[JSwan]

Whatever floats you're boat.

Well, did you want an answer to your question or just an opportunity to complain about your aches and pains?

Wait until you watch a friend or family member die of cancer. Your little aches, pains, and boo boos will seem trivial. Because they are. Mine are too. At least we're all pretty healthy and able to do the things we love, even if we hurt a little (or a lot) afterwards.

It really does beat being dead. Or seeing the look in the doctor's face when he comes in with the test results.

Enjoy the horse thing while you can. Really.

[jconnors]

I think horses in general wether riding or taking care of them put years of wear and tear on the body compared to other sports or people with different lifestyles. I am 30 and the ladies at my work don't think I will walk by the time I am 40. I am in constant pain usually with one thing or another but just go on about my day.

I can contribute that some falls have caused life long injuries. At 13 but pony and I slipped while riding and my head smacked the ground pretty hard. This caused Bells Palsy after ruling out lymes and viruses. My dentist who's daughter rode with me was the one to discover this with a panoramic xray and sent me to see her favorite chiro. I saw him 2 a week for about 2 years to get my face to be back to some what normal. Mine comes back when my jaw gets out of alignment.

Two reverse curves in my neck. My skull sits wonky on c-1 causing massive headaches and c-7 is out by 45 mm. That was caused we think from a bad fall where they thought I broke my neck around 13 also.

Being blessed with big boobs hasn't helped the neck or the back or the shoulders so I try my best to keep good posture but it hurts to sit up straight. Also have two bulging discs in lower back and severe arthritis that also presses on a nerve in my leg. So I regularly go see my chiro when I need my head put back on straight...

Those are just some of the ones that bother me daily. Had too many concussions to count but thankfully I haven't broke anything. Just some cracked ribs once. But the everyday labor or throwing hay and doing water buckets and caring for 20 horses does wear pretty good on the body. I just keep going to the gym and trying to keep myself limber and moving on.

[GingerJumper]

My ankles are shot at 17. My back is always sore but that's unrelated to riding (woohoo, autoimmune disease!). My wrists dislocate themselves a lot. Normally when I'm riding, and that's not fun. Oh, and my knees are just moving pain. They're not a joint, they're pain that can move.

I think a lot of it comes from riding some seriously nasty horses (in addition to some serious NICE horses!) and having started really young (3). My discipline of choice, jumpers, does seem to be a bit harder on the body, too.

[betsyk]

I've been going through all kinds of hip and back stuff, and noticed a huge difference when I got a different saddle. Now it hurts to pee after a serious dressage lesson, but I can walk to the bathroom better! All joking aside, I suspect the trouble with my right hip started with a crooked horse (that I rode for years) and then a saddle that didn't fit right on the newer, straighter horse. The other back and hip stuff gets better and worse depending on what boots I'm wearing. By the end of a winter in snow boots, I can barely walk, but you can't exactly make it through a winter in Wisconsin in Ariat Terrains or tennis shoes. And the rotator cuff... can't really blame that on horses because I have no idea how it started, just one day I realized that currying and tightening girths and putting blankets on and off was getting uncomfortable. Can't reach into the back seat any more while driving. Sigh. First world problems? I wouldn't trade any of them for a life without horses.

[bambam]

I don't think it is any harder on the body than a lot of other sports.
I row competitively and collectively my rowing buddies have more physical injuries/limitations than my riding buddies.
People who run, row or bike as passionately as we ride, likely have as many if not more physical issues than riders do.
shrug- price you pay to do the sports you love

[Ponyclubrocks]

My body works the best when I am on a horse. My trainer has more than once marveled that I can look so good and graceful on a horse, but then I dismount and it looks like I can barely walk down the Barn aisle (feels that way too).

I've been riding all my life and I do feel best in the saddle, but to be fair most of my physical issues are due to 1) a bad car accident 30 years ago and 2) bad conformation that I was born with.

I think the key is to just keep moving... I get regular massages, do some Yoga (which I look like hell trying to do but it feels so marvelous) and the rest of the time just keep busy and try to ignore the aches and pains.

[Frank B]

Besides having enough stainless steel in my hip to open a small scrapyard, and a pulled groin muscle that never really healed, my knees took a beating from the jumping.

Several years ago I was trotting Normie for the vet. His evaluation: "The horse looks fine. The owner, however..."

It was worth it. I'd do it all again.

[BigEq]

At 19 (almost 20), I have a lot of wear and tear - mostly from riding several horses (up to 11 a day) six days out of the week for years and years without any big injuries, just fractures and sprains (knock on wood).

I finally visited a physical therapist this past summer for my knees which had been hurting for about two years prior, and she actually said that I've been walking *wrong* all of these years, probably from riding crooked. One of my knees would face out when I walked and the other would face in, instead of being straight. The joints in my knees were causing my hips to be out of place, and that along with general back muscle weakness was causing my RIBS to move out of place easier than usual, causing my back pain. Before I visited my PT, I had prescriptions for Meloxicam for anti-inflammatory (later switched to Naproxen) and Tramadol for pain, but I haven't used either since starting PT. Upon graduating, she gave me some exercises so when I do have pain while riding I can work it away without drugs I strongly recommend at least visiting a physical therapist and seeing if they can give you some exercises for when pain starts flaring up.

[Guilherme]

Some years back a number of bodies were exhumed and moved to a new cemetery at the Little Big Horn Battlefield. As part of the process there were examined by forensic anthropologists. One of the findings was that virtually every skeleton, aged from about 20 years to more than 40 years of age, showed evidence of spinal lesions. These likely resulted from the many miles a cavalryman in those days would routinely ride.

Equitation practice in those days dictated a "forked seat" and no posting. Posting would not become common until towards the end of the 19th Century. The practice of constantly "sitting the trot" is not going to do good things for the spine. And maybe for other body parts.

Horsemanship has always posed the risk of injury. Riding is a hazardous activity, no matter how careful the rider is or how well trained the horse is. The more athletic the discipline the more the human body is going to be "challenged." That's just the breaks of the game.

We continue to do it because it's fun.

G.

[LSM1212]

I cope by telling myself, "It beats being dead."

I am very broken. Fractured 4 vertebrae about 21 years ago coming off a horse. Dr's said I was lucky that I wasn't in a wheelchair. I've had some other minor falls many years ago and such but the compensation that I have to deal with on a daily basis from the "big" accident kinda sucks. But heck? I'm alive. And not in a wheelchair.

About 2 years ago I did something to my hip area and have spent that time trying to figure out what exactly I did and what to do about it (xrays, mri, therapy, injections, etc.) Going in for another MRI in a few weeks.

I deal with it. I see some great therapy people weekly and chiro work every 3 weeks. And riding actually helps as long as it's more low key which is what I'm doing now. If I take a break and don't ride for awhile, all of my old injuries start flaring back up ten fold.

I did take my first fall in about 7 years a few weeks ago. Besides falling off, my horse stepped on my forearm. Thankfully nothing was broken. Just bruised and banged to hell. Shockingly enough, the rest of my body handled the fall better than I thought it would. I've got a few more "ouchies" than usual but not nearly as bad as I thought I would after I came off.

It is what it is... I want to continue to "live" but I am more picky about what I do or who I get on as I'm not stupid and don't want to be too risky. I still have to live with this body the rest of my life (I just turned 40 this year... so long ways to go, I hope!).

[Manni01]

I will turn 50 next year and have been riding horses since I was 6.
For many years I rode about 3 horses a day nowadays only 1 (because there is only one ridable...)
I dont think it did any harm to my body.... If I look at other persons in my age, I feel blessed because I have less problems than them.....

[trubandloki]

I am not sure how much of my body creeks and pops are associated with riding. Mr. Trub has just has many issues and he is not a rider. I think lots of what we say is from riding or horse stuff is just aging.

[JmpR_1]

Well, did you want an answer to your question or just an opportunity to complain about your aches and pains?

Neither actually. Just an observation that equestrian athletes wear and tear faster than others. I was seeing if anyone else agrees. And don't talk to me about cancer, you don't know me or what challenges I/my family have been through. Obviously, cancer is worse. Thanks for you're answer.

[Guilherme]

I seriously doubt riders use their bodies harder than football players, hockey players, or MMA fighters.

Maybe if you concentrate your riding on broncs or bulls that might be true, but how many of us do that?

Riding has risks, as does any sport. Trying to compare risks with other sports is not likely a productive enterprise.

G.

[JSwan]

Riding has risks, as does any sport. Trying to compare risks with other sports is not likely a productive enterprise.

G.

Exactly.