Ridecamp: [RC] When A Horse Trips...

<<<must less react twice that fast to help their horses?  I would suspect 
that anything a rider does is much too late, the horse either recovers or 
falls despite what the rider does to "help." I would also expect that the 
horse needs his head to balance, there is very little the rider does that 
keeps him from getting his head - he's a hell of a lot stronger than a 
rider.

So I would expect that despite all we think we are doing to "help" we
are actually just making ourselves feel better.>>>

Truman:

I have to disagree with you on this.  Most horses well trained horses can 
catch themselves.  But if you have a horse that is not well balanced and is 
learning not only to carry themselves and a rider may not be able to catch 
themselves.  I learned this the hard way.  My older, now retired mare, when 
I first got her years ago had a weak shoulder from years on the race track.  
I did not know about this until she dropped the shoulder at a gallop after 
we crested the top of a small hill.  She almost rolled over, until she 
"lost" the load on top of her, and then regained her balance and galloped 
off without me.  Getting tossed at a gallop into a stand of trees was no 
fun.  So I was nervous after this, and it took me a while to get up the 
nerve to gallop her again.  The next time, she did the same thing, dropped 
the shoulder, but this time I sat back and pulled her up out of the dirt.

My new gelding at 11 has only been under saddle for a year.  He is still 
trying to figure out how to balance himself and me.  He used to stumble and 
fall down at a walk.  I have also pulled him off his chest as he fell down.  
My riding buddies can hardly believe that I can do it, but if you saw it in 
action, you would know that the rider is the reason that this horse is still 
on his feet.

Carolyn Burgess



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