Teleportation Spooks

J

Jinx94

Well-Known Member
Joined
9 March 2011
Messages
2,414
Location
Somewhere in the middle-ish
Visit site
How the heck do we sit these? Especially when on a pony?! šŸ¤£

Hit the ground quite hard this morning - luckily in the school. Can't say I blame Tris. He's a spooky little thing at the best of times and a window was opened on the house next to the arena as we'd just gone past.

One second I was on a calm, relaxed (as calm and relaxed as he can be!) and responsive Tris, the next second I was in the air and looking at his shoulder!

I'm not riding fit at the moment and I'm sure that more saddle time and core strength will improve my stickability, but is there anything specific you think could help? This particular spook was not his standard, thank goodness!
 
Nothing I can suggest, but about 25 years ago my boy shied at a pheasant, literally going from the left side of the lane to the right side in a nano second. I sat it but it hurt my left hip like crazy and I now have bone spurs which have stopped me riding. Didnā€™t help that my boy (same sire as your Tris I think) did a massive spook and whip around on the road a few years ago and dumped me on the road on my left hipā€¦


So sorry that you came off on Christmas Day though, hope youā€™re not too sore.
 
Spotherisk said:
Nothing I can suggest, but about 25 years ago my boy shied at a pheasant, literally going from the left side of the lane to the right side in a nano second. I sat it but it hurt my left hip like crazy and I now have bone spurs which have stopped me riding. Didnā€™t help that my boy (same sire as your Tris I think) did a massive spook and whip around on the road a few years ago and dumped me on the road on my left hipā€¦


So sorry that you came off on Christmas Day though, hope youā€™re not too sore.
Click to expand...
Cornish Jayson?

Ooft, sometimes the effort is staying on is just as painful! They do have a good spin, don't they!

I'm laughing about it now, more bugged about having to debate whether I continue using this hat until a new one arrives or err on the side of caution and suck up the fact that he'll just have to have time off until then (soft tissue injury to foot so walking is very uncomfortable). Lower back is bruised and sore, bit stiff but nothing major!
 
Sorry to hear of your stack.

Having spent 9mths off my horse due to surgery, I went to an exercise physiologist to get specific exercises to make sure I could at least react, balance and get my brain and body sorted intuitively if something like this happened when I returned to riding. It has really given me confidence as when I hopped back on I was far more cautious than I had been 9mths ago.

Incidentally, the programme I have from my EP is based on snow ski-ing (Iā€™m also a skier) and is very focused on core strength, mobility, flexibility and brain patterns. So itā€™s a good dual purpose workout each day.
 
Having had many sideway spooks over the years, the most memorable one was with Rabatsa. A wagon was coming towards us (nothing to do with the actual spook) as she levitated sideways, over a wide grass verge and landed in a grassed over ditch about three feet deep. There was another immediate sideways spook back to the original place. Think cartoon with her catching me on the rebound jump. The wagon driver might have had brown underwear as the return spook put us near the middle of the road and a lot closer to him than we had been.

Drivers from that firm have been ultra careful around horses ever since and this would have occurred about 25 years ago.
 
I donā€™t think you can plan to sit out a massive shy/spook if your horse doesnā€™t do them often or always in the same place. Iā€™ve had some where Iā€™ve gently swayed in the saddle and others where Iā€™ve landed like a sack of the proverbial, and if itā€™s combined with a whip round youā€™re generally in trouble!
 
This is a hard one. I do empathize. My old wb schoolmaster had a nanosecond teleport sideways spin on him. Usually just the one, in any ride. I was usually decked, off the left or right shoulder. If I wasn't, he would shuffle me back into the middle of the saddle and carry on as if nothing had happened. Never any warning. He'd be forward, front of the leg, on the bit, back lifted and soft, one ear flicked back to me, then 'boom', around we would go at warp speed.

I used to cry about it, because in every other way, he was perfect. My coaches could only tell me to keep my weight in my seat bones, and upper body balanced, not forward. I also invested in full seat silicone breeches, and I suppose towards the end of his ridden career [23 y o] a bit of a sense of humour.

The other thing I did was rider fall training, which you can probably access if your near any jockey apprentice training centres.
 
Thanks all, some fab suggestions here!

@rabatsa, crikey, glad it had a good outcome! We've landed in ditches on a few occasions, luckily totally unharmed.

His usual spook is to drop his shoulder and whip round. After many years, I can hang on for those! A scare behind normally leads to him taking off for a few strides.

Feeling quite sore this morning with a bit more whiplash than expected šŸ™„ I know I'm only thirty, but I do wish I was a few years younger - I'm sure I used to bounce better!!
 
When I was much younger I agreed to ride a flighty young TB called Tulip for a woman that was pregnant. Mare was not long broken in, and batty as a box of frogs. She's the only horse I've ever ridden that spooked DOWNWARDS. I was riding her through some woods when before I knew what happened, she'd gone from under me, and I landed standing on the ground, literally where she'd been. she just dropped away and then shot out from under me somehow. Great trick for a leggy 16hh!
 
Air jacket & monkey strap. I bought a hi viz air jacket and the first time he spooked I was determined the air jacket wasnā€™t going to get muddy so hung on for dear life!

I find a monkey strap better than a neck strap as you donā€™t have to lean foward
 
No tips sorry, but staying on can be as painful, on a hack sitting a particularly good teleport I pulled a muscle on the inside of my right thigh so badly that I had to dismount by slithering off the right side as there was no way I could swing it over. I was walking funny for ages šŸ˜…
 
Took his lordship for a spin in the school again this morning, changed the bridle (one ear western headstall to English with a drop noseband) and was rather more drill sergeant-y than I generally like to be (kind, but didn't give an inch) and we had a very pleasant ride!

He can have a day off tomorrow but I think I'll push past my worries about lacking confidence/balance (daft, right?!) and he can now have two days of work followed by a day off rather than the wishy washy schedule we've had of late.
 
Decades ago, my bay Connie spooked with me. Quiet area, hedges and water filled ditches either side of the lane. In early 1970s not much traffic. It was late October ,and a pheasant flew out of hedge. She went in a nano second , to other side of lane. I went other way into 3 foot of ditch water. We walked home. I stank like a pig in muck. Dead leaves all over me. Could got back on, but I had a new saddle and would got wet from my bum. I really was dripping wet through.
When we walked through gate , Grandad was chopping wood by stables, and he couldnā€™t stop laughing, but at least my pony didnā€™t run home. She just ate grass while I dragged myself to dry land.
 
ROMANY 1959 said:
Decades ago, my bay Connie spooked with me. Quiet area, hedges and water filled ditches either side of the lane. In early 1970s not much traffic. It was late October ,and a pheasant flew out of hedge. She went in a nano second , to other side of lane. I went other way into 3 foot of ditch water. We walked home. I stank like a pig in muck. Dead leaves all over me. Could got back on, but I had a new saddle and would got wet from my bum. I really was dripping wet through.
When we walked through gate , Grandad was chopping wood by stables, and he couldnā€™t stop laughing, but at least my pony didnā€™t run home. She just ate grass while I dragged myself to dry land.
Click to expand...

Mine did a swift spook/spin and I landed on my backside, in winter, on a byway which was used twice a day by cattle for milking - ie it was about 4ā€ in slurry! He had a strong sense of humour!
 
Keeping your shoulders fractionally behind your lower leg, core strength and a helpful saddle to compensate for the core strength!

Fergus was very spooky in his youth and very occasionally likes to remind me of it now. As I don't use a proper saddle any more, I have to rely on core strength, muscle memory and the grace of any god that's willing to listen to my prayers!
 
Mine was a bugger at every type of spook, in every direction, when she was younger, I think I fell off every week for about a year when I first got her! She's much much better now at nearly 13 but it did teach me to have a better seat and to have a cat like reflex at grabbing her mane/neck when she did it.
 
As the owner of 2 Welsh ponies I have experienced a spectrum of spooks over the years.
Welshie-girl is mostly a bold brave hacker, but sometimes will jump sideways at a random thing in the wrong place. I think I stay on more because I have just developed a stronger core and more mobile hips over the years. I try to keep my weight down my legs especially as I am tall to ride her so my centre of gravity is too high. I find laughing at her helps. She also wears a martingale when we hack so I have a strap to grab. She is 21 and hasn't become more sensible with age.
Welsh-boy hates noises that come from things he can't see. He runs away from scary noises, does the odd standard spook and his worst- spinning around to run from danger ahead. If I know he is in an anxious mood I try to keep it slow and follow well-known routes.
 
My young horse has taken up teleportation as a part time hobby this winter. He almost got me the other day! I felt like my entire spine got realigned sitting that one!

For me, staying on is down to pure luck I think.
 
Landcruiser said:
When I was much younger I agreed to ride a flighty young TB called Tulip for a woman that was pregnant. Mare was not long broken in, and batty as a box of frogs. She's the only horse I've ever ridden that spooked DOWNWARDS. I was riding her through some woods when before I knew what happened, she'd gone from under me, and I landed standing on the ground, literally where she'd been. she just dropped away and then shot out from under me somehow. Great trick for a leggy 16hh!
Click to expand...
I laughed at this, as Alfs special move was the downward spook (I called it the sl*t drop!)
He was also a master at teleportation, and lightening fast 180s. Never got a warning, which I think is what always saved me, as I was relaxed. He never had me off with any of his spook repertoire, although it was close a few times.
I think my early days on baby racehorses helped me, as I noticed a few times that as soon as he started to go, my lower legs went on like vices, without me thinking about it
 
Landcruiser said:
When I was much younger I agreed to ride a flighty young TB called Tulip for a woman that was pregnant. Mare was not long broken in, and batty as a box of frogs. She's the only horse I've ever ridden that spooked DOWNWARDS. I was riding her through some woods when before I knew what happened, she'd gone from under me, and I landed standing on the ground, literally where she'd been. she just dropped away and then shot out from under me somehow. Great trick for a leggy 16hh!
Click to expand...
Mine used to spook by dropping what felt like 4ft - it always used to set off the emergency fall alarm on my smart watch and would jar the hell out of my spine!
 
I have never figured out how to sit them. My experience with them have been like watching a cartoon. One minute Iā€™m on my horse, the next Iā€™m just falling to the ground.

Granted my experience with them have been my horse teleporting at a near stand still. The last time it happened my horse took a step backward from a halt, hit her hoof on a mounting block and jumped what seemed like 180 degrees from my view point from the ground šŸ˜‚
 
I used to have a chestnut Welsh teleportation expert (as @pistolpete can attest as think she witnessed some of his work!)

For a while I had a saddle with a suede seat and it was definitely easier to stay put in terms of not moving in the saddle in that compared to the leather replacement.

Sticky bum jods also help. I used to ride quite long (maybe a tad too long sometimes!) as I found it helped me to wrap my legs around him.

Oh and if you feel that millisecond where theyā€™re about to go then go with them rather than against them. If the horse is fairly balanced when theyā€™re doing this itā€™s easier to sit to as wellā€¦ I found the Welsh infinitely easier to sit to than current Highland, possibly because he was like a ballet dancer rather than a bulldozer trying to break the laws of physics!

Highlights included nearly shoving another horse down a river bank we were cantering along the top of cos he saw a horse eating log, many ā€œOMG thereā€™s something suddenly beside meā€ moments and the one time he very nearly did get me off is when the coat Iā€™d left on the arena wall got caught by a gust of wind & suddenly ā€œjumpedā€ towards us cue us inventing gallop sidepass (including an EXTENDED period of elevation/ levitation). Definitely got left hanging in the air / off the side of the pony! (Luckily all the training weā€™d been doing on NOT sodding off at a million miles an hour after we spooked had started to sink in so he settled for standing there shaking & snorting although I think I still got off to move the coat to under a heavy object!)
 
I'm hoping it was a one off and he'll stick to his patented spooks in the future - the more I think about this one, the more I laugh!

By the time I registered that we were no longer doing a straight, relaxed trot, my right ankle was sliding over the seat of my saddle šŸ™ˆ my biggest regret is that it wasn't caught on camera šŸ¤£šŸ¤£
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top