Her response was
that as long as I could mount without help, riding would be safe and, actually
beneficial. She did say that later in the pregnancy, though, I would
probably CHOOSE not to ride due to the fact that the belly will not move with my
body making it uncomfortable.
Guess I'll throw in my $.02...I
wasn't riding endurance, but I rode until 5 days before I had my son (he's 18
months) and would have probably ridden to the day...but that was when my hubby
came home from Iraq, so things were a bit busy <grin!>. I DI have a
few "advantages" however...I had a 13.3 hand TANK of a Peruvian Paso mare.
She wasn't very high off the ground, so I could mount without help (though I
made sure to use a block if anything was available-just seemed safer), and she'd
stand like a rock until I was settled. She could gait smooth as glass up
to 20mph, (4 months after Stevie was born, she won the Champagne Glass class at
a Peruvian show). She wasn't the calmest horse, but she was ALWAYS well
behaved-the second I was settled, she might dance a bit, but hey, I was ready,
so what to worry? She took good care of me, and kept me from being locked
in a small padded room (pregnant, still on active duty, waiting for hubby to get
home from Iraq-I NEEDED my horse fix!)
I will say, I tried to ride a
trotting mare when I was about 6 months, and I could walk and canter, but a trot
was NOT comfy to me-I could feel it in my belly! My hubby still complains
that I never did the "Preggie waddle" that he thought would be so cute, but I
still felt good and CAPABLE and balanced even right before I went into
labor. I was riding again 5 days later (but it was a short ride, 'cause we
were packing to move to Fort Knox, and I NEEDED to nurse Stevie on time or I was
in agony!)
Might have caused a few changes in
Stevie, though-from the time he could pull, he was trying to pull himself up on
every saddle we walked past and he still tries to climb on to anything with hair
(my great dane is barely amused!)
