What's your attitude to falling off?

I tend to just evaluate if everything is still where it is supposed to be, stand up, swear (under me breath hopefully!) make sure my pony is ok and just get back on! :)

Until 2 years ago, I had not fallen off since I was about 18 (I am now 39!) - I have a secure seat and have just been lucky. But then I ended up with a 14.1 pony who is fab but a little horror and I have fallen off more times in the past 2 years than I can remember. Luckily its not far to fall, and despite some dramatic exits have not hurt myself. Helpfully my pony always stands and waits once I am on the floor which helps!

Kids need to just get back on (assuming they are ok of course!) and stop worrying about it, otherwise they will lose their nerve for riding before they even start!
 
get back on straight away, the only time I havent is when I fell on my head, horse peed off and I had an instant nosebleed!
 
Havnt fallen off for a while *jinxed myself there!* but have always just got back on and have always have from when i was a kid.

The other day one of the girls was jumping her loan pony, loan pony put a stop in front of the jump and girl went flying over the top into the jump que everyone running over to her, girl was fine, but mom was in hysterics! crying a huggin her! girl just got back on like nothign happened and attepted said jump but a little lower.

Couldnt get over the reaction from the mom though! Its ppl like that that do just tend to put there kids off getitng back on.

Was at a riding school once, and was leading on of the beginners round who didnt quite like trotting, i said to her just a bit further (to the back of the ride) and we will stop, que the mom running to her and scooping her up and ran back with her! and had a go at me!
 
The first thing I do is lift my head to check if the horse is ok. Then I catch my breath (I nearly always seem to wind myself) and check everything still works. I then get up, catch horse and get on. The only time I haven't got back on was when the pony fell on top of me and I broke my arm. My RI told me I was being silly and being a wuss but I had a nasty feeling and funnily enough, next day at the hospital I had an extremely nasty break. The doctor said it was lucky I hadn't got back on - I would probably have had permanent nerve damage from holding the reins :o They used my x-rays as case studies for a few years afterwards :D I felt guilty for not getting back on but I just knew that something was very wrong.
I definitely agree that unless something is clearly wrong then a child should always be made to get back on, even if it's only for a walk around. I was forced to jump an entire course of jumps when I couldn't move my arm, had pulled two muscles in my back and had concussion. I was perfectly willing to get back on but less enamoured about the pain involved with a longer course :rolleyes: One of my funniest and most embarassing falls was when I fell off for no good reason, landed on my lower back which sent it into spasm and I couldn't lift my left leg at all. It made getting back on very difficult. I just about managed it with the help of my instructor but soon hacked home because I simply could not move my leg. Two days later I was still unable to lift it more than an inch in the air!
 
I am what you call a 'bouncer', I come off the ground as fast as I just hit it.

Pain and shame are to be dealt with when you get home!

I came off my horse onto my head, and I landed, bounced back up and was off at a 'run' (rather lopsided and stumbling), to fetch my beloved horse! Who was making his way to the dual carridgeway.
I drove to my moms house, by the time I got there, whiplash was so bad I couldn't move.....

I also have 'the dismount' fall that I'm quite good at! landing on my feet! I tend to do it off the back of rearing horses.....
 
I normally just get straight back on, if I can find a log to stand on, lol! Only time I didn't, once I'd caught up with horse, went to gather up reins to get back on, hand was pointing out an odd angle.
 
If I'm not hurt, I get straight back on. So far I've been more embarrassed than anything. I always try to figure out the how and why I fell off and if it could have been prevented. Like when you have a car accident, you try to go back to the spot and figure out how it happened and what you might have been able to do differently.

I'm lucky that my horse looks after me and the times I have fallen, it's usually down to something I did--ie cantering on bad ground--never going to do that again! So I try to live and learn! :cool:
 
Lolo said:
Yes- there are some hugely precious parents out there I think. At our PC camp (and back when I attended- still the same instructors) the attitude is to get kids back on and make falling off a joke. I reckon you can tell who the kids who will be good are as they're the ones who leap up as soon as they can and find it funny.
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This is what I used to do when I taught (assuming everything was okay) because it made it seem like not such a big deal to the person falling off. Turning every fall into a major event is not the best thing you can do for anyone.

monkeybum13 said:
My mum is the type that will run off to catch the pony and then check I'm ok (providing I'm standing up and walking about ok!)
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I had a crashing fall in a jump off back in my youth and winded myself and broke three fingers. My mum ran into the ring, looked at me on all fours struggling for breath and went running right by me to get my horse. I've not let her forget it since but I totally agreed with what she did. I was fine - she could see I was just winded and not terribly beat up so what was she going to do? Especially as I'm not the type that can stand a lot of fussing. Of course I got back on, finished the course and then jumped in the next class too after the ambulancemen bandaged my fingers together.
 
Fall off, look up, see horse staring at me, get up, check horse/tack, go back to mounting block, get back on.
My worst - I came crashing off at canter and ripped a muscle in my back and damaged a disc in my lumbar spine. Didn't get back on because I initially stood up walked 10 feet and fell back on to the ground. (Did this at camp in America and was told by boss to keep working as long as pain was less than 5/10. Went to hospital 2 days later after I had a breakdown trying to cope with the pain. In reality sitting was 8/10 and standing 6/10. Spent the whole remaining 3 months sleeping on the floor!)
My stupidiest - All of them. Can't blame the horses / ponies for any of my falls. The reason I keep getting back on is because I KNOW it's my fault and I have to learn not to do it again.
I don't get this obsession for body protectors on every child. I have an ex-Brownie (11yo) who wants a BP because "everyone else has one". At the riding school its only indoor school jumping and not XC so I don't get it. Not from a safety point of view anyway. She at the moment is best fitted to the Rodney Powell ones. A touch expensive for only a couple of years and she isn't really competing. BTW would anyone buy a BP off ebay second hand? I wouldn't personally, not a second hand helmet/BP. Wouldn't put my safety at risk in equipment where you don't know the history. I hate my BP but maybe it has saved a bruise or 2.
 
If I fall off I think "Oh bugger how embarrassing - get back on quick and hope no-one saw!" LOL

I had came off once as a child showjumping - face onto a pole, got a bloody nose and split lip, vaulted straight back on and finished my round before anyone could stop me.

I dont ever want to give myself chance to lose my nerve, I worry about the injury later. xx
 
I don't fall off very often because I'm a massive wuss anyway so tend to stick to the safe stuff. :p I've never hurt myself badly, so it would be absolutely shameful for me not to get back on - most of my falls have been of the "comedy" type! Although when I sprained my knee I did want to ride the mile or so straight back to the yard instead of going round the whole 4 mile loop, but my instructor who I was hacking with wouldn't let me. I'm glad of that now, but at the time I was not at all impressed! :o
 
I believe in two things - if you get on a horse you should expect to fall off it at sometime and secondly, the fear of falling off is almost always worse than the reality. I used to ride a little pony who bucked me off, or dropped a shoulder and legged it at least every 15 minutes. Anyone who had any riding ability at all was sorely tested but you could put a toddler on his back and he was as good as gold! The more you fall off the better you get at landing- simple. When I got knocked off my bike a few years ago the hospital couldn't believe that I was unhurt apart from a grazed thumb and a lump on my elbow, but I had just relaxed, rolled up and rolled away. Not so long ago I was crouching by my horse's head in the field and something spooked her. She hit me fair and square and threw me several feet across the grass and I can clearly remember thinking how lovely and floppy I was. No harm done. I think people make far too much fuss especially when it is a child falling off. Of course you have concerns, but if the kid jumps up and screams, there isn't likely to much wrong. When I was teaching and a kid came off, the first thing I would ask them was did they have my permission to dismount? It diffused the situtation on most occasions and I would get them back on and telling off their pony as quickly as possible. Distraction is the name of the game!
 
I'm of the get straight back on again school too, and I've been horrified by the attitude of parents these days. I was watching my nephew have a riding lesson a few weeks ago and a girl fell off, the pony was standing still, but the saddle slipped and she slid off the side. It was a tiny pony and they were in an indoor school, the kid lay there on her back making no effort to move, and dad came running in to pick her up, before storming off to complain to the RS owner...... :rolleyes:

When I was a kid the riding school was very much of the opinion that you got straight back on again. Phrases like, "you're not a good rider until you have fallen off", "It takes 100 falls to make a true rider", and "its never the ponies fault" were bandied around regularly. Falls were treated as matter of fact, you got up quickly, had a minute or two to catch your breath and got back on, no fuss. I rode a pony with an evil buck for quite a long time and it wasn't unknown for me to fall off several times in an hour's lesson.

My parents didn't watch my lessons, they aren't horsey and watching was a) boring and b) frightening. The RS didn't really like parents watching anyway. My parents took the view that if I fell off it was probably my own fault and I was probably doing something dangerous (like riding a horse in the first place). I got no sympathy, and probably a grumble about falling off in new kit. It made me treat falling off as one of those things that you deal with.

In the 30 years I've been riding, I've had all manner of falls from all manner of horses and ponies and I can only think of three occasions when I haven't remounted. One I was 13 and got bucked off whilst jumping bareback on a pony that was known to buck. I got straight up, and went to get a leg up back on but when I tried to lift my left arm to hold the reins I couldn't. Instructor checked I could make a fist and wiggle my fingers and declared nothing broken but suggested I didn't get back on this time. I stayed down the yard and did all the afternoon stable jobs as usual but without moving my left shoulder. I got home and after a telling off for doing something stupid my mum sent me off for a hot bath to ease my aches and pains. The next morning I couldn't get dressed as I still couldn't move my shoulder, reluctantly mum took me to the GP who said it was probably just bruising but sent me for an x-ray just in case. I'd actually fractured my collar bone and humerous and displaced my shoulder joint, my mum felt a bit sheepish after the consultant asked her when it happened and she had to confess it was over 24 hours ago.

The second time I was warming up for a dressage test and the horse bronced, it was completely out of the blue and a really serious bronc, I was launched out of the saddle. I managed to get to my feet pretty quickly but struggled to walk, someone else caught the horse who was doing her best impression of a rodeo horse, and nearly took out several other people in the process. I was planning to get on but needed to go to the mounting block, it became pretty clear as I was barely able to walk that I wouldn't be able to get back on. First aider was uninterested as I was on my feet, but I couldn't drive and had to call my parents to pick me up. My hip was incredibly painful and despite painkillers I couldn't make it upstairs to bed and had to sleep in the lounge, when I couldn't get out of bed the next morning my mum took me to A&E where they suspected a fractured pelvis. Luckily the x-rays showed no fracture but the bruising was so severe I swelled up and couldn't wear normal clothes and I walked with a stick for about two weeks. I had about six weeks off riding.

The final time I didn't get back on I was perfectly capable of doing so but as I was trying a horse that was for sale I decided there was no point getting back on a horse that wasn't mine and I wasn't planning to buy that had just effectively launched me across the school for no reason.

I hope that my nephew will have a similar attitude to falling off when the time comes, certainly his Mum is pretty relaxed about falling off herself and he is still teasing her about the last time she fell off so I hope she will pass that on. Interestingly he is one of the only children who doesn't wear a BP, despite them only riding indoors and not jumping more than about 6", even the ones on the lead rein are in BPs.

Oh and I've never cried after falling off.
 
I was told this weekend that I have a bit of a casual attitude to falling off - pony is only 15h at a push so it's not far to the ground and I appear to have developed a habit of bailing out rather than trying to stay on as I have no fear of falling off! Need to work on that lol! I do always get straight back on.
 
I was never bothered as a child, only ever sprained an ankle once and knocked myself out once. Saying that, I am totally scared of falling off now. The last time I fell off was about 8 years ago and I don't think that helps.
 
If I'm able I get back on, my teenage sharer is the same though if is horses based issue I may lunge it to settle it first or if the faller is injured but able to get on we may swap, ie if I fell of the youngster and was sore but moving, I may get back on Beau for confidence and wait til I don't hurt so much to get back on youngster. As kids, if you fell off you just got back on.

Only time we haven't stuck to this has been when Lottie fell over and got taken home in the box, sharer (who was riding at the time) went with her and Beau and I galloped home to meet them there. I made sharer ride Beau next day though when she said all she wanted to do was sit with Lottie (who we thought was dying, another post). I still don't recall most of the ride home after last time I fell off out.

BUT the idea terrifies me after a few hard falls and realising I do not mend that quickly these days. Now I no longer live with my sister, if I am injured who looks after the horses or earns their rent and hay? Realising all this really messed up my confidence but it is improving daily. I now cry if anyone asks how I am, queue if I do fall off and anyone starts a sentence with 'are u', sharer yells 'don't ask that she's fine, now get back on that horse!' wouldn't be funny but I'm twice her age!
 
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Generally I jump straight back on; but I must admit to limping home with a stirrup leather over my shoulder while the nutter I call my horse dragged me up the road on the last occasion (he reared in the middle of the road, chucked me off, then bolted!) :(
 
The older I get, the less shocked I am about coming a cropper. Although yesterday was a first for me as we were both on the floor, pony and I.

Here's what really p*ssed me off about falling off - when the pony buggers off for home without you!
 
I've always been told to get back up and get on with it.
Only a few times I havn't..

1) Hacking on the beach and pony chucked me. Didn't bounce up as I normally would, just as well i didn't. I had to get stretchered off the beach, emergency surgery, 2 months in cast and then 6 months of no riding, not by chioce mind.

2) In this case I got back up after about 10 mins. Jumping a horse that went wrong, pole got caught between horse's legs, he went flying then slip along the ground sending by across the arena. Instructor wouldn't let me back up because I was as dizzy as hell, visably shaking and sheet white. Didn't help that someone in the lesson burst into tears when they saw me:o Did get back up and rode a smaller course. Hacked the same horse round XC field later that day then rode my own horse fine. It was only when I was untacking a horse that I noticed things were a bit sore, I couldn't get the saddle off the horse:o

3) Jumping my horse bareback in a field and cat spooked him, I smacked my head and shoulder into a gate post. I've no idea if I got back up or not, I can picture me trying to get back up but my shoulder was too sore, but then I don't remember getting the horse to the stable or untacking him (but I did). Did something dodgy to my shoulder, couldn't use it for about 2 weeks. I fell the day before my exams started and two weeks before PC camp so didn't go to the doctor incase I was told I couldn't do aything with it for a while :o Had to lift my hand onto the desk with my other hand in my exams and writing was agonising but I accidentally banged my shouder a while later and it made a loud click and was fine after that...:o

No one makes a fuss when i fall off, but when my sister does the whole world goes runnign to see if she's ok. I tell us to get up and shut up, but get chased out of the arena for being so unsympathetic. It's at the point now that one day horse fell with me onboard and my whole arm went purple, same day pony snatched at reins while sister was walking and she slid off, guess who was pampered over and asked if they were alright, well it wasn't me anyways :eek:
 
Get straight back on as long as there is no blood spurting, obvious breathing problems, double vision or bones sticking through the skin. I have had two falls resulting in breaks to the leg (BIG) breaks.

I find the occasional 'unscheduled dismount' focusses the mind wonderfully!
 
I agree, some people seem to take ages to remove themselves from a competition ring, even for the most minor falls. I've always got back on with broken bones and all.

Only twice not got back on - once out hacking my horse fell in canter, I broke my collar bone and he disappeared at speed off home (Thank goodness for mobile phones!)

The other I got taken off an XC course on a back and neck board as I tried to get up and couldn't actually move my back at all, luckily I'd just put all the muscles into my back and neck into spasm, so they couldn't move, hence I couldn't sit up, roll over or anything. Unfortunately since I couldn't get back on, and couldn't compete for a month this did knock both mine and my horses confidence for a few months, until we got back on track. I think the horse also needs you to get back on for his confidence!
 
My daughter made me laugh when one of her friends was whining she could not jump because she was too scared incase she fell off - my daughter replied "for goodness sake you can only fall as far as the ground" - something I have said for years. If you hit the ground, you get straight back up again unless like me one fall resulted in a broken pelvis and two months in hospital - then I waited a week after leaving hospital and got straight back up again.

Kids these days are far too 'precious'.
 
Never not got back on, mind I have been lucky and not broken anything riding. Always keep hold of the horse (I know this isn't the done thing any more) I had this drummed in to me as a kid. The worst fall was on the road, when as a teenager was riding our first horse to the forge, I had gone off into a day dream and then realized that we were going to be late, kicked the poor old lad on, but he too had dozed off :eek: He fell over and landed on my leg, got him up and continued on our way. It was only when we reached our destination that I knew there was anything wrong, the farrier asked if I was ok. I assured him the horse was fine and asked how he knew anything had gone wrong, he then pointed out the scarlet patch on my knee! :eek:
That was a long time ago, but fell off spring last year, when the current appy decided that a silage wrap on a track was going to eat her legs while cantering, she stopped and dropped a shoulder, dropped me on the track, I had gone through both sets of reins and was sitting on the track, still holding both reins in my hand! :D Walked a bit till I found a highish bank to get back on from, then rode the girl home. I am sure that the early training stood me in good stead and wish there was a bit more toughness with children these days.
 
I didn't ride as a child, and so suffered my first fall while learning to jump in my forties :eek:. The RI apologised for bullying, but insisted that I yes I did have to get back on and do it again :o. Needless to say, I then jumped the course of 6 fences clear!

Since then I have adopted the attitude that falling off is to be avoided, and work very hard at staying on!
 
i have been riding for 5 or 6 years now and i get really scared when it comes to jumping my own horses, even if it's just an 18" crossrail! i've jumped 2'6" and i don't know why im so scared!i think im afraid of falling but i've fallen off 13 times already what is wrong with me? i worry about lots of things even unrelated to riding is there something wrong with me?:(

its an on and off thing though, some days i'll do anything and come up with great jump courses jumps i've done before but when u get out riding i close up and lower all the jumps. its winter now, in the spring i hope to overcome my fear starting out small and working up, who knows this may be my year worry free :)

wish me luck :o
~ Scout_Leaf_Gus
 
I fell off today! First time with my horse :o Was bound to happen sooner or later! Unless something is broken or I'm out cold then I always gets back on and make sure we finish on a positive note... I was always taught to get back on otherwise you never will.
 
I think it depends on the fall. My very first fall was when my horse clocked onto a fence I wasn't suppose to be jumping (I hadn't learnt to jump at this point,) swerved and went for it. I lost my balance and fell off, but I rolled, didn't ache or hurt, and jumped straight back on. However, the last few falls I've had have been getting more and more painful (severely bruised coccyx where I couldn't sit down for weeks, crick in neck which the following day I couldn't turn my head left!) and because of those falls I've become quite nervous of falling. After my last fall I always wore a body protector and told my instructor that it was "in case I fell off again." She pointed out that when I'm riding I should really try not to fall off! :D
 
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