Horses and Post Surgery!

Hi everyone, 

I have 4 horses. Riding and training them is my full time job. My potential surgeon said after 3 weeks all restrictions would be lifted. My question is is that realistic though? How long did it take you guys before you felt good enough for serious physically exerting exercise?

I live in Florida, so even in the winter you can work up a sweat managing 1200 pound animals and doing barn chores! Do you think I'll feel ok after 3 weeks or do you think my body will feel weak doing this heavy outside labor with the low calorie diet and adjusting to life after surgery? 

Thanks for the input!

Everyone's experience is so different.  I felt fine and was released to do all activities at my 2 week appointment but I've heard others don't feel back to normal until about the 6 week mark and of course there are people everywhere in between.  Good luck!

I was only allowed to walk for the first 6 weeks.  After that I was cleared for everything, but it did take time to build up to my current level of activity.  

Plan that you'll need to take it slow.  And you'll probably need some help with your horses!

There's no way I could have done that at 3 weeks. I needed a full 6 weeks to even feel decent enough for exercise. 

Thank you! This is the stuff I need to know so I can plan accordingly!!!!

I have horses and after 3 months I was cleared to ride them.  As for lifting things like hay, buckets, saddles, mucking stalls and such it was 6 weeks and my doctor told me to do it slowly and not to strain.  If I felt something was going to be to heavy don't touch it.

Honestly at 3 weeks post op you are not going to have the energy to deal with them.  Just walking down to see them and they are only 125ft from my house took a lot of energy out of me at 2 weeks. 

I was initially warned mostly about heavy lifting.  These instructions came from primary surgeon....hernias are most common first year post-op with all WLS.  

I am sure someone will provide another take on the above.  Take care:):)

Hi Brooke!  I definitely did not have the energy to do that in 3 weeks, but then I had several complications which delayed my progress.

However, if I had not had complications, I still think it would have been difficult to do all that you do simply because the lack of calories is very fatiguing to me.  But that's me.  You may be different.

From a strictly medical standpoint, 3 weeks DOES seem realistic, assuming no serious complications, because there really aren't stitches to tear or anything like that (unless of course you end up with open rather than laparoscopic surgery, but that's pretty rare).

You might want to have a back-up plan in place to cover the first 6-8 weeks, just in case going back full-time is too much for you to take on at first.  Better safe than sorry, as they say!

Also I have to say I'm totally jealous!  Horses were my life until I went to college (had to sell mine then).  One of my dreams when I get to normal weight is to get to ride again, if I can find somewhere that I can afford to do that!