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H&H Exclusive: Should you ride while pregnant?
September 6, 2007
H&H tackles a thorny issue by asking whether riding and competing during pregnancy is an ill-advised trend
Increasingly riders are competing while pregnant, but is this trend an ill-advised one? Journalist Charlotte Mackaness talks to riders and medical experts in today's Horse & Hound (6 September, '07) to discover what issues mothers-to-be need to consider.
Famous competing mothers
- Double individual Olympic gold medalist Anky van Grunsven (pictured) was pregnant with her first child Yannick when she won gold at the Athens Olympics in 2004.
- Mary King won gold at the 1995 Europeans when 5.5 months pregnant
- Molly Ashe-Cawley was part of the American team that won the Hickstead show jumping Nations Cup in July while four months pregnant
Peter Bowen-Simpkins, spokesman for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists says: “The major danger caused by riding occurs after 28 weeks. The risks aren’t associated with the process of riding as such, but with falling off and landing on your tummy.”
He believes the likelihood of taking a tumble increases with pregnancy, but adds: “Also, during the first 12 weeks there is a relationship between trauma and miscarriage.”
Don’t miss H&H’s exclusive feature on the pros and cons of riding when pregnant in Horse & Hound (6 September 2007)
- Would you ride while pregnant? Vote now in our online poll (right)
Related articles:
- British riders collect medals at the student riders’ World Finals
- Sophie Wells ends young riders career on a high in Frankfurt
- Pregnant Shire stuck in seven-foot deep cess pit overnight
- Eight golds and three silvers for British para riders
- Young rider Eleanor Hall is our lucky bursary winner
- British young riders win team gold in European Championships at Blair
- Horse & Hound to increase overseas jumping coverage
- Free all-round training for young riders
- Congratulations to a pregnant Emma Hindle
- Young rider special: future racing and eventing stars
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