Old jumper hits ground - ouch!

[Suzanne2]

Mid-life crisis person here jumping horses instead of riding a Harley, well you know what I mean! Well the inevitable happened, pride literally coming before a fall. Hit deck, bruised but still walking and talking.

Horse I'm jumping is a big test, meant to be top-class event horse but has the heart of cowardly lion in wizard of oz. Everything scares him and he knows all the tricks.So he is now re-zoned as happy hacker. He can do it all but only if you get it all right. Which I obviously didn't!
so help me get this right. Have to do to it all again on Tuesday. How do I sit back on my a***e and not on his shoulders - and not end up on the floor?
Help! Instructor half my age and makes me do these horrid jumps! I know I don't have to, but want to in a weird masochistic way

[petsywetsy]

Hi there - 'older' rider here also!!

Will be moving my horse to your area in April - whereabouts are you? On a big yard? Perhaps we can commiserate together.

Just have to keep at it - that's my motto!!!

[coverblown]

Oh no Suzanne, thats awful (I thought you were in Scotland, must be mixing you up with someone else)...

My instructor (yes, half my age..) always shouts

KEEP THOSE HEELS DOWN.... its your safety belt. Feel the stretch down your calves into the boot.

The other instructor tells me the same - but also to "soften" knees :confused::confused::confused: at the same time??? I know we women are good at multi tasking but that seems a bit awkward.

[KateWooten]

My RI has me not leaning forward at all ! In fact, over the smaller jumps that I'm doing, she has me play at literally staying upright the whole way - just so that I know I can do it. She's right too - I tend to collapse my shoulders at the last minute and horse loses rhythm right there. If I consciously stay upright to the base - then the fold just happens naturally.

But - they're tiny fences !!

[suzanne7575]

Oh no Suzanne, thats awful (I thought you were in Scotland, must be mixing you up with someone else)...

.

You're probably thinking of me up in scotland...lol

Sorry about your fall Suzanne, glad it's not knocked your confidence though and you are still going for it.

[lcs]

Hope the bruising isn't bad - get some arnica on it! As for the jumping, I don't know how you ride, but is it worth having a private lesson with the RI just to concentrate on your position going over jumps? You have my sympathy though, I'm just starting jumping (which is suddenly scary now, compared to fun when I was younger, especially as next week will only be my fourth lesson - I think the idea is to see how much you can do and take it from there!!) and I'm mainly doing it from trot first, over little caveletti (not sure if that is how you spell it, but they are just small poles raised slightly above the ground) to get my position in order first (creaky stiff body doesn't bend and flex as easily as it did when I was a child!!) although most of my time seems to be spent trying to keep the horse in trot, not canter!!
Can you ask to ride a different horse, one that is perhaps an easier ride, just to get you back into the swing of things?!
If it helps, I'm constantly being reminded about having a secure lower leg, and not collapsing!

[Suzanne2]

he's my share horse, so stuck with him for everything, including the jumping and it was in a private lesson that I came unstuck - if I'd been on my own, no way would I have gone back over those fences. Sadist trainer! On the good side, horse is showing up all my faults, he makes sure you get it right otherwise, he doesn't play. On the bad side, it means hitting the deck when you get it wrong (scared now....)