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A few years back while riding my young greenie gelding in a small group,
a man on a Harley Davidson motorcycle came by our group, revving the
engine to spook the horses. I turned to yell at him and my poor boy
thought I was yelling at him. He hunched like a cat and next thing I
knew I had this whole new perspective on the world from five feet above
the saddle. Oh gee, I remember thinking, what's my horse doing WAY down
there, but wow, what a view up here! He runs off and me, still holding
onto the reins, must have looked like I was parasailing for a while
there. The next instance I was jogging next to him, holding the reins,
crooning to him and looking perfectly in control, I might add. The
collectively "omigosh"s and "how'd you do that?" from the perfectly round
"O" mouths around me more than made up for the embarrassment.
In my experience, the falls in which you end up on the ground have the
most obvious explanations (unhorsed). The ones where you land on your
feet - you have no idea how you got there.
Here's to nursing those bruises!
Jen (the Advil queen) & the Sunman (who still doesn't like Harleys, but
dirt bikes are tolerable)
P.S. I have to add my $.02 regarding split versus loop reins. Besides
the chances of a wreck on the trail increase using loop reins (for
reasons that have already been posted), if you use a running martingale
with a loop rein you're asking for it (whether or not you have rein
stops). No quick and easy way out of a loop rein/running martingale if
your horse gets hooked. I've seen a horse break his jaw (and cut his
tongue off) using this combination. I've cut thru more loop reins
because of accidents (or have had them break due to wrecks) that I will
ride with nothing but splits now. It's a hassle when I need to "tail,"
but I've had too many close calls to ride with anything else.
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From: Katherine A Shank[SMTP:kathy.shank@juno.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 1997 2:14 PM
To: ridecamp
Subject: falls & broken fingers
Liz,
I too broke a finger, although it was a ring finger, not the middle one.
And like you, it was while lunging. I was trying to canter a green horse
when he slipped on the footing in the arena. All four feet went out from
under him, sideways. The rope coil pulled straight out of my hand with
such force that it broke a knuckle joint on the way. The poor horse got
up & just stood there trembling - scared him pretty bad.
[snip]
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