Equiteamers love to share experiences and learning. Last week, one of the things we shared was our experiences falling off our ponies. For some it was the first fall in a very long time, for others it may have been something that has happened more than once… for me it was weirdly something that I think needed to happen.
I spent last year falling an awful lot, and hurt myself a fair bit. I’ve spoken about the challenge I’ve had with Ziggy Zu, and not being to stay in the saddle last year was a big part of that. The result was a fear of what might happen if I fell again – which I think was probably quite a fair fear! So over the weekend I’ve been reading about falling off and what we can learn from it
What might happen
We have all read the stories of horrific falls and what might happen to us, so it is absolutely understandable that falling isn’t something that we want to happen. Apart from anything else, it might hurt! But we need to remember to set ourselves up to win as EquiTeam coach Liz Daniels would say.
When discussing some of my fears last year, Jane Brindley from Horse Riding with Confidence Scotland, explained to me the negative impact that fear can have.
If you sit on your horse tense and anxious, any spook or misstep is more likely to have a negative outcome. The best analogy for this is thinking of sitting on one of those fun space hoppers that children have. If you lie a towel on it, it will stay put when you wobble the hopper – the towel is loose and moulds to the shape of what it is on.
If you sat something rigid like a book on it and did the same wobble, it’d come crashing off. The same is true for us. The more rigid I am, the less secure my seat is when things do go wrong – and the more likely that a fall is going to cause harm or pain if it happens.
Ride like a child
I remember when I was learning to ride as a child being told to get up and get back on every time I fell. As a result I think falling never seemed to be something that defined a ride or a lesson – I got back on, and continued with whatever we were doing.
When I was back in the saddle, I’d be reminded that if I looked down that’s where I’d go, and to get my heels down, and by the end of the hour it wasn’t such a big deal. When asked afterwards how my lesson had been, I was probably more likely to talk about whether I rode my favourite horse, whether I jumped, or whether I rode in the lead. The fall wasn’t the major defining part of a good lesson.
The fear of what might happen didn’t exist as a child, because it wasn’t something that I focused on as a negative. Sometimes I fell off, and that was part of riding. Sometimes other people I rode with fell off – and I would watch them get back on with the same guidance from our coach. It was normal.
The fact that I don’t fall off as often as an adult means that when it does happen it is an “event”. One of the earliest chats I think I remember participating in with Equiteam focused on the power of language, and not repeating a negative story. If we fall, it is a fact and it happened. But if I repeat it 20 times, focusing on how windy it was, or how hyped up Ziggy was, or the fact that arena letters had been moved, then the next time any of these scenarios exists I can quite easily convince myself before I even ride that something is going to go wrong. I predispose myself to tension thinking I might fall again, and therefore increase the chances of it happening.
Why is falling off good?
Weirdly, I think that there are positives that come from falling off (once the bruises heal). Analysing what happened can help us to work out what we need to work on. Whether it is keeping my heels down, sitting taller, sorting my stirrup length, there are lots that can be done to improve my position.
For our ponies, it could also be a reminder to check their feed, practice a certain move more, or take a step back slightly and re-consolidate the basics.
Falling isn’t what we want on every ride, but it is inevitable that with enough time in the saddle at some point there will be a fall. And if we use it as a pause button, to check in with ourselves and our ponies, then it is possibly a useful thing to happen.
What have I learned from falling off?
I am known for analysing everything to understand why things happened, and how to improve myself and my riding. So here goes… I fell last week jumping. Ziggy stopped at a jump and I kept going. I was a bit achy, but got up, got back on and jumped the same jump another four or five times with no incident.
So why did it happen? We hadn’t jumped that one before, and despite having a lovely forward canter over the previous ones, I know that I took my leg off a bit as we approached it. I looked at it and wondered whether he would get a fright that it was a different colour and looked a bit different.
My fear of things going wrong created the situation, and by taking my leg off, I encouraged him to stop. It actually was not his fault – and I’ve learned from it. I have heard 100 times that “forward is your friend” and it has always seemed counter intuitive, as why would you want to be forward in a situation that seems dangerous.
But I now understand it. By being forward in a rhythm we are telling our horses and ourselves that this situation is acceptable and where we want to be. So my focus needs to be on what I am doing and how to do it well, rather than being only partly committed and telling my horse there is something to be scared of.
If I had looked at the jump and ridden exactly as I had before, we would have been much more likely to jump it without a fall. By trying to prevent it happening, I increased the odds.
Lessons for life
Life is a bumpy journey, where sometimes things go well, and sometimes they don’t. But we carry on, we look to see how our support group can help us, and we try to positively influence our lives and those of the people around us. We pick ourselves back up after periods when it is tough, and we are empathetic to others when they are in a similar situation. We don’t avoid eating biscuits in case we choke (at least I don’t!), and we don’t spend our time thinking “what if” while we cross the road.
Falling off our ponies is the same. If the fear of falling becomes too big a focus, it holds us back, increases the odds of it happening, and takes the fun out of something that is meant to make us smile. Yes it could happen, and yes it could hurt. But the much greater probability is that it won’t happen, and that we could be having fun.
When I was a little girl, my riding instructor told me I had to fall 50 times before I could learn to be a good rider. So I’ll stick out my chin, keep my heels down, put a smile on my face and look forward to learning from my next fall.
Gill x
