How many times have you fallen off?

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giggles mum

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You know the age-old mantra "you aren't a good rider until you've fallen off 7/12 times,"? well as soon as I was told that (at the age of about 9 or 10) I started counting my number of falls - and I really did used to fall off a ridiculous amount - there was a stage when I was about 11 when I would literally fall off every wee. I was once known to fall off 3 times in an hor's jumping lesson, and at the end of my first riding holiday at Wellington I had to sign 3 accident forms!
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By the time I lost count of my number of falls I think I was at about 35 in 5 or 6 years!
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How many times has everyone else fallen off?
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As a child, once a week. 4 times as an adult, one from a galloping TB x CB and one from a trusty old cobby welsh just inches from being decapitated by an angry tree! Two from one pony in as many minutes :0
 
Twice in 40 years.

I ride mostly youngsters these days (2-4 year olds) and in the past a large proportion of my riding was with horses who had serious mental problems and helping them to become good equine citizens. My own "keeper" horses were either showjumpers or XC horses. Used to compete XC 3 or 4 times a week for years - loved it!
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I'm 17, been riding for 12 years, and id say roughly 15 times.
However... 7 of those are take up from me having to throw myself from my 11.1hh exmoor after my little sister fell off her 6 times in one lesson. Yes, my oldest sis thought it a good idea to show my little sister that everyone falls off... 7 times.. in one lesson. Ouch.
 
Probably about 15 times, but that does go over more than 30 years of riding. Not counting the speedy dismount I perfected with one pony that was on a mission to chuck me off EVERY time I got on for the first year or so I had her.
 
In the last 5 years 3 times, once XC when the pony jumped me out(how emabarassing) Once leaning down in PPC and once when i broke my arm getting on bareback, before then I use to fall off almost daily, but i did used to ride 4 aday in a pad saddle that slipped.....alot LOL

Haz
 
oh, gosh, literally hundreds. when i got my first pony, he dropped me at least once a day, for months and months. a lot of it was bareback without even a headcollar though, so he can be forgiven.
i've had gaps where i haven't fallen off for about a year and a half, but i try not to think about it, cos then i start riding defensively and am more likely to hit the deck.
i have no idea when the last time was that i got dropped... last summer or autumn i think. my youngster, having been very very naughty hacking out, was in a martingale for the first time ever. she had just had a bad thought and i trotted her smartly forward out of it, and just as i was thinking "Ha! Got you!" and feeling really secure and in control, i was on the floor, holding the reins, not even knowing in which direction she went (she was behind me!)
i think we fixate too much on falling off, and trying to prevent it. sorry if that sounds naive, but especially with xc riding, falling off isn't usually the end of the world... being so secure in the saddle that you're still sitting in it as your horse turns over, can be the end of the world.
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if it all goes wrong, i want to be thrown well clear, please.
 
Probably just a handful of time in 20+ yrs...and two of those times was the horse falling. I try to make a point of staying on whenever poss!!
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Too many - mostly from a pony who had simply decided not to be ridden. She had a great 'spin and drop shoulder' action when you were least expecting it. Also she was a complete barrel, so saddle was always slipping and she used that to advantage.
 
I always heard 40 falls to make a rider - maybe because I was so good at falling off and they wanted to keep my spirits up?!

I must have fallen off more than that in 15 years of riding.

Isabelle
 
Crikey - I stopped counting at 50 or so! All of these were as a kiddie though and were nearly all very tame. I have yet to fall off as an adult... but I am bound to fall at my next lesson now I've said that!!
 
I've only come off Ferds three times, and only once off another horse in the last seven years or so. However, prior to that I used to fall off my pony on a monthly basis, and I used to fall off hunting on a weekly basis - so I've probably fallen in the region of 60 or 70 times I would hazard a guess at...
 
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