type of horse! It was at this point that she Joined BYRDS which in simple terms, is dressage for children. It was at this time we decided to look for a dressage trainer that could teach Daisy inbetween her lessons with me as she was a serious little thing, where horses were concerned and after all time was running out if she wanted to get to Olympia! So, we were put in touch with Nicola Buchanan. At the time we knew that Nicola was an accomplished Grand Prix International rider but we had no clue as to how amazing she really is! Nicola hadn’t really taught any children before Daisy so she gave her the same sort of lessons that she would give to an adult. Daisy loved them! For her, fun was hacking and having a gallop up a hill or laughing on the yard with her friends but lessons were serious business and she didn’t want to waste a moment not learning or achieving.
Devastating news...
After Spyder, Daisy went on to ride Sarah and Rebecca Eccles’ schoolmaster, Sam, who she competed at medium level. It was during this time that we found out the devastating news that Daisy had developed the spinal condition Scoliosis. Daisy was experiencing neck pain and after passing out during a routine neck examination it was discovered and she was referred to the spinal unit at Southampton hospital. I badgered the consultant for a prognosis but was told this was impossible as Scoliosis is such an individual condition and impossible to predict. All we could focus on is that at worst Scoliosis is highly debilitating and life threatening.
Scoliosis is hereditary and comes about when the spine instead of growing symmetrically with natural curves becomes asymmetric and starts to twist and rotate. This affects the rib cage which rotates with it and internal organs which in extreme cases can be crushed. We knew all too well about the effects as Daisy’s Aunt has the condition very severely and has endured 7 life threatening operations. During the procedures the lungs are deflated and vital organs taken out of the body. If Daisy’s spine continued to curve we knew that she would have to have operations which takes the flexibility out of the spine and would put paid to any dressage career for her. With this knowledge I spent a year researching the condition, talking to surgeons in the US to see if there were less invasive procedures and spending most days, unbeknown to Daisy crying for what might be. I persuaded Daisy’s consultant to do special X-rays for us which he very reluctantly agreed to which
were sent to the US. The surgeons there have procedures and diagnostics well in advance of ours and they were able to predict one year on that Daisy’s spine was almost mature and the curves would only progress a small amount more.
We had to keep monitoring but in April 2012 we cracked open the champagne as Daisy was officially signed off from the hospital as her spine had pretty much stopped growing. The scoliosis does affect her. She experiences pain in her back, neck and shoulders, sometimes severely enough to affect her breathing. She struggles with straightness on the horse and has to work with her physiotherapist Clare Howard, to stay supple and as symmetrical as possible. The pain was far worse when she was growing as her spine was actively curving which was often painful and stiff. Now her spine is stable it is just a case of her looking after herself as much as possible and taking pain relief when necessary which is not always possible when you want to have a career in dressage.
An X-Ray of Daisy's Spine
Specialist X-ray's
Here is an X-ray of Daisy’s back when her scoliosis was discovered. It went on to curve a further 5 degrees or so. It then stabilised before the curves got too severe.
You can see she has a lumbar curve (at the bottom) and then a compensatory curve at the top so her spine is slightly S shaped. This causes the rib cage to rotate along with the spine which can be quite painful. Daisy is lucky in that her curves stayed small. We saw many children at hospital appointments that weren’t so fortunate.