I fell off!

[quietann]

I rode Minnie today, and I fell off! It had to happen sooner or later. Don't worry, I'm not hurt, only a little sore, mostly because I landed on my side, in a squishy region.

So... Joc's daughter A came up to the indoor ring with us, and rode Trump while Joc taped us. Minnie, having not been ridden in nearly 3 weeks, was bouncy and overexcited and really wanted to *go*. I worked her a little, walking and trotting, and then had a nice speedy canter 1 1/2 times around the ring, all on the wrong lead (whoops.) Cantering horses are supposed to lead with the inside front leg, to help maintain balance. I could tell something was wrong, but couldn't hear Joc shouting from the other end of the ring to bring Minnie back down to a trot and get her on the correct lead. I did it all in two-point, amazingly relaxed and happy.

After that Joc set up a couple of poles on the ground for us to trot over. This is a prep exercise for jumping, to help the rider learn how to get up and forward as the horse goes over something. The first time, at a trot, I held Minnie in a bit too much. The second time, I did not hold her quite enough because she cantered over the poles instead of trotting, on the correct lead of course! But apparently Joc thought I did a good enough job, because she set up a tiny cross rail (maybe 9 inches or a foot high at the center) and asked me if I wanted to jump it. I was a bit reluctant, but... what's the worst thing that could happen? I could fall off.

And, well, Minnie kind of charged the jump (she isn't really supposed to jump at all, because of her hocks, which is sad, because she *loves* jumping.) I think I got over it reasonably well, except for my legs slipping back, but I didn't quite recover, and the little half-buck Minnie threw in afterwards was enough to send me off.

So I landed, and it didn't hurt, and I stood right up. Minnie didn't run away (good girl!) and J ran up to be sure we were OK, and then I got back on and didn't try any more jumping :) So I need more prep work, which I will get in my lessons, and probably on Minnie too. Trotting over poles on the ground, practicing two-point, etc.

Joc, kindly enough, did *not* tape the fall, only up to about a second before it happened. I'm hoping to get a little movie of myself riding up on a website somewhere.

Unfortunately, between my work crunch and Joc's vacation, I won't be able to ride Minnie again until March 1st. (I may sneak up and give her some treats and a good grooming while Joc is out of town, though.)

Comments

[sarahshevett.livejournal.com]

I'd LOVE to get someone to tape me. I was surprised to even see a photo of what I look like up there.
I've ridden at barns that have mirrors and that helps immensely.

Jumping! Yay!

[quietann.livejournal.com]

Well, it's not super high quality tape. It was interesting to see that I actually did better at the canter, but then again I wasn't fighting with Minnie to hold her back. I could see how my posting trot was affected by various ways of getting tense.

Oh, that's one of the otehnr things I love about Windrush; the indoor ring has mirrors all across one end, and a couple on each of the longer sides.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

congratulations on your fall!

let me know if you want to come ride stjarni sometime before minnie's available again :)

[quietann.livejournal.com]

oh, I should! I'm only available Saturdays and Sundays now, but we should work something out.

I forgot that I promised work that I wouldn't try jumping until the safety review is done :)

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

i usually go up both weekend days, so that shouldn't be a problem.

i'm working stjarni over trotting poles now, but not jumps yet, and i wouldn't have you do that until he was confident at it anyway :)

[unclebooboo.livejournal.com]

There's an old saying that there are seven falls to good horsemanship. So, you're one seventh of the way there...

Seriously, I'm glad that you weren't hurt or particularly scared by the experience. On the other hand, I hope that you do take a bit of time to reflect on how this happened and what the consequences might have been. From your description of the incident, it sounds like you tried to do a bit too much too soon. This time you didn't get hurt, but next time you might get hurt. In fact, you might have a bad enough wreck that it turns you off completely from riding.

The way to avoid this is to slowly add new elements to you riding, preferably with an instructor around who you can trust to tell you when you're ready to move up a notch. By doing this, you can greatly reduce but never eliminate the risks.

For what it's worth, I've come off twice.

The first time was when I was a kid out on a trail ride at summer camp. The cinch was lose and my saddle slipped off to the side. I ended up with a bunch of cuts and scrapes and a skin rash (from the patch of nettles that I ended up in...) From what I know now, the teenager camp counselors who put me on that pony weren't at all competent to lead a trail ride. The incident was upsetting enough to keep me away from riding for the next 20 years. It was only my wife's request that I take riding lessons (as a wedding present to her!) that got me back on a horse.

The second time came after I'd been riding as an adult for about five years. I was running a pole bending pattern on a horse that I wasn't terribly familiar with. I think this was my second lesson on the new horse, and one of the first few times that any student had ridden him. He spooked at a pile of white chalk (used to mark the arena for gymkhana events.) I knew that he was a bit spooked but tried to push him on through the pattern. He started bucking. After the third buck, I knew I wasn't going to be able to stay on, so I tucked and rolled and got away without any injury. Looking back, I was in a bit over my head, pushing a horse that I wasn't familiar with (no one at the barn was really familiar with him!) to do something challenging.

It turned out that this horse, aptly named Mouse, was scared of lots of different things. Over the next few months, I worked with our instructor to help desensitize him to flapping flags, garden hoses, police crime scene tape, and other nasties. He never tried bucking again, but he did bolt with me several times. I knew theoretically how to handle this, but actually handling in practice it was a real learning experience. In the end, I became very confident in riding Mouse. I showed him in lots of our training shows and won many classes on him, including trail classes where he had to deal with lots of scary stuff. If I'd been injured in that first bucking incident I'm not sure that I could have ever accomplished all of this with that horse.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know it could have been much worse... When I was a kid I got the back of my leg ripped up, coming off a pony who decided to run out from a jump at the last minute. I didn't need stitches but I was pretty abraded and bruised. And that did set me back quite a bit; it was 4 months before I'd canter or jump again. That was the only fall I had where I actually got hurt. I've done a flip over a horse's head, just slipped off sideways for no particular good reason (and ended up with the pony I was riding sticking her nose in my face to be sure I was OK...), and been bucked off twice.

I trusted Joc; she's been watching me ride and knows her stuff, and I had no reason not to trust her. And now it's back to basics. Trotting over poles and stuff like that :)

At the same time, watching the tape tonight, I could see fairly clearly that I wasn't really ready for it.