Unscheduled dismount

Jessey

Well-Known Member
Dec 20, 2004
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Suffolk, UK
Today I had my 3rd unscheduled dismount from Jess (not bad going in nye on 13 years).
Toddling through the forest I see a pony and cart stopped ahead, I stopped 50 yards back and called out just so they knew I was there and waited for them to hop back on and move off, rattling up the track. We began to follow at a walk, no worries. Then about 10 yards along we pass a track on the left that Jess had been longingly looking at in the hopes of a short cut home, as we passed it she refocused ahead and only now notices the cart! drops from under me and spun, half unseated out the left door I simply stepped down off her, I probably could have hung on but the ground was so close and with my face heading for a branch it was easier to step off :p
Blooming animal, its not like she's never seen a cart before, purely that she hadn't been paying attention to what was ahead!
 
That really was a dismount rather than a fall! What a silly girl she is, particularly if she knows what a cart is.
 
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Horse’s attitudes to carts can be very odd and inconsistent. I used to regularly drive past a couple of horses in a field and they did not take any notice except for the odd raised head to see who we were. But if we met one of these horses being ridden it was a different story. We would have to stay quiet and still while it pranced, backed up and tried to spin before rushing past us. The other one just gave us a hard stare while walking past.
Hope you and Jess are OK now.
 
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Ha ha, naughty Jess, Belle has a dislike of carts but oddly only if they are coming towards us, my farrier has a cart for his Welshy and as long as it's in front of us and moving away she's fine, complete meltdown if it's coming the other way.
Im a bit jealous of your dismount Jessey, I would have been in an undignified heap on the floor.
 
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Yup she's seen lots of carts, I've ridden her a fair bit with friends driving, shes followed hank in his cart, and been followed by him and I've driven him around her in the field all on numerous occasions, really no excuse and took no notice at all when we passed them 15 minutes later, she literally just hadn't noticed it and was taken by surprise.
 
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Sounds very well choreographed to me! I hope my first(and there's bound to be one) off Hogan is as dignified!
 
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I dread meeting carts. It’s only happened once or twice but the horses reactions were HUGE! Different horses now but tbh probably sharper and I know a few people do drive round here.
Glad it wasn’t a painful fall Jessey!
 
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Ramsey and I met one in the forest years ago. He wasn't on a track, which they're not supposed to do, and Ramsey whipped round and headed for a steep uneven downward hill. I actually threw myself off into some gorse bushes - prickly, but better than coming off if Ramsey had fallen on the hill, the speed he was going. o_O
 
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