TEGAN HARRISON - HER LONG AND DIFFICULT ROAD BACK TO RACE-RIDING

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, January 25, 2022

It took just three rides for Tegan Harrison to get back in the winners’ enclosure following her ten month injury enforced layoff from race riding … which was a very swift and welcome outcome after all the time she was forced to sit on the sidelines.

When Harrison was dislodged in a seemingly harmless fall from Mishani Untamed while returning scale after the second race at Eagle Farm on March 10, 2021, there was no immediate indication of the extent of the trouble that Harrison was facing injury-wise.

“It was seemingly just a simple, harmless tumble on the way back to the scales,” said Harrison, taking up the story. “I landed on my feet, so I thought it was literally a harmless tumble … but, unfortunately, I actually suffered a horrible injury out of it and I had to have surgery on my leg.”

And that wasn’t the end of the misfortune.

“There was an incident in my surgery,” continued Harrison. “I was meant to be in surgery for not long. I ended up being in there for hours and hours. When I came out … the next day I was in a lot of pain and the doctor told me that a drill bit had snapped off inside my leg, so he had to send it through my leg with another drill bit.

“I obviously had a fair bit of pain-killers in me at the time and I thought he was actually joking until we started unwrapping the bandages a few weeks later and I saw I’ve got quite a big scar where it was forced through my leg and I’ve sort of lost some feeling on the inside there … not through the injury or the surgery, but because what they had to do after the bit snapped off.

“As for the actual injury itself, my tibial plateau was shattered so they put a plate in there.

“Because it is a weight bearing bone that is what made it a longer process getting it right. Because of the drill bit episode as well I was a big risk of having falls while on crutches, so my wait time on bed rest was longer than normal.

“The doctor literally only wanted me to get up to go to the toilet. Sponge baths went on for weeks and weeks until he said, ok now I’m happy for you to try and go on the crutches. There was a lot of bed rest involved with not even being able to hobble around so, definitely, that was the most difficult time for someone like myself who likes doing things and being active.

“It was really, really difficult to just stay still and lie in bed for all of those weeks … but it had to be done.”

So, what carried Harrison through that frustrating time? What mindset did she adopt?

“I find it easier in times like that to go day to day,” said Harrison. “You know, when you can’t move and you watch racing. You might see a horse that you like it and it actually just becomes more frustrating and it just becomes harder to get through those times because that is where you want to be.

“That’s your end game. That’s where you want to be, but you are still way off it, so I took a bit of a different approach and I switched off from racing for quite a bit. I switched it all off and just started watching a few shows and reading a few books … just trying to stay preoccupied on other aspects of life and day to day things.

“If you focus on your end goal and you are a long way from it, it just makes you become frustrated, so I was just trying to enjoy that time the best I could without having those racing feelings attached to it.

‘I had a bit of practise at it now.” (Harrison has experienced plenty of other ‘time-outs’ with injury).

The situation on the possible return to racing front did get a little bit more hopeful in September, six months after Harrison’s fall at Eagle Farm.

“A horse called Commandeering was going to run at Ipswich and I thought that when I went to the surgeon he was going to clear me, and I would be able to ride Commandeering. I was all keen to go and have Commandeering as my first-up ride … but the surgeon said he was not happy for me to race-ride until we had the plate removed.

‘He said it was just going to aggravate me and that it would be much better when it was out. So, I begged him to let me go back to track-work, at least, to kill the bug a little until I had that surgery because the wait time was until December.

“So, I had to just ride work and trials at that stage. It was a bit of a tease but, In December, I got my plate removed.

“It was a hard wait and a longer time out, but it’s the best thing I could have done because, as soon as I came back to trackwork in January it has just felt completely different. I have no pain with it now.

“It is rewarding for me because, if I had been impatient at the time and just rode on, I would have been riding in some pain all of the time whereas now I just feel back to normal. It was worth the wait.”

Harrison ultimately returned to race riding action on Friday, January 23 and she has already has put a winner on the board since her return.

In fact, it took just three rides for Harrison to get her personal scoreboard moving again when she won on Ain’t She Lovely at Gatton on Saturday.

Initially Harrison is riding under a restriction of only being allowed to take two rides per meeting. That’s not for long though, if Harrison has anything say in it.

“I’m on two rides per meeting at the moment,” said Harrison. “That gets lifted on January 31 provided I pull up well. This period is just to test my knee and see how it holds up … I am good … there is no pain … so, I can’t see why it won’t be lifted.”

Fair to say, it has been a long way back, but Harrison is raring to go!

*Like every jockey, every horse has its own story. Go to the link below to read the extraordinary heart-warming story of Commandeering, the horse Harrison had originally earmarked as her comeback ride in September. Harrison didn’t get to ride that day … she had to settle for being Commandeering’s strapper on that occasion, but Commandeering did win (and has won again since) … which was an amazing result given the back-story of the horse who Harrison, the Ben Hill stable and the horse’s connections and vets just would just not give up on when Commandeering faced a life-threatening situation.

A SPECIAL MOMENT WITH A PROFOUND MESSAGE WE WOULD ALL DO WELL TO HEED

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