I’ve heard a dozen (or possibly more)….. riding instructors tell people they won’t, can’t, or will never fall off backwards.
There’s even an article making the rounds titled, “No You Won’t Fall Off Backwards”, and while I appreciate their point….. getting people to sit up straight who want to lean forward……….
Some things just shouldn’t come out of teacher’s mouths.
I find this a bit like telling your students, “You’ll never wreck your car if you follow all the traffic laws.”
A quick tour of YouTube shows an awful lot of people “falling off backwards.”
This lead in brings me to my latest, and possibly even ‘greatest’ Bad Eventer moment.
I have a super star young horse.
This horse is so amazing, occasionally I’m not convinced she’s not, in fact, a robot.
She’s just never naughty. And she takes everything in stride.
During her 6th or 7th jump school she was so much braver and bolder to the fences than the older more experienced horses in her group another student named her Honey Badger.
“Honey Badger Don’t Care” has become her little cheer.
Of course horses have minds of their own, and the safest horses in the world can have a bad moment or hurt someone by accident.
Young horses in particular are unpredictable because they just haven’t experienced much and you never know what they’re going to take issue with.
I ride a lot of young horses. And I rarely, almost never actually, come off a young horse……
…….because I’m an expert at predicting bad outcomes………and getting outta dodge before it happens.
My hard and fast rule on a baby. “When should you get off? The MOMENT it crosses your mind.”
I tell students, “If you’re wondering whether to get off a horse – your feet should already be on the ground.”
As the horse becomes more experienced and you learn what they react, and overreact to, you can adjust this rule a bit.
Honey Badger has been so amazing and perfect that I learned if she looks at something with interest, it is almost never followed by a spook or reaction, so I can carry on without much worry.
Of course she’s been in a 6 day per week program for 6 months.
And she’s a rockstar.
THEN……………..I went out of town for 2 weeks and the day I came back I had 2 new horses to ride. The gang at the stable had a friendly wager about which one I would fall off of because they hadn’t been ridden in several weeks.
So I rode both of them with no trouble, too bad I didn’t get in on the wager.
Third I rode WonderPony who is always steady eddy, and then I decided to “squeeze in” one last ride before dark, on the baby who hadn’t been ridden in 2 weeks……. while I was on such a success streak.
That’s when I realized the saddle that I usually use was at the other barn. And so was her bridle.
No problem, I’ll just toss the endurance saddle on her, yeah it slides around a little because she doesn’t have much of a wither, but that’s OK. I rode her entirely in a rope halter the first year so I tossed the halter on her and off we went.
We lapped the pasture once and she was unusually “looky”. She was stopping and sniffing and being a bit jumpy. This was REALLY out of character for a baby that I jokingly describe as “half dead” most of the time.
So we lapped the pasture again and the odd behavior continued.
<Warning Will Robinson>
The barn owner was leaving so I rode back up to the barn and we chatted a bit since I’d been gone for two weeks. As she was pulling out of the driveway, the sun was setting and I decided we’d lap the pasture “one last time” and consider it a good first ride back.
As I headed back to the pasture, the neighbor’s loose donkey that unknown to me had her attention, finally made his very dramatic appearance.
My poor sensible baby spun, bucked, and I realized in the air I was coming off backwards.
Oh yeah, it happens.
Unfortunately in her haste to get away from the dangerous escaped burro she kicked me in the chin as I was falling behind her.
One E.R. visit, a chipped tooth and 6 stitches later, I reminded myself of my “baby breaking rule”, and…….. appropriate equipment, and listening to your horse, and perhaps lunging a few minutes first when the baby horse hasn’t been worked in weeks……………
Boy did I do EVERYTHING wrong.
And because I’m super paranoid about knocking my teeth out, I decided to buy a mouth protector.
OF COURSE Bad Eventer went with the pink sparkles.
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Oh my goodness, I'm glad you are mostly ok! Pink sparkles for the win!
Yikes, so glad you're ok
Ugh it's always when we go out for that "one last time" isn't it… Sorry about the chipped tooth!
Yikes!!
Over the last year and a half, I first straightened my teeth through Invisalign, then got a bite guard (I grind my teeth at night) that doubles as my bottom retainer.
Let me tell you – I feel much more comfortable galloping XC when I have my retainers in!! I totally get it!
Eeek! I broke my jaw a few years ago, so I'm very glad it was "only" a chipped tooth!
So glad it wasn't more than soreness, chipped tooth and stitches!
So glad you weren’t seriously hurt. Good PSA on your part. On Good Friday, I fell from after my mare spooked and spun at sight of a little snow. She made signs that she was full of beans that I should have paid more attention to. I feel lucky that I did not break my hip, just very badly bruised. So now, I am doing two things I never thought I would. First is I lunge my horses before I get on (let them buck away without me in the saddle, lol, I like my bones the way they are). Second thing, is that I pay a good trainer to ride them once a week. All the best in your recovery 😉