Pregnancy and Horse Riding

[Dudedudey]

Any riders on here? I have recently found out I’m pregnant I’m approx 7 weeks at the moment.
I work as a rider and groom and am currently still riding, I am an experienced rider but just wanted some advice/opinions from other riders.

Are you still riding?

@Margotshypotheticaldog That’s good to know! Maybe it is all just coincidental / anecdotal then - what will be will be I guess! (I’m due next month hence the curiosity!)

I’m about 7 weeks too. I rode up to 21 weeks with my first child... and only stopped then really because it was December, peeing down with rain every day and frankly, it wasn’t enjoyable! I gave my mare her Xmas holiday and didn’t get back on again! She was 20 and I’d owned for her 10 years, so I trusted her implicitly. But I stopped jumping at 12 weeks as I found I was paranoid and rode like a prat!
Now, I have a 9 year old warmblood chestnut mare... I know, what was I thinking 🤔 🤣
I’m riding her at the moment - she’s bored off her t*ts with no competitions to go to. We’re mainly hacking as she’s a bit feral in the school at the moment. (Totally my own fault as I have no desire to ride every day whatever the weather, when there are no shows to go to!)
We jumped last week, which was jolly fun! 🤣 I hope to keep her ticking over and once I’m 12 weeks, I have a friend in mind, who I might ask to pop her out jumping now and then to keep her sweet. (I didn’t feel guilty at my other one having time off as she was 20... but harmony is in her best years... and we did very little last year due to Covid!)

Oh and my first labour was absolutely fine! I didn’t find it harder due to having horse riders muscles, which some people had told me.
6 weeks post partum, I went XC schooling on my gorgeous mare, who looked after me whilst I basically peed my way round the course. I then bought some kegel balls, which tightened my pelvic floor right back up. No more issues!

Ride up until 41 weeks with DS. Had a difficult labour which resulted in an emergency section. This time I was still competing to a good level jumping until 16 weeks. Planned to ride throughout but it’s either snowy or icy so I’ve had a few weeks off and now I’m not sure I’ll struggle to pick it back up.

That’s exactly what happened to me the first time. Crap weather made me stop for a few weeks and it was really hard to pick it back up as I felt that much bigger and lumpier 🤣
My current mare is the kind you could fall off at Walk because she’s unflappable and then explodes out of nowhere because a leaf has blown past. So I’m playing it by ear, but I also want to keep jumping her because I love jumping her so much. She just makes me grin!

I stopped jumping once I found out, but carried on flat work and hacking until about 25 weeks. I was too achey after that stage! 😁

I stopped in the third trimester because I needed to pee the whole time. My mare is normally quite sharp but she was looking after me really well otherwise I’d have packed in sooner.