Any avid horseback riders out there?
I am concerned on how long it will take me to get back to riding my horses after surgery. If I do surgery... I have had one lumpectomy, no radiation because it was discovered that I had a genetic heart problem. We had to do that surgery prior to radiation. Now, after another MRI it is being suggested that I do another biopsy. I feel that this is leading down the road to mastectomy. They had forewarned me of this.
Anyway, due to my earlier surgeries, my horses have been both my saviours and put on the back burner as far as serious riding. I want to get on with my youngster and get training really going again.
So, any other riders out there? How long did it take post surgery?
I am a low level dressage and eventing rider. 
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I would think that you should probably talk to your surgeon about that. Did you have any lymph nodes removed? I still ride occasionally but nothing serious as show, since my mastectomy, only because I have some lymphedema in my left arm and side and that seems to aggravate the symptoms. But if your feeling good and you get the ok from your surgeon, I would say go for it!
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Thanks marywh. So sorry for you lymphedema. I hear it is painful. I hope you get back to riding soon.
I did have some lyphnode removed, negative and no side effects with it. I will talk with my surgeon as well.
It is nice to see another rider. Lots of runners and cyclists here.
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Good to talk to you too. I had to get rid of my baby when I was dx the second time. He was a big paint and really sweet but a bit stubborn if not worked with alot. I just couldnt do it, so I adopted him out to somebody that was a friend of the family so I get to see him from time to time. Im always on the lookout for a big barn pet though, I miss seeing them in my pasture. I did ride about a month ago. We went to the beach and road in the forest preserve down there. It was really pretty and this month the place we went is starting riding on the beach, So Im looking forward to that too.
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Hi ladies. I'm also love to ride. I had a mastectomy and reconstruction with lat flap and I also have lymphedema. I have some things I do differently when I ride to try to help with the lymphedema and some other side effects. I don't recall getting on while I had any surgery drains in and I remember my surgeon wanted me away during that time to reduce possible infection. My bigger problem has been my severe joint pain from Arimidex. As for riding, I agree that you should talk to your surgeon. I rode between all my surgeries but did not do any hard riding until after I was through all of them. Some of it will depend on your horse I would think too. The horse I rode during this time seemed to know he needed to go easy. I hope everything goes well for you foxford. Marywh, it breaks my heart that you had let your horse go but at least you were able to give him a good home.
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He did go to a great home, In fact I saw him yesterday and he is doing great. Now Im trying to talk my husband into getting my 2 year old grandson a pony for christmas. (of course he would have to live at our house). Keeping my fingers crossed.
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I'll keep my fingers crossed for you too!
I had a pasture pet for a while and after many years, he is now only semi-retired. He is my 16 year old paint that I've owned since the day he was born. He never forgot anything I ever taught him and after years of layoff just stood like a rock for me to mount him. He is so happy to be in use again. He loves all the hugs and petting but he is one that always like to work and never buddy sour for the others...he seems content to just be with me.0 -
Hi fellow horse lovers! My two boys have kept me sane!! I got a paint in March 2012 and a National Show Horse, abotu 4 weeks ago. We went to our first show together (NSH) and took 2nd place in walk trot road hack. I am a western rider but my NSH is saddle seat so I am learning a new discipline and it is not easy! I had my ovaries out on December 20 and was riding one week later. There is nothing like the smell of horses and hay and grain!! I don't even mind the manure smell. As soon as I come into the barn nothing else matters just my guys!!
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One thing that has hindered my riding is being able to pull myself up into the saddle, my affected side had lymph nodes taken out so I feel like I have lost strength on that side.
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I know what you mean about favoring that side, I have lymph. on my left side so I have to use a stool to get up and down on. I had to get rid of my big baby a while back, just didnt have the energy to put into him. He was also a paint and was just beautiful. I miss him terribly, but he went to a good home and had some prof. training, so that was a good thing. Im trying to find a small pony for my gs who is three, just so I'll have something to watch in the pature. Its awfully lonely looking out there. Havnt ridden since October and I sure do miss it. I havnt done any serious riding in so long, but I used to ride hunt seat when I was younger and then switched to Western pleasure cause thats what my friends rode.Congrats on placing 2nd! I bet that was really fun.
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We have two paints and a quarter horse. Yep, I definitely am weaker on the mastectomy/lat flap/Lymphedema side (my left). It hasn't helped matters that I have put on weight either. I'm thinking of taking up a new discipline too. I would like to start learning western dressage in the spring or summer. Congratulations Cheryl on the second place finish! I too have to use a stool now to mount (very frustrating). I really think I should retrain myself to mount from the opposite side and see if that helps any. My husband rides the quarter horse but I think both of my paints would be fine with me mounting on their right.
Marywh - too bad you aren't closer (I'm in OK). Someone told me they had a nice pony for sale for not very much about 2 weeks ago.
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Right side mounting would be a problem for me since I am left handed and all of my strenth is in that side.
Have been looking at ponies for a while now, but they are really so expensive for what my gs needs for right now. Am actually considering a miniture horse for myself, or maybe two. We have pasture that needs to be used and they are really sweet. We have a guy who lives down the road that raises them. I just miss my horses. Period.0 -
I use a stool most of the time, I can get up without one though. Recently had ovaries out so can't stretch my leg up to stirrup yet. I have a 6YO paint that acts 2, he needs a tune up with a trainer, he is western pleasure though I have been thinking about taking him huntseat. I really like western pleasure though, love the clothes!! Saddleseat is great too, get to wear colorful vests and ties. I don't think we will do anymore indoor arena shows so our next show will be spring nationals near columbus, I probably won't be ready but I think I can ride novice status down there. It is a big 3 day show my sister and I will go and stay. She has 2 national show horses and a 2 YO arab paint. I love ponies too!! We have a 23 YO quarter pony, he is my nieces. He is ornery as a lot of ponies are but he is a good pasture pal. Mini's are awesome!! My paint saw his first mini over the summer and I swear he was obsessed with it!! It was so funny. You can do a lot with them, show halter, pull carts. They are so cute!! I saw go for it!!
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Cherylinohio - That Columbus show sounds like fun! One of my paints was a western pleasure and halter horse when I bought him. They had just started showing him English a little bit. He had never seen cattle before. I needed him to help me check cattle and he is an absolute natural with them!
Marywh - I don't know what you are looking for in a pony but down here the horse market is still pretty depressed. They only wanted $200 for the pony and said it was a real sweet kid pony. We are really short of pasture and feed down here due to three years of severe drought.
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CowGal-One of my BF's lives in OK, near the city. I went over the summer to visit, man was it HOT!! O my word!! I didnt get to see any of the country, my friend is a city girl, we went to the nearby shops and casinos, which were terrible!! I lost at everyone we went to, on the upside I did get to see Boston perform live. If we had a bigger barn I would have ponies! My sister and I have 6 now and that is enough. Thankfully we stocked up on hay and feed so we are good to go for a bit. Hay was 4.50 a bale until Sept then the sellers figured on 10 a bale to gouge everyone. I understand they need to m ake money but sheesh 10 bux a bale??? We found some for 7 and 6.50, still too much but what are you doing to do? I really want to ride but it is only about 20 degrees here today. They all stayed inside, probably all full of P&V!!!
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My brother also has gotten a quarter horse mare in that needs some work. She was extremely neglected being about 3 hundred pounds under weight when he got her. Very sweet but very timid and does not like men. Hes been trying to do a little horse whispering on her. Doesnt seem to be doing much good. Hoping when I get through with this chemo or get a break from it anyway, Ill be able to help him with her some too.
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Cherylinohio -
I am about 4 1/2 hours from OKC. I get there once in a great while. I like to eat lunch at Cattlemen's Cafe in the Stockyards. It is kind of a historic place and still looks like I guess it looked in the '50s. Their steak is wonderful!
Sorry to hear that your 6 year old paint has been acting a little juvenile. It can be a real pain when you aren't able to ride them often enough because it seems like you are back at square one all of the time. I had been working on some things with my younger paint when I was diagnosed and it definitely set me back on his training.
Marywh - Good luck to you and your brother with the mare. It sure can be frustrating trying to help them get over some of their issues.
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Cattlemens Cafe sounds yummy!! The paint has had 90 days with a trainer in 2010 before I bought him but then he sat for a year so kinda back to square one. He needs socialized, when we got to a show he is more interested in the other horses in the ring and will at times throw his head around or cow buck. We stick to walk trot for now. My NSH is a seasoned show horse, he will put me in the ribbons, though my Paint and I did pretty good last year for our first year together and his first riding show; we got a blue, couple reds, 3,4,5 and high point for walk trot pleasure, so he didn't do too bad for a newbie!!
@Mary, too bad about the mare, some people shouldn't have horses if they are just going to neglect them. I rescued a purebred egytpian arabian in 2010, he was about 200 underweight. Owner abandoned him at a piece of crap barn where none of the animals were fed well. He was a doll!! I sold him to a young gal who liked him and her parents had the money to get him to a trainer. He was sooo sweet!! I miss him! Hopefully you will be up and back at the barn soon! Nothing like that horsey smell to make ya forget your troubles!!!
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Hi Ladies (ususally I would say cowgirls!). So glad to see this thread started. I've been cancer-free for 3-l/2 years and it was horses that got me through treatment. I was lucky that I only had a lumpectomy so it didn't interfere with my riding. I would love to see pictures of your horses--it just takes me into another world.
This is Mikey, a mustang/Belgian cross. He belongs to a friend and this is a picture of us riding in a schooling show in Ranch Pleasure. He's a wonderful horse and very talented. Being in the show with Mikey really made me feel that I was finally back from everything.
Happy Trails!
Lizzie
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He's beautiful!
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thank you! he's bomb-proof too.
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Welcome Cowgirl13. I'll have to figure out how to put pictures on here to show my boys. What a pretty horse!
Cherylinohio - I started a training diary so that I could document my training sessions with my younger paint. I got the idea from a Lynn Palm book. I thought it would be helpful in troubleshooting as well as seeing progress. I stopped doing it when I had my mastectomy in March of 2010 and I guess since then I have been just trying to keep him ridden as much as possible and dealing with my pain issues from the Arimidex and weakness on the left side. I need to start keeping that diary again.
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He's pretty!! I am not sure how to add pictures to this site??
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Thank you cowgal and Cheryl.
This is how I posted the picture (and these things are not easy for me):
first, you click the picture icon on here (tree)
and then it asks you for an image url (which i got from SmugMug where some of my pictures)
when I was viewing my picture, I pressed on the SHARE tab, and then clicked on link copy and it copied my link. then I went back to this thread and pasted the link into the link thing on the picture icon. I'm sure there are other ways to do this but this worked for me.
so, try it out! let me know if you have any questions.
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there I figured it out!! Kinda big but this is my paint Jax, this is out first show ever and we took first place in walk trot. Tonight I will try to post pics of my NSH. Off to the tack store then dr appt then oil change then barn... busy day off!! Have a good sistahs!!
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Cheryl, love the picture! and the big size is great and congratulations on your first place!. Is that a Circle Y saddle? I am a complete tack nut.
Your paint is beautiful.
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What a great picture and congrats. on your win. I did go look at a mule of all things.Hes too big for me but a beautiful, sweet animal. Ive seen him out riding a number of times and always seems to be pretty bomb proof. Im just afraid hes too much for me right now. Better stick with ponies and minis for awhile, I guess...
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Mules and donkeys are so cute!! That saddle is from valley city I think? It was a beginner cheapy saddle. It was very comfy I ended up selling it because he needs a full quarter bar, he is a big boy, wide. He just got a new blanket today, had to trade in a 78 for an 81. Hope to ride this weekend it is supposed to warm up to the 30s!!
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