When you fall off out hacking...

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RachelB

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...do you try and hang on?! I got bucked off today, not sure Berlin is quite right in his back so I won't blame him too much! He was properly bronking and twisting and I decided I was definitely going to come off, so I was safer to bail out and jump away from him than to let him twist me off and potentially stand on me. Before I bailed out I had both hands on the reins, fully intending to hang on for dear life. A split second later I was on the ground with only ONE hand on the reins and I knew I had no chance - he pulled away and galloped home
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Now I have pulled all the muscles/ligaments in my lower arm, and although I can muck out ok-ish I have had to text my boss to tell her I won't be able to lunge her horses for a while.
So tell me, when you come off out hacking do you (or would you) try to hang on to your horse?
 
I think that I probably try to hang on, especially if I am out hacking - I am worried about traffic and causing an accident or the horse getting hurt
 
If Hen was to get me off (in the same way he has done previously) I wouldn't have an option!
He goes from nice quiet hacking pony going forwards, to devil pony turning 180 degrees and bolting in the opposite direction within nano seconds, absolutely no warning!! Although he has not done it in a very long time!
 
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If Hen was to get me off (in the same way he has done previously) I wouldn't have an option!
He goes from nice quiet hacking pony going forwards, to devil pony turning 180 degrees and bolting in the opposite direction within nano seconds, absolutely no warning!! Although he has not done it in a very long time!

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thats a 'hen' thing i think!
 
Last time i came of on the forest out hacking, i hung on. I dont know how i did but i managed to. I ended up getting dragged but i didnt want a loose horse running around the forest as i was on my own.
 
Luckily he only had about 100yds of quiet country road to go down between the track that leads along the fields to the woods where I fell off, and the entrance to the cricket pitch car park we walk through to get to and from the field. I certainly wouldn't have bailed out if I thought I wouldn't hold him, but I can't remember what happened between thinking "both hands on reins, safer to jump clear and hold on" and thinking "oh bugger" when I saw I only had one hand left holding the reins
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I held on for dear life but he is SO quick when he wants to be! If he had just dragged me I would have held him, but he yanked back and that was that!
I just wondered if I was mad or sensible trying to hold on!
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I have NEVER actually dropped the reins when I have fallen off. I don't know why but when I fall off I just can't let go. My horse usually drags me a few feet then realises I've got him, so he stops. I can never get back on again though.. I had to walk 3 miles home once.. and I lost my whip... grrr.. I was always aught to never let go of my reins.
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I am yet to let go of a horse when I fall off so I am hoping if I even come off on a hack I would keep hold. I have learnt from my pony that I should NEVER let go of his reins because I would never catch him again if I did
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I was always parting ways with my first horse, mostly due to my bad riding in those days but I usually landed on my feet. I was almost always able to keep hold of the reins and on the rare occasion I wasn't my horse was kind enough to wait for me.

I only came off my second horse a couple of times out hacking but I didn't have a hope of hanging on, IMO nobody would have been able to hold him without sustaining serious injuries. Both times he was galloping back to the stables before I could say 'ouch' but luckily he didn't have to negotiate any road on his way home.

Obviously, it's best if you can hang on while hacking out but if you can't, you can't.
 
I try and hang on the rein the side Im falling off if you see what I mean. So far have only ever fallen off once out hacking and that was my fault, got off as she was scared of a tractor, passed it, got back on and saddle slipped!
 
I would always try and hold on. I don't have my own horse at the mo but I think of I fell off one of my friends horses they would move no further than the next blade of grass to be honest!
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Blimey, I've never been able to hold on (unless it's one of those silly falls, ie horse stops at a jump and then stands still!). The only time I've ever tried very very hard to stay with the horse turned out pretty nasty - the last thing I can remember is having slid around his neck, and the centre of his breastplate, where the martingale attached, was right in front of me... then I woke up. My horse never hangs around when I come off, and has variously been found back at the yard, in the Vicars garden eating flowers, and trotting up the road by a friendly motorist. He's also been delivered back to me by helpful dog walking people who found him loose on the common (this was after I'd been knocked out, he'd stopped with the other horses but then one of them booted him and he ran away).

In a perfect world, I'd hang on and he would stop immediately, but then in a perfect world I'd never fall off!
 
The last time I came off was on my old boy Donnegan just after christmas. We were out on the heath for a gentle plod (he was semi-retired at the time) he spun and just rodeo'd for no reason (found out 3 months later he had arthritic changes in his spine
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) and I hung on for a while but you know what it's like once you catch sight of the floor you always end up there
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He then paraded around doing a lovely extended trot whilst my friends mare looked at him as though to say 'flippin' TBs!!'
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One broken collar bone later I decided that he was getting too unpredictable and it was time he retired
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TBH I try and hang on regardless of when i'm hacking or not, the shame of trying to catch your gleeful horse after he has just buried you is all too much for me. :P
 
Haven't fallen off for while hacking - only happend once on B when he freaked out and did a huge fly buck and I was OFF!!!
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He just stands there and looks at me when I fall off though!!
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First thoughts that run through my mind before I'm about to hit the deck is, dont let go of the reins and make sure my feet come out of my irons properly (not sure how you do that like) but its just what goes through my head, the thought of been dragged really plays on my mind, but yeah I try and hang on, grab some mane, tilt my balance the other way etc etc....anything to keep on
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The only time I came off Boo hacking he paniced and took off across the fields. Hanging on wasn't an option - even if I had been able to I would just have been dragged and possibly trampled.
 
Fortunately doesn't happen alot but I always try to hang on. However, this went wrong a few years ago when pony spooked mid canter up a verge, i flew over his head and took the bridle off with me. Sat up to look at pony to see bit hanging out of his mouth. He then flicked his head up, bit came out and he completely ignored my "Stand" command and high tailed it off back home! He had to join two roads (busy country ones) and he was off at a full speed high stepping trot! (his preferred gait)

I flagged someone down and jumped in their car and off we went after him. It was only when we were following up a narrow bending road (him in the middle) it dawned on me that if he collided with a car coming down the hill I'd see it all!
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Fortunately a car coming down saw him coming and stopped thus stoping all the traffic behind them, this pushed him to the correct side of the road and he got to the top where it straightened out. I then told the lady driving the car to floor it past him and we went a few hundred yards down the road where i jumped out, cow parsley in one hand, and fortunately pony decided he'd stop. i then put his bridle back on, got on and turned him back round to go back on the ride I was on originally (bet that p*ssed him off!)

Was about the scariest thing that's happened to me but I did see my pony doing the most fantastic trot ever - albeit along the white line of a rather dangerous road!
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Yes, i'm afraid I do. That is why I have one arm 3 feet longer than the other.

I fell off my baby horse and he was scared so shot sideways with me on my front trying to get up saying "good boy, its alright", just as I was nearly up he ran the other way so I was dragged along on my back still saying "good boy". This went on for ages, backwards and forwards and I just couldn't get up.

It was hilarious and awful at the same time, he so wanted to stop but it was all a bit scary for him. In the end I did manage to get up, I wanted to reassure him but kept laughing. All the way home he knew I was tittering and snorting.

I think it is bad form for them to clear off if you get thrown. I do train my horses to stop dead if I take my feet out of the stirrups which comes in handy.
 
I have never fell off H whilst hacking, touch wood, but have been bucked of a yard horse out riding. Suprisingly I tried to hang on, but the thing was pulling me and getting really scared, his foot missed my head by mm at one point, so had no choice but to let go, he ran back towards home, out of woods onto a busy round about but for some reason stopped off at the train station !!! some kind sole caught him, i could have hugged her, I ran to the road and saw her walking round the round about with him.

Scariest thing, especially not being my horse, he was fine though and I was just bruised and needing a new hat !! got back on in the skool after a long walk home ! have not hacked it out again since.

Other 2 times I can remember, 1 at windsor, so let go as was ok and in company, other bad one, blacked out before I fell off and woke up in a bush, luckily loan pony stopped before next road. knew sharp corner was coming up and knew would not make it so blacked out !! all very strange !!!

I would like to say I would hang on, but you can never stop instant reactions

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Hell yes, always always always hang on! It is purely instinctive for me, I never think 'must hold onto the reins' but I always find myself on the floor hanging on to the reins
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The only time I let go was when my section D bolted off down the road dragging me after him..... cue my cheap jodphurs splitting in three different places, and massive grazes which later got infected
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That wasnt actually what made me let go though, it was the fact that he was getting more scared of pulling me along.

I let go, he stopped after a few yards so I jumped up, ran down the road and caught him, got back on and finished my hack - he WAS going past the scarey barking dog in the truck if it was the last thing he did
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O gosh yes I forgot to mention, it was my share horse I came off and not mine... I have a policy of honesty with the owner after bad experiences trying to hide "little inconsequential mishaps" from previous owners... so I texted her straight away. Her reaction was "oh my god I'll have to sell him, he could have killed you!"
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I have really pulled the ligaments in my arm but other than that I'm fine. Berlin's owner said she will worry every time I ride him now, "in case he kills you"
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