What does falling from a horse really feel like? Until you fall, you are bound to be both curious and terrified of the unknown so in today’s blog post I will describe my own experiences to you.
When I was younger and less experienced, I fell off more than a few times before getting really good at developing that sense of my own balance and being able to predict what the horse under me was planning to do. In fact I used to count the number of times I fell off and I lost track in the thirties, so you could say that I have had some experience in this department. While this may sound somewhat shocking, what I think is more interesting is that I have only had one major injury from all of these times falling. Overall I think those are pretty good statistics, but regardless onto my story:
I think the most vivid fall that I can recollect was one time where I was at a competition with a horse that was fairly new to me. The judge called out to “canter” which is one of the “speeds” that a horse can do and we were at a slower speed. At the time I did not realize how competitive my horse was so when he saw all the other horses cantering past him, he became very upset and began bucking and bolting at the same time. I was around 10 at the time and since he was new to me, I failed to predict this outcome. The very first buck caught me off guard and launched me onto his neck. From here, he was running around the arena while I was tightly grasping his neck in order to stay on. I realized that there was no way for me to climb back into the saddle and regain control of the situation, so I decided to let go.
This is what I find so interesting about falling, you never remember the actual falling or hitting the ground. I usually remember the right before and right after, but never the in-between. If anything this just makes the whole process more pleasant because whatever happens, happens and you do not really remember the in-between. I think the fear of falling off is so much more paralyzing than the actual act of falling off, so remember that the next time you are concerned about trying something scary.
I thought you did a very good job at grabbing my attention with a question that I (and most people) clearly don’t know the answer to. Additionally, you were able to establish an effective ethos early on by describing how many times you had fallen off horses. Your story was captivating, funny, and even a bit fearful, and I found it especially intriguing that you never remember the “in-between” time of falling. Well done!