CATCHING UP WITH CORNISH - STILL MARKING TIME!

By Graham Potter | Friday, October 13, 2023

The smile is still there, but so too, you feel, is a certain level of sadness behind it as Jasmine Cornish comes to terms with the fact that a return to race riding is still very much only a long-term proposition for her. Not that she is feeling sorry for herself, but she is clearly missing what she wants to do most. It is now eleven months since Cornish, then a high-flying apprentice jockey, suffered a life-changing fall in a trial at Beaudesert which left her with a broken back, the repercussions of which she is still struggling with today. When we last spoke to Cornish she was looking forward with some anticipation to getting the green light to ride in trials, but that didn’t go the way she would have liked. In this latest edition of the HRO series ‘Catching Up With Cornish’ Jasmine Cornish brings us up to date with her situation, which is something akin to being trapped in no-man’s land with no certain path into the future and no going back!

“I went back to see my original doctor just to get some advice from a doctor’s point of view because of the on-going pain I’m experiencing.

“I told him how I had been upping the number of horses I was riding in work … which was the progression path they had suggested for me to do when they said I could start riding again … but that my back was still quite sore.

“The minute I stopped riding and tried to sit down or anything like that … it is very, very hard. I can’t sit at the dinner table because it hurts so much … and it is so stiff.

"So, I wanted the doctor’s feedback on that … on whether I am doing too much … or, whether there is something else I could be doing?

“I mean every day you twist and turn doing ordinary things … like doing the dishes, vacuuming, getting changed … you know, just in your everyday life … and he explained that the spine is like a chain. It’s like twelve vertebrae and they all twist, but I have got five that can’t move, so those above and below have to twist extra and take the strain.

“He said maybe they are overworking and that is why it is hurting so much, but he couldn’t give me any more exact answer beyond that. He also didn’t have any answers for me in terms of being able to say this is what you can do to make it not hurt.

“He didn’t have any of those answers which obviously I didn’t necessarily expect, but was hoping for.

“No-one I’ve seen has really ever been that precise. They’ve all said I should just listen to myself … to what my body is telling me … so they’ve never said you should do trials, you shouldn’t do trials.

“They do point out it is very risky and that, of course, is the problem, so I only ended up doing two jumps out, and they were spread out … one at Deagon and one at Beaudesert.

“After doing those jumpouts I was very sore, so after that experience I’m not looking to do trials any time soon now. When stretching forward with those muscles … it is not like the muscles aren’t built … there is just so much strain on my back.

“It has been a long time … over eleven months, heading for a year … since my fall and now it kinda feels like things are at a standstill.

“I do understand we are talking about the spine though … and if it takes this long … well, it has to take as long as it takes. I have to do things right to alleviate the risks. That’s always something you have got to think about for the long-term.

“I’ve got another assessment appointment at the start of November with the work-cover doctor to see what they think about how stable I am. All I can do is take it as it comes now.

“I strapped a nice one for dad at Ipswich on Wednesday … just keeping in the loop with our horses and trying to stay in a good head-space, but, even there, I’m still got to be aware of which horses I strap … there’ll be a lot of pulling and twisting with the strong ones which I’ve got to try and avoid.

“When I go out with friends it’s the same thing. I have to be careful … and they are constantly saying things to me like, ‘Don’t do that. Your back’s broken.’ They look after me. They are so good to me … but the pain is a constant reminder anyway that I have to take care.

“I did trial some pain medications … not so I could ride more, but just so I could be comfortable every day and not be in so much pain. The first one made me so sick … and the second one didn’t do anything, so I don’t know if they have anything else for me in that regard.

“At the start, when they said I could start riding again I thought, oh yeah, I’ll be back race riding in a couple of months … I thought maybe I’d even make it to the start of the new season, but we are already two-and-a-half months into the new season, and I can’t even imagine my back handling that at this stage.

“So, I’m stuck where I am right now.

“I’ve just got to wait it out and see what happens in a few months time.”
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SOME OF THE SERIES ARTICLES:

CATCHING UP WITH CORNISH - THE RECOVERY REPORT

CATCHING UP WITH CORNISH: ONLY SMALL STEPS FOR STARTERS, BUT MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

CATCHING UP WITH CORNISH (NOVEMBER 25)

JASMINE CORNISH CLIMBS OFF THE CANVAS, BUT THERE IS STILL A LONG ROAD AHEAD

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