'You need a good fall'

Nancykitt

Nancykitt

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Brief background - I took a fall on new year's day out hunting, which wouldn't have been an issue except my air jacket didn't inflate and I did get hurt (nothing serious or lasting, but pain on impact!) Since then I lost my confidence and although I've started hacking out again I am nervous and frightened of another fall. I do intend to get back to where I was so at some stage I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get out with a large group again, although at this moment in time the thought of it is mildly terrifying.

I was speaking to someone about this and she said 'What you need is a 'good' fall - something like side door exit where your airbag goes off, you get up again and immediately re-mount. That way you will learn immediately that the fear of falling is much worse than the actual fall.'

In a way, I do 'get' this - but it seems like a high risk strategy! So, my question is, has anyone else's fear of falling diminished after a 'good' fall?
 
I'd suggest maybe practice and learning how to fall properly. But also some good confidence lessons and a good horse/group to go out with who all know and can help with the riding out in a group setting.

ETA by practice I don't mean chuck yourself off horse! Go to a gym with big thick mats (trampoline or gymnastic centre) or jockey club and practice there. Tuck and roll. Arms in. The roll takes a lot of the impact out and learning to tuck arms in and not thrust them out is very good
 
Ha well I've fallen off three times in 20 years and the last one 6 weeks ago broke my ribs so I'm planning to *not* fall, when I get back on, as I've found that a lot safer!!
 
I used to have a fear of falling off, even though there's nothing you can do about it if it's going to happen.
I had a bad accident back in my college days which left me in hospital, and since then my confidence has never been the same again.
I fell off my new-ish mare last year a couple of months after I got her, and she buggered off back home, which left me even more afraid to fall off as she never stays with me so it seems.
I fell off about a month ago out XC schooling, wasn't a horrible fall at all, she refused a jump at the last minute and I plopped off the side and landed on the jump on my bum.
It wasn't a bad fall again, but it's just made me realise these things happen and most of the time we walk it off, albeit a little bit stiff for a few days after!
 
I sort of understand it in that the fear of falling off is worse than the fall itself. I have a friend who had a kidney transplant and she is terrified of falling off and damaging the kidney. She feels she would be being disrespectful to the person who donated the kidney and his/her family if she 'wasted' it. We've told her so many times that living her life as she wants to live it and being happy is the best thing she can do to honour the donor but she can't see it like that. I can't help thinking a little fall that does no damage would help her realise it's ok.
 
Nancykitt said:
I was speaking to someone about this and she said 'What you need is a 'good' fall - something like side door exit where your airbag goes off, you get up again and immediately re-mount. That way you will learn immediately that the fear of falling is much worse than the actual fall.'

In a way, I do 'get' this - but it seems like a high risk strategy! So, my question is, has anyone else's fear of falling diminished after a 'good' fall?
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In a word, nope! I've had very bad falls (broken bones) and very 'good' falls but tbh, I'd like to avoid coming off whenever possible.

I do get the theory, but you can't guarantee a good fall, you're either on or off.

I suggest you start building your confidence slowly at your own pace. Whenever you feel a little bit brave, push yourself ever so slightly out of your comfort zone. This way, you feel like you've made a good step forward, without frightening yourself further.

Good luck x
 
Need a good fall...lol....yes it hurts.yes you get bk on..some i know have sold the horse and bought another.as thry just got too jittery wen riding.jumping.x country...i had a rotational a few year bk.knick out.bit me tongue n tore muscles in back.....it did take a while to get bk to where i was.with that mare...the other 1.i just jumped straight bk on.no thoughts...it brings us down to reality...they are animals.not machines n bloody dangerous sometimes too....get bk on and enjoy.lifes too short
 
After almost getting thrown off into a wall twice in the space of twoish weeks I had a big confidence knock, I had a 3 week break due to changes at the yard and going from lessons to loaning, as soon as I got back on the fear of cantering had gone and I didn't think the horse (who'd actually almost thrown me into a wall) was going to destroy me.

Could you try having a little break or change where you're ridingso go from fields to an arena or roads (not like roads are that great for confidence building). Is it a loss of trust in your horse or air jacket? If it's your air jacket maybe try just setting it off whilst not o a horse so you can begin to have faith that it will go off again without the need to fall off again.
 
I have had 1 fall from my current pony this far (though have had several over the years). This 1 recent fall was a 'good fall' in that it was a side door exit, not going any great speed and I just plopped off. Though I was a bit upset at the time (the shock of it, I was unhurt apart from a sore hip) in hindsight I'm glad it happened because in my experience the fear of the fall is often worse than the fall itself. Since the fall I have been less worried about them, and I have adopted a more of a 'just get on with it' approach. That being said, all my falls haven't been dramatic ones, I am not a brave rider so I do not put myself in situations where a bad fall could happen, and I think this is key, apart from the rare freak accidents. For example, I think I'd eat my hat if you ever saw me having a go at some XC.
 
There is The Horse Combat Centre in Hemel who run rider confidence courses including teaching how to fall off and including things like having their stunt horses rear (safely) whilst your on, amongst other things. It has had some great feed back. Perhaps go for on of their courses you can fall off safely!
 
I agree with the idea of a good fall.. but I don't think you should try have one!!

I've ridden with a few people who are so afraid of falling it holds them back; I think the most important thing is conquering the fear! I agree with kylara - even if you just lay some cushions and a duvet out and 'fall' off your bed/sofa (if you don't want to look like a plonker in the gym!) then its worth practising different types of falls and the best way to react to them. It actually sounds kinda fun!

In terms of actually riding and confidence, just keep on riding! The worst thing you can do is distance yourself - whenever I have a fall I always try to get back on where possible, even if it just means walking around for a few minutes. If you're anxious, don't rush yourself - slowly build up your confidence with little rides, and achieving small goals, until you feel ready to get back to where you were before.

Good luck, and it happens to us all :)
 
I see the idea behind it and it makes sense, but only you know yourself what to do really. I would say try to emulate the hunting environment if you can do a large hack from the yard, that's if a few people are able to go out. Confidence lessons is a good idea too, push the boundary in another way to show that you are confident (jump higher than you would before, try new hacking route, leave friends mid-hack), and then go back to where the issue arose in the group.

The issue with the good fall is that you can never guarantee , I was thrown out of the side door of a horse that bolted, it was a fast fall but in theory shouldn't have hurt too much as was side door and on grass, the reality is that I was thrown into a fence and actually ended up with barbed wire wrapped tightly around my neck. I wouldn't risk making it worse by potentially having another bad fall.

Do not avoid the issue though, as I find my mind then builds it up into a bigger issue than it is.
 
tashcat said:
...even if you just lay some cushions and a duvet out and 'fall' off your bed/sofa (if you don't want to look like a plonker in the gym!) then its worth practising different types of falls and the best way to react to them. It actually sounds kinda fun!
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This just reminded me that I actually fell off my chair whilst having dinner the other week. NOT on purpose! I was leaning over to pick something up from the floor... went a bit too far, chair went out from under me and I landed in a heap! It wasn't painful, I just lay there laughing and made my OH choke on his food!

Definitley fun :D

Can't say it's done anything to help my riding confidence, though lol
 
How funny, I was having the exact same conversation last night with friends. Hey, that isn't you, is it?! Haha. Anyway, we had the same discussion, about the fear being greater and maybe it's a hangover from a bad fall and a good one kind of cancels it out.

I also mentioned that horseback riding combat confidence thing which tries to teach it I think. I agree that it seems a slightly dangerous tactic if you engineer a fall as no gaurantee if it'll be good or bad, but perhaps some rider confidence clinics or lessons might help.

There is no substitute to just biting the bullet and getting on with it, provided you take sensible measures to do it safely eg building up gradually, having experienced help or company, having a fully working bp (does yours need a service?).

I have a pathological fear of falling off but despite that I still carry on with activities that give me a greater risk of doing so. Hmm. I did in fact plop off last week as boyo did a whopping great leap over a step into water and catapulted me up and sideways. V unlike him. Was v fortunate that, despite a soggy landing, I was totally unscathed and got straight back on. Not even stiff the next day. Not sure if my views of falling have changed at all, but I certainly didn't get the dent in confidence that I've had on the one occasion that I did fall and hurt myself.
 
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Embo said:
This just reminded me that I actually fell off my chair whilst having dinner the other week. NOT on purpose! I was leaning over to pick something up from the floor... went a bit too far, chair went out from under me and I landed in a heap! It wasn't painful, I just lay there laughing and made my OH choke on his food!

Definitley fun :D

Can't say it's done anything to help my riding confidence, though lol
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Wahahahah. Class. I think you'd better stay on horseback then, clearly much safe!
 
Thanks for the replies, everyone!
I don't think my friend (sadly Bernster, not you!) meant that I should 'engineer' a fall, but just that I should bite the bullet and if I did happen to fall off - and it didn't hurt too much - getting back on again and laughing at it all would effectively 'kill' the fear that I have now. Obviously, out hunting, I was seeing people fall off on a regular basis and 99% of the time they just got up, got back on again and carried on. I hadn't actually fallen off for about 6 years so that was another reason it 'hit' me quite hard at the time (forgive the pun).
When I had the fall, my OH and others were trying to persuade me to get back on as they knew it would be harder in the future if I didn't. But I was in too much pain at the time. I know why the air jacket failed and it's sorted now so I'm pretty confident that if I did fall it would go off.

I did lose trust in my pony but then found out that the huge buck that catapulted me was due to wolf teeth issues that had developed very quickly (so not picked up at the last EDT visit). He's now had the teeth removed and is clearly much more comfortable.

I've actually done the rider confidence course in Hemel Hempstead a few years ago. I found it interesting and useful - but the falling off training is probably most relevant in a 'bail out' situation rather than being chucked off via a mega-buck. My fall out hunting all happened so quickly I didn't really know what was going on until I was on the floor!

There's a hunt ride in a few weeks so I will probably go on that. I'm cantering out on hacks and things are getting better but I'm a long way off being 'hunt ready'. At least I've got the summer to sort myself out!
 
I've done a few bail outs! Naughty ponies and safer to bail than end up with tiny pony on top hah.

I'd really recommend practicing the tuck and roll. The biggest problem with falling is hands out or crumpling on impact. If you can think "falling - tuck and roll" you'll do better. The roll will eat momentum and by tucking you won't shatter anything in your arms (super unlucky for that to happen, but I have a worst case brain). Teaching kids trampolining is much easier than adults as they automatically go floppy and tuck, adults go rigid and thrust arms out in a desperate attempt to save themselves.

There's a brilliant (and terrifying) video of a guy on a bike trying to jump a chasm and failing, but because of the tuck and roll he was fine. Amazing really.

ETA: found it. Dude walked away with bruised heels I think, that was it. You can see his tuck and roll (though IMO better to aim for back of shoulder rather than feet to start your roll!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Trp3sMmU4
 
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I recently went on a dismounted confidence course which (amongst other things) taught us techniques to almost reprogram our brains to turn a fall (or other unpleasant event) into something not bad. I have explained this really badly but it does work! Pm me if you want details.
 
As a new rider I accepted that at some point I'm going to have my first fall. I've been parachuting before so i know about rolling, but then again I've seen horses go down and trap a riders foot in the stirrup.
This week the school horse I was on was shyingin one particular area but then completely spooked over the other side and threw me. I had enough time to realise I was coming off, think "feet out of stirrups", then bale. I think i managed a kind of shoulder roll and got straight up.
The hardest part was trying not to shout every name under the sun at the horse.
Got back on, horse still edgy and she tried playing buckaroo which I managed to sit through. The instructor did offer to get another horse out, but kind of defeats the object of learning to ride, as you cant just swap horses if youre on a hack.
A good fall has boosted my confidence, as it was always in the back of my mind. Maybe psychologically i even took the chance for a good bale out to get it over with
 
I always feel slightly victorious after a good bail out! Most recent was on a tiny pony prone to micro rears (hence me schooling it), took on a hack and war walking with friend up a very muddy hill, pony only occasionally rearing by this point and of course decided doing one half way up muddy hill was a fab idea. Up it went, then back feet started sliding down hill and pony was going more up. Decided to side bail into mud instead of pony going over. Pony ended almost vertical, front feet came back to earth and was terrified. Did not see that coming! Got back on (very muddy) and pony was an angel the rest of the ride. Took a while for her to do another micro rear and wasn't long Bere it was trained out.

Kudos for your first fall being a bail! Well done on the roll and also for getting on and not swapping horses :D
 
This has gone both ways for me.
My first bad fall knocked my confidence a tiny bit (broke my coccyx so physical impact on my riding not great either). Next fall not 'bad' in the scheme of things but twisted my back so couldn't remount properly. The second one took my fragile confidence that I'm sure would have hardened up again and shattered it into a million pieces. Im still not back where I was 5 years on.

Otoh Had a bad one last year (concussion), didn't really settle back into riding again until the soft one I had recently to make me remember falling is mostly ok.

In summary, I think a good fall can help, but don't go looking for it by doing stupid stuff because it is just as likely to cement your fear and you don't really get to pick which way it goes.
 
A hunt ride is good idea, or go on a fun ride with one of your friends, preferably at the end of the day - that way you'll see other riders but have the opportunity for some quieter moments. We took a very nervous friend around a fun ride that we'd been stewarding at near the near the end of the day and she loved it.
When you start hunting, what about volunteering to gateshut? You'll be with a couple of other riders (could volunteer with your friend) and will be with the field, but will have gates to sort, so it may take your mind off the risk of falling.
 
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