Riding when pregnant?

[Fairydogmother]

Did you ride when pregnant?!

I have owned my mare for 6 years and she's now 10. I know her inside out and accept she can be spooky. I wear a point 2 air vest every time I ride. She gets over 6 hours turnout daily at the minute and will live out as soon as the weather picks up (if ever!).

I'm the third person at my small yard to be pregnant in the space of a year and others seem surprised that I'm still riding! Admittedly not very often due to fatigue. I'm currently 10 weeks.

Thoughts?!

[SaggyOldClothCatPuss]

I wouldnt do it personally. I rode when I was pregnant with ds. It was my job. One day one of the hunters decided to take the piss and bolted with me whilst hacking and leading one. I couldnt stop him (18hh) for over a mile. Without the ancient cavalry saddle he wore to hang on to I would have been off and DS would probably not be here. It took me years to get back in the saddle and I was never confident. Its just not worth it.
Also a very confident woman I used to work for rode regularly and went hunting when PG. She came off and her son was born the next day at 28 weeks. He was very poorly and nearly didnt survive.

[StarsAboveYou]

I did ride while pregnant, mostly hacking in walk and trot (with the occasional sneaky canter) until I was about 7months pregnant with DS.

Tbh, I probably rode more while pregnant than I have managed since!

I had owned my made for 15years at that point though and trusted her completely. DS was on her for the first time at 6months old. It would have been earlier except that DH wasn't so keen!

I would be concerned in your shoes as you describe your mare as "spooky". It is a personal opinion but I couldn't have ridden my mare if she was spooky as I would always have blamed myself if something went wrong.

I know that probably isn't what you want to hear but it is such a short length of time really that I would just spend the time on groundwork and grooming and look forward to all the riding you will be able to do in the future.

[DolomitesDonkey]

I rode until 16 weeks the first time and a spin around the yard at 27 weeks. The 16 weeks was amazing, huge long gallop up a hill on a frosty morning - I lost a stirrup though and held on tighter than I've ever held on before. I did stop riding in groups because there was only one woman I trusted to control her horse.

Second time I stopped at 10 weeks because we moved to a new yard and she was spooky.

[newfavouritething]

I stopped when pregnant (and haven't got back on yet, nearly 8yrs later!!) after a discussion with dh. He wasn't particularly keen for me to continue, but agreed that I could ride in the field and that he'd watch, but it didn't seem right. What does your dh think?

[N0tinmylife]

I did ride when pregnant, up until I started to develop a proper bump at about 20 weeks. That was on a mare that I had never fallen off in the 3 years I had her. My thinking was that until the bump appeared the baby would be really well protected inside me. Once I started to show it didn't seem like such a good idea. I was worried about bashing my belly if the horse spooked, and it started to affect my balance.

[Fairydogmother]

OH is happy for me to ride on quiet, non windy etc days and I generally lunge her a bit first. When I say spooky she will do that kind of wee jump on the spot but no bolting or bucking etc. she's just one of these ones who looks at everything! But I know her so so well that I can anticipate anything she'll fuss over and ride her on. Then she generally doesn't bother spooking! I will only ride in the arena at the minute too.

I'm not showing yet but I think I'll give up when I do. Such a hard choice but I won't get the chance to undo any damage if I did fall off etc.

Trying to find a part time sharer so she can keep being ridden but I'm such a fusspot that I'm worried nobody will be good enough!

Thanks for all the replies ladies x

[mrslaughan]

I stopped when pregnant, but didn't have my own horse and getting pregnant was very hard for me! I did continue to ski - including black runs .... I remember asking my OBGYN about it (skiing) and he said if I crashed bad enough to damage the baby - the baby was the least of my issues......

A friend of mine - dressage rider, continued to "school" her horse in the arena (but not hacking) until she could no longer get on her horse , because her bump was in the way.

I think only you can really decide, comes down to how risk averse you are ..... Or not!

[Fairydogmother]

Sounds silly but I'm actually sitting better on her now than pre-pregnancy! Maybe my hip muscles are more relaxed!

[mrslaughan]

I think the hormone is called relaxine.... Yes I was far better at the hip opening yoga poses once I was pregnant!

[octanegirl]

I rode till 8 months and had been playing polo till about 14 weeks. However in retrospect it was a silly thing to do and I woudnt do it again. My consultant said a hard fall could detach the placenta which has obvious tragic consequences....

[50BalesOfHay]

Gd has just had her baby, which in classic teenager way she managed to hide till she was 26 weeks. We were pony hunting (thread about 14.2 or bigger, how dim was I?) She fell off over a jump. Once we knew we let her ride in the school for a couple of weeks, but no longer (and more jumping). Baby was early, but pre-eclampsia, not riding related

[50BalesOfHay]

No more jumping, I meant!

[horseylady]

My ds is now 5.5 months. I rode till 37 weeks, competed in dressage until 33 weeks and did endurance up to 24 weeks.

[goldie81]

I rode with my first till 5months when the horse who was usually perfect followed another horse that spooked. She only went to trot but was on a sloppy bit of rd. She slipped & that was enough to scare me into not riding again in that pregnancy or my other 2. I have now not a lot of confidence for fear of what could happen

[Twattybollocks]

I rode old horse with first two pregnancies as i knew him inside out, and he was pretty bombproof to hack. Rode the day before dd was born in fact.
This last baby i rode once at about 15 weeks at walk just to warm him up while i waited for instructor, as I hadn't had horse long enough to trust him 100% and it's just not worth it.

[Fairydogmother]

Thanks everyone for your replies

hoping to get a part sharer for my horse and that would solve the riding issue. had a scan on tuesday and when i saw the wee arms waving about that kind of put me off wanting to ride regularly!

i still might pootle about on a sunny afternoon but have lost the inclination to do it regularly.

[Landy77]

Hello
I did ride one of mine and competed her in veteran showing classes she was 19 and I have owned her since a 4 year old. One of mine I have only just started riding and dd is 15mths old but he is rather unique :). I tried to put my mare out on loan when I initially found out I was preggers but she came home again as didn't get on with the lady. I didn't canter or jump out hacking and stayed to the fields not on the roads. I was very lucky as even at the end never really showed so the bump wasn't a problem. I would be worried as you say your mare is spooky
Alexis

[DaisyFlower123]

I didn't ride with DS1 as I owned a highly charged 5 year old at the time! This pregnancy, I rode for the first weeks but found myself worrying about all that could go wrong so ended up stopping just shy of 12 weeks and this was on my bombproof mare who I knew really well.
I really think it is personal choice. Life generally is full of risks and you have to assess each one on its own merit when pregnant, just be prepared for some family/ friends etc to have strong opinions about it - I certainly got a lot of them!

[Fairydogmother]

i have worried about loaning her as a friend of mine has a young baby and shes had no end of trouble with the loanee of her horse. its created so much stress.

we're thinking of trying to move and rent somewhere with stables so that would be great to have her at home. prob is theres v few places like that to rent! but we've found one so just waiting to see what the rent will be...

[higgle]

I did, until jods wouldn't fit anymore. I had a good natured highland who was too fat to misbehave. I also went on a riding holiday in the US at about 12 weeks for a fortnight. But I was pretty stupid in those days and never thought about anything going wrong.

[Plomino]

I didn't find out about any of the 5 DC's until week 17 at the earliest , and not until week 25 with DC 1 , so had been doing long distance and hunter trials up till then ! Carried on riding till about 34 weeks with pony , but only hacking then , and only because I knew her inside out .

[AuntieStella]

If you've not had a relaxin surge, then e risks up to about 12 weeks (whilst pg still minute and completely encased in the pelvis) are small - you'd need a pelvis shattering fall, or to land on an object, to cause hadn't. So if you are riding an utter armchair, you might feel ok about the risk.

But it's a really bad idea after 12 weeks, or when pg grows beyond the pelvic bowl (whichever is sooner).