Irish medal-winning showjumper Trevor Breen has been back on board his superstar Highland President and feeling good, four months after a serious fall.
Trevor fractured his lower neck and back in the fall in the grand prix of Hamburg on 11 May, and underwent surgery on the most serious break. But he has been back in the saddle – and he told H&H it was as if he had never been out of it.
“It felt unbelievable – but very normal, like I was never off; I don’t know how to explain it,” he said. “I’m just going to ease myself into it. I’ve ridden for four days now, only one horse each day. Highland President is the only one I’ve ridden, and it feels very good.”
Trevor said for the first couple of months after his fall, he knew there was no way he could ride.
“I knew my body wasn’t right,” he said. “For the last month or so, I’ve felt I could but I listened to the doctors – funnily enough, they know what they’re talking about! – and they told me to wait, so I did. And hopefully, I’ll reap the benefits of not rushing it.”
Trevor said he will be following the doctors’ advice to take things easy as he gets riding fit again.
“In a couple of months, hopefully it’ll be in the rear-view mirror and business as usual,” he said.
Trevor was on the Irish team that won silver at last year’s Europeans with the home-bred Highland President – and he hopes there will be “plenty more to come”. The horse was sold to Cian O’Connor last year but came back in March.
“It was eight months, which is the only time he’s ever been away and it was lovely to have him home,” said Trevor, adding that the 12-year-old gelding was happy to be back.
“1,000%, he knew he was back home,” he said. “I went out to unload him, opened up the truck and he looked at me a bit surprised. Then he was cuddling straight into me.
“He came off the truck and stopped halfway down the ramp for about 10 seconds. He looked around, soaked it all in, then dragged me straight to his stable. I could have let him loose; he knew exactly where he was going.”
Trevor added that the first doctor to see him after his fall thought he might not ride again but the others he saw agreed he would come back.
“I was very lucky that where I was there were amazing facilities,” he said. “If you were to choose where you had to do something like that, it was one of the best places to do it!”
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