Most rider injuries – in any discipline of horse riding – occur as a result of falls
So unsurprisingly-Most riders biggest fear is falling off.
See our Facebook survey. We posted this in several groups and 80% of the comments were about falling off.
I googled ‘What to expect in your first riding lesson’
This was the first result
For your first lesson, your horse may be brought to the arena for you, but if you tell the staff at the riding school that you are keen to get to know your horse better, they should take the time to show you how to approach your horse and lead him yourself. Horses that are used for novice riders are good-natured and quiet, so you will enjoy handling your mount as well as riding him.
During your first lesson you may spend a lot of time talking about your riding position and feeling the movement of your horse. You will probably be led around an indoor or outdoor arena on a lead rein and may stay in walk throughout. However, you may also be given the opportunity to get the feel for trot.
So we are not taught to fall off or even to stay on!
If you’re in the safety of a fenced arena with soft surface. The number 1 thing to keep in control is to ride a horse or pony that is the right level for you and as much as you can try to STAY ON!
Unless the horse is completely bolting into an oncoming car or about to jump a cliff, try and turn the horse in circles, grab one rein and get it circling if you can until he or she slows down or stops. Use neck straps, saddle handles, mane and your centre of gravity with balance to just try your very best to stay on and stop the horse completely to dismount.
If the horse is out of control and you can’t, then let’s fall off safely.
The basic skills of falling safely are not difficult, but like any physical skills, they must be practiced to be learned well.
Martial arts students, gymnasts, skaters, skiers, wrestlers, and other athletes learn specific falling methods for their arts. Most of these techniques are very useful if you have a sudden accidental fall.
Falling practice starts with very low and easy movements such as rocking back and forth on the floor, for example, and progresses gradually to more advanced levels. You will practice getting up and down from floor level.
Instinct
Also known as … sense, intuition, feel, idea, automatic response, impulse, hunch, gift, faculty, ability and natural tendency.
So what can we learn from this?
Being a registered nurse in my training many years ago we had to do lots of reflective essays about incidents and reports about things that could be done differently or improved. So this one was a new challenge.
My older daughter was told in pony club to roll up like a hedgehog! Great advice! They even practiced rolling away from a horse!
However I never went to pony club and only got more serious about riding in recent years, just imagine my daughter hadn’t told me this I never would have known! So I want to practice and also share!
We are not taught anything about falling off horses yet we do fall off.
Lets look at falling off horses in more detail
Reasons we fall off
- Your horse trips or spooks and you fall off.
- Your horse gets excited or has an underlying issue and bucks you off.
- Your horse refuses a fence, but throws you over it.
- Your horse over-jumps a fence and throws you out of the saddle.
- Your horse stops or turns suddenly and you slide off.
Directions we could fall off
Mainly over the front and there is jockey training specifically based on how to roll when falling forwards.
Bertrand Triguer, the French inventor of the ‘Equichute’, also wanted to teach jockeys how to fall off a horse. The Equichute is a mechanical horse that travels on a rail and falls forward to dump the rider on a mat, thus acclimatizing riders to falling and training them in the proper falling methods.
Although it is limited to only falling forward (approximately one-half of riding falls are sideways), it goes a long way to help riders learn how to fall properly and roll away from their horses.
However as above I fell sideways so it’s best to be prepared for any direction.
So how do we prepare?
Having a good relationship with your horse and riding one to your level of riding is very important and above all else.
Always check your tack! Ensure the saddle is checked for fit regularly, girthed securely and that your stirrups are the right length and not getting hooked on anything.
Always wear a riding hat. The following standards apply to riding hats and skull caps in the UK.
EN1384 1996 / BSEN 1384 1997 with CE mark.
Keep your head safe always wear it fastened and fitted correctly too.
I used to think wearing a body protector was only for cross country or jumping, but now I will always wear one again ensure it’s fitted for you.
Proper riding Boots with a heel stop the foot slipping through the stirrup and getting feet stuck and also safety stirrups with the rubber band at the side aid getting feet out in an emergency.
A neck strap or martingale strap can be used to hang on to, but it’s best to let go of this and reins if falling so you don’t get dragged along.
Balance
Practicing good balance can help keep you on board as long as possible, but doesn’t guarantee you won’t still fall off.
Practice balance on and off the horse for best results.
Be mentally prepared
Riding horses is a sport and all sport has risks. We are on top of a heavy living thing with its own mind and is not 100% bombproof despite what any advert may say. Most riders will fall off at some point. However it’s important to not over think and a fine line to become too scared to ride assuming it will happen.
Physically preparing
So back to instinct my instinct when I fell off was to put my arm out to stop my self ahhhhhhhhh what a silly thing to do with hindsight. So to retrain my brain ?
How to Fall Off a Horse – Safely
A “practice” in the broad sense of the term is simply an activity that you repeat regularly. Sometimes we repeat activities consciously, e.g. “I practice swimming five times a week.” Most of the UK population learnt to swim at some point as a child so if we fell into water, hopefully we would know how to get ourselves out?
Have you ever been shown how to fall off before? We all usually start learning to ride WAY before we fall off right?
Well practice is the only way to become proficient in a new skill or behavior and if you don’t know how to fall off as safely as possible, you’re going to just fall off and stick all sorts of limbs out to save yourself!
People have said that it takes 21 days or times to create a new habit (or change an existing one), recent claims have pushed that number up to 66 days. A recent study shows that it can take anywhere between 18 and 254 to form a new habit–which averages to about 66.
Ok, so let us get into the instinct to fall off a horse safely 66 times at least!
Let go of the Reins!
You don’t want to be dragged or stamped on.
Relax
Whattt?.. Well try! To relax requires that you remain calm as tension in you or your body will cause you to want to break your fall and that is when you break things eg stick out your arm ?. If you feel yourself falling, don’t resist, just go with it. I know it is easier said than done, but when everything slows down when you start falling, remind yourself to relax!
Tuck
Cross your arms loosely, Tuck yourself into as small a ball as possible, irrespective of the direction of the fall. You are less likely to have any limbs sticking out and at the same time, this facilitates rolling away from your horse.
Roll Away From Your Horse
Whichever way you land, once you hit the ground roll yourself clear and keep rolling until you are out of the way of your horse or your horse’s legs so you don’t get trampled or kicked.
Then check yourself over if you can get up and walk go get your horse if you can’t shout for help.
Where possible get back on the horse.