Where do you feels safest?

[Leandy]

On generally.

 

[planete]

With horses I have broken I have felt safe whether on or off and only got off to help them if they were badly scared by something. With Woody who has had a few meltdowns since I bought him, nowhere is safe as he seems to lose the plot completely. I always have a half lunge line attached to his halter whether riding or leading. I am hoping he is going to become obedient and trusting enough to be less OTT eventually. I still do a flying dismount occasionally as I am determined that if he ever decides to kill himself I will not be going with him.

 

[Sussexbythesea]

It very much depends on the horse and the situation. I’ll mainly get off when I feel the horse is no longer responding to me at all and I’m superfluous to his needs. My oldie probably half a dozen times in 17 yrs my younger horse the same number in 3.5 yrs. He can completely blank me on board when he’s really worried.

 

[MagicMelon]

Depends where I am, but if out on a hack for example - I would always opt to get off. Id much rather lead and calm the horse down than stay on if there's a risk they're going to bolt. Its probably based on past experiences as I have been bolted with along roads with previous horses and I found that truly terrifying. I have only had one incident where the horse has got away from me while leading on a hack so for me the lesser evil is to get off.

 

[lme]

Depends on the situation. I don’t have strong legs and don’t carry a whip so if my horse was not wanting to go past something I would be much more effective getting off. Otherwise I would stay on.

 

[SatansLittleHelper]

You couldn't pay me to stay on top of a scared or panicked horse. I will get off these days without fail and deal with the situation from the ground where I'm much more likely to be able to calm and control the situation before I'm put there by other means lol

 

[SaddlePsych'D]

This came up on my hack at the weekend. Share horse and I were out with a bit of a wimpy companion so gave him a lead past a suspicious log, all fine. Then there was a fallen tree which was super dodgy apparently, and so share horse also put on the brakes. Nothing else, just stood solid. I put on my brave pants and with some firm leg and lots of praise we gave another lead past this with me still on board - very proud of us! Then we came across some work being done on overhead pylons, our path was blocked by a van and going round it would have meant stepping over some huge wide cables on the ground which didn't seem sensible with the risk of a caught leg. Both horses were getting upset and when we turned to give space for the van to be moved they started jogging. I was struggling to hold my nerve so hopped off at that point because at least one of the 4 of us needed to not be flustered! I lead share horse past and on for a bit until I was feeling calm in myself/shook it off, remounted, and enjoyed the rest of our ride

 

[BSL2]

With my boy. Always on. In my head, I want to get off, but I know that would be a big mistake.?. "I just sing 10 green bottles". (Sometimes over and over again) That takes my mind off of the issue.

 

[Peglo]

One of the times I got off Tali she spun and galloped off along the road at some miniature shetlands. I tried again and when she spun again her feet were sliding all over the road and I worried she might go down. I happily jumped off and walked her past the ponies and she was happy to walk next to me. Got back on without any stress and enjoyed the rest of the hack. That was with a companion she trusts too. But it diffused the situation and more importantly stopped the risk of Tali injuring herself.

 

[Cob Life]

One I would always stay on.
The other has complete trust in me on the ground, but we are still working on that trust ridden so I would probably get off and lead as there isn’t much she won’t do for me

 

[Lois Lame]

I don't ride the type of horse who is more scary to get off than stay on (highly-strung TB types who leap about with ease). So I'm more likely to want to get off than stay on. But how I would love to be the type of rider that gets on and is determined to stay on no matter what kind of mess their horse throws at them.