FIRST RIDE AFTER GIVING BIRTH | 10 DAYS POST BIRTH HORSE RIDE || VLOG 163

Today I am going to get on for the first time since giving birth. So we're 10 days, I think now. If I feel too sore, I'm going to get off. You could be in a load of pain. So this could be a really short video. Oh, yeah. Oh, how's that on the old groin? I think I feel OK. Why do you say that like that? No, I'm ready to have a canter. Yeah, I'm going to give it a go. Right, be careful. Oh, wrong leg though. I'm not behind you. Wow, God. Hey, guys, and welcome back to my channel. Welcome back to another vlog. So as you can see, got the pram here. So I have had our baby. If you've seen on YouTube, I did do a post. We had a little girl called Lexie. Beautiful girl. Yeah. This is our third time down to the yard, I think. Yeah, fourth time. I thought you were going to say it's our third child. Today, she's just relaxing in the pram. Yeah, we get a little peek of her. Yeah. Oh, baby girl. But we're maybe biased. We are biased. Today, I am going to get on for the first time since giving birth. Yeah. So we're 10 days, I think now. Yeah. We just thought we'd bring you guys along just to see how it feels. Maybe give some information for maybe riders that are maybe pregnant at the minute. You can sort of give some feedback how it feels. Yeah. You could be in a load of pain. So, yeah, this could be really short. Yeah, we're going to give it a go. I'm not going to do a particularly long ride. I just feel OK. So I'm going to give it a go. I'm going to ride Max today. We always thought I'd ride Zeb first, but Zeb's just been ridden today and I hadn't really planned to ride, but I felt good today. So I thought I'm going to get on Max, even if we just do 10 minutes in the school, see how I feel. And we just thought we'd bring you along for the journey because we like to bring you guys along. Yeah, for everything in our life, really, all the ups and the downs. So we thought we'd bring you along. It is quite nice, actually, and sunny. It does look like it might rain, so hopefully we can get on before it rains. But we're going to get Max tacked up and I'm in my riding clothes for the first time in about... Well, I was in them for about a couple of months at the beginning. Actually, let's do a little riding clothes bit in the tack room now before we get Max out. Three, two, one. OK, guys, so I'm back in my riding clothes for the first time in months and months and months. I think I've not worn riding leggings for over six months. Looking good. Which I'm not looking actually for 10 days. 10 days is pretty good. It's pretty good. It's actually the tummy has gone down quite a lot. To be fair, I put a lot of my weight on my legs. Yeah, still a chunky thigh. My legs are still quite big. Hence, I think I'm going to have to stay wearing my short riding boots like I did when I was pregnant because my calves have also got bigger. So I think my long boots won't quite fit at the minute, but that's fine. We're in the riding leggings. They do fit and in a riding top. Yeah. So jobs are good, I'm ready. I think you've done really well to get in all of these. You're still looking good after 10 days, I think. Some people might say you're riding too early, but I just think how you feel like you've got it in you. You feel good. So why not give it a go? Exactly. Last week, even at the weekend, I still wasn't. There was no way. Whereas the last couple of days, I felt really good. So I'm going to give it a go. I'm not going to ride for too long. If I feel too sore, I'm going to get off. But let's give it a go. Let's give it a go. Quick transition. It looks quite lazy. Wake up, boy. He always looks quite lazy when I bring him out. He's had a nice clip, though. Michaela and I clipped him last week. Yeah, because he was getting quite, quite fluffy. Yeah. Cue transition of good looking clipped horse. I guess get my hat on. Oh, yeah. How does that feel to get the hat on? Still fit? Still fit. The weight hasn't gone to your head. It's actually my other hat, though. I think I left the other one in the car from because I did actually ride up until the day before I gave birth. So I've forgotten that, but at least I've got this one. So that's fine. OK, well, let's get ready. So let's see how I feel when I get on. OK. OK, here we go. OK. My mum is looking after the baby. We haven't just ditched the baby. Yes. No. Yeah. We have got someone looking after the baby. Right. I can get on on the correct side for the first time because my whole pregnancy from about five months for five months had to get on the wrong side because I had this sort of pain in my back, my groin. Yeah. Oh, how's that on the old groin? It was all right at the minute. Yeah. OK. I think we know I won't be doing too long today. We'll just have a little ride, see how we feel. Yeah. What is the plan today? Are we cantering, trotting, walking? To be honest, cantering is probably easier than trotting, actually. Really? I think it is because you're not having to go up and down. I think we're just going to hopefully have a little walk, trot and a canter, but we're just going to take it as it comes, see how we feel. If I don't feel OK, then I'll get back off. Yeah. OK, nice. That's Megan. Max is being a very good boy with the pram. I lunged Zeb last week and Scott was with the pram out outside of the arena and Zeb was terrified of the pram. However, I'm sure if he was on a cross-country course and had a pram next to a jump, he wouldn't even think twice. He wouldn't even think twice, but he was literally terrified. Whereas Max is being, Megan's just walking Lexie up and down and he does not care, which is good. First sort of two minutes, how are you feeling in walk? I think I feel OK. Why do you say that? No, I feel OK. I think I don't want to do too long. I think I'll get too sore. But I think I'm going to give it a go at having a trot in a minute. Yeah, I'm not too sore. I can sort of feel it ever so slightly. So I think I don't want to push it too much today. But no, I feel quite good. OK, so shall I give it a go in trot? Whack him up into trot, only if you're comfortable, though. Yeah. Yeah. Do you remember how to ride? Just about. Yeah. I mean, I've only had I've only had 11 days from not riding, so trotting is a bit better, I think, than walking because I'm not sat so much the whole time. Got him in a nice contact. Yeah. I'm a good little school. Have you got any advice or tips and tricks for riders who are might be pregnant or coming up to giving birth with riding? I know you don't want to. You're not the fountain of knowledge, but any tips that you any useful tips and tricks that you found during your pregnancy? I would say in terms of riding when you're pregnant, you just have to go with how your body feels. I know some people really struggle to ride through pregnancy because they feel too uncomfortable. Some people like just need a wee as soon as they get on, because obviously the baby's sitting on your bladder. I was really fortunate that actually when I rode, I never felt that pregnant. I felt more pregnant walking around. So I was extremely lucky. Also, you know, take into consideration your horse and you know what they're like. Again, I was really fortunate. All of my horses are really sensible and towards the end, I only rode Zeb, who I know like the back of my hand was walk-shop transition. So that definitely played a part. You know, if I if I just had Aero for instance, I probably you're right if I change the rain. Yeah, I probably would have stopped riding a few months before. I think it's all just personal preference, really. You have to really just see how you feel and make the call. But yeah, I feel extremely fortunate that I was able to keep riding because I feel like it's such a big part of my life that for me, I would have really struggled if I couldn't ride. Yeah. Mental health as well. Exactly. Yeah. A hundred percent, because especially towards the end, feeling really big and uncomfortable and not able to do what you normally do is really hard, especially for us equestrians who are very active and, you know, do a lot of heavy lifting normally and are quite independent. Then not being able to do that, I actually really struggled with that. So it was nice to still be able to ride a bit. And I just took it easy. I didn't ride every day. I just listened to what my body needed. Some days I would opt to lunge instead or give them a day off. Yeah. Good boy. So how's he feeling? He's feeling really good, actually. Dad's been ticking him along for me, hacking him a couple of times a week just so we could keep him in work, because obviously he had six months off. And then Dad and Michaela have been keeping them going, and Lilia, who works for me. So I'm really fortunate that they've actually been able to stay in work and in exercise so that I can just hop back on, basically. But he's feeling really good, actually. Feels like I'm not used to you running alongside me because he hasn't obviously done many vlogs recently, has he? Good lad. I wish I had a GoPro to film Scott right now. Yeah, I'm back running along. Brilliant. You love it. Ready to have a canter? Yeah, only if you're comfortable. Yeah, I'm going to give it a go. I'll stay on this circle. OK, you ready? Right, be careful. Oh, wrong leg though. Oh, ride much? Nice. How's that feeling? Yeah, all right, actually. I have to say, sorry, I'll go larger in a sec. Walk actually was the worst. Really? Yeah. How come? I don't know. I feel like this, you just go with the movement a bit more. So it just doesn't feel as sore. I'm not really sure why. Sure, it's different for different people, but that's just how I felt. Right of me? Left. Right, sorry. Well, it's confusing. We need to get a bit more in sync, me and you. Well, we haven't really done this for a long time, so I think we can give ourselves a break. Megan, aka Mum. How's the Lex Meister? Absolutely fine. Is she asleep? Fresh air. Keep her moving. And we'll keep moving ourselves, especially me. Oh, Jesus Christ. Ash, are you doing anything different? What do you mean? In terms of, I don't know, technique? Are you not putting as much weight through? I'm probably trying to sit a little bit. Yes, good boy. Sit a bit softer, I guess. No, I actually feel really good right now. I mean, maybe we need to check back in tonight or tomorrow. We'll film that and check. I feel OK then. Yeah, we'll check back in tonight. Yeah, but right now, I feel fine. I'm going to do a bit of counter-counter, so I'm going to go across the diagonal. OK, a bit of counter-counter. I'm going to stay in counter. I'm not overly sure what that means, but that looks just like counter to me. So just tell us what you're doing in the old counter-counter, eh? Counter-counter is just basically countering on the wrong leg. So I started on the left rein, stayed in counter, came across the diagonal, and then he has to stay in left-lead counter on the right rein. Yeah, just really good for suppleness, rhythm. So I might just do that on the other rein. Then, to be honest, that'll probably do it. Then we'll do him. Yeah, we don't want to overdo it. No. Take everything nice and steady, yeah? Yeah. Yeah, I'll do that once on the other rein, and then then I think I'll finish there. There's the bellmeister. Still trying to get up. I'm not behind you. Make sure she... Wow! God! Yeah, the bell's been a bit out of sorts, hasn't she? She has. She's been very good with Lexie, but she's a bit confused as to why she's not getting as much attention. Yeah. A couple of days she's had to stay at home and she's just a bit a bit confused. Good boy. Just give him a little stretch now. That's a top tip from Scott. You've got to give your dog love as well. Yeah, you do. Maybe a ratio of three to one. Every three kisses you give your newborn child, you give your dog one. Or maybe three to two. Or maybe three to three. Or maybe four to three through the dog. Yeah. Either way, lots of kisses for lots of people. OK. OK. Lovely transit. Oh, no, you've stopped. How's that? Good, I think, yeah. Yeah. OK. I feel all right now. I think the telltale will be tonight and tomorrow. Yeah. But I'm under no pressure. I don't need to ride again. You know, I can leave it a few days now. Yeah. I can just do what I want, really, because I've got the horses covered, like I said, so I'm under no pressure. If I feel good, I can ride again. I can leave it a few days. But I hadn't really planned to today, but just this morning, I felt quite good. So I thought, you know what? I'm going to give it a go. If I feel too uncomfortable, get back off again. And but actually, I felt good. So lovely. Fingers crossed. Because I would like to get back to, you know, riding. It's really nice to be able to. Although I felt good riding when I was pregnant, I did get very tired. Yeah. So I couldn't do anywhere near that. I feel much better in terms of tiredness. Riding. If I'd done that much when I was pregnant, I would have been breathing really heavily, really struggled, actually. So that that's really nice. So, yeah, hopefully I'm not too sore later on in tomorrow so I can keep riding. But either way, that's been a fantastic ride. So, yeah. Nice. It's nice. It's a pram. My boy is having his lunch. Oh, this is the first time I've been getting off either on the mountain block or lifting my leg over and sliding down because of my bump. Careful. Fortunately, they're very good. Nice. OK. Well done. Very well done. I feel all right at the minute. We'll check back later. We will check back later. Right, let's get him untacked and give him some carrots because he was a very good boy. Come on, then. Right. Carrots the old boy? Got a carrot because he was a very good boy, wasn't he? He looked after me. Didn't care about the pram. Unlike Zeb when we lunged him. Good boy. Yeah, he did look after you, didn't he? He did. He was a very good boy, actually. Give him a light sponge because although it's end of October, it's actually very mild. Yeah. OK. Just going to get a sponge. What we'll do, actually, is we'll now we'll go to this evening and see if see if what we did was a good job. Yeah. Quick transition to this evening. Three, two, one.