Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

I was cross country skiing with two friends a few weeks ago and we realized the thing we have in common is we all have broken backs/ surgery/ fusion. My younger friend, in her 30s, was paralyzed when she came home from the hospital. She was a beginning rider at the time of her accident and never regained the confidence to canter, but enjoys walk trot trail rides with like minded friends. She has run 4 marathons and danced naked on top of Mount Marcy since her surgery, which had to be redone when her plate loosened up. My older friend, in her 70s is a MFH. She hunted the hounds herself for years after her fusion and enjoys eventing (novice through Prelim depending on the horse). She is visibly stiff and has to turn her whole body to look behind her, but does OK in dressage

  I crushed T-12 and tore the ligaments in a feeding accident last May. I have 5 vertebrae fused with two titanium rods and ten screws. I started riding 3 weeks after surgery and did a 50 3 1/2 months after.

  I have another friend who had a fusion low in his back due to a degenerative condition. His shifted a bit and he finds standing painful, but is comfortable with his legs bent, as in sitting or riding. His surgery was at Thanksgiving time and he did the NY 60 CTR in July, evented some over the summer and foxhunted the whole season.

  Your dressage friend might want to consider a change in breed. I can sit with and do nice dressage on my Andalusian stallion in a way that I doubt I could on a bouncy warmblood. Also have her get a Supracor seat saver. I have another friend with a crushed pelvis who says a Supracor seat saver is the difference between riding and not riding.

  Of course we all came back gradually, with progressive loading and all cross train (swimming, biking, x-c skiing). Good luck to your friend and wish me luck - I've entered  my first 100!   Libby

-----Original Message-----
From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Susan E. Garlinghouse, D.V.M.
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 7:31 PM
To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: AERCMembersForum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [RC] riding after back surgery

A good friend of mine who rides dressage was in a pretty bad accident a few years ago and to make a long story short, had to have three vertebrae surgically fused last week.  I?m not sure of the exact vertebrae involved, but it was in the region of the lumbosacral junction.  Obviously, she?s pretty depressed because she thinks her riding career is over.  There is a new appliance available that stabilizes and still provides some pretty amazing flexibility, but apparently it was not an option in her case.

 

Does anyone have experience with this sort of procedure and whether she has any chance of riding again at anything beyond a rent pony plod?  She was riding at 4^th level dressage and while I suspect that might be a stretch, maybe lower levels are still possible?

 

Susan Garlinghouse, DVM, MS