Does falling off bother you?

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ForeverBroke_

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Just a light musing!

I hit the deck yesterday and very nearly came hurtling off this morning (clearly being very skilled at the moment! :rolleyes:) but its not really phased me.

I'm getting my confidence back riding now after a few years of riding a bit of a lunatic but its still not at the level that means I'm progressing spectacularly - however had I of fallen off of said previous horse I think falling off like yesterday/narrow miss today would've left me even more scared and my confidence would've taken a knock to boot. Now I just accept its 'one of those things.'

What about everyone else? Does hitting the deck (injury free hopefully!) bother you?!
 
Yes it does.

I've got a recurrent back injury and a fall usually triggers a lot of pain, expensive chiro bills and time of a competition/training schedule. I'm also self employed, so risk of being off work injured is also a factor.

I'm a perfectly competant rider, but these days I don't do backing or riding of any particularly sharp/quirky/problem horses
 
It didn't until I had a fairly unspectacular fall but landed awkwardly and broke my leg and found myself in hospital for 2 weeks. Caused so much inconvenience to my work, my family and not able to ride for 7 months...so now it does bother me and I am very careful about which horses I will ride.
 
not bothered by falling, its the landing that hurts! :P
But not really so far been lucky and always landed safely with nothing more than a bruise.
 
It never used to when I was a child - infact I think at pony club we used to boast about how many times we could fall off!! I even got a special prize for falling off 3 times in five minutes at camp...! However, now I am slightly more anxious about falling off as I know what could happen in the worst case scenario. It doesn't bother me in the sense that I am nervous or scared just aware that there is always a risk.
 
I've managed to scrape through my years of riding managing to bounce on landing so I suppose I perhaps have a slightly niave viewpoint, but can imagine it alters your levels of confidence/response to coming off in particular after you've had such a fall!


(Famous last words panic now..)
 
No, I'm well practised at falling off horses. I've had far worse injuries falling down stairs, slipping and falling in the swimming pool changing roof, and falling off bikes. Touch wood. At least with a horse, theres someone else there to look out for hazards!
 
bgb said:
It never used to when I was a child - infact I think at pony club we used to boast about how many times we could fall off!! I even got a special prize for falling off 3 times in five minutes at camp...! However, now I am slightly more anxious about falling off as I know what could happen in the worst case scenario. It doesn't bother me in the sense that I am nervous or scared just aware that there is always a risk.
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Exactly this - and yes, I won a prize at pony camp for falling off too! 7 times in 3 days if IIRC, including three in one lesson. One involved a bucking fit whilst I was in the backwards position for Round-The-World...wish I had that on video (thankfully I was barely even bruised by any of my unscheduled dismounts!). As an adult, I find I am more easily winded and I broke a bit off my scapula a few years ago which was the first 'serious' fall I had. I always wear my BP now (I wasn't at the time) to protect that area - I seem to have a habit of sort of curling my arms round and landing on that point. Better than the head I suppose:rolleyes:
 
Touch wood that I haven't fallen off in 6 years now and in the last 18 years of riding I've only come off 11 times - Don't ask how, I just hang on for dear life!

But out of those 11 times, I've only really hurt myself badly once with my old ex-racer. We didn't have an arena to ride in at the time and after a long winter he was coming back into work in the summer paddock (after just being able to hack out) we were having a little jump, being a nutty TB, he was very excited. I cantered (on the spot!) towards a little 2ft jump and went over it fine, the next thing I knew he let out an almighty buck that threw me right up his neck.
He bucked so big that he fell onto his knees threw me off in front of him then flipped over and landed squarely on top of me breaking my collarbone. I couldn't move as it felt like my hip was broken so Rocket galloped back to the stables and waited for me. After about 5 minutes he trotted back down the field and stood right next to where I was lying for a good 30 minutes until my parents got to the yard.

But other than that I've been quite lucky so I'm not too fussed about falling off unless it would endanger me or my horse
 
No but if it happened a lot of times in succession, or over an issue that we couldn't get past (like jumping or a spooky place) then I would probably start to feel nervous about that thing. Once is just a mistake on both parts and easily got over.
 
Yes it does, previous falls & the fact I'm older mean I don't bounce the same and if I injure myself the recovery time seems longer :eek:
 
It depends why I fell off :p If it was just mucking around, though the worst injuries I've had have been from that, then that doesn't knock me at all as I know it was my fault. When I go through a phase of being decked by the pony/horse I admit I am human and when the stats show that I'm more likely to come off than stay on I do have a wobble.
 
I'm afraid so these days, I've lost count of the number of falls I've had as a younger person (!), some quite spectacular, but a recurrent back problem and psoriatic arthritis means that I just know if it does happen it will hurt. Luckily I have great faith in my little cob pony and we bumble about quite happily together!
 
Nope never has despite some bad injuries. Dad always told me and made me get back on after a fall and its kinda stuck.

I've always had quirky horses, my record is hitting the deck ten times in less than an hour :D the mare was a horror but eventually came good :D
 
Falling doesnt bother me, its if i hurt myself as i have back/joint problems. I came off on the road yesterday, luckily landing on my feet and went skidding along the road, today i almost came off again but luckily i didnt and so lucky yesterdays fall wasnt worse.
 
Not usually, I've had some bad falls and some broken bits but I always wish someone had taken a photo, I've had some great falls where I wish there was a camera around.

I fell off last year and landed on my head, there was nothing funny about it, I really hurt myself and that did bother me for some weeks (that and the fact I had to be in the office working and meeting clients with pig tails in as that is the only way I could get the scars to heal without weeping all over my hair. Ugh.
 
rara007 said:
It depends why I fell off :p If it was just mucking around, though the worst injuries I've had have been from that, then that doesn't knock me at all as I know it was my fault. When I go through a phase of being decked by the pony/horse I admit I am human and when the stats show that I'm more likely to come off than stay on I do have a wobble.
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I think that sums me up too to be honest!
 
Yes, it is my biggest fear. I took a 21 year break from horses and came back to them in 2005 aged 42, a lot older and with bigger fears than previously. I've had two falls since then, both of which resulted in an injury - the last one was pretty much a year ago and resulted in six broken and displaced ribs and a damaged spleen, four days in hospital and now, aged nearly 50 I'm still broken and healing slowly. I still ride and enjoy it but the thought of falling and injuring myself again terrifies me :o
 
Coming off never used to bother me until last year when in a stupidly simple fall I broke my leg in three places. Combined with per existing problems this resulted in major surgery, being told I could lose the leg, four months plus in a wheelchair followed by learning to walk again. It is now 16 months since that fall and while I am back working (6months that took) and riding (8 months for that) I am still trying to build up the function I lost, will never get it all back, will never be the same again. It was such a silly low speed fall, just landed badly.
I now really do worry about coming off, I am picky about what I ride (stick to my boy only) and as yet I am not strong enough for anything but walk trot.
It's the effect on my family, my children. I went/go through the pain but we all suffered. I needed so much help and my friends and community pulled together however I do wonder how willing people would be if I where to suffer another bad fall.
 
Well, I'd rather not fall off but unless I hurt myself it doesn't really bother me. Usually I just get straight back on, no problems, and carry on, though I have had a few falls that have knocked the wind right out of me. Once I couldn't walk properly for a week because I bruised my back so badly! Usually I seem to bounce though!
 
Not so much the falling off, but what will happen to my 4 kids if anything terrible were to happen to me.
Last fall I had, I ended up in the CT scanner in hospital with a suspected head injury, everything was ok, but my daughters terrified face and pleas that I give up riding have stayed with me since.
I didn't stop riding, but am as careful as I can be now and don't take any chances, would hate to put my family through that, or worse, again.
 
Never bothered me at all till i ended up in a&e after a nasty fall... Now i try to avoid certain situations as my stomach turns at the thought of going through it again!!!
 
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