David Thiselton

Athandiwe Mgudlwa suffered a neck sprain and concussion in a bad fall at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on January 25, but he is back riding work and hopes to race ride again on the 27th of this month at the Hollywoodbets Greyville night meeting.

Athandiwe recalled waking up in hospital and had no recollection of the incident at all and said the whole day was quite blank in his memory.

However, there were no broken bones or fractures and he said, ” I fortunately did not have to have any kind of operation.”

He has wisely taken the recovery step by step and done it thoroughly with no atttempt to rush anything.

He continued, “I am still having appointments to strengthen the neck muscles. I have had the follow up appointment and the doctor has given me the go ahead to proceed. I went as far as having an MRI scan and I have also taken the time off to make sure I am ok. Sometimes you rush an injury and a couple of years down the line it comes back worse. I have gone through every step to make sure I am alright. I still want to compete at the highest level, so it had to be done.”

Athandiwe might be back at the meeting at Greyville this Sunday, the 22nd of March, but only if he gets a ride that has half-a-chance. He said he was otherwise targeting the 27th.

He has been feeling good and strong while workriding and added it was probably a blessing he did not remember the incident as such a happening could play on the mind.

He said, “Not remembering is a way of protecting me as it helped me to be able to get on to a horse again.”

He added, “I’m grateful to be able to get on the horses and carry on doing what I enjoy.”

He is not attached to any yard at the moment and said he would start off by riding work as much as he could and hopefully pick up a couple of rides to get back into the swing of things.

He said, “Things look to have tightened up a bit in Durban, so it doesn’t look easy, but I ride light so I should be able to pick up a few nice rides.”