I think kids that are not all that well supervised just
learn their limits better. That, and of course, major good luck helped me
survive riding a 3 year old green horse through major traffic (read buses with
people hanging off, motor and bicycle rickshaws, horse and donkey carts, cars,
trucks, camels, etc.); riding cart horses with just the long rope cart reins and
no saddle...none of whom I knew before convincing their owners to let me take
them around the neighborhood.
From the time I started riding, I have fallen off pretty
regularly. I took a few lessons when I was eleven. Fell off learning
to trot. Fell off learning to canter. Fell off learning to
jump. One of the first skills I really mastered was the "tuck and
roll". Remember going around the round pen, losing my balance and trying
to calculate whether I could miss the post that was coming up.
Kids bounce. Old people break. I am not nearly
as sanguine about falling anymore.
If I had it to do over, I would have worn a helmet, but
otherwise, I think it was a good thing to have to learn to read the horse so you
could increase your chances of surviving.
