To get off or not to get off?

What do you think

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My horse was the napper from hell and I was terrified. We thought he was being a wimp, because he needs confidence from his rider. So I used to get off if we had a problem going past something. I would get straight back on and continue on our hacks.
Through showing him it was safe, I now don't need to get off because he goes past most things with gentle persuasion and lots of praise. My horse is now a very eager hacker and is pretty much bombproof in traffic, so I think this strategy has worked. He is the type to throw a massive tantrum if you force him to do something he doesn't want to!
So in that sense my horses' behaviour DIDN'T suffer as a result of me getting off. However I think it probably depends on the individual horse.
 
I don't think there is a problem with getting off. If a horse was genuinely scared of something I would rather get off and lead it past than get angry with it and make it even more scared. As long as the horse goes past, and you don't give up and turn back I don't think there's a problem.

I used to get off my Appy when he was a youngster when we met pushchairs as he was terrified of them! He would always go by with me on foot though. Then, I would get back on and carry on with the ride. I can now ride him quite happily past pushchairs so getting off obviously did him no harm.
 
Each to their own, different circumstances, different horses. I do get off, having done so probably 3 times in 10 years.

I only do so when he is genuinely frightened/confused and on a road which could cause real problems ie backing into deep ditches, playing with the traffic, or losing the plot on dangererously slippery sufaces. He does seem to take confidence from me on the ground and will pass anything with me leading him.

I often get off and walk for a few hundred yard or so when hacking anyway, as I tend to go out for hours at a time, (gives my bum and his back a break), so he doesn't see me getting off as 'winning'. He is only 14.2hh so easy to get back on.

Jane
 
I ticked get off - Only because I dropped my phone out of my pocket last week!!!

Each to their own - but for me, not when they are spooking.
Aint no way im holding on to a 17hh tank if she fancied going the other direction and i was on foot. at least on top i would stay with her.


incidentally she is Ace at hacking, and super confident with me in hand - So its not an issue I come across much (Touch wood!)
 
People have outlined quite a number of different circumstances here, regarding when to get off or not. Hacking out is probably the most likely situation where you can get into serious trouble.

Personally I think that the decision should always be the riders, not the horses whether you get off or not. If the situation arises where the horse becomes explosive, for want of a better word, then you should get off. When you start to get into a situation where you feel that you are getting nervous, or feel you want to get off, then you should take the first chance you get to get off.

If you are stressed yourself this will quickly become apparant to the horse and a bad situation will get worse. If your horse is not capable of being lead from the ground in any circumstance, then he is not safe to be out hacking on.

Most equestrian sports take place in fairly controlled environments, not so with hacking. The chances of coming across a situation where your horse needs to be relying on you as the leader who he knows makes safe decisions for you and him are always there on a hack, so if he feels you losing confidence, he will make his own decision, which is normally to run.

I see no loss of face or credibility for any rider in getting off, whenever you feel you want to. Hacking out most days, I get on and off my horse whenever I want to, and always make a point of doing so three or four times when I'm out, so she sees nothing unusual in me doing so. Sometimes she has to stand and wait whilst I have something to do, and I expect her to stand patiently for as long as I want her to.

My vote then is to get off if you feel you want or need to. In a controlled environment, where you feel confident, to sit through bucks and rears is fine, but, on a hack things are different.
 
I'll get off if I think that my boy will be less stressed if I do so; I think its better just to slip off and walk beside my boy if he's badly spooked by something, and just be there for him beside his head, than to stay up and have him get really mega stressed.

If by getting off I can keep him better chilled and calm about something, then I will do that. Sometimes he's a bit of a wussy and that's all it needs, then you can just hop up and continue on the hack and he'll well chilled with it, whereas if I'd stayed on that might have caused him to stress even more.

I think its whatever's right for each individual horse & rider combination; for some horses its a way of evasion - they know if they play up the rider will get off, so they'll do it even more, whereas other horses, like mine, just need someone on the ground with them to give them confidence occasionally.

Difficult to be hard & fast I think.
 
In general would say always better to stay on, napping/spooking etc. But, last week, my big lad who is usually 100%, suddenly took huge exception to one of those round cattle feeders that had magically appeared just the other side of a gate.................whipped round and cantered off, downhill on a road :eek: Luckily he's a well balanced horse, got to the bottom of hill without falling over, managed to pull him up, had a few words and set off back up the hill again. Big git did it again, at which point I decided had been very very lucky that he didn't slip, and there were no cars about. So yes, I got off, led him up the hill and stopped at the gate next to the offending object, he huffed and puffed a bit but happily followed me.

And yes, I then had to keep walking until I found somewhere to get on, he's 17' 1" :D
 
It's not something I have ever had to do. (apart from when I was about 11 and a pony bolted with me, and I just launched myself off :D)

But if I felt really unsafe I would dismount. :)
 
If I think it's dangerous I get off. My horse has more manners when I'm leading him than when mounted... Oh and to put it bluntly I'd rather my horse ended up dead than I did.

Blitz
 
My pony when I first had him was a bad napper and I would always stay on as I knew I always had more control on than off but one time I got off to try and get him past a very noisy football match on a local pitch...he took off back to the yard with me running alongside him through the village to try and keep hold of him - never want to repeat that ever again. (He doesn't nap anymore like that as we got it sorted).

So I've never got off since apart from leading him past something he is utterly terrified of when being onboard to get him past hasn't worked as he will, in those circumstances, behave, he lets me lead him past and also will then stand quietly while I get back on (this has been for a tandem and one of those adult bikes with the baby trailer unit with PVC hood and shifting baby inside). And also for gates where I tend to get off as he's fine with those.

I have ridden with someone in the past though who the minute the horse goes tense or gets anxious and messes about a bit leaps off as is very scared the horse might take off with them and the horse has got worse rather than be reassured... And we've also had a horse of this person's leg it back to the yard along the bridleway because she got off and then couldn't hold him which then wasn't a great thing for other people on the yard to have a horse come galloping back onto the yard... so sometimes I would say not a good idea but might depend on the horse and the circumstances you find yourself in.
 
I was constantly ridiculed for getting off my horse when I felt the situation was more than I could handle on top until I had some lessons with Nicole Golding. She told me that it is never a failure to get off if you feel either in danger or unsafe as long as you got back on once the situation was resolved. At the end of the day your life and safety are paramount and horses don't see it as failure if you get off to give them confidence to pass something or get through a sticky situation. She always said to me that too many people try to appear over confident by mocking people who take the decision to get off. Nobody is 100% confident all the time and I am very wary of people who scoff at anybody doing this.
 
I understand you are safer/ more control blah blah on top.

but I have gotten off my horse when he's spoked, and would continue to get off if we were chased by a dog for instance or in real trouble. However I think this is personal to me and my horse, and I would advise others not to get off.

There has been an occasion where no matter how much I ask he would not go past something, from pure fear, but I know that if I get off and walk with him, he will walk calmly past almost anything and at most take a wide berth. I also know that I am capable of holding onto him if he ever did anything, and he doesn't. When he does its never major. So we have walked past a few objects, and as soon as we are past I can get on and continue my ride without having a fight which could have resulted in him being more scared/making more of an issue of something/ me possibly falling off, rather than just get off, continue... Because I have still won the battle of getting him past the object.. and getting back on to be safe.

The same applies in the school. If he is overexcited or fresh and messing around, I will get off, lunge him until he calms down, get back on and have a safe ride. I guess it does just depend on your horse and knowing how they cope better.
 
Thinking about this one and wondering if years ago, when the horse was actually used for work and necessity, rather then pleasure, did people have these problems? Don't suppose they did - if they needed to get from A to B on their horse, the horse wouldn't have lasted very long if it didn't do what it was supposed to do! You'd think, too, that we would be breedng better horses, and have access to better training information, so why do we all have these common problems?
 
Hollyberry said:
I was constantly ridiculed for getting off my horse when I felt the situation was more than I could handle on top until I had some lessons with Nicole Golding. She told me that it is never a failure to get off if you feel either in danger or unsafe as long as you got back on once the situation was resolved. At the end of the day your life and safety are paramount and horses don't see it as failure if you get off to give them confidence to pass something or get through a sticky situation. She always said to me that too many people try to appear over confident by mocking people who take the decision to get off. Nobody is 100% confident all the time and I am very wary of people who scoff at anybody doing this.
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/\/\/\ agree with this

fluffalina said:
Thinking about this one and wondering if years ago, when the horse was actually used for work and necessity, rather then pleasure, did people have these problems? Don't suppose they did - if they needed to get from A to B on their horse, the horse wouldn't have lasted very long if it didn't do what it was supposed to do! You'd think, too, that we would be breedng better horses, and have access to better training information, so why do we all have these common problems?
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/\/\/\ Umm because we are not in the good old days. We have limited hacking, faster roads, people have limited time, and horses are not used all day. If you ride your horse 6-8 hours per day they get pretty quiet.
 
Although normally Im a never get off person and I was until I got my current boy im now a get off person, and quick!! I know my horse well and hes an angel 99% of the time but if something isnt right (saddle pinching when going down a hill hes been down 100X before as its been reflocked badly for most recent example) he will give you lots of warning with backing up, bunnyhops etc but when hes had enough he will just take off and not care who or what gets in his way (sometimes with a bronk first) and so I know when hes warning me to get off and check him out to see whats wrong, have found a warble fly, saddle pinching and stone in the foot so far..... hes great to long rein though and safer when your on the ground as not a spooky horse so only plays up when in pain or if idiots gallop past you :rolleyes:
 
I got off my new boy when a calf came running down the road behind us and scared the livin daylights out of us both , he got over that shock soon enough and I sat it out only for the calf to run back up the road and down the hedge on the other side which caused my boy to keep leaping out in the road , I wasn't used to the size of my horse ( he was new to me and i'd gone from 14.2hh to 15.3hh ) so I promptly jumped off , only to have him jump on my toes and break them ( ouch ) so stick it out if you can. P.s this ruined my confidence completely and I can't face hacking alone , if only I'd stayed on !!!
 
AndySpooner said:
People have outlined quite a number of different circumstances here, regarding when to get off or not. Hacking out is probably the most likely situation where you can get into serious trouble.

Personally I think that the decision should always be the riders, not the horses whether you get off or not. If the situation arises where the horse becomes explosive, for want of a better word, then you should get off. When you start to get into a situation where you feel that you are getting nervous, or feel you want to get off, then you should take the first chance you get to get off.

If you are stressed yourself this will quickly become apparant to the horse and a bad situation will get worse. If your horse is not capable of being lead from the ground in any circumstance, then he is not safe to be out hacking on.

Most equestrian sports take place in fairly controlled environments, not so with hacking. The chances of coming across a situation where your horse needs to be relying on you as the leader who he knows makes safe decisions for you and him are always there on a hack, so if he feels you losing confidence, he will make his own decision, which is normally to run.

I see no loss of face or credibility for any rider in getting off, whenever you feel you want to. Hacking out most days, I get on and off my horse whenever I want to, and always make a point of doing so three or four times when I'm out, so she sees nothing unusual in me doing so. Sometimes she has to stand and wait whilst I have something to do, and I expect her to stand patiently for as long as I want her to.

My vote then is to get off if you feel you want or need to. In a controlled environment, where you feel confident, to sit through bucks and rears is fine, but, on a hack things are different.
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Couldn't agree more
 
I'd never say never, and it depends on the horse. I would never get off my gelding as I know that I can ride him through things and that he is 100% in traffic - it's more things at the side that he sees that he is scared of. I know him so well that I can anticipate what he is going to do and I know that I am totally confident on him. On my mare, who I don't know as well yet and I don't know if she will go upright, I think if there was traffic about, I would get off and lead her past the problem as she is not very confident in herself and needs constant reassurance. However if there was no traffic around, I would be more inclined to sit and try and calmly get her past and take more time about doing it. With me, it's not WHAT the problem is, it's more a case of if there is traffic around, I don't want my horses farting around with the danger of being hit, or getting the driver annoyed so that they start revving and pipping the horn....
 
well i made a mistake by getting off today and my horse took off up the road and took a bit of catching so I might think twice about getting off in future but it depends on the situation really.

I will now never get off if something is coming towards me that she is scared of and will look to find a gateway to stand in even if its back the way we have come but if it is something I have to go past then I will still get off if I have too e.g my horse is scared of tractors and today we had 4 to deal with. The first was a hedge trimmer which she bolted past but at least she went past - this is progress. The second was too close to a ditch and she was heading for the ditch so I got off and walked her past calmly. The 3rd was the hedge trimmer again but it didnt stop coming at us and she had planted on the road so I got off to drag her to a gateway to move out of the way but he kept coming, she reared and pulled away, I couldnt hold on and she went up the road away from home but thankfully tucked herself into a gateway further up the road to allow me to catch her. The 4th was a loader and trailer (her 2nd fear) but I manged to get well out of its way and wasnt going to get off after number 3!)
 
I'm firmly in the not getting off camp. I have far more control from the saddle than from the ground and I´d rather fall off than be stood on. At least if I fall off, I have a chance of avoiding the horse and landing on something soft (usually my bottom!), whereas if I get stood on by an over-excited, prancing horse acting like an idiot, I'm more likely to break something. I also don't want to see loose horse that I can't hang onto careering up the road.

Its also really bad for the horse's discipline if it learns that spooking or napping results in the rider dismounting. I got one that had learnt to rear if this did not immediatley happened, and I could do nothing with it. It was such a spoilt undisciplined ruined horse by then. So sad, and very dangerous.
 
I never, ever, ever get off...mainly because, as others have said, I feel I've more control on top (and not so likely to get trampled). But also because, if I feel I'm sitting on something that may explode, I haven't the nerve to risk being halfway out the saddle when it does it!
 
The one and only time I have ever got off on a hack was when my 17hander was being attacked by a little Westie dog (cue massive horse satnding and quaking, hes pathetic!) Anyway, I got off to rescue little dog so it wasn't kicked, and as i slid down, said horse decided he didn't want to be with mummy anymore, so bolted home, across busy roads etc etc. So now, I go for never ever get off. I have much more control on top than I do on foot

bexcy-bee x
 
skewby said:
But also because, if I feel I'm sitting on something that may explode, I haven't the nerve to risk being halfway out the saddle when it does it!
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LOL ! Yes, thats so true. Soon as you start a dismount the sod seizes the moment to make its own survival decisions. Usually stupid decisions ignoring the highway code.
I tend to stay on because I feel more in control on board, but if it were a case of self preservation, with a horse that was in a moment of shut down due to total panic, I'd weigh up the pro's and con's of dismounting as safely as possible. Often you can take action before that point to avoid the situation arising but not always.
Whether people stay on board or get off, the important thing is to stay safe and also to take control in the best possible way so that the horse ends up with a positive experience and doesn't sense a loss of leadership from the rider. A clinging, shivering wreck on its back isn't going to inspire any horse with confidence, but may reinforce its decision that it was right to react to fear.
For me, I try to meet the panic response with quiet, assertive calm. Depending on the horse and situation, I might sit very passively and take pressure off, or, alternatively, get the horse busy doing something to distract and let the horse follow it instinct to flight, by moving briskly forwards in an active walk or trot, ignoring the stimulus that worried the horse in the first place. Depends on what feels right at the time.
Its a strange comfort to me, that even the most expert of horsemen have found them selves in one of those 'oh *****' moments and that no one who gets on the back of a horse can guarantee that the horse is completely controlable. You can only influence them, but miminising the risk is what sane riders do.
 
I just find that once my pony spooks she is just too dangerous to jump off and taking my feet out of the stirrups to dismount - well I might as well just head dive onto the floor. However I did dismount once because I was taking her back to where she had spooked and bolted previously and was trying to accustom her to an area again but she was quite a handful and then I just couldn't be back on again safely so ended up walking home.
 
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