Girl that rides my horse keeps falling off...please help!!

R2R

R2R

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Both my instructor and I are in a bit of a quandary with the girl that rides my horse.

She is a ballsy rider but she keeps coming off, especially when jumping. It is like she gets thrown forward, and whilst most of us can right themselves, she goes to one side (usually the left) and then lets go of the rein and falls off!
I have had her on a 22 year old cob for 7 months – still no balance. She has done no stirrups etc on my friends easy mare, and fell off!!! She has got a really good feel and when she gets it together is a really nice rider but gets thrown forward at any opportunity (for instance if my horse pings something, or spooks, or whatever) and then falls off, it is a bit like her head weighs a tonne and she hasn’t got the strength to lift it back up again??
It is always the same way, she gets thrown forward with her bum in the air, feet still in stirrups, and goes of down their shoulder and lands on her side.

She went xc schooling last weekend and fell off 4 times, then jumped my boy on Saturday and fell off – and last pony club rally she fell off 4 times in 20 mins!

How do I help her? I am scared she is going to lose her bottle :(
 
I would have given up if I fell off that often! I'm almost there mind.... I don't have any advice for you I'm afraid, is she insured?
 
I think she needs some lessons, something is wrong if she keeps falling off, she may also have to do some exercises to strengthen her core muscles, sounds like she dosen't have any!! :)
 
I'd be guessing she's tensing somewhere obviously....but short of just learning to relax which has been tried alot by the sounds of it, I don't really know what else to help input :(

I guess maybe she just needs to go back to basics maybe and taken out of the areas where she falls off most frequently if she can't stay on?

I'm in the same predicament with a person I know and have just had to limit what he does as can't risk the horse learning bad habits sadly.
 
happyhack said:
Lol I think I would have given up too.

Is she bothered by it? Or does she just dust herself off and try again?
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She is getting fed up with it. All of the balance finding usual stuff doesnt work - I took her stirrups away for 2 weeks and she kept bouncing off :( I feel really sorry for her as the ability is there. She has really long legs too so I dont see why she cant wrap them round and grip!! !
 
Have you tried doing the standing up in the stirrups exercise with her? You ask her to stand up in the stirrups first in walk, and then trot and canter. Do it first for just the long side of the school, and then build up to being able to do a couple of circuits. This will really help strengthen her lower leg which is pretty crucial to help you stay on. When that is mastered then she needs to work on her jumping position. She needs to realise that it is not just a case of throwing her whole body forward but that her heels need to stay down and her bottom back over the saddle, whilst folding from the hips and pushing her hands forwards.
 
Farrierlover said:
is she insured?
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LOL, sorry OP, but I agree, I hope she's insured!

Anyone can be a ballsy rider but they if they keep falling off, there not really riding properly, there is obvioulsy a problem with their riding and over all balance....specially if she's not improving and learning from what she's doing wrong, maybe she's not quite ready for jumping if she's falling off that many times or being pushed to do things she's not ready for, despite being overly confident (which is good thing) but perhaps not at the moment! :D
 
Perhaps she should get some Pilates lessons? So she can strenghten her core muscles, thats where most of your balance comes from.
 
Unless she's been riding less than a couple of years regularly, personally, i'd think there was something medically/phsyically wrong with her.
 
It is like she flops off rather than falls off?

I have said to her mum that I dont think she has got any core strengh and we have got her doing 20 sit ups before bed...and sitting on a pilates ball all day to help.

Kenzo she is confident in the fact that she will try to do it but keeps failing becasuse if the horse does anything other than what it is meant to do she wobbles off!

She is 14 and has been riding for 3 years?
 
Have you tried getting her some lessons on the lunge so all she has to concentrate on is her own balance?
 
Is she throwing herself off? Cos its cool to say she keeps hitting the deck riding a difficult horse?!

I'd have given up months ago haha!!
 
R2R said:
It is like she flops off rather than falls off?

I have said to her mum that I dont think she has got any core strengh and we have got her doing 20 sit ups before bed...and sitting on a pilates ball all day to help.

Kenzo she is confident in the fact that she will try to do it but keeps failing becasuse if the horse does anything other than what it is meant to do she wobbles off!

She is 14 and has been riding for 3 years?
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So for example, if she was sat on the horse (at halt) and you walked over to her (in the element of suprise) and gave her a good old shove, would she fall off or nearly off?
 
It is like she doesnt ride she sits? BUT when you are instructing her, she is super, she gets them working really well. Its if they put a foot wrong she just falls off? I dont get it?!

Kenzo, that is exactly it. She literally would - for instance, the other day I took her stirrups away. The horse was walking off then spooked (not big spook, literally a step to the side) and she fell off.
 
R2R said:
Nope she flops off! It is like she doesnt ride she sits? BUT when you are instructing her, she is super, she gets them working really well. Its if they put a foot wrong she just falls off? I dont get it?!
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How odd!:confused:

Try getting her to practice balancing on the gym ball without her feet on the floor, that should build up some core muscles and a sense of balance too.
 
R2R said:
It is like she doesnt ride she sits? BUT when you are instructing her, she is super, she gets them working really well. Its if they put a foot wrong she just falls off? I dont get it?!

Kenzo, that is exactly it. She literally would - for instance, the other day I took her stirrups away. The horse was walking off then spooked (not big spook, literally a step to the side) and she fell off.
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In that case she's bearing too much weight into the saddle and she's clearly not ready for jumping - (although small jumps could help her to realise the problem), which is why she's flopping off.

I used to do this with some of the people I used to teach, I'd try to shove them off (cruel tactic I know :D) but it taught them to understand how important balance is and how they need to use their seat, legs and feet etc)

She's obvioulsy got used to riding in this way so she's not understanding or feeling how she should be riding, I'd say her RI needs to go back to basics her before she injures herself. :)
 
sounds like she has very weak core strength. If these core muscles aren't strong enough, when she is tipped, or is folded forwards, she may not have the strength in her core to sit back up and right herself.

The reason I think this might be the case is that since my back troubles started about 6 years ago, my core strength has diminished, and where I used have an excellent seat, I'm afraid that I no longer do. It's so frustrating because I know what's going wrong, and I used to event, but now any jumping worries me because of this problem I have.

If you think it might be that, then maybe she could try and work on strengthening her core at home, by doing exercises and getting one of the balancing balls. I keep meaning to start pilates, but haven't got round to it yet!
 
If she's reasonably fit (as in not too over weight) then ask her to sit down on the floor (at home or in the school) and then ask her to get up, without using her hands (so ask her to cross them), from her bottom, up through her legs and up onto her feet, this is a good exercise to help core strength, build your leg muscle strength up and get intune with your own self balance.

Also riding around in trot in a forward light seat (the crouch) without rising up an down, but only when she's got that secure enough seat at halt..then walk etc
 
Gosh! She's not called "Emma" is she? Coz I had someone like this riding my cob a few years ago and she did exactly the same thing, i.e. coming out the front door on the left-hand side, and falling off not just once, but repeatedly, in exactly the same way - and still trying to convince everyone that she could ride!!! Funny yes, but not good for the horse, who thought he'd take the p***s the same with me when I got on.

Personally if she can't stay up there in the plate, I'd tell her where to go and get someone else. If she's a friend, then thats tough, but she's gonna have to face the fact that she can't ride for toffee can she, and she's basically spoiling your horse and possibly getting him into bad habits for the future.

Having been in this situation, I'd put a stop to it straightaway and not let her ride anymore. She's not doing your horse any favours at all, and the problem is that other people look at what's happening and thinnk its your horse is at fault, which can be a problem if youre trying to sell, like I was, and everyone labels your horse as "difficult" when he's not necessarily, but has a bad rider on board.
 
Stick £20 under her butt when shes riding. Tell her she can have it if its still there at the end of the lesson....it would work with me!
 
Maybe its a ballance problem can she ride a bike or a walk along a narrow line ???
I think if you feel yourself falling over you automaticly try to right yourself or a least react
even if your not very strong.. its maybe worth her seeing a doctor perhaps .. sounds like she is keen, but its not good as she could get hurt ...
 
Could it be a mental thing? Maybe she's just got used to falling off when the horse does something she doens't expect. I remember years ago I went through a phase where I was falling off all the time, every other lesson or so. One day I came off twice and was just about to come off a third time when my instructor shouted "don't you DARE come off that horse!" Sounds funny, but I immediately sat up and sorted myself out - and stopped falling off so much after that. I'd sort of got into a habit of bailing whenever anything went a bit wrong, rather than go to the trouble of working it out (subconciously, obviously), and that was enough to make me realise what i was doing, and stop.

She should also go and see a chiropractor. I find when I do come off, it's almost always to the right because my spine is mildly out and that's enough to throw me off balance more one way than the other.
 
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