I sprained the ankle on the same day I broke the foot. basucally it hurts if I really try to sink into my heels. Or brace against the stirrup which I shouldn’t be doing.
Lasty I think one thing I did helped a lot. I rubbed comfrey oil onto my foot and the ankle religiously at least twice a day. At 3 weeks the doctor said I could transition to a stiff soled shoe and start resuming normal activity( though I’m guessing riding isn’t considered normal. Lol) but I really wanted it be sure to heal. I don’t really know if it healed the bone any faster but it sure felt better faster than the last time I broke my foot and it wasn’t nearly as bad a break. I do know it helped my sprain amazingly! I have had an acute sprain before and it took forever to heal and the swelling to go down. My swelling went down almost immediately with the comfrey oil. The only reason it’s giving me grief now is because I went and rolled it a few days ago. But otherwise it’s been healing very well for a sprain.
So get some comfrey oil in your med kit. It really is a life saver.