I fell off...!

Auqeam

Auqeam

New Member
Jul 3, 2008
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Washington, West Sussex
.. for the first time since i've been back riding and my second ever fall. It all happened so quickly that I didn't have time to worry, I was sat up and laughing straight away and weirdly felt some kind of sense of relief!

But, today I think I displayed the most appauling riding i've ever done and it's not the fall that has bothered me but my riding.. well it was just ridiculous!

I ride once a fortnight at a school as well, have done for 13 months now and I can usually do a nice trot, my RI has complimented me on it before so I know it's not awful but when I ride my share I just cannot seem to stop falling forwards! It's driving me crazy! I try everything to stop it, try sitting back, have played about with stirrup length, but I think it's nerves. I can sometimes keep him going well but I could barely manage 10 strides of trot tonight without toppling forwards, legs go back, he goes back to walk, etc.

Anyway today was mine and OH's share day, his lovely owner was around and offered to pop me on the lunge so I could concentrate on my position. I've never been on the lunge before and was feeling really nervous, I know I was tense and share horse was very 'lookie' at his field mates in a nearby field, next thing I knew we had parted ways, he spooked and did a sideways jump, I just kept going! :rolleyes:

I got straight back on but without the lunge, and rode him round for about 15 minutes in walk/trot. He wasn't spooky at all, just went back to his normal chilled-out self and I didn't feel nervous either, so i've come to the conclusion it was partly my nerves on the lunge that made him spook *sigh*

My OH rode after me. Trotted round beautifully, kept him going, sat up straight, lovely light hands :rolleyes:

Sometimes I just feel like i'm not getting anywhere, have no natural talent and what's the point in paying to learn when i'm still as cr@p as I was when I first started?!
Last weekend I did my first ever 'jump' which was only about a foot high and only at trot but I did it and loved it, now I just feel :poop:

I'm so sorry for this pathetic whining thread :frown::frown:

p.s OH got in on video, might upload it if I can work out how!
 
Don't be sorry! We all feel like cr@p sometimes.

Stick with it, you'll get there. One day you'll think, "Where's my bloody leg?" and you'll realise it's EXACTLY WHERE IT SHOULD BE! :bounce:

Anyway, if you feel like a whine, whine away. Why else are we here?
 
hope you're not too sore :)

don't worry, you're not alone - ive been riding for 25 years, still have to look down to see if I trot on the right diagonal, cannot jump, have pramhands, dalek elbows and legs flailing all over the shop :giggle:
 
^^

Oh, NP so it's not just me that have to look down to check that i'm on the right diagonal then!!

We all go through stages of thinking we are crap riders and tbh - some of us do have really bad days - I know I do!

Glad to hear you're ok - onwards and upwards
 
I spent years reading books on how to get your seat and leg correct and not to mention the practise.the mary wanless book described it as the pinch feeling/and a hour glass shaped bottle, one day i got it right with a good instructor who was not afraid to show me, rather than just shout the odds she physically replaced my leg in such a way i never forgot.its finding these people who can show you and make sure you understand.Once this position has been achieved not many horses will get you off with just a shy,spook,it may take much much more.
 
I know just how you feel - I've been riding for 15 years - had my own horses all that time, ridden miles and miles on my own and in company but now, with a 'new' horse, I can't get negative thoughts out of my head!! I have come off her once, in the woods (first time in 7 years and landed in a prickly bush - ouch! :frown:) which was no-one's fault, just a series of small things but that feeling of hitting the deck won't go away!! Now I get so tense in the school that i can't ride one side of her and it's driving her round the bend.....!

I am in the process of arranging regular lessons again, hopefully with a 'classical' instructor, and hopefully I'll get my confidence back in myself :bounce:

It's always the negative things that stick in your mind and then they tell you you're cr@p....it's the only mainstream sport that's shared on equal terms with a livng, breathing animal with their own insecurities - it's never gonna be 100% perfect but we still enjoy it!

It's supposed to be fun!...:skip:
 
Thanks guys, it hasn't made me any more nervous strangely but I just feel a bit useless!

Thanks Thefrenchside, I have been having niggling doubts about my RI and have been looking to try another school, but that's another story;) It wasn't the most shy of spooks but i'd prefer to stand half a chance if at all possible! :)

Oh and I always have to look and see whether i'm on the correct diagonal as well! :giggle:

Going to try and forget about yesterdays crud ride and concentrate on next weeks instead. Hopefully my sore limbs will feel better by then :skip:
 
Hope the soreness recedes soon! I too have to look down to check diagonals and am shocking at tipping forwards. I thought I was upright but it wasn't till my RI made me check everytime I passed the mirror in the school and realised that what I thought was leaning RIGHT back, was upright (she makes a great point that your "lady bits" as she puts it shouldn't be in contact with the saddle at all). I find it really hard. The others are right -hope you can put it behind you and move forward.
 
What I have learnt about riding is that it brings massive highs, and then really deep down lows. When it goes well I feel on top of the world for days, but when it goes badly I feel almost depressed. My tonic for getting over a bad ride, is to replace it with a good one. Go riding as soon as you possibly can and make sure that you achieve something. That last ride will always be in your mind so try to make it a good one.
 
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