DefinitelyDressage.com

So, yesterday was day 1 of a 4-week, badly needed vacation from work, and this is how I started it. ARGHHHH!!!


That's the middle phalanx of my left ring finger (kind of an important finger for riding!).



That be broke!!

I was doing ground work with my daughter's large pony and he kept barging into me with his shoulder so I was working on teaching him to yield, not barge. It was a pretty low-key session, nothing unusual, until he decided to scoot away and yanked the reins out of my left hand. I think one of the "treads" on the rein twisted my L ring finger at the distal middle phalanx as he pulled back, but I'm not sure. It was a strange thing to happen as I didn't have a loop in the reins. It just sucks.

On the plus side, it gets me out of putting up hay whenever it arrives!

But on the crappy side, I've had to scratch from a local dressage show this Sunday (in 2 days) because it is too bruised and swollen to bend much so there's no way I could safely hold the rein with that hand. I have another dressage show in one week so I'm HOPING it'll be feeling better so that I can buddy-tape it (with my riding glove on first) and go. The treatment for this is buddy-taping x 3-4 weeks, then range-of-motion exercises.

Has anyone ridden with a broken ring finger? If so, how long after the injury were you able to ride again?

Ouch! That sucks! I think you should be ok to ride once the swelling subsides, if you keep the rein outside of your pinky finger so there's no pressure on the ring finger. I would stick to reliable mounts with good brakes and steering just in case.

I have ridden with a broken ring finger, and TBH it's not safe. I compromised by putting the rein between my
middle and ring fingers, but I had significant loss of sensitivity and it is very, very hard to hold the reins safely.
You just can't close your hand properly. My mare at the time was a very good girl, but there were situations that were completely unsafe.

If your horse has any propensity for mayhem, I say wait. I have some pretty severe arthritis in this finger now and I am
pretty sure riding without it being fully healed is a good part of it.

Sucky luck! If I'm reading the films correctly (frequent flyer layman ), it's a hairline spiral(?) fracture? You may be healed in time for the show. Which is great ... if you don't need to prep time before the show! Or if you have horses who don't need daily reminders of who's the boss (mine do).

Don't ride. Let that finger heal. The only exception is if you have any horses who 100% neck rein and you have someone else to tack up.

Follow your surgeon's advice, but IME, it should be healed with a splint and buddy taping for several weeks. It does not look like it will be a 6 month, 3x a week PT, 2 surgery ordeal like my last broken finger.

I rode through a broken ring finger by using a driving rein in that hand, ie rein over top of hand under thumb. I still at times have to ride that way due to arthritis. I've shown that way, i don't think it's illegal.

Here is a description with photo. http://www.midsouthhorsereview.com/news.php?id=4758


I don't understand why you keep getting these rude horses for a child. I guess this sounds exceptionally rude, but cripes, if they are injuring you they are not really child safe.

That sucks. I was afraid it was going to be waaaay worse, especially when I saw you'd attached an X-ray! It's amazing how much we are affected by a "little" injury though...makes you realize how involved a toe or finger are in so many daily tasks.
And reminder of how quickly we can get hurt doing "simple" things in the horse world. The other day I was literally walking behind my barn, outside the fence line. We have some gravel down for drainage, and it's a tiny slope there. My foot slipped and I almost fell sideways, caught myself at last minute. Stopped and realized that had I fallen, I would have landed on the cinderblock foundation (unfinished part of the barn that will be tackroom, no walls yet) and probably would have hit right at my head/face/temple area. Blink of an eye, just walking.

I was trying to picture how western folks hold reins....I think the position Chisamba posted is similar. I guess in any dressage show you might get marked down on position (??? would you????) but if it's safe, and it's just about getting mileage maybe it's an option? But I agree, try to let it hear correctly if you can. And I hope you enjoy your time off!

Chisamba wrote:I rode through a broken ring finger by using a driving rein in that hand, ie rein over top of hand under thumb. I still at times have to ride that way due to arthritis. I've shown that way, i don't think it's illegal.

Here is a description with photo. http://www.midsouthhorsereview.com/news.php?id=4758

That's a good suggestion. I'm familiar with that hold as my dressage instructor introduced it to me last year for a different reason.

I don't understand why you keep getting these rude horses for a child. I guess this sounds exceptionally rude, but cripes, if they are injuring you they are not really child safe.

This happened because of a puddle. The pony is well behaved in normal circumstances. And, the way the reins pulled back in my hand was just crappy bad luck. If that hadn't happened, it wouldn't have even been a newsworthy story, just another day with horses.

Just ride with a driving rein hold, allowable and actually gives more control in any ways. Ridden with splinted fingers (from shattered/dislocated/broken ones).

Horses! sorry to hear that Deanna!

No horse is guaranteed to be 100% safe, but yes this sounds like a fluke!

heddylamar wrote:Sucky luck! If I'm reading the films correctly (frequent flyer layman ), it's a hairline spiral(?) fracture? You may be healed in time for the show. Which is great ... if you don't need to prep time before the show! Or if you have horses who don't need daily reminders of who's the boss (mine do).

Don't ride. Let that finger heal. The only exception is if you have any horses who 100% neck rein and you have someone else to tack up.

Follow your surgeon's advice, but IME, it should be healed with a splint and buddy taping for several weeks. It does not look like it will be a 6 month, 3x a week PT, 2 surgery ordeal like my last broken finger.

Yes, it's fortunately all aligned, so should heal in 4-6 weeks. I just need to baby it for the first week or so until there is evidence of healing on follow-up x-rays. The horse I'm showing, Panache, is light in the contact and has evolved into being a relatively easy ride so should be a good boy when I can get on again.

Good excuse not to braid!

Dapple Field wrote:Good excuse not to braid!

Ha! Yes, indeed. When this first happened and I was thinking about how I could show this weekend anyway, one of the factors contributing to my decision to scratch was the realization that I wouldn't be able to braid!

Oh no! Ouch! Good excuse to eat lots of calcium too.

What would you tell one of your patients if they had the same injury and wanted to ride? lol

I saw the hand surgeon this morning. Apparently the fracture is quite unstable and prone to displacing. As he said, I'm a hair breadth from needing surgery. So far, it's still in alignment. I'm now in a 24/7 splint and I have to baby the whole hand because if I were to grip strongly with the other fingers, the tendons of that finger could pull the fragments out of alignment.

In other words, I'm grounded from riding for the foreseeable future.

It could have been worse, I realize that and I realize that this is very much a first-world problem. I'm still sad because my First Level horse is doing really well this season (at the last show, all three First Level tests earned scores 70% or higher!), and he was entered in more shows which I've had to scratch from. And, my almost-Third Level horse needs to be kept in shape to make more good progress with his work, especially flying changes, otherwise it'll put us back that much longer.

On the other hand, think of the $$ I'll save by not showing. And, I now have a very valid excuse for not helping put up the hay that'll be ready in a few days! There's always a silver lining.

I had a similar injury about 7 years ago, but to my right hand. It HURT a lot and I did have to wear a splint 24/7 and baby it for about a month. It was worth the extra care because I avoided surgery and have, for all intents and purposes, complete functionality. I hope you heal quickly and well, too.

BTDT. Still have the crooked finger. Had a Hanoverian jumper do a stupid spook as I was bringing him in from the paddock. Pulled away, took my ring finger with him. Damn it. I feel your pain. Here's jingles it stays together and does not require surgery.

I did a boxer's fracture on my right hand day 1 of summer vacation years ago and ended up in a cast, that was brutal! That one took a long time to fully heal and about a year before I could fully straighten out my hand. As a result of the injury though, when I close my fist or gather my reins (after slipping them for drop fences etc. or whatever), my pinky tends to stick out.

Whiiiiich led to my second right hand break. Spiral fracture of my pinky finger while competing (during x-country). I had slipped my reins jumping down into water and while gathering up the reins....CRUNCH!! Jammed my pinky into my guy's neck. Yep, it was loud enough that I heard the crunch. I thought maybe I just kinda crunched the knuckle a bit or something benign. I even competed the next day (stadium jumping) and waited several days to get it looked at. Turned out to be a spiral fracture similar to DJR so I got fitted with a splint and luckily was able to avoid surgery. The hand specialist warned me to be very careful since it appeared it could easily displaced. Lol, I told her it might not be that unstable since prior to the appointment I accidently whacked hard several times and my horse's face smacked it pretty good several days prior as well.

I will admit though that I did ride through both fractures but rode mostly one handed and was careful. Tacking up was awkward but so was writing cheques and driving my stick shift Civic

Currently, my right hand ring finger is nqr. It was wrenched pretty good this spring (not from my horse, nor from riding but another horse pulled back unexpectedly while I was leading it in). I've been riding (on the flat and jumping) with the reins between my middle finger and the ring finger. My poor right hand!

I'm now 3 weeks post-injury, and the follow-up at the 2 wk mark was good with everything in the right place.

Because it's my ring finger (so the tendons pull on the fragments even if I'm trying to only grip with my index/middle finger), it's going to be an annoying injury because it effectively stops me from using that hand to grip anything but light/easy objects. It definitely tells me if I've done too much (throb!!!). The surgeon wants me to baby it for the full six weeks, but told me that by 3-1/2 to 4 wks it'll be a lot "stickier" and less bothered by whacking it on things (which happens regularly, the proverbial "sore thumb"). I may try riding at the 4 wk mark on my steady-eddy, but I'm not sure how I'll tack up (especially the saddle/girth)! I may just have to be patient ... argh!

I did, however, go on a lovely maritime vacation with my daughter for a week since I couldn't do much else. We visited Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, my old stomping grounds. Loved it!

Love Nova Scotia and PEI. I have relatives there and my Grandmother came from Amherst.

I'm now five weeks post-injury and in the last 10 days my finger is finally feeling better. It isn't as sore, and I can use the rest of my hand better.

I started riding my steady-eddy last week and it's manageable. I put the rein between my third & ring finger and keep my ring & baby finger's extended (which I have to do because of the splint on my ring finger). It's comfortable like that, I just have to remind myself not to grip with all fingers and only with my index/ring finger. With practice, it's possible! Plus, my steady-eddy is light in the contact so it's manageable.

Surprisingly, doing the farm work and riding are the least of my problems in terms of protecting this finger. I've whacked it SO painfully and SO many times on other things, like the turn signal when i turn the steering wheel (OUCH!), bed linens that the splint gets caught on, and so on. I hit it so hard on the turn signal one day that I thought I'd displaced it! That was about 2 wks ago.

I'm in the splint until the end of August, then I have to start range-of-motion exercises to get it moving again.

Anyway, so far, so good!

Great update!

The neat thing is that my steady-eddy is Panache, my 6 yr old (just turned 6 last week)! I got him as a long yearling and put all his training on him myself, so that sure feels super to be able to trust him that much now that he's my steady guy. My Friesian/Perch, Jet, is also steady but he has such an up-necked way of going (and can get strong sometimes) that I'm worried about jamming my finger into his big neck, so I'm starting with Panache until my finger is more healed.

I love pananche I remember when you got him! I'm glad you are feeling better