I fell off today!

[Katie_85]

Yes, ANOTHER thread from me, you all are going to be so sick and tired of reading them. Anyway, today I had the privelage of having my first fall. We were trotting without stirrups when Mr. Horsey-Poo decided to take a break under the tree in the center of the arena. One sharp turn was all it took and down I went. My first thought was "How am I going to roll away from his hooves so as not to get stepped on?" My next thought was "Oh gee, he stopped." :rolleyes: As soon as I could breathe, I took the oppertunity to spit out all the sand I ate and make an attemp of regaining some dignity by getting up and dusting myself off. I got back on and proceeded to walk a few laps around the arena. The next few minutes went something like this.
Instructor: Drop your stirrups.
Me: Now?!
Instructor: Yes now.
Me: Okay.
Instructor: You are giving him trot cues. Try not to or he will do it.
Me: I am keping my legs as far away from this horse's sides as humanly possible.
Me: Are we done yet?
Instructor: Yeah, go ahead and get off.
Me: Remind me why I'm doing this again.
So that's how it went. Sorry this is such a long message, I made an attempt at adding a bit of humor in it. Ahh, can't wait for my next lesson! :)

[amelia]

So sorry to hear that you fell, but well done for getting back on. Don't know enough about horses to give you any kind of advice or explanation-sorry. :(

But I am pleased to hear that you got straight back on. It must have taken a lot of courage. Hope your next lesson goes a bit better.

Hope you didn't hurt yourself too much. Take care.

Amelia.

[Dizzy]

Bad luck, glad you weren't hurt physically!!!

Try to keep a stronger outside rein contact and be ready with your inside leg. Sometimes when you're concentrating on what your doing yourself your not always ready for a sudden attraction to a tree. I'm sure you'll be ready next time.

Well done for getting straight back on. I know the first time you fall can be quite a shock. As an old hand at falling, one or two of mine have been quite spectacular, I too have been lucky enough to escape with just dented pride.

Hope your not sore,

Lesley

[horselover]

Falling off...ahhh, I remeber my fall like it was just...well, 2 weeks ago! :) At a show, on my head. Very embarassing and, oh, so painful!! Good for you for getting back on.

Like Lesley, I too have had some spectacular falls. That last one was a doozy! You learn to take them as they come and just do exactly what you did.

Take your damaged self-dignity and shove it out the window. I gave up on trying to maintain any dignity when riding b/c it gets damaged so often! Although I always fall with grace and style!

Then, dust off your butt, spit out the dirt, and hop back on and do whatever you were doing when you fell over again until you get it right!

At least now that you had your first fall, you know what it's like so you don't have to eorry about the next one! :p

[Katie_85]

I am a little sore. Not too bad though. I don't think I will worry too much about dignity anyway. Appearing in riding clothes, being mudded, covered in fly spray, horse hair and water is quite enough to teach me that I will not escape the barn with pride intact!

[LadyLimerik]

Well at least you have a sense of humor about falling off. And now you don't have to live in fear of a dreaded first fall. It always seems so horrible but when it happens it's nothing really. If it makes you feel any better when i first fell off it was twice in the same lesson doing the exact same thing in the same spot. It was practicing without stirrups and littlerally bounced out of the saddle (once landing on my butt, the other time landing on my feet). The pony just looked at me like "well what are you doing down there". I thought it was hysterical. And after that i never made the same mistake again...2 times is enough to get through to me...haha.

[Dizzy]

Limerick, I've landed on my feet too! One day I was having a lesson in the indoor school. The School itself is actually a farm. The indoor school has the lower half of the walls covered in kick boards, at the time they were in need of the odd nail or two. Anyway Dizzy and I were travelling down the length of the indoor school, in a nice relaxed walk (which had not come easily) but I had a long contact, and she was relaxed. All of a sudden a hen flew out from behind a kick board, straight up into Dizzy's tummy, needless to say she shot into the air and somehow, I ended up stood beside her, with Maggie (my instuctor) shouting 'well dismounted' I still to this day don't know how I landed on my feet or whether or not Maggie was taking the pee! But she saw what happened, and always has a twinkle in her eye when we talk about it.

[Silvia]

Katie: once a student asked my instructor what she had to do if she fell off. The instructor said: "Just keep your mouth shut."
I thought this meant not to scream, but probably was because of the sand...
I'm glad your first fall was not too bad! :)

[Katie_85]

Good advice to follow Silvia!

[LadyLimerik]

Dizzy- yeah when i fell off my trainer said some thing along the lines of "good flying dismount".

[Katie_85]

Continuing the tales of my lessons, today's was a real winner. When I dragged myself out of bed this morning I wasn't feeling quite up to par. I figured an hour with a horse would do the trick. Well, I got out to the stable and was proceeding to brush and get ready for my lesson when my instructor mentioned something abou not feeling well herself. So far, not the ideal recipe for a good lesson. The first 5 or 10 minutes weren't so bad, but going on the right rein things started to get bad. The horse cuts into the center, stops, you get the idea. My instructor got on and he did the same thing for her. So we went back and corrected the problem at a walk. Beyond that, I can't say much. By the end of the lesson I was so aggravted I was snaping at my instructor! (this is not a good thing) She thinks I blame a lot on myslef, which I do, but if the horse is developing this habit because of something I am doing or not doing how can I not? Okay, that didn't make much sense but I am a little tired and not really concentrating very well. Believe it or not, I was going to try for brevity on this message, guess I didn't quite make it! Thanks for reading! :)



P.S. I plan to tell my instructor that next time I act that evil she can give me a couple of smacks with the lunge whip!
:rolleyes:

[Edited by Katie_85 on 27th May 2001 at 02:49 AM]

[fionahogg]

No don't say that! She might take you seriously! And then you'd really look forward to your lessons :D!!

[Silver1]

i would not like to fall off, the arena is very hard. However, it isn't all that far off a horse, and i have certainly fallen from a lot higher.

It's a long story and i don't want to go into that though.

The closest I came to falling off was from trotting on missy...and then i was only half way off hanging onto the mane and wondering if I was going to continue the fall trot around in circles half way off the horse or TRY to pull myself back up with flimsy not quite used arms (keyboard jockey)

ah well, what's it like to fall?

[Silver1]

Originally posted by Silvia
Katie: once a student asked my instructor what she had to do if she fell off. The instructor said: "Just keep your mouth shut."
I thought this meant not to scream, but probably was because of the sand...
I'm glad your first fall was not too bad! :)

actually Silvia, that is not why, Val explained to me why, there are kids in Val's class that like to let they're jaws go slack and sometimes stick their tongues out. THe reason why you keep your mouth shut is so that the instructor does not have to pick up pieces of tongue off the arena.

[Katie_85]

That's logical too Silver. And falling off can pretty much be summed up like this: 1. Realize you are about to fall.
2. Hit the ground.
3. Spit out dirt/sand/whatever.
4. Get up and regain dignity
5. Brush dirt off butt
6. Look at spectators rolling
on ground in laughter.
7. Realize regaining dignity is a
waste of time.
And there you have it! :)

[sonofong]

Everyone ever try to ride will have to learn someday from falling! I am gald to hear that you can get back on right afterwwrds! Keep up!
To trot without stirrups requires the riders to stretch long his legs on the sides of the horse. Don't curl up your legs when you are losing balance, because that would make thing worse. Your leg's position is the same as if you are on the stirrups! This exercise helps you to develop an indenpendent seat.
Last friday, I have also a frightful experience! The horse I was riding was suddenly went out of control! He went on a quick canter and nearly gallop, I was forced to hold half - halt my rein in order to stop him! But he carried me for 7 large circles around the arena in running canter before he stopped! I was scared to death! I was thinking then : Either I fell off or I had to stop this situation! Relax! Relax! And the nightmare was finally over!
Best of luck!
Sonofong

[skewbald]

i have also had my scrapes but i have only fallen off once in 6 years and it must have been the slowest fall ever everyone said so i asked dougal to trot but him bein stubborn wouldn't so my instructor told me to 'give him a flick with the whip' boy was she wrong he bucked but i stayed on but i must have lost balance cos ashe did it againi ever so slowly slid off and i mean slid.
the other mostsignificant time was my first jumping lesson i wa riding a pony called dandy. we had done jumping and i had given him aloose reign my instructor went to answer the phon and what did dandy do as we neared the still set up jump canter sraight for it! of course i had never cantered before but i did a brilliant jump (head is swelling to the size of america as we speak).
i also had a scrape the other week when the young horse i was riding decided he wanted to play with the other horses and cantered off but by now i had learned to canter so i was in control.BUT i had not cantered on him and him being young it was a bit scary well the shock of it!

[Silver1]

trotting with out stirrups is easy, trotting with stirrups is hard. Nobody but me has this problem!!

So which is worse?

Falling off directly and getting back on,
or sliding around the horses neck and climbing back on from that possition with out falling? (don't forget the expieranced sympathetic people who have been working with horses for 30 years or more propped against tree's, hanging on fences, and laughing like crazy, and all to top it off your sister, the one who NEVER laughs at you is snickering)

[Katie_85]

I think trotting without stirrups is hard! I post most of the time because the lesson horse has a very high stepping trot so there is an explanation for this. :)

[laurel]

u guys!!!! Do u know how funny u r?? It is great. No one can stay serious on this site. :( Boo hoo, did i ever tell u how much i luv u. :D. I hate falling off but it comes with package.

[Miriam]

I remember my first fall in sitting trot without sirrups. We were just going around the arena when I slipped sideways. I remember trying to stay on and pulling myself back into the saddle. I had to give up in the end and gracefully dismounted onto my feet. My instructor was very amused and said it was a good try at getting back on and she had never seen anyone else do this before.


Miriam

[Silver1]

LOL!!!