Falling off competitions!

[eahotson]

Local western trainer does the occasional childrens camp.Amongst many things he does a falling off comp.All in a safe enclosed area obviously with suitable ponies and hard hats! Children divided up into 2 teams.Points given for the most spectacular fall and extra points if you don't land on your feet first! Personally I think its a cracking idea!

 

[Kikke]

Well I do agree you have to fall off before you can say you can ride (several times) and I think it is a great idea to learn how to fall. However falling off and getting point for a spectacular fall???? I don't know.

 

[tessybear]

I was taught how to fall off by my mother who goes by old style teaching and she learnt to fall of by having her instructor throw tennis balls at her

However making it a spetacular fall i guess will get you used to falling, sounds very painful i'm at the age when you splat not bounce

 

[Lolo]

It makes falling not scary, which is good. Generally, the fear of falling when you're a child is worse before you actually hit the deck, especially if your first few falls are harmless.

My sister and I fell of loads when we were little (especially Al, who hit the 200 mark in her 3rd year of riding... She had a particularly naughty pony one year!) and weren't really scared of falling as a result. Because we'd done it so many times we'd worked out that it was generally a bit of an accident and anticipating it made it worse. By the time we had nasty falls, we were old enough to rationalise!

 

[Natch]

No I'm not sure I like the sound of prizes for the most spectacular falls, but it may be different in practice to how it sounds

I do think riding schools should as a matter of routine teach you how to fall safely. My mum had lessons in how to fall from a canter ... I didn't (a VERY H&S paranoid instructor) but wished I did. Weirdly, I remember parascending and before we could do that we had to demonstrate good crash landing practice! H&H did an article featuring a model horse bucking event riders off and their falls were analysed and corrected. We know falling is inevitable sometimes, I think it makes sense to learn how to do so with least risk of injury.