First fall

So I just fell off a horse for the first time. I dislocated my thumb and had to pop it back in. Right hand still hurts from that. Luckily I landed on my butt and not something more fragile. But it still hurts to walk, not sure how if it's because of my tailbone or what.

The horse I was riding has only one eye and he heard something on his blind side and spooked. It happened so fast. while I'm happy to get my first fall out of he way, I'm disappointed because I think I lost a lot of confidence, now I feel back to square one.

So anyone remember their first fall? And how long did it take you to regain confidence?

After my worst fall (not my first) I lost A LOT of confidence. It was the final of a string of three in a week. I broke the back of my helmet on the last fall. Always wear helmets kids. xP

We ended up going back to basics and only walk/trot to work on my seat. Lots of circles (I mean almost nothing BUT circles), lots of transition work, lots of no stirrup, or one stirrup work, lots of 2 pointing (I ride English), lots of poles. The whole purpose was to work on my seat so I was more balanced. I'm a far better rider because of it, I no longer panic when a horse spooks or dives, or if they're going too fast.

I would definitively talk to your instructor. Tell them the last fall bruised your confidence. There's many exercises to boost confidence out there, or even a different horse can boost your confidence. I would make sure your thumb is healed and no longer hurting before you ride next.

good luck! :)

My first fall was off a 16.1hh 1,300 lbs. grey mare that was [censored] off a little eight year old who had never used spurs before was spurring her way too high since my little legs were over five inches shorter than her normal rider (smart adults, I know).

Thankfully, I was wearing a helmet, because I threw myself off after she bronc bucked three times (I don't even remember her bucking) and headbutted the fence then snapped my arm. So a cracked helmet and broken arm later, I told my parents I still wanted the horse lmao!!!!!

she was an AQHA world qualified mare though and her and I earned a lot of money together when I was 9 years old and ended up showing her full time, but it took me six months to even try to canter her again once she got home. After one of my lessons, my trainer went in the back show barn to do night check and I was cooling her down in the arena and I finally just told myself I needed to do it, so I gathered my reins and asked her to canter. She went right off without an issue thank goodness, but it did take me a long time!

A fall is a serious thing, and it's totally normal to lose a lot of confidence. Just take some time, work through your fear, talk to yourself, and get back out there!

My first fall happened when I was learning to jump. The TB gelding I was on just slammed to a halt in front of a jump and I kept on going. xD Did a flip thing in the air and hit the ground back of the head first followed by back then butt then legs. So I totally second the comment about wearing helmets. Probably would have been seriously injured if I hadn't been wearing one.

The problem with my fall is that it happened right before winter break, and my instructor took off two weeks to get a break just like the schools, so it was two weeks before I got back in the saddle. I highly recommend not doing this. Get back in the saddle as soon as you can, because after two weeks of letting my nervousness stew, I was a wreck when I finally got back on. Didn't help that the day I came back, a pony kicked me in the shin (it's funny to look back on now because I totally had this horseshoe shaped bruise/swelling on my shin, but it was not fun at the time and just made me even less confident).

So obviously you should make sure your thumb is healed, but then you should get back on a horse. Doesn't have to be an intense workout. You could even just go for a nice walk around the arena. But I definitely found that the times I fell after my first, it did wonders to get right back on and sort of face my fear.

Don't let it hurt your confidence too much. Every rider falls at some point, so you're just part of the club now. :P

haha, I don't remember my first fall but I can tell you the earliest fall I can remember. I started riding myself at late 7 and/or early 8. about this age My dad and I went for a ride near an old friend's orchard. My dad was on our (then) young quarter horse gelding and I was on an older quarter horse mare(about 8 then). I had told my dad that I wanted to learn how to trot because up until then all I ever did was walk. My dad just smiled and agreed and turned into an open field and told me to catch up when I was ready.
He then set off at a slow trot and I tried to encourage her to pick up her pace. I clicked, nothing, I bounced my legs, nothing. I soon started kicking her a bit still nothing. I got impatient at that point and kicked her harder. she picked up a small trot for two seconds and quickly went back to her lazy walk. Me as my 8-year-old self-puffed up and firmly told her, "Hey I'm in charge here, you need to listen to me." I kicked her again and got the same reaction. At this point, I was pretty hot headed and kicked her just as hard as I could. She jumped into a trot and began to catch up to my dad. I was pretty proud of myself. She started to go even faster though, and faster, and faster until she broke into a wild gallop I was terrified at this point and tried to pull on the reins. When she caught up to my dad she suddenly turned in front of him. well she went one way and I went the other way. One first time for me though was I got the wind knocked out of me. haha I thought I was Dying. XD I don't remember loosing a lot of confidence but then again I was an 8 year-old lol

@kimitia - working on my seat/balance sounds like a good idea. My trainer already promised I'll ride a different horse next time, which is great news to me. I'm worried my thumb is going to take longer than a week to heal and it will delay my lessons and make it much harder when I finally get back in the saddle. But I guess thumbs are important.

@elegant - Ouch! Wow takes lots of guts to want to buy a horse that had bucked you off, glad it worked out though.

@wicked - I was googling a lot about horse falls and they said the most common fall is over the head of a horse. Glad you are okay! My trainer rode the horse after I fell then made me get back on him in a lunge line. He kept putting his head down and trying to resist me. I couldn't wait to get off....I'm hoping I'll feel better once I get on a different horse? Unfortunately if I don't heal by Thursday I'll have to cancel and like you said, long breaks can make fears grow.

@farmgirlem- I can totally picture the scene! That's awesome you held on for the gallop at first. The abrupt turn is also how I fell off. Ah yes, I wonder if age makes a difference, or maybe you are just a confident person? Ugh I hate when the wind gets knocked out of you! Can't breath for a moment and very scary.

I truly don't remember my first fall, all I can remember are three of my worst, which really weren't even bad.

The first was on a mare that I was sort of "my" horse. I was basically the only one who rode her for a very long time. I remember being in the arena on a game day, so there were lots of us, and we were playing the game where you are completely bareback (except for a bridle) and had to hold a dollar right in between the horse's side and your shin. I did stellar until my mare reared up out of nowhere, but the best part is that I didn't even fall off or lose my dollar while she reared bareback, I fell off and lost my dollar when she came back down. ugh. It wasn't a bad fall, but its one of the only ones I can remember that hurt.

The second fall I remember was when I was on a GIANT three year old, he was a son of Sacred Indian for anyone who may know the stud. He was the sweetest thing, but I remember our lesson being very overwhelming due to the amount of people in the arena at the time and the sound of the rain on the metal roof. All I remember was one of the door's slap against the side of the arena and the horse completely spooked and I came tumbling off. That was the only time I cried after falling, and I remember laying there not really being able to breathe and the sweet thing came up to me and sniffed my face as if he were asking if I were okay. He was really a great horse.

The last fall I remember was being out on a trail, on an absolute ALIEN of a horse. I remember we had one of those psychic (or whatever it's called) people come out and tell us the horse told her he was not from this planet and all this weird stuff and it was so weird because all of us had always thought the horse was a weird alien. Anyway, we were out on a trail and everyone took off and my trainer had told us to take it slow because the horse was weird and didn't really know how to canter well, but he took off with them and started getting way too excited and bucking and i remember flying over his head and had I not gotten out of the way in time I would've gotten trampled. That was the only fall I ever got an "injury" out of. It was just a concussion.

Aside from all of that, my first fall was somewhere around when I was 10-12, and as far as I can remember I never had a problem getting back on. I always hopped back on and got back to business no more than 5 minutes after the fall.

My first instructor always said you're not a real rider until you've taken a spill. Everybody falls off from time to time, even the pros. You shouldn't care.

I worry about serious injuries. I was stupid and googled info on Christopher Reeves accident....

But I know it doesn't do any good to think about it and it's best to focus on the good parts of riding instead.

I've had my horse (now retired) since he was 10 (now 22). He loved to buck when we'd first take off running. It was soon after I first got him that I didn't have a good seat yet and he lurched forward after another horse who started running. I flew off his side and didn't want to get back on but my mom made me and I had a tight fisted reign on him the rest of the way home. He was too excited and wasn't listening. I got home and worked his butt off. I was a little shaken but not enough to stop and I was not going to let him get away with it. He has tested me ever since with bucking, crow hopping, stopping in the middle of a show and laying down...he was a pain but I didn't have the heart to give him up.

The first time I fell was off of a 13.1hh gelding when he took a sharp corner at a canter and I slide off the inside. Needless to say, it wasn't a far fall. I just got up and laughed it off before continuing with my lesson.

I took a nasty spill off of a sassy green broke mare while jumping. Long story short, she squared up on the jump, stopped after, gave a little crop hop and I did a flip over her neck. I didn't break anything, but it basically shattered my jumping confidence.
To overcome it, I went back to riding my favorite, old, steady-eddie appendix gelding *this was before I owned a horse*. I rode the gelding for a few weeks on the flat regaining my confidence on horses. After I was 120% comfortable on him, I flatted a couple of the trickier horses. After feeling 125% confident with that, I went back to riding the good ole appendix gelding and started jumping small fences. This really helped me ease back into jumping.
I know what it feels like when you're just a bit apprehensive to do much on a horse after a bad fall. I'm verrryyy cautious on and around horses, so when I take a bad fall, it takes me some time to recooperate.
I don't know if you can choose who you take lessons on, but for a few weeks try to get the easiest horse there. Trusting in even one horse is a start. Then, start branching out into harder/trickier horses. If it feels a little overwhelming, go back to the easiest horse.

Hope this helps!
Liesie

@apachly - yes my instructor had the same idea as you. She put me on a pony! At first I was a tad embarrassed but he is boosting my confidence. Of course after riding the pony for like a 3 weeks she had me ride the biggest horse I've ever been on, and he seemed even bigger after riding a pony.

But I still have this worry that the horse I'm going riding is going to spook suddenly. I try not to think about it. Ugh I need to stop being a worry wort

Last edited on 2017-04-27 at 10:34:47 by ✎ Jezarae II

I haven't fallen off while riding before, but once I was leading a horse (He wasn't trained to be ridden or anything like that, he's still young, but yes he's big, he's a gypsy, not a pony.) back to the pen, and he got excited and wanted to trot back to the paddock. I didn't let him, so after a few tries to speed up, he reared up, knocked me down, and ran to the gate of the pasture. I was crying. (Idk why, I was just done.) I wasn't badly hurt, but I was bruised, tired, and wanted to go home. I'm not afraid of him, but I never use him anymore, I just honestly don't like him.

Glad to hear you got back on! (and jealous about the pony, I'm too tall for most of the little guys :[ ). And that the big guys wasn't too bad

The first time I fell off was on my first pony, a little stud from Grandma's who wasn't actually broke to ride only driving. Embarrassingly enough I was just sitting on him as my mom walked me around and he only hunched his back and I flew over his shoulder. No injuries except to my pride but I didn't try to ride him again for years and stuck to the already broken ponies. It took me a few years but my patience paid off and when I tried again at about 13 he and I became great partners and he even did well for my non-horsey cousins.
Since then I've mostly had stupid spills where I wasn't paying attention, kicking a horse in the stomach when I got on(twice how embarrassing), sliding off the side/back while bareback, one memorable one where I have no idea what happened I was just on the ground with a the saddle blanket I'd been sitting on. I'm sure I'll have some nasty spills in the future when I finally get a younger horse, but I love bombproofing so the spooks aren't usually so bad xD

It's okay to be afraid, but remember most horses look to you for their reactions so cool calm collected even if you think you should be scared out of your mind goes a long way towards calming them down for less of a violent or wacky reaction. Just keep riding!
There's ducks out on the levee surrounding the edge of our property where I ride a lot, and Gwaine still spooks at them almost every time they fly off, but as long as I don't freak out and just push him back to whatever we were doing before they flew he gets right back too it.