you.
Well, hello you.
I know you are there.
I know it because my computer pings at me saying you visited this blog.
I know you are in Englewood, Colorado; Santa Clara, California; Culpeper, Virginia; Unity, Maine; Louisville, Kentucky; Urbana, Illinois; Camp Dennison, Ohio; Tavares, Florida...just to mention a few. Are you silent because you are only peripherally interested in this topic of discussion? are you silent because you are young fit and healthy and never got hurt? Am I the only one one with "repetitive sitting trot syndrome" ? Do you ride in a western saddle and are secretly laughing at all of us ? Are you shy? .... don't worry you can comment anonymously.
Let me hear from you. This is a warm invitation to leave a comment anywhere in the blog. Even if it just a note to say you are well, and happily riding.
Best wishes... always.
Daphne
posted by haspel-soares at 7:17 AM
9 Comments:
I am 43, self employed, single mom, only been doing the sport of eventing for 3 years. My pony has been training me patiently, and we will be doing our first one star at the end of the month. I slipped off and possibly cracked a rib as I landed on the jump, but other than that I have been blessed with staying on my horse and being fit and healthy. The injuries I read about scare me, but not enough to stop eventing. My trainer makes sure we are ready for the level and have sufficiently schooled it before moving up. Cross Country is our strongest phase, I prefer it that way. Dressage is weak, but not as dangerous.
When I hear about serious injuries, I like to know more about them, so I can learn. When I hear that a horse at the intermediate level refused jumps 3 times, but the rider kept going, tells me that if the horse is having a bad day, withdraw, for the safety of all involved. When I was learning to fly, we called it hangar flying, learn from other's mistakes so hopefully you don't do the same, or can react differently.
Safe riding!
Scottsdale Eventer
Hi SE
Thanks for sharing your perspective. And congrats on your upcoming * . I am glad to hear that you have a good trainer that is level headed and that you have to cool to call it off at anytime. Very important not just for mountain climbers!
Stay healthy and keep on flying over those trakehners..
Cheers
Daphne
Hi! I just responded to your survey and I think this post is fabulous as I often wondered if I was one of the only ones with crippling emotional damage after a fall. In 1997, I was trying desperately to qualify for the NAYRC when my horse and I flipped over a cross country fence in Florida. After a couple of months of recovery, neck braces, and physical therapy, I was cleared to ride. The crazy thing was that I didn't think I wanted to! I groomed for my coach a bit as he competed my horse, but I had no desire to gallop to another huge cross country fence. That summer, I was a working student for my coach in New York and competed my old campaigner who I trusted whole-heartedly since I was being urged by my coach to "get back in the game." He's also the "fitness guru" of the US Team and wouldn't let me allow my physical injuries get the best of me, so we ate healthy exercised regularly and my physical pain subsided. I did a couple ot training level events and hung up my spurs for 10 years. I played with western riding and pleasure riding for awhile while I completed college and grad school and during a business trip, I ran into an eventer who re-lit my fire. Last year was my first competition since the summer of 1997. Although my physical scars are still present from the fall and I battle with weight because of my sedentary occupation as an attorney, I'm currently working to heal my biggest injury...the emotional scars. I still cringe at the big jumps (especially my nemesis...the square oxer), but I'm back on the horse as it was a pity to let all of that training go to waste. I'm looking into sports psychology and possibly hypnosis to pinpoint why my fear still overwhelms me so. I know there are so many riders who face the same issues every day and I'd love to hear some other stories of how they cope with the flashbacks. Thank you for creating a forum to promote this healing...physically and mentally!
Hi Meg,
Thanks for sharing your story. I was very touched by your sincerity...
And I am happy you are riding again! It seems like riding can be lifelong disease and you never know when one will go into relapse.
I must say that there are some jumps out there that make me want to vomit when I see them, but somehow, in a weird way, I think that this is why I do the sport. Anyone out there with the same feelings? But I of course, have not had such a difficult experience as you....
I am actively looking for a sports psychologist to post something on the blog, so if you find someone you trust pass my info along and maybe we can cajole him/her to tell us something.
kind wishes
daphne
Hello you too,
Great subject for a blog. I've been riding mostly dressage for about 5 years now, and most of my injuries are from previous sports play. Capoeira mostly. Back injuries are so difficult because they are, "in the core" of our strength. Core strength is so important for all movement, and i'm finding especially riding. I would like to offer one observation regarding sitting trot. My wife is a life long rider and has had back pain related to sitting trot as well. I think there is a training problem specific to women dressage riders related to the sitting trot. Women's backs are sometimes quite differently shaped, and shorter relative to hight than many mens backs. Women also tend to have a very different shoulder to hip ratio of body size. All of these differences would see to require at the least a slightly different upper body position than is traditionally accepted as "balanced". I would guess that a woman sitting the trot might be inclined to adopt a flatter back than her body is safely capable of. Especially when the accepted paradigm of form may be male centric.
Hi Anonymous,
you bring an interesting point - I think I'll dig this up a little bit... are there differences in the way we get hurt in a sport where we compete head to head regardless if are outies or innies ?
Hi,
I am 26 years old and I have been riding horses my whole entire life. I have always been the person who would ride any horse. I would see a horse buck somebody off and would sit there dying to get on him/her and teach him/her to behave. Fear never entered my mind when riding a horse. As a child I broke many bones, but only one on horse back (it was very suprising.) However,I fell off all of the time and had a couple concussions. In my adult career I had a couple serious accidents, one being a torn rotator cuff that still bothers me today. Still I was back in the saddle that day and competed the horse the following day. It was not until two years ago that a fall really effected me. I was bucked off of my horse, a known viscious bucker, that I bought knowing his history. I was fine for almost a year, but the day I let my guard down was one I will never forget. I was bucked off after a tiny log in a clinic at Poplar Place. I checked to make sure everything was ok, like I normally do when I fall. The only problem was my arm would not move. It was only then that I realized how much it hurt. I was soon to learn that I had broken my humerous bone straight in half horizontally, and done a number on my elbow. I had to have surgery and spent the next month in a haze because I was on pain killers. Never being one who payed much attention to pain this was a whole new experience to me. My doctor laughed as I told him I had no more pain a month later. This was because I had not tried to move my arm at that point. At first my arm would not even move an inch. I went to physical therapy and began a very painful battle to regain movement. Having never cried from pain I attended physical therapy on two prescription pain pills every time and screamed and cried like a little baby. The physical and emotional pain I felt were both almost unbearable. The only thing that kept me going was my goal of getting back on a horse. Months later my arm was mobile enough to ride. When I got back on I was unsure if I really wanted to return to something that had caused me so much pain. I am a prideful person so I would not admitt this to anyone. I reluctantly got on everyday wondering what bad things could happen to me. I had sold the horse that had done this to me, because finacally and emotionally I could not keep him anymore. The main horse I had to ride was an unbroken 5 yr old. Could things get any worse!!!! I sent the horse off to have a months worth of training, something I would have done myself in a heart beat before. When I got him back I was still so timid. I finally enlisted Mike Winters help. Going for lessons with him were invaluable in my recovery. He would ask me to jump things that all of a sudden scared me. My pride would not let me back down and so off I would go terrified. Each time my wonderful little horse would do better and my confidence would soar. Still everytime I jumped a jump for the first time that day I would be very scared. Time and has passed now and I feel as though I am back to my old self. I have now taken a jop training off the track horses to be eventers. There was a time when I thought life would never go back to normal after my injury but now I know that life does go on. Now I am smart in my riding and have no interest in riding crazy horses.
Dear Ashley,
You are the reason why I stared this blog. What a story ! You are an inspiration and thanks for being so candid. The psychology of recovery is fascinating, don't you think ? Fear is such a powerful thing, and yet so in many cases we overcome it and become better people (riders, athletes etc etc). But I think its ok too, for those who do not recover the same way and take up chess instead : who are we to judge, hugh ? I suspect though, that I would be like you : scared but back on the saddle, peeing my breeches.
Thanks for talking to me (and all of us who read the blog!)
daphne
Daphne,
Thank you for your response to my coment and for making this site. It is good to be able to share what has happened to me with people who understand and sympathise with what happened to me. I think what a lot of people may not realize about injuries like this it is not the fear of the pain that you feel from the fall. It is the months of pain following and the recovery process.
Again Thank You,
AShley
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