Regaining confidence after a horse fall...

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ChestnutMonty

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Hi all,

I had lucky escape on Sunday, was doing gridwork on and my new horse put an extra stride in front of the first upright which was only 85cm, (he's at PN/BE100 i've had him since October) and he just got his legs completely under the pole and couldn't save himself. He got completely tangled up and nose-dived coming right down on top of me. Luckily at the point where he was completely upside down he'd lost enough momentum so that I managed to push and roll him back away from me rather than coming straight over me and accross my body as I was still astride the saddle.

I though't i'd just badly winded myself (was laid on the ground for a good 15mins trying to catch my breath) and it wasn't until I realised I was passing blood a few hours later that I went to a+e. I had a CT scan and stayed overnight and luckily I have only bruised my left kidney. I wasn't wearing my body protector :( lesson learned. On the plus side I now have family contributions towards an air jacket! Which I will be getting on Saturday before I jump him!! :)

So the question is how do I go about jumping again? I'm not nervous personally - i'm more worried for him as he's not terribly experienced.

Any ideas or past experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you :)
 
Happened to me once with an ex racer I was reschooling, he got a pole caught in his legs and went down on his nose before falling sideways. Slightly different in that I was able to get straight back on and pop a few more jumps. Like you it happened in a grid but didn't take long at all to regain his confidence... just started slightly smaller than normal the next time and went on from there. He was very inexperienced at the time but it didn't seem to worry him overly... probably did him some good as he could be a bit cocky!

Try not to dwell on it too much, would imagine you'll both be fine the next time
 
I had an incident XC a few years ago where my horse fell and i ended up knocked out on the floor, like you I wasn't bothered about jumping again but my horse was really shaken up ( although she was relitively experienced and usually over confident with jumping) and next time I did try and Jump her, she just refused every fence. Went right back to basics starting with poles then very slowly built it back up with tiny jumps (literally 1ft high) untill she was confident again, just keeping everything really small at first.:)
 
erm I would say just have a few days enjoying each other, put up some tiny fences (maybe a few with placing poles) and just enjoy having fun until you try gridwork again.

Sh*t happens, and it is horrible, but horses can get over it, they are intelligent and do make mistakes, just like us (though I doubt I'm near enough intelligent...though I do get as excited about food as my horses do...!)

Hope you're ok...never a nice expericence
 
I had a showjumping fall a few months back and had my arm in a sling for 3 weeks. When I got back in the saddle again I felt like the partnership was just gone, I was hesitating and she began stopping when she never did before. So I decided we should get out of the arena and do something fun. I took her for our first hunter trials together and did the teeny-weeny course so there was zero pressure. We flew around and she loved it, and I could feel her lock on and really take on every fence, which had been missing before. I just stopped interfering,sat quiet with a bit of leg on and let her carry me.
So out of this she regained her confidence and her love of jumping, and when I felt that switch in her, I trusted her too which made me relax in the saddle.
I don't know if this will be at all useful to you, but it was a change of scene and a bit of no pressure fun that got us back on track. She's been jumping like a springbok ever since.
 
I have had a similiar fall and one exercise we did to help horse's confidence was to give horse a loose jump before riding him over fences again! One point to note is that air jacket would have done nothing for you in this fall as you would not have been thrown clear!
 
I had a very similar fall when my horse was a youngster - jumping a 2'6" upright, got a pole between his legs and down we went. We lunge jumped him a couple of times and then did a grid of cross poles and very small fences and gradually built up.

As above, by the sounds of it in this fall ,the air jacket wouldn't have done anything for you if you stayed very close to your horse. However, I had a horse fall at an event very recently and my air jacket went off before I hit the ground, despite us going down together.

Good luck. :)
 
I have had several horse fall in my time in the saddle.

With two older horses riding xc and they were not at all affected by the experience both went on to compete with out any stops at sj or xc. And I in no way changed how we schooled at home.

With a baby I was practising at hoime he got keen and triped over a sj sending us both into a spiraling tumble. Lots of noseblowing later we reconnected and came to a smaller jump immmediately and he has never seemed bothered by the experience.

My recommendation is jump again with someone who gives you confidence, who is aware of the situation and dont overface yourself!!!

Ride positively at that fence and if you cant for the sake of your horse let someone else ride him next, if he is confident you will be too.
 
thanks for all your comments and advice, i'm pleased to say I jumped him today just over a cross pole and he was absolutely fine, like nothing had happened. Got a sj clinic next weekend and not eventing again now until Smiths Lawn so hopefullly we shoudl be back on form then!! Thank you :)
 
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