64 SIDELINES DECEMBER 2012
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
Georgina Bloomberg and Prince de Bonneville
in action at the Equestrian Summer Showcase.
Photo by Tony Decosta
By Lauren R. Giannini
H
appy to be back in the saddle pretty much
describes Georgina Bloomberg. The New York
based jumper rider had serious back surgery in
July 2011 and spent a week in the hospital, then three
weeks of mandatory bed rest. For the frst couple of months,
she walked with a cane.
“It takes a full year for that surgery to heal; but I started riding at
the end of March,” said Georgina. “I didn’t compete or risk falling.
I was very careful and rode really reliable horses, one or two a
day. I took it very slowly. If I had something else to do, I didn’t fuss
about it.”
Georgina had a very curved spine. The condition put her hips
out of balance and made one leg shorter than the other. After she
fractured her back for the second time in 2010, her doctor
said that while she had healed, there was a bigger problem
that had to be addressed or else she would face the likelihood
of fracturing her back every time she had a fall from a horse.
“I’ve been having problems with my back since I was 10
years old,” admitted Georgina. “It’s called spondylolisthesis
(similar to scoliosis) and my spine was so unstable that I
had to have surgery if I wanted to continue riding. I kept
seeing specialists and all of them said that I needed the
surgery, even with all the risks involved. They went in and
decompressed my spine and did bone grafts, placed pins
on each side and long rods to stabilize. I’m not as fexible
as I used to be; but the only time I feel it is if I lie on a hard
surface on my back.”
In May, Georgina returned to competition at Old Salem
Horse Show. She also competed at Fairfeld, Ox Ridge,
Lake Placid and Vermont. In August of 2012, Georgina
scored her frst comeback victory when she partnered with
Perfect de Coquerie, owned by Bloomberg and Stephex
Stables of Belgium, to best the feld of 21 in the $7,500
Welcome Stake at the Equestrian Summer Showcase
at Fieldstone Show Park. The duo’s double clear win
recorded a jump-off time of 35.528 seconds.
“I was more confdent after the surgery because I was
stronger and the surgeon told me that I’m all fxed now,”
said Georgina. “Before the surgery I was really scared, because
I was always thinking about the consequences if I fell. I had my
frst fall at the Hampton Classic during a class. I landed on my
butt and had a bruised knee. Mentally and physically, I got it out
of the way.”
In addition to the jumpers, Georgina stays busy. She has
authored three novels in the A Circuit series (see sidebar), serves
on several boards, including the Equestrian AID Foundation and
Hampton Classic Horse Show and in 2006 started The Rider’s
Closet, a program that makes riding attire more accessible to
riders in need and participants in therapeutic riding, pony club and
intercollegiate programs.
Georgina with one of the miniature
horses she adopted from the SPCA.
Photo by Geoffrey Tischman