Falling off - hold on or let go?

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Gorgeous George

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I'm not planning on falling off (goes off to touch lots of wood and cross fingers
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) but if you do whilst out on a hack would you let go of your reins or try to hang on? Whilst at riding schools we were always taught to let go so we didn't get trampled etc. - but we were in enclosed schools or fields, but of course out in the open there is always the risk of your horse getting into the road or at the very least having a long walk home
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Thoughts please!
 
Let go- I've been dragged while the horse was cantering along before because it wasn't mine and I didn't want it to get hurt
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ouch.

All mine mainly stood and waited for me if I fell off, only one jumped the hedge and trotted home
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. Luckily he was fine.
 
most of the time (there have been lots) with my mare I have managed to hold on to the reins, but the one time I didn't when we were out having a gallop through the fields she stopped anyway when i came off (spooked at a plastic bag).
 
I've only come off my horse once while hacking in the open. He paniced at losing me and there was no way I could've held on without being badly dragged and probably still losing him at the end of it. Anyone who could've held onto him that day would've deserved a medal.
I also came off a friend's horse while hacking a few years ago, this time in an enclosed field. I was concussed and still don't remember what happened but I must've let go as the person I was with found him following her loose when she got to the end of the track.
In an ideal world I would hold on, but its not always an option.
 
I fell off my mare once when we came accross an inflatable santa and the "red mist" descended. We were hacking up a bridleway that runs next to a motorway seprated just by a hedge, and I clung onto her reins for ages til she went vertical and b*ggered off flat out back down the bridleway, I don't think even Arnold Swarznegger (sp?) could have hung on to her! Luckily there was no way she could have got on the motor way but I still haven't been back that way yet, that was in May, don't ask what a santa claus was doing in the middle of a field int he middle of may?!
 
Hold on for dear life if I can!! - I lost both front teeth a few years back, and got a good concussion and would do so again to avoid disaster of bolting horse into road/traffic/ middle of knowwhere with no way of catching it, or heading toward barbed cattle fencing!

If im thown at speed (full throttle) - ie hunting/ gallop work/ schooling fences/ XC then I try to tuck & roll, I remember my late great uncle (who owned and trained my screen the "Train Robber" he taught me to tuck and roll to save myself if a horse is falling or you run risk of being trampled by others.
 
My gelding just stops and looks at me to say what are you doing down there, so he'd defo be a - keep a hold of

However my old mare, she launched me out of the side, i held onto her but she wouldnt stop and after being dragged and her not stopping i let go, the mare ran into a field the reins had gone over her head and she was galloping about, she wouldnt let me anywhere near her, so in her case, i would of just let go rather than try to fight my battle to hold on i think? although iv never been a rider to drop my rein when off unless knocked out? no doubt, it probs would of saved me from a bad back and bruises, but we had a nice schooling session in the school afterwards
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I'd say that if you have time to think about holding on or not then you shouldn't be coming off in the first place
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Both times when I've come off the Moose in open fields, the damage caused by trying to hold onto her was more painful than the damage caused by the fall itself. Its probably because my body is exceptionally well-padded and just bounces when it hits the ground, but my hands are just normal !

i do try and hold onto her becasue I worry about her getting out onto the road, but in actual fact, she is a sensible horse and always heads back to the yard to neigh for help, Lassie-style ;-)
 
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Sorry I QR'ed, it wasn't directly aimed at you
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sorry too, it's just that the slow mo falls when it seems like you've got lots of time to think, are always the ones that hurt the most
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My coloured stops to look at me, as if to say "what the hell are you doing down there" every time I have fallen off him out hunting I have held on, but I don't need to, he stops to laugh!
 
Am I the only one who just takes the view that their horse is only going to stop and eat at the nearest opportunity?!
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Obviously it doesn't always work like that if you're on a road etc but its been a reasonably safe philosophy so far!
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I have always been a letter-goer - too scared of having arm trodden on or getting tangled, but I recently heard that if you hold on you are more likely to land on your feet - not sure if there's any truth in that?!
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I try and hold on but I normally let go - my mare scares herself when I fall off and runs off, dragging me only scares her even more.
 
I always hold on, been dragged once and trampled once
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Pony runs off, horse just looks at you and is like 'what are you doing down there?' (even when I fell off at a gallop).
 
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but I recently heard that if you hold on you are more likely to land on your feet - not sure if there's any truth in that?!
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As one of many people on here who has badly broken a leg by landing on my feet I wouldn't see that as a reason to cling on!
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Can't say I know whether I hang on or not, normally happens so fast! I am quite often still holding reins when I pick myself up though so perhaps I do hold on instinctively?
 
One of mine tends to shoot off (at speed) when i fall off and on the occasion that i have fallen off him on a hack and i have held onto him, i've been dragged until i either let go or his bridle comes off. I think if i fall off in future out hacking i would probably let go and hope that he settles and stops, whether this would actually happen in reality, im not sure.
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with jack i fallen only twice and that was because of a swan,i held on but him being as nervous and very hard to catch i didn wanna let go, he got faster and faster and caught me so let go, he galloped 2 wheat fields and went on a railway line onto next farm,it was so frightening.
second time he never went far but took a while to catch
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If safe to do so let go, otherwise hang on, would rather have a few bruises and broken bones than an injured horse.

We are lucky to ride in a local farmer's enclosed sheep fields so if we do come off and let go, the horses are safe and just go home. Although saying that, when I have completely come of, horse just rolls his eyes at me and comes over to me and patiently waits.
 
I have always held on............but it's more an instinctive reaction than a conscious choice. Then again when I learnt to ride, you were always told to hold on to the horse if you fell, guess it was so drummed in, its stuck.
 
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Ideally I would want to hold on, where we hack the fields and woods are all open to roads. Last time I came off (years ago now) I held on, and the little bu&&er kicked me until I had to let go of him - I landed badly on my hip and it was a painful limp back to the yard once I had caught him.
 
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