Unplanned dismounts (annoying falls)!

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mc80007

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So today I had my first fall off my new horse after owning him for six months. It was pathetic and I'm quite annoyed (it just so happened that it was also in front of people that had never seen me ride before)! We were jumping a pretty small jump and everything was nice and relaxed etc as we were cantering up to it and then we missed a stride... To put it in a simple way it was definitely a holy s*** distance. It caught me so by surprise that i was kind of tossed forwards and lost both my stirrups when we landed and was trying to hang on (I was half on his neck half on the front of my saddle) when my horse decided it would be nice to do a quick swerve! So off I flew off his side and hit the ground with a nice thump and a forward roll! I caught him and got back on to jump it again straight away, which I did and all was fine, just a few bumps and bruises (and a bruised ego), but I'm still quite puzzled about why it happened as i usually manage to cling on if we take a long spot, but I think just the little factors added up, and I dismounted earlier than expected!

Sorry for the long paragraph story, but I think just needed a little rant because it is so annoying when you know you shouldn't have fallen off but you did! Any other interesting unplanned dismount stories?
 
Ouch and typical when people are watching!

I was doing some grid work with an okay sized one at the end. Had a wonky ankle that gave way, messed up the second to last and came off over the last. Had the bright idea of landing on my feet... one compression fracture later at L2. Ho hum. Got back on after the initial Ouch! and didn't know it was broken for two days.
 
If they take off very long they can ping you out of the saddle because they have to push so hard with their back end to get over the jump. It happened to me a few months ago and it's annoying, but luckily we were both OK. It was when we had just started jumping again after a year off due to my horse's injury, so we were both very rusty. We've got better at seeing the stride since then! :-)
 
Oh no! Sorry to hear this, I can relate! In a HT comp, on the course my horse saw in the distance a new jump they were making which was fenced off with tape. She was agggesaway from it, I thought nothing of it. Going at speed she did a funny hoppy, jump sideways stoppy thing and I fell off...it takes a lot to get me off. My air jacket went off and she just stood there, two jumps from the end!
 
I was chucked off a few months back (my sisters Slutty Mare in season who got me off her back so she could talk with the big handsome gelding in the paddock next to the school) she was pratting about a bit very unlike her, wasn't listening to me at all next thing I know I'm on the back of a squealing pig broncing across the school, I held on for half the school and realised I was going to end up coming off so threw myself out the side door tapped the back of my head on the fence & winded myself and spend the rest of the day finding sand everywhere haha. Wish I hadn't came off and tried to pull her up but I guess everyone thinks of what they could have done after its over with :)
 
I was doing ride and lead with my New Forest and a mini Shetland. The ridden pony spooked at something, and spun round. The Mini stood still. I went down onto the road, but kept hold of both ponies though. Remounted ok. Very sore for a few weeks.
 
I hate people watching me ride, I got my horse for Christmas and every was out watching me. Flora bolted but when it was just me and her she was fine. I always panic that I am doing something wrong. I feel for you hope your bruises heal quick,
 
At least you got back on and did it again OP - well done !

My mare hasn't chucked me off for over a year ... Until two weeks ago , decided to have a little trot on a wide grass verge . Mare had other ideas took off at flat out gallop grabbed the bit and went, till we came up to some mole hills , there was about 6 all squashed up . So she shot sideways I lost my stirrups , ended up sat in front of the pommel and she then decided to turn into a bronco and launched me out the side door ! To add insult to injury I fell straight onto my bum into a load of thistles 😳 My mother who was with me found it all very amusing .

Then had to ride back home a good 3 miles with multiple thistles in my bum cheek !!!!!! .
 
Jazz's speciality is spooking at something that's not there and diving across the arena. He's had me off at least 4 times with that particular manoeuvre.
 
I fell off while mounting. Long story short I pinged up from the block with far too much gusto (horse was stood like a dream!) and threw myself off the other side! My foot was still in the stirrup so pulled the saddle with me part way and my hands and on leg on floor and other leg in the air! In front of the whole yard. Oops! I almost fell off the other day too...not riding regularly as at uni and horse is on loan to lovely lady at current yard and when I am home for hols we share her. I appeared to forget I had muscles and as we stood admiring the view and munching from a gateway, I lost all muscle tone on a slight down hill at a standstill and completely flopped forward on to her neck and my legs went back frog style! How on earth that happened I have no idea!
 
Emilieu said:
Ooooh - has he been giving lessons? My horse did exactly this last week and i am still doped up on painkillers as a result!
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Quite possibly! Sounds like you've had a sore one :( Jazz's favourite thing to "spook" at is my instructor. She'll have been standing in the same place for 10 minutes and we'll have passed her loads of times, then he'll suddenly decide that he's never seen her before and go flying ...
 
Thankfully I've only had one fall from my current horse and I'm the one that broke him!

My lad is awesome, even the one fall I have had was not his fault.
We were cantering in the school, he had been sat on for the first time ever 4 weeks before and a sheet of corrugated tin roof detached itself from the roof of the stables and flew directly at him.
Bless him all he did was stop dead! I unfortunately didn't stop and ended up rolling down his neck!
 
Ive had plenty of rather pathetic falls over the last few yeard 😂
My most recent was the week after i moved my horse to my current yard this summer and we thought we would try out the new jumps! I warmed up and all the other liveries (i had not even met half of them!) Came out to watch and were talking to my parents who were doing jumps for me, it was a single fence with a placing pole and all was going well till i asked dad to change pole to the other side and his three strides are clearly bigger than mine and horse was forced to jump it huggggeee and i fell off onto my feet a couple strides after the jump 😂 i was so embaressed and for a few weeks i was known as the girl who fell off 😂😰
 
If I fall off in public, I get up and bow ��

I was SJ someone else's (very naughty) horse once. At the third, she slammed the brakes on at the very last second, dropped her shoulder and threw me at the (reasonably high) jump. I bounced on the parallel bars twice before hitting the deck. The audience were silent (on video playback, I saw that it had looked awful!). So, feeling all eyes on me, I got up and decided there was nothing to do but bow with a grin. Leaving the ring to claps, cheers and guffaws was much more fun than leaving to a vague clap and murmurs of pity!

Laugh and the world laughs with you, as they say. There's rarely a need to feel embarrassed by a fall and on the whole, spectators will be concerned for you, not judgmental. Get up and grin wherever possible ��.
 
I fell off at walk once. I had just met my pony's new sharer and we went out for our first hack together so she could try him out, and while walking down a gentle slope my horse tripped a little and I just rolled off over his head in slow motion! It was so embarrassing, she must have thought I was totally incompetent haha!
 
Cowpony said:
OMG! Glad you're OK. He just seemed to get his legs all tangled up and couldn't take off.
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She didn't like the addition of a different last jump (an issue I've been working on for a year!) and tried to veer sideways. I stopped her running out but the hesitation caused the fall. She is a genuine horse just one of those things hopefully not to be repeated! She didn't seem overly concerned about any of it!
 
This summer I entered my first ever show on my loan pony. We were doing the 55cm and 65cm showjumping. Unfortunately half way around the 55 my saddle slipped (long story although my girth WAS done up!) and I fell off.

Round 2 the 65 we got all the way round until she decided she didn't want to do the last jump but then changed her mind and we both did it separately! The photographer got the whole thing on camera! I had lots of friends and my mum watching me, and they had seen me disappear over the side of the jump and then I popped up with a huge grin on my face to let them know that I was ok!

It still makes me laugh now and I bought one of the photos where I am in midair!
 
I am always at my worst when people watch. Not saw bad at shows, it is when people at my yard do it, and it is always the ones that think they know everything that it happens infront of. They then take this as an invite to slate your riding and give "advice" which is code for digs. Everyone falls it's how you come back that counts xx
 
Orca said:
Well that's odd! I wonder why. I assumed you had chosen it, my apologies.
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I think it does that because of the 'fail' vids and quite a few people make up horse 'thrills and spills' I find the ones when us silly people inflict silly ouchies in themselves through entirely silly but voluntary behaviour. Not when it involves animals or horses- far too much risk to find funny for me.
 
Had a fall today as it happens!

Had my mare a week, took her to the local equestrian centre with some friends to hire the indoor arena and discovered that a hunting fit horse, lack of turnout and being young wasn't a great combination. Jumped a fence very enthusiastically, did a little Buck of excitement only to get her legs tangled up in the process and then decided the only thing for it was to drop her shoulder and out the side door I went! I got back on and jumped for another half hour before finishing, boxing home and then sitting in a&e for two hours to discover I've fractured my thumb just where it connects to the rest of my hand.

Oweeeeeee I'm so surprised just how much It bloody hurts and how much not being able to move your thumb is dehabilitating!
 
I have had my ex racer six years and I have fallen off him 3 times.
1. At a dressage competition warming up and he spooked at someone's umbrella and I flopped off out the side door. Pretty embarrassing as everyone warming up had to pull up their horses while I chased mine around until he would be caught! He was finder after that.
2. Jumping lesson out at a new yard with a new instructor and we had a miscommunication regarding strides and he went to take off, decided not to last min and I was already leaning forward and I hit the deck.
3. A little over a year ago he bucked me off. I got on him to ride him round the farm buildings and we had barely gone 2 minutes when he spooked, span and bucked me off. It really surprised me but a day later a lump on his back burst open and it turned out I had plonked his saddle on top of a spider bite which had become an access.
That's it!
 
Daughter was on her new pony the other day and he stopped, shook his head...then his neck...then the whole body. She wasn't paying attention and had leaded forward when he stopped. She just slithered right off and was furious with me for laughing at her - it would have earned me £250 if I'd had a camera!

My old cob used to do it a lot... a Duck and the out to the right which would result on my landing on head a lot :(. Once we were schooling and I heard a flappy noise (Lorry with loose cover on load), he stopped, noise got louder and he bolted and slammed on breaks, I went flying, held on to reins and he then bolted and I got dragged backwards, all the while my jods and pants filling with sand :(. Had to stand there after he stopped and shoogle as much otu as possible. School was next to busy intersection and it was rush hour :(
 
I am famous for falling off at a standstill. Tightening the girth at a meet, I sort of slid off, that was the last time I ever had a sherry for each foot on a cold day :D
 
Fell off in front of a lot of people, owners, trainer and about two dozen sundry lads: after exercising the racehorses I took my feet out of stirrups and we were walking on loose rein up to the main group. Eagle Canyon was stable pet, I was quite happily admiring the view of the Cotswold countryside and thinking about breakfast when he decided to go straight from walk to canter to join his pals. Cue a slow motion, backwards over his rump. Cue loads of [unwarranted] laughter ... grrrrrrrrrr
 
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