Tripping

[Jim & Dolly Miller <poquito@flash.net>]

I do not think that pulling your horses head up really helps your horse
to keep him from falling . I think that maybe that it helps you to keep
from going forward and throwing the horse more off balance. A minor
stumble pulling on the reines would not interfer but with a major
stumble it would. The horse uses his head and neck for balance. The best
thing to do to help is to keep your balance and not go foward. Sometimes
they fall no matter what.

We had a major stumble and fall this weekend at a 10 mph lope in a nice
pasture on a dirt trail. Silver went all the way down, he tried to catch
hisself but couldn't. The momemtum threw me off and I slid about three
feet on my chest. I'm not sure exactly what happened to my horse because
I lost sight of him for a couple of seconds but when I stopped sliding I
looked behind me and Silver was sitting on his tail. His head and front
legs were in the air and I thought he would come down on my legs. I
didn't want another broken leg so I started trying to move away but he
saw me there and gave a little twist and came down the other way. My
husband said that his momentum had turned him all the way over and spun
him around and set him on his tail. I'm just glad this was in a pasture
and not in the woods we had just come out of. We were both fine just a
little stiff the next day.

I did have my helmet on just in case.

Dolly