Hello. I had my first appointment with my surgeon today. I know I still have awhile to go but he gave me the option of lap-band or the sleeve. I am trying to get opinions about the sleeve. I train horses so I did not know if someone has experience with the sleeve and being around horses and could help me out. I was wondering how long it will be post op before I can start riding again? What are the pros and cons of the sleeve? Any help would be great. Thanks in advance!

The thing that appealed to me about the sleeve is there are zero foreign objects being placed in my body. There are no ongoing fills required. There is no worries about the band slipping or causing abrasive damage to my stomach. I'd asked my pcp about the band in my initial days and he tried to steer me in either the sleeve or bypass direction. The two surgeons I consulted both said they no longer do bands and both encouraged me to have the sleeve or bypass.

The sleeve allows me to continue the use of nsaids which I rely on for arthritis in knees that was not improved even after losing much of the weight I wanted to lose.

Very easy surgery and recovery were my experiences with zero ongoing issues or anticipated issues.

I have very limited experience with horses but simply couldn't imagine any type of problems posed by a sleeve. It's simply a smaller stomach.

Ditto what Dub said and I don't see why you couldn't ride horses after 2 weeks. I would think that would be about the same for sleeve or band.

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I was back on my horse after 3 weeks.

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I was sleeved on September 2nd and on October 7th I was riding again without pain.

I do believe Pete may be one of the biggest fans of my weight loss! Lol!!!

Edited November 16, 20169 yr by #BirdDog

Advantages of sleeve over lapband: no need for fills, no chance of slippage or erosion and no trying to find perfect restriction. Many doctors dont even do bands anymore because sleeve has proven to be very effective. Your doctor could tell you best about when you can ride again.

Thank you guys so much for the input! I greatly appreciate it! This helps a lot!

I thought the horses had the sleeve surgery!

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On ‎11‎/‎16‎/‎2016 at 9:38 AM, #BirdDog said:

I was sleeved on September 2nd and on October 7th I was riding again without pain.

I do believe Pete may be one of the biggest fans of my weight loss! Lol!!!

Congrats! I'm 2 weeks post-op and glad to find this subject. My barrel horse is a little rough so I've been wondering the same thing. How long till I'm healed and when could I safely run barrels without hurting my sleeved stomach.

This popped back up at the right time. I am a year and 3 months out from my surgery and am ordering a new saddle this week because my old saddle is way too big.