Horseriding Zara

I assume (should never assume) that it's the jogging up and down that is slightly? dangerous if you're pregnant.

Perhaps it's rather to do with the possibility of falling off. But Zara Phillips isn't going to fall off.

My DIL was riding up until the last weeks of all her pregnancies and would have probably been riding on the day of the birth but for the fact that she couldn't physically get on the horse! No damage done at all and my three grandchildren are the fittest most active children ever. They are all keen riders too !

What a fuss they love to make. Perhaps these royal babies are more precious than any of our mere mortals?

i'm not a horserider, but one doesn't take all the bumps in one's nether regions, does one? I thought you had to hold on with your thighs and rise in the saddle for trotting and stuff. Same on a bike, you don't just slump on the saddle when it's bumpy but stand on the pedals a bit. So the bumps are distributed between all four limbs.

Now really,

Yes you are right Bags most of the hard work and strain is taken by the legs. My grandchildren have extremely strong thigh muscles and almost squeeze you to death when they have a piggyback!

I think the danger is probably from falling and even highly experienced, competitive riders - or highly experienced competition horses - can fall.

I rode with all three of mine until suitable clothes became too tight which was around six months. Sitting 'deep' strengthens pelvic floor muscles which is good for bladder control - remember all those pelvic floor excercises we were supposed to do??

Looking back I think I was taking a chance. A good friend of mine who rode for four months lost her baby because the lining of her uterus detached. It may not have had anything to do with horse riding but who would want to take the risk if you knew it existed?

Can I please risk incurring the wrath of everybody and ask why we have to follow this usage of the term "horseriding"?? Just "riding" used to be good enough, the Americans called it horseback riding which seemed a tautology, but unless we are distinguishing it from camel riding or donkey riding - why horseriding?? Sorry Bags - no offence to you or anybody in particular,I recognise that the usage has become widespread - but that doesn't mean I like it!!!

I only mentioned it once, gracesmum but I do agree. 'Do you ride?' used to be universally understood but might be met with these days.

Yes, the American use of 'horse back riding' jars with me too. What other part of the animal do they imagine you're going to sit on? The neck, the rump, the nose?

What does rather surprise us about the Americans though is very , very few you see on horses as you drive round the Country .

No prob, graces. I picked 'horseriding' from the news report where I saw it. I think the horse is specified because one rides a bike or a motorbike (possibly even a quad bike too) as well, and nowadays more people ride bikes of various kinds than ride horses. Simple really.

Also, just remembered, in America you give a hitch-hiker a 'ride' rather than a 'lift'. So the tendency to specify the horse bit of the ride nowadays is simply for clarity.

If someone had asked me "do you ride?" when I cycled every day, I might well have answered yes. And then have added "a bike", just to be facetious because really people usually say they cycle .

But I've listened to conversations between motor-cyclists who talk about riding their bikes and I haven't realised at first that they meant motorcycles instead of push-bikes.

I'm all for clarity. Why leave something ambiguous?

Not that it would be when mentioning Zara Phillips, but...

Zara would have asked if it was safe for her to ride and obviously given the all clear by her doctors,as long as she is careful I don't think there is problem.

Has she been told not to ride then? There a world if difference between gentle hacking out, dressage, show jumping and fearsome cross country courses. I should imagine that as she is used to riding every day she could at least continue the first two for a bit longer.

Just wondering if the use of the term horse back riding by Americans developed from, or to differentiate from, the term bare back riding.

Maybe horsebackriding is to distinguish it from the ancient Cherokee art of horse front riding as seen in the movies?
But seriously, don't ride, don't have sex etc as advice is probably you-know-what's tales... you know the ones. Based on an incomplete understanding of physiology shall we say.
Bouncing up and down etc cannot detach a healthy placenta or shake the baby out. If the head was deeply engaged and pressing on the cervix without much of a cushion of fluid then it could possibly encourage labour to begin.
e Zara, is a professional rider, and will probably continue to work in the way any other woman would.

Zara Phillips is a healthy, fit, young woman who has been riding all her life. So far as I'm aware, there is no NHS advice not to ride when pregnant. I'm sure she is perfectly capable of deciding if/when it's becoming too uncomfortable to ride. I'd also trust her judgement about which horses to avoid during her pregnancy to have the best chance of not being thrown. What a load of tosh in the papers this morning. I am so pleased I am beyond pregnancies, as young pregnant women are constantly being told what to eat/wear and how to spend their time. I'd advice Kate Middleton to give up her high heels for life, not because of her pregnancy, but for the sake of her feet and back as she gets older. Otherwise, I'd leave these young women to make the best of their pregnancies. Stop riding indeed, humph. When I was diagnosed with osteo and inflammatory arthritis in my 40's, my rheumatologist and GP both encouraged me to continue riding for as long as I felt I could. They did suggest I be a bit careful about the horse I chose as falling off would not be good for the arthritis, but riding would be great for my fitness and more importantly, ability to begin the process of coming to terms with chronic health problems. I rode till I was mid 50's, by which time even I accepted the fun was being over ridden by the stiffness and discomfort. Ho hum - go for it Zara

Does this attitude about not riding when pregnant stem from the old wives' tale that going for a gallop on a horse could promote a miscarriage?

John Betjeman included the 'horseback' reference in his poem listing 'non-U' expressions :

"It's ever so close in the lounge dear,
But the vestibule's comfy for tea
And Howard is riding on horseback
So do come and take some with me"

- it's the one that starts 'Phone for the fishknives, Norman...'

feetle

So JB agrees with gracesmum - the poem is about pretentious people using "non-u" words isn't it?

I cycled to the hospital to have the baby. And rode home with baby tucked under my arm. Child now loves cycling.