Comments at Christmas cause I choose to carry on riding whilst pregnant

[Pladii]

In my early 20s I found horse riding. The routine, being out in nature, forming a bond with animals does my mental health absolute wonders.

I am newly pregnant. Just beginning to show and have decided I will continue riding my boy who is an absolute gentleman. We adore one another and I trust him.

We went to stay with my husband’s side for Christmas. And it got brought up over the actual main meal! I was mortified! Granny begged me not to. And my sister in law said “it’s just not worth the risk”. She doesn’t understand why I’m chancing it. MIL kept quiet (not like her).

I am only accepting a level of risk that I am comfortable with. I wouldn’t dare a ride a horse I didn’t know.

It’s my body. I think it’s a bit rubbish for my decision to be questioned so publicly. Made me feel like I am doing something wrong.

Dh and I are doctors. I’ve made a decision as an adult woman. That should be it.

I mean the point I was originally responding to was about orange juice and coffee, but on the horse-riding idea…

I think it’s silly to say you trust the horse when the horse doesn’t speak English. You have no way of knowing for sure what he’s thinking. He doesn’t know you’re pregnant and won’t be thinking “I best buck gently away from this scary car because my rider is in a tentative state.” It’s your risk to take but not one I’d be taking.

I'm really glad you had successful surgery - it looks like my BIL has too, although he needs crutches and is still hospitalised with a drain in his back - the surgeon found a large mass of nerves wrapped around a broken piece of bone apparently.
We're grateful though because as you know, the quicker they operate, the better your chances of escaping long-term damage and he was almost past the "48 hour" timeline.

How many kids do you have? If it's more than one, then i can't believe you took the risk of a second pregnancy when you already had a dependent child to support with that extreme attitude to risk!

The most dangerous threat to OP health and welfare right now is the pregnancy, not doing a sometimes dangerous sport in a deliberately controlled and sanitised way.

I had every intention to keep climbing during pregnancy, unfortunately HG saw that i didn't!!

My sister rode through pregnancy, I didn't approve but didn't say anything.
I think it depends on your attitude to risk overall, which will change once you have a child. In this case though it's not you that people are worried about it's the baby.

My view is that it's an avoidable risk and I wouldn't take it with my child. Driving a car isn't really avoidable.
No-one has an accident deliberately, it would not be an accident.

You can guarantee they will know. Horses, especially those who you have a bond with, will know at least that something is different and behave accordingly. Horses are incredibly intuitive, can match their heart rate to yours and match your mood. Our pony is a super fit competition pony and today after bouncing around with dd, a tiny 9 year old then rode him about in a huge open field and he calmly trotted towards home on the stretch my dd uses for race/fast work training. They really are exceptional in that way

I rode for the last time when I was about 12 weeks and got tossed off - baby was fine but I decided not worth the risk

I agree as in you're an adult and able to make your own choices, and get thoroughly peed off at people sticking their nose in when it comes to things you should or shouldn't do, whether it be in pregnancy or parenting.
I personally wouldn't have done any risky sports though when pregnant but that's just me I suppose.

@BoxesBoxesEverywhere

ALL sports are risky to some degree though…

not all pregnant women want to get unfit and gain too much excess weight and exercise can really help with that.

good for mum = good for baby 😊

'So probably best not to get in a car either then. 1,600 people died in 2024 in car crashes'

Yes and we could all be run over by buses. We've had these false equivalence posts already.

Life is indeed full of risks. We can't all stay indoors under a blanket for ever. Thing is some risks are greater than others and we should be able to risk assess appropriately.

I used to horse ride until I got pregnant

it’s what you can live with….could you live with the “what ifs” if something did happen and you were injured and something happened to the baby? In my case the answer was no so I stopped

have to say though then being a mother gave me a whole new sense of mortality and the fragility of life and I could never bring myself to go back to the extreme sports I did before kids. I had too many friends and acquaintances die from motor bikes, injured from horse falls etc

'not all pregnant women want to get unfit and gain too much excess weight and exercise can really help with that'

Tbf there's not much exercise and fitness inviolved sat on a horse, surely the poor horse is doing all the work. Better to do some brisk walkimg or some swimming perhaps.

@Gloriia

what about running?

Haha, funny joke. Book yourself a little starter lesson then the next day you’ll be quicker listing the muscles that don’t hurt rather than those that do. That’s before you’ve even made it faster than a walk 😆

It's the sitting on a massive unpredictable animal that is the issue, can you really not see that?

@Gloriia

can you not see that the risks can be limited and the benefits outweigh??

Lol what? 😂

Yes risks can be limited to sticking to low risk sports and fitness until the baby is born. No-one is suggesting one must stay in bed for 9 months.

Will that override their instinct to run if they get scared? Genuine question.

When my cat is scared there will be claws and teeth used on any obstacle between her and her lair.

I've been on horses I've exerted myself more doing the hoovering so it's a 0/10 fitness and exercise benefits wise with a 10/10 risk of falls and being trod on.

I think what a lot of the non horse people don’t understand is that even if you aren’t riding you are going to be still dealing with the horse from the ground and two of the worst horse accidents I have had were non mounted ones .

I am absolutely terrified of horses: because I don’t know them. You do and you feel safe. Honestly, what do nomadic women do? Exactly.

People will criticise literally every single aspect of how you handle your pregnancy. Then they’ll criticise how you want to birth. Then how you feed the baby, what nappies you use, how bad when you wean, schooling…. This is your life now, I’m afraid!

I bet we've all seen out of control horses careering about with riders seemingly baffled by their placid horse's ungentlemanly behaviour.

I cracked with lots of different hobbies/sports/activities whilst pregnant. As long as you are fit & well, pregnancy shouldn’t be treated as an illness

I carried on, back in the day, before I was too fat to mount.

Depends on the horse though.

If you are beginning to show, then you might be reaching the point whether the risk does outweigh the benefit because the impact to the baby in the event of an incident would be greater at 6-9 months then it has been at 0-5 months pregnant.

most women reach a point in pregnancy and their activities that this happens. My thing is sea swimming, though I was very grateful to be floating in the sea, close to shore with husband nearby 5 days before birth. I wouldn’t have done that on my own though despite being a regular sea goer so late in the pregnancy.

start thinking about other hobbies that support your mental health. If you end up with a C section you’ll be off the horse for even longer.