| When you have had a bad fall, it can take a long time | | | | attention to your body's messages - especially the |
| before you feel confident enough to get back on a | | | | parts that were injured. Even if you did not sustain a |
| horse. And so it should be, caution is the body's way | | | | serious injury, pay attention to what is going on inside |
| of protecting itself. But what do you do if you love | | | | you and in the immediate area around you. Rediscover |
| horse and you love horse riding and you are yearning | | | | your sense of touch and physical orientation. Body |
| to get back in the saddle but your riding confidence is | | | | awareness is an essential attribute of all good riders. |
| a rock-bottom low? | | | | 6. Review your commitment to observe standard |
| 1. Maintain physical fitness, strength and suppleness | | | | safety procedures. Always wear appropriate riding |
| Start with what you have. Get fit. Lose any surplus | | | | apparel, always check your equipment, always wear a |
| weight that may have accumulated while you were | | | | helmet |
| laid up. Slowly build up your strength again and | | | | 7. Learn how to fall. Martial arts students spend a lot of |
| gradually regain your suppleness with stretches and | | | | time learning how to fall without injuring themselves. If |
| yoga. If it was a severe injury, work with a | | | | you haven't mastered this useful art yet, take some |
| professional, like a physiotherapist. You will | | | | time to do so now. You will be investing in your future. |
| automatically feel more confident when you are strong | | | | 8. Get your timing right. Next time you ride, take all the |
| and fit | | | | variables into account. Don't go riding if you are rushed, |
| 2. Eat a healthy diet. After an injury, you need to | | | | or feel under the weather, or have too many other |
| rebuild your physical strength. Eat enough, but not too | | | | things on your mind. Give your horse not only your |
| much. Make sure you ingest all the vitamins you body | | | | time, but also your full attention. |
| needs while it is under all this physical and mental | | | | 9. Take the environment into account (as well as your |
| stress. | | | | horse's reaction to the environment). Do not put either |
| 3. Limit alcohol, avoid drugs. Most horse riders know to | | | | yourself or your horse at risk because you are |
| avoid alcohol (and drugs, for the same reasons) if they | | | | desperate to go riding. Life's too short. |
| plan to go anywhere near their horses. Be careful not | | | | 10. Buy insurance, personal, horse and third party. |
| to self-medicate with alcohol while you are feeling low | | | | Make sure you are fully insured, and so is your horse. |
| and bored, it will not make you feel happier or better. | | | | Last thing you need when you are recuperating from |
| You are only delaying the healing process; a very | | | | the physical and mental effects of a horse riding injury |
| unwise approach indeed | | | | is to worry about doctor's and/or vet's bills. |
| 4. Get enough sleep. When you sleep, your body | | | | So you see, there is a lot you can do to restore your |
| takes time out to heal itself, physically and mentally. At | | | | confidence long before you gat back into the saddle. |
| no other time does your body need to recharge its | | | | And doing something physical is good for your body |
| batteries as desperately as after an injury. Invest in | | | | and your mind. Once you are strong enough to start |
| eight hours of deep, rejuvenating sleep a night, until you | | | | exercising again, remember exercise stimulates the |
| are fully restored. | | | | release of endorphins, the body's natural analgesic. So |
| 5. Increase your body awareness. If you were injured | | | | get out there and start mucking out those stables. It will |
| physically, you probably have no difficulty paying | | | | cheer you up no end and in no time. (Just joking! |