First pregnancy and I'm missing riding soooo much!

[Starrbee]

Hi,

I'm 20 weeks pregnant with my first baby and due to my horse being lame in the early days of my pregnancy my vet, doc, MW and I have decided it's prob. best to let him have a nine month holiday.

I know it's the most sensible option, the only option really as he does have a rep for being a bit of a brute (luckily I think he's a little bear and love him to bits). He's a 16.3hh IDxTB and enjoys hacking, hunting and x-country - he's not really a happy hack or schoolmaster - he likes his speed and he LOVES his jumping.

I still see him every other day and bring him in from his field at the weekends for extra fussing and grooming. But although he loves being feral in his field at the moment and isn't really missing me or hacking that much, I am missing riding him so much it aches! When I groom him I just want to leap on his back and go! And when I'm putting the hoover away and see my tack collecting dust in the cupboard under the stairs it makes me really emotional (the hormones aren't helping!). I think this is the longest I have ever gone without riding since I started at the age of 3!

So just wanted to have a bit of a whinge really and wondered if there were any other pregnant girls out there feeling the same? Or mums that have been through something similar and can cheer me up with how great it'll be when I get back on him next Jan (all things being well!!).

Thanks for listening x

[CluckyKate]

Hang in there - when you get back in that saddle it'll be like sinking into a favourite armchair. Best place in the world

Congratulations on your pregnancy!!

[leafbird]

it might seen like forever but its really not .My ds2 is 9 months, i stopped riding when i was 4 months preg, so i feel your pain.i got back in the saddle after two week of having him.Just enjoy spending time with your horse and being preg as it goes so quickly, im sure you will fell like you haven't been out of the saddle, only thing i noticed when i got my mare back into work was that i was being a complete wimp with jumping(have got back into it now) as your dc gets older you can share your passion for horses with your child as i have done(hes got his own at pony 9 months, i left our first to long and is not interested at all). Congratulations and good luck xx

[leafbird]

seem and feelsorry on my phone

[Starrbee]

Thank you both. There's another woman down my yard that gave birth last November and she took ages to get back in to it - she only started riding again in the March of this year and she still barely rides. I really don't want to be like that. I know I won't be out x-countrying the week after birth but I do want to know it's possible to get on again without it changing my horse riding completely!

I want to be back in that saddle asap! Good to know there are other people who were just as keen to get back in the saddle and managed it too.

Def getting little un a pony when it gets a bit bigger. My MIL has a shetland that she keeps as a companion for her pony a couple of villages away and ever since I've known my husband, which is 7 years, I've always been told that the shetland was gonna be used by her grandchildren! Poor little Bert (the shetland not my unborn child!) I don't think he'll know what's hit him! Maybe I should dig that safari saddle out now . . . another way to distract me from riding!

Thanks again. I think as it's sunny I'll go and give my boy a nice fly-repellant shampoo bath to show him how much I love him still (even though he'll prob. hate it!) :)

[AlpinePony]

I was back in the saddle six weeks post emcs and it was lovely, made me feel like me again.

I'm currently 11 weeks and expect to hit my own personal psychological wall wrt safety very soon. Might be different is she weren't a 17.2hh psycho. ;)

During my last pregnancy I was so ill I didn't miss the riding so much and I still went for snuggled. She seemed (to me) very kind and protective of me.

I had him sat on her at 8 weeks and he loves going to the stables. He's a year old now and I POP him on front of the saddle (in front of me) and my bf holds the reins and trot us around the yard. He squeals with delight and I fear will be a speed demon.

He's booked in to pony club camp august 2013! :)

[Pixel]

Of course you are missing it now, all these lovely summer evenings are just begging for a nice hack out and you are only 20 weeks so you don't feel like a baby elephant yet. You'll feel different in a few weeks when the weather starts to change and you get heavier, not riding won't be such a wrench then. Just hang in there, the time will soon pass.

[dappleton]

You'll be fine, you're half way there already! My DS1 is 3months old so I know what you are going through (apart from I felt too sick to ride for most of my pregnancy which did help!), I was back in the saddle after 5weeks and it was the best feeling in the world

[Starrbee]

Thank you for all your support. You're right - it's def harder while the weather is nice and there seems to be a new stubble field appearing daily! Nor does it help being a harvest widow so I am currently looking forward to the next 6 weeks being very lonesome - thank god for the terriers! :)

[ALotToTakeIn]

Starrbee I'm a harvest widow too and desperate to get on any horse. I was too sick at the start to ride so have only ridden about 6 times since february and now at 29wks I'm just too uncomfortable and I struggle to get off so have stopped.

The ponies don't seem to mind and I have got a lot better at long lining and inhand schooling this year. I'm off on a horsey mini-holiday at the end of the month to do/ watch my trainer a whole weekend of inhand stuff which I have been sooooo looking forward to. I have a friend coming too to help out as people keep on yelling at me for carrying water buckets and hay nets ::)

[Pixel]

Lucky you, no one seemed to mind me slaving away.
Two days before I had dd I mucked out three stables, filled all the water buckets and haynets and dragged a bale of hay along to the field.
I wonder if there was a reason she was two weeks early?

[Booboostoo]

Hang in there, time will go by before you know it. I stopped riding at 23 weeks as I was too large, couldn't school properly and was worried I would fall and harm the baby, but I was back in the saddle 7 weeks after ELCS. Week 9 now I ride about 3 times a week, I can only do about 20 minutes before I exhaust myself but I school properly (was doing counter canter, walk/canter/walk and half pass the other day so pretty much the same things I was doing post pregnancy)

[loverocky]

i haven't been in the saddle for months now and i cannot wait! to get back on, about a month after getting my new horse i found out i was pregnant, lukily i have my mum who got me into horses in the first place, the horse is half ours so she s doing all the keep the horse fit and riding out when i just groom her, which i love doing, but i miss riding soo much and looking forward to a nice ride after baby is born :) hoping not for a c section this time because of the recovery time and i couldnt ride for months after either :( so fingers crossed i can have this baba naturally so only a few weeks after i can ride my horsey again :) x