Haha! An excuse to talk about my favourite topic - horses! I have a lovely big horse that I rode until I was 28 weeks. I didn't make a concious decision that I would stop at a particular point, but one day it just felt uncomfortable and that's when I gave it up. In the first trimester you obviously have to be on the lookout for any signs that your pregnancy is suffering. Horseriding won't be any worse for you and the boaby then than, say, tennis or jogging, but you have to take things a little easier than normal. The baby is protected by the pelvis at this point and although you absolutely do not want to fall, you are not going to squash the baby if you do fall off in the first trimester. My horse stopped hooning around and started doing lots of flatwork. He was rather put out by this as winter is clearly for hunting, and I ended up sending him out hunting with a friend on him because he got a bit depressed, poor boy!
In the second trimester you get your bump, and boy does it bounce when you trot! even if you think you don't have a bump, trotting makes your belly jump up and down - I had to hold my bump in place with my hand if I had to trot. My horse has a very slow canter (a judge once said 'conserves his energy well!') so I walked and cantered him everywhere from this point on. I schooled a bit but my seat and legs were losing their strength, and hacked a lot, making sure I had a babysitter to come with me. We also stayed off the roads - you can't tell what drivers are going to do
. I needed to wee all the time so the horse was taught to stand patiently while I hopped on and off, and waited while I did what I needed to do.
Towards week 28 I started getting pins and needles in my bum - due to my joints softening and there not being the padding in the right place
. I couldn't get off so easily. Once I'd been on him for over 20 mins I was sort of fused in place and had to shuffle round in the saddle and slide off him with my back to the saddle. We trained him to stand by the picnic table because it was too far down for me to dismount all the way to the ground like this - my gee-gee is a 17.3hh show hunter!
So now with just over 4 weeks to go I am getting pleasure from going and mucking out and watching him being trained by my friend. I took him to grown-up camp in May and had friends ride him there, many of whom have children of their own and were happy to offer tips, and next week we are going showjumping so he will be ready for me to pick back up the working hunter competitions I love when I get back on. We have been to Royal Windsor and Berkshire County Spring shows this year with a friend riding and me grooming. We would have gone to Bath and West too but it was raining and I'm a lightweight
.
My midwife rides and owns horses and has been very laid back about the whole thing. Her attitude is 'if you are competent and confident, keep doing it. Don't suddenly decide to start riding once you are pregnant, and be sensible.' There's lots of horsey pregnancy chat over on the Show Ring (www.tsrforums.co.uk) at the moment. 4 of us are pregnant and one of us is a midwife. There are also a couple of horsey doctors too. You have to pay £5 to join but you'd be welcome!
Dressage at 5 weeks;
Happy hacking at 16 weeks;
Horse camp at 29 weeks(I'm in the hat and giant coat);
Another pregnant lady on him (she was 10 weeks in the pic):
In the second trimester you get your bump, and boy does it bounce when you trot! even if you think you don't have a bump, trotting makes your belly jump up and down - I had to hold my bump in place with my hand if I had to trot. My horse has a very slow canter (a judge once said 'conserves his energy well!') so I walked and cantered him everywhere from this point on. I schooled a bit but my seat and legs were losing their strength, and hacked a lot, making sure I had a babysitter to come with me. We also stayed off the roads - you can't tell what drivers are going to do
. I needed to wee all the time so the horse was taught to stand patiently while I hopped on and off, and waited while I did what I needed to do.Towards week 28 I started getting pins and needles in my bum - due to my joints softening and there not being the padding in the right place
. I couldn't get off so easily. Once I'd been on him for over 20 mins I was sort of fused in place and had to shuffle round in the saddle and slide off him with my back to the saddle. We trained him to stand by the picnic table because it was too far down for me to dismount all the way to the ground like this - my gee-gee is a 17.3hh show hunter!So now with just over 4 weeks to go I am getting pleasure from going and mucking out and watching him being trained by my friend. I took him to grown-up camp in May and had friends ride him there, many of whom have children of their own and were happy to offer tips, and next week we are going showjumping so he will be ready for me to pick back up the working hunter competitions I love when I get back on. We have been to Royal Windsor and Berkshire County Spring shows this year with a friend riding and me grooming. We would have gone to Bath and West too but it was raining and I'm a lightweight
.My midwife rides and owns horses and has been very laid back about the whole thing. Her attitude is 'if you are competent and confident, keep doing it. Don't suddenly decide to start riding once you are pregnant, and be sensible.' There's lots of horsey pregnancy chat over on the Show Ring (www.tsrforums.co.uk) at the moment. 4 of us are pregnant and one of us is a midwife. There are also a couple of horsey doctors too. You have to pay £5 to join but you'd be welcome!
Dressage at 5 weeks;
Happy hacking at 16 weeks;
Horse camp at 29 weeks(I'm in the hat and giant coat);
Another pregnant lady on him (she was 10 weeks in the pic):
I always worried getting stuck on board when my bump was big. My mare is tallest and is only 16hh, 17.3 is a long way down 
.
