Riding is like flight without wings
Having hip replacement surgery is a huge ordeal. You have had major surgery and endured a long and torturous bout of rehabilitation. Your life has been restored to most of its normal activities, and you feel better than you did before your surgery. Now you want to ride again. Riding horses enables you to experience a freedom of movement that is no longer available to you any other way. Knowing do this with care will help prevent any major complications with your hip replacement.
Instructions
1. To ride anything but the best-trained, most well-mannered horse is asking for a trip to the hospital to have your hip replaced again. If you are to even consider riding, the horse you plan to ride needs to be as well-trained as they come. There can be no bucking, rearing, kicking, running or any other vices. Do whatever needs to be done, but do not mount a horse that you don't trust.
2. Start slow. Use the mounting block whenever you ride and wear your riding helmet. Your lower body will not be as strong as it was before your surgery, and you need to take some precautions until you build up your balance and strength in the saddle. Make sure your saddle is neither too big nor too small. You must be able to sit comfortably, and start slow. Walking is a must before you even think of trotting. Do turns, backs, reverses and other balance exercises to build up your lower body muscles again. Eventually, as your body responds, you may speed up. But if at any time you feel unsure, slow down. Do not risk a fall.
3. Get off the horse if there is any question about its behavior or your control. No matter where you are or what you are doing, if there is any question whatsoever about the absolute safety of your ride, dismount and hand the horse over to someone else. After having a major surgery such as hip replacement, you should never ride alone. Too much can go wrong and you can be hurt too badly for you to be by yourself.
4. Be prepared for some pain. Having pain in your hip is inevitable during and after a ride. Use some preventative measures and take some medication--such as Advil or Tylenol--before your ride to help ease the stiffness and inflammation that will result from the movement of the horse's body underneath you. Most horsepeople will readily agree that a little discomfort is well worth the freedom of a good ride.
5. Have fun! Do not be so afraid of hurting yourself that you do not enjoy the ride. If you have taken the above common-sense precautions, you have no reason to be apprehensive. Remember the joy of riding, and the special feeling of flight without wings, and work toward the goal of enjoying that feeling again. Life is too short to let a hip replacement stop you from enjoying every moment.
Tags: before your, before your surgery, build your, flight without, flight without wings, lower body, major surgery