any tips on how to fall 'well'?

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aliby

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Hello all. After parting company with my horse in my lesson yesterday, I was sitting nursing bruises and browsing the forum, and in another post someone had mentioned being taught as a child how to fall. So I wondered, does anyone have any hints or tips for how to fall ‘well’?

I know there are things like ‘keep hold of your horse’ but I was thinking more about how to preserve yourself. I’m an old (nearer 50 than 40) new rider and the flesh is not as bouncy as it once was so any ideas would be good. Especially for a beginner where it is most likely a matter of losing balance, and where you do perhaps have a few seconds of knowing that you are past the point of no return in which you could do something to ease your downward trajectory.
 
In a lesson situation or any enclosed area where the horse will be safe if it gets loose do not try and keep hold of it, that will only make you tense up and if it pulls away will hurt you more so let it go. Once you know you are falling try and relax if you can and dont put out your hands to save yourself, broken wrists are all too common because the automatic reaction is to put your hands out to save yourself.

Beginners should have what I think of as "soft" falls, you should not be travelling at great speed towards the ground, unlike more experienced riders who will rarely come off through a slight loss of balance more likely it will be more violent and faster. As you become more balanced you should find you can stick on, keeping your head up, it tends to pull you down, when you start to lose balance really helps.
 
aliby said:
Hello all. After parting company with my horse in my lesson yesterday, I was sitting nursing bruises and browsing the forum, and in another post someone had mentioned being taught as a child how to fall. So I wondered, does anyone have any hints or tips for how to fall ‘well’?

I know there are things like ‘keep hold of your horse’ but I was thinking more about how to preserve yourself. I’m an old (nearer 50 than 40) new rider and the flesh is not as bouncy as it once was so any ideas would be good. Especially for a beginner where it is most likely a matter of losing balance, and where you do perhaps have a few seconds of knowing that you are past the point of no return in which you could do something to ease your downward trajectory.
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My advice would be NEVER try and keep hold of your horse. Your safety is more imporant than the horse running off, and being on the floor hanging onto the reins is a great way to get trampled or at the very least to have your fingers broken or shoulder dislocated as the horse rips the reins out of your hands.

Second I would say don't fight to the last minute to stay on, that only results in hitting the ground tense and awkwardly. Tuck in your arms, curl up, and try (oh so easy to say :D) to relax. Tense muscles hurt much more when they hit a hard surface than soft ones! Drunks can often have horrible falls and not hurt themselves, because they are so relaxed :D

Lastly, as someone of even more than your age who relates to the reducing "bounce" with advancing years, consider buying an air jacket if you can afford one. I actually enjoyed falling off at the weekend - I just bounced!
 
Being considerably older than you I know where you are coming from. When hacking my youngster out I always have a long strap from d ring to d ring that is long enough to hold easily with reins. It has saved my bacon on more than one time giving me grip without jabbing the young lads mouth with the reins & perhaps making things worse. I agree you should NEVER hang onto the horse having come off, very dangerous.
 
Wow that horse ejector looks like quite a fun exercise!

I think my reaction when falling is 'stay on stay on, argh stop falling off, stop falling!' when sometimes you have to acknowledge you are going to fall and do it safely! Most of my recent falls are due to bucking and recently broke my elbow not falling well and being thrown over the horse's shoulder and putting my arm out to stop it... Unfortunately it happened so fast I had not time to think!

In previous falls I have acknowledged it happening and actually thrown myself clear of the horse and the last one he fell sideways so glad I did. I never hold onto the reins, it would encourage the horse to run over you when they would normally get freaked out and swerve away from you, or yank them in the mouth/head and cause more fright. If I was on a main road I might try and hold on but I would probably end up more injured. They often don't go very far anyway as it frightens them too.

Just try and think instead of 'stop myself falling' think 'protect my head/face' then hopefully you will tuck head in, bring arms up to protect your face and therefore your arms are protected, and bring your knees up to bring your body into a rounded shape which will hopefully encourage you to roll and absorb some of the energy of the fall.

I have fallen stretched out on my side which was not the worst way although winded. You just need to avoid falling onto a small surface area like one arm!
 
Find a judo club, ask them if they will teach you to roll & breakfall. We've been doing this for over a century without the help of a machine to teach you what is a forward roll.
 
Agree with getting an air jacket! I'm also nearer 50 and have just bought one
Also the strap between d rings on saddle is fabby and saved my bacon a good few times when I was learning.
Most important tho NEVER be tempted to land on your feet, not only are your ankles one of the
Worst things to break as far as complications go. But also even in an arena the shock travelling up your spine can not only result in spinal fractures but also it can kill you. Sorry to be So blunt
As others have said roll!! I always think feet out and actual look as I go down. This seems to make me land on my back
 
I have always been one of the lucky people who seem to naturally fall well, over the years I have fallen off when showjumping, XC-ing, road hacking, off road hacking, on a concrete yard and general falls in the school if the horse has a surprise paddy.

And yet I have never really had any serious injuries, despite a lot of them being from 17hh+ warmbloods & sport horses!
Normally I can just feel when I have lost all balance and in my head I just say 'I'm coming off' and then I do.
Other than the road hacking incident I have only ever had one bad fall, and that was on my 14.2 (at the time) Native X youngster! It was also the first time that I ever consciously tried to control my fall.
It was my own fault, I had just introduced him to trotting poles on the ground and he had taken them really well (after a mini paddy at the start!). Anyway I got too comfortable and I was walking him around on the buckle end of the rein with one hand holding them and the other behind his saddle so I was leaning back like I was on a sofa or something. I was chatting to my OH, and just letting Sandy do his own thing.

He ambled over the pole and clipped it with his front foot, this caused him to have a total meltdown, buck, and take off! I obviously had nothing to keep me in the saddle, my body shot back and my left leg somehow managed to come out and over the saddle so that I was clinging on the right side with one foot in the stirrup.
So, with the horse in gallop I managed to swing my leg back over and remount him however I still didn't have much use of the reins! When I looked up we were heading for the arena wall so I (rather intelligently) decided to do an emergency dismount in a frantic gallop.

The plan was to dismount just before we hit the wall so that Sandy would have slowed down a bit and I could land on my feet and then get back on as normal.
However, in being my awkward self I managed to get my big left foot caught on the cantle of the saddle as I dismounted (still in gallop) and completely unbalanced myself, causing me to land fully on my right knee.
The same right knee which I had reconstructive surgery on after a terrible (non horsey) accident.
I was on crutches and couldn't walk. :o

So the lesson I (rather painfully) learnt was if I am falling then just accept it and don't try to do anything about it! :o
 
I have a maybe weird falling technique. I try to hang onto something with my hands, whilst pulling my chest towards my hands to keep my head up. I'll kick my heels towards my bum which makes sure my feet are out of the stirrups, then relax my legs. When I feel my feet hit the floor I'll let go with my hands, relaxing the remainder of my body. Doing this I generally fall stretched out and rolling sideways away from the horse and have so far never broken anything.
 
Thank you so much everyone. This is all really encouraging – my natural survival instincts seem to be doing a pretty good job in that I seem to relax and roll instinctively. Much more relaxed when I’ve ‘gone’ than when I am ‘going, going’ (unfortunately, sure if I was more relaxed I’d wobble less).

I was a bit worried that I had given up too early yesterday so I am heartened by the advice not to hang on when it is inevitable. It’s also good to know that you shouldn’t try and keep hold of your horse – have to admit I have made no attempt to do so as we’ve been in a school, but will remember it for other occasions - if I ever get that far!!

I do think the horse ejector looks fun though …
 
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