Serafina
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
First, I want to say that this is 100% my personal responsibility and fault. I do know that much. The horse was an Innocent Party in this, and I feel really ************************ that I let the side down in this manner.
Here's what happened...my 2nd lesson. This time on a 17 yo "warmblood" - I think that's what she called him, although things are a bit fuzzy. He had some draft horse in the woodpile, big stocky legs, big stocky hooves. He's a new schooling horse at these stables, and the owner thinks that he was someone's One and Only hunt-jumper for the better part of those 17 years.
Things went really well right up until they didn't. I had him walking exactly where I wanted him to go, we had changes in directions, I got him to go in circles, etc. We stopped on command. He was really sweet and responsive (which just makes me feel that much worse about what happened later). I learned about...I think it was called a half-seat? Where you're up out of the saddle, balanced on the stirrups, weight over the withers (or somewhere around there). Instructor said it was used a lot for jumping. I think she wanted me to get a feel for getting my balance while not sitting in the saddle. Then I posted at a walk. My timing wasn't great, but I was starting to get the general idea. She said that it was a lot, to get the posting, and the rhythm, and the steering all down at once and that next time she might put the horse on a lunge line so at least I wouldn't have to worry about the steering.
Then she asked me to put the horse into a trot. I was feeling pretty good about things, and he just required the tiniest little squeeze to swing into a trot.
And I tried to post. This is when things went downhill. Because, I am pretty sure, when I attempted to shift my weight up out of the saddle on the post, I must have squeezed with my legs.
And this horse being what he was, that squeeze was enough to send him into a canter.
Two things went through my head at this point:
1. Ah! This must be a canter. It is much more comfortable than a trot.
and
2. AAGGGGHHH!!!! We are going way the hell too fast!!! AAAAAGGGHHHH!!!!!
It was point 2 that caused the real problems. Because I found myself physically paralyzed with fear. The instructor and the other woman who was hanging out were giving me the same valuable and correct advice: "PULL BACK ON THE REINS TO STOP HIM!"
And I knew that was the right thing to do. But I had been using my hands on his withers and mane for balance when I squeezed him, and I could. not. let. go. of. the. saddle. Every rational thought in my brain was screaming "LET GO OF THAT THING AND PULL BACK ON THE REINS!" and my monkey brain was just freaking out.
I am mortified about this. To know what to do, and to be so frightened that I can't do it - this is a novel experience for me. Eventually, the rational brain won out, and I let go of the saddle and attempted to pull back on the reins, but the horse's movement was bouncing me a little forward and I couldn't get my balance. Then Thought #3 crossed my mind:
3. I am about to fall off of this horse. They say it happens to everyone. Today is my day.
Right about then, I bounced pretty far forward and wound up holding on to the horse's neck.
I don't know what happened after that, because I found myself lying on the ground, with a WHOLE lot of people around me, asking questions I ought to have been able to answer, like "What month is it?" but couldn't, and really, no idea where the hell I was, what had happened, or how I got there. This would be cops and paramedics, since I was apparently knocked out cold for a minute or so.
Eventually, I realized "Oh, I have been riding, and there has been an accident" but I immediately got distracted because I had no idea how long I had been riding and whether I was any good at it or not. Right around then, they loaded me up into the meat wagon and hauled me off to the cottage hospital. The co-owner of the stable (not the instructor, because I think there were other people she needed to deal with) came to the hospital. By this time, I remembered more or less what happened, and had the pressing question of whether the horse was OK or not. She said he was fine, and that I'd be riding him no problem again.
Fortunately, one of the ER nurses I had is a horse person (she has a Lippizaner! and rides dressage! although, if you're going to have a Lippi, you pretty much ride dressage, it seems to me). She was very understanding.
Everyone assured me that These Things Do Happen, and I didn't do anything worse than rattle my brain - no bleeding or anything on the cat scan, nothing broken anywhere. I do have some absolutely prize bruises on my fingers where I had a death grip on the saddle and they were getting crunched between that and the horse's withers - he's a bony guy. But that's it.
I just feel terrible about this. It was totally my fault. If I hadn't squeezed when I wanted to post, he wouldn't have burst into a canter. He was just doing what I (inadvertently) asked him to. If I hadn't lost my mind with fear, I would have been able to bring him to a stop.
I am so embarrassed. ER doc made me swear off riding this week, and said I should buzz by my PCP to get cleared for riding week after this. And I know that you're supposed to get back up right away and all. And my husband is being really supportive. But I'm worried that maybe I just suck at this, and maybe it's bad for the horses if I try to learn to ride on them. I figure, when you're on horseback, you're basically the captain of that little ship, and I feel like I ran my ship right into the rocks.
Here's what happened...my 2nd lesson. This time on a 17 yo "warmblood" - I think that's what she called him, although things are a bit fuzzy. He had some draft horse in the woodpile, big stocky legs, big stocky hooves. He's a new schooling horse at these stables, and the owner thinks that he was someone's One and Only hunt-jumper for the better part of those 17 years.
Things went really well right up until they didn't. I had him walking exactly where I wanted him to go, we had changes in directions, I got him to go in circles, etc. We stopped on command. He was really sweet and responsive (which just makes me feel that much worse about what happened later). I learned about...I think it was called a half-seat? Where you're up out of the saddle, balanced on the stirrups, weight over the withers (or somewhere around there). Instructor said it was used a lot for jumping. I think she wanted me to get a feel for getting my balance while not sitting in the saddle. Then I posted at a walk. My timing wasn't great, but I was starting to get the general idea. She said that it was a lot, to get the posting, and the rhythm, and the steering all down at once and that next time she might put the horse on a lunge line so at least I wouldn't have to worry about the steering.
Then she asked me to put the horse into a trot. I was feeling pretty good about things, and he just required the tiniest little squeeze to swing into a trot.
And I tried to post. This is when things went downhill. Because, I am pretty sure, when I attempted to shift my weight up out of the saddle on the post, I must have squeezed with my legs.
And this horse being what he was, that squeeze was enough to send him into a canter.
Two things went through my head at this point:
1. Ah! This must be a canter. It is much more comfortable than a trot.
and
2. AAGGGGHHH!!!! We are going way the hell too fast!!! AAAAAGGGHHHH!!!!!
It was point 2 that caused the real problems. Because I found myself physically paralyzed with fear. The instructor and the other woman who was hanging out were giving me the same valuable and correct advice: "PULL BACK ON THE REINS TO STOP HIM!"
And I knew that was the right thing to do. But I had been using my hands on his withers and mane for balance when I squeezed him, and I could. not. let. go. of. the. saddle. Every rational thought in my brain was screaming "LET GO OF THAT THING AND PULL BACK ON THE REINS!" and my monkey brain was just freaking out.
I am mortified about this. To know what to do, and to be so frightened that I can't do it - this is a novel experience for me. Eventually, the rational brain won out, and I let go of the saddle and attempted to pull back on the reins, but the horse's movement was bouncing me a little forward and I couldn't get my balance. Then Thought #3 crossed my mind:
3. I am about to fall off of this horse. They say it happens to everyone. Today is my day.
Right about then, I bounced pretty far forward and wound up holding on to the horse's neck.
I don't know what happened after that, because I found myself lying on the ground, with a WHOLE lot of people around me, asking questions I ought to have been able to answer, like "What month is it?" but couldn't, and really, no idea where the hell I was, what had happened, or how I got there. This would be cops and paramedics, since I was apparently knocked out cold for a minute or so.
Eventually, I realized "Oh, I have been riding, and there has been an accident" but I immediately got distracted because I had no idea how long I had been riding and whether I was any good at it or not. Right around then, they loaded me up into the meat wagon and hauled me off to the cottage hospital. The co-owner of the stable (not the instructor, because I think there were other people she needed to deal with) came to the hospital. By this time, I remembered more or less what happened, and had the pressing question of whether the horse was OK or not. She said he was fine, and that I'd be riding him no problem again.
Fortunately, one of the ER nurses I had is a horse person (she has a Lippizaner! and rides dressage! although, if you're going to have a Lippi, you pretty much ride dressage, it seems to me). She was very understanding.
Everyone assured me that These Things Do Happen, and I didn't do anything worse than rattle my brain - no bleeding or anything on the cat scan, nothing broken anywhere. I do have some absolutely prize bruises on my fingers where I had a death grip on the saddle and they were getting crunched between that and the horse's withers - he's a bony guy. But that's it.
I just feel terrible about this. It was totally my fault. If I hadn't squeezed when I wanted to post, he wouldn't have burst into a canter. He was just doing what I (inadvertently) asked him to. If I hadn't lost my mind with fear, I would have been able to bring him to a stop.
I am so embarrassed. ER doc made me swear off riding this week, and said I should buzz by my PCP to get cleared for riding week after this. And I know that you're supposed to get back up right away and all. And my husband is being really supportive. But I'm worried that maybe I just suck at this, and maybe it's bad for the horses if I try to learn to ride on them. I figure, when you're on horseback, you're basically the captain of that little ship, and I feel like I ran my ship right into the rocks.