Falling off

Fallen off loads but and here I go jinxing myself I only fell off Joe once in 6 years and I haven't fallen off Jack in the 2 years I have owned him.
 
Last time I came off was because a vet told my horse at the time didn't have a medical issue it was behavioral and to ride her through it, we did one lap of walk she exploded reared then started fly bucking I came off from about 12ft in the air and landed on my head. I had serious concussion for several days afterwards, awful experience I never wish to repeat. The poor mare had a compressed vertebra in her neck and was in serious pain, and we sadly had to say goodbye to her several months later as nothing helped her cope :(
 
My OH has been riding 7 years including canter and has not yet fallen off. Neither has our grand daughter. Both of them learn from the same RI and mostly in the school. The RI specialises in making people secure in the saddle.
 
I went through a phase of a good few years of not falling off even though I was mostly riding nutty youngsters.
However I am finding as I get older I seem to come adrift more easily, probably because bits of me have stopped working and I'm still trying to do the things I did when I was 20..
 
I fell off last week trying a horse out that was advertised as a kick a long, anyones ride type, it was certainly kick along but then bronked, did a dirty stop and launched me! Id had a lucky run until then, once in 12 years.
 
I fell off at boot camp on Tuesday, my mare nicely jumped her third ever jump about 1 foot high, took a stride of canter on landing and began 'bouncing', well broncing really out of shear exuberance. They got bigger and bigger over the next 30 meters and then she stopped dead and I shot over her head! Needless to say I landed on my right shoulder and was still holding the reins in my left hand so now have a very bruised pointy bit one side and sore muscles from shoulder to boob on the other. But I was very brave (ha!) got back on and did it again and haven't stopped all week, I'm now slowly going purple.
 
I hadn't fallen off in 7 years despite backing youngsters. Fell off a couple of weeks ago and fractured my hip! Came off over right shoulder and landed on left hip, so a cartwheel... Got back on and still riding as it is minimal :)
 
I stopped counting 30 years ago. But have decided, in the interests of self preservation, that jumping is not for me.
 
Some of the kids I've taught would fall off at the drop of a hat others never! I was mulling this over with the riding school which I ran for 9 years, we rarely had riders fall off and had only two breakages in that time.

My self preservation was always very strong, falling off not on the agenda! I tended to come off when the horse did something dumb, like flip over a jump or slip on a corner.

TBH I've been injured more on the ground handling horses than when riding them.
 
I don't know anyone who's never come off no.
I stayed on for 15 years which really lulled me into a confident sense of security! I never thought I was a great rider as in I'd not be placed if I went competing but I did think I could stay on most things (I rode some awkward horses and had a few near misses but always saved myself)
Until one horse threw me into next week twice in the 3 times I got on it.
Massive sent to my confidence- huge!
I now know I can't stay on anything and I can't compete! :'( sob
 
poiuytrewq said:
I don't know anyone who's never come off no.
I stayed on for 15 years which really lulled me into a confident sense of security! I never thought I was a great rider as in I'd not be placed if I went competing but I did think I could stay on most things (I rode some awkward horses and had a few near misses but always saved myself)
Until one horse threw me into next week twice in the 3 times I got on it.
Massive sent to my confidence- huge!
I now know I can't stay on anything and I can't compete! :'( sob
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Me too! I had my old boy for 16 years and never came off once, not a great rider but quite a secure seat I thought til I came off my youngster 3 times in 2 sessions! What great levellers horses are...
 
LittleBlackMule said:
However I am finding as I get older I seem to come adrift more easily, probably because bits of me have stopped working and I'm still trying to do the things I did when I was 20..
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Me too.

People used to say 'How on earth did you stay on?', whereas now they are more likely to say 'Why on earth did you fall off?' :o .
 
I've never come off, in about 5 years of riding and this is all four gaits, jumping and sidesaddle. Getting a bit bored now, I almost want to so its done and out of the way..
 
fallen off a few times, mostly as a teenager. First fall was straight over the head into long grass when I was riding a trekking pony who had a nasty habit of suddenly throwing his head down. No injuries, it was a soft landing. Second one I fell off whilst cantering round the school and winded myself. Third was another horse who suddenly cantered off (he had an awful canter to sit to) and I fell forwards landing on my head so got knocked out for a minute. I was wearing my hat but obviously the jarring still shook my brain.
Most memorable is falling off a youngster and breaking my arm, my humerus which is not a good bone to break.
 
Fallen off a fair few times, most of the time when I was at RS. I normally have one once every six months on Bean (most recent was on Tuesday) to be honest I think she does it just to prove that she still can if she wants to! Ebony on the other hand is probably much more dangerous to ride but haven't fallen off her in at least five years.
I must say both of mine seem more traumatised than me when I fall off!
 
I don't know anyone who has never fallen off, and I've lost count of how many times I've hit the deck! Many times bucked off first pony, he was never a very confident jumper and would stop at the last second without warning so lots of sliding up his neck and over his ears as well!
Despite my now retired horse's reputation for being a nutter I never came off him in the 2 years that he was ridden with me, and I now have a just gone 5 year old cob who is very sweet but I'm waiting for his naughty teenager years when I'm sure he'll be quite capable of launching me skyward!
 
I've been riding my current horse for almost two years and -touch wood- haven't come off him yet. Which is surprising as he enjoys doing dirty stops at jumps and then darting to the side. I used a jump wing to put me back in place once! But for the most part he's pretty safe. I'm sure I'll come off him at some point and it will hurt. I've only fallen off a few times but did some really good damage to my muscles around my right shoulder blade area. :(
 
The last time I fell off Ebony went down on the road, so really had no choice in the matter went down with her and we both hit the road. Just one of those things think it comes as par for the course really at some point in time we all will come off.
 
I don't know anyone who has never fallen off unless they simply haven't been riding very long. I know of a few people who seem to fall off the majority of the time at events, I find them pretty amazing as I don't think I'd have a shred of confidence left after such regular falls.

I can probably remember most times I've fallen off, I don't make a habit of it. It depends what you do though surely, like if you ride several horses a day or you compete etc. then surely your chances are higher? Although saying that, I evented and show jumped one of my (now retired) horses for 9 years - was chucked off probably about 10 times in the first 6 months but after that I only remember coming off him once due to a tack malfunction and he's as sharp as they come. I don't think I'd generally put myself in a position of a potential fall if I can help it (like riding mental horses), now I'm "old" it bloody hurts falling off nowadays! Since I had my son, my body is screwed! I got thrown off a pony I was backing just after I had my son twice in quite a spectacular way which seriously hurt and then last year came off my 17.1hh warmblood showjumping - as a result of these I now have a permanently numb hip and a shoulder lower than the other! I count myself very lucky though TBH! Everyone has to fall off sometimes, it keeps us grounded (pardon the pun!).
 
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I had only fallen off my lovely old girl twice in over 15 yrs, then I bought Satan's pony & came off him every other day - made me realise I don't bounce any more!! Haven't fallen off baby pony yet but I've only had him 18 months so I'm sure I will at some point.......
 
Came off the little racehorse a few times because he was like a rubber ball :rolleyes3: However that was years ago, I can't remember the last time I came off my gelding although came damn close last week!
 
We all fall off a few times out hunting [hunt staff that is]. It's usually the uneven moorland ground and heather clumps, or ditches where a horse stumbles.
 
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