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Post by Maritza on Feb 13, 2017 2:30:49 GMT
In response to the question "how do we make eventing safer?" Danny Warrington is offering clinics where he teaches riders how to properly (for lack of a better word) fall. Here is his website where he explains what is involved in the clinics. I like the different approach to the question. But I wanted to hear your thoughts too. |
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Post by jacki on Feb 13, 2017 4:23:17 GMT
I am not a rider, but I am a former gymnast. I don't have a problem with the "tuck and roll" being taught and added to a rider's arsenal of options; however, I don't think it should be taught, as the website seems to suggest, as the "automatic rider response", i.e. the first and only choice in any situation. It's one thing to land on a thick mat and roll onto your feet; it's quite another to land on your shoulders/back on the hard ground at speed. It can really knock the wind out of you and render it difficult or impossible to roll to your feet immediately (it can feel like you're paralyzed for a few seconds). The simulator is cool, but while it does a good job of throwing a rider in different scenarios, the "horse" does not continue its fall -- I wonder if the horse would land on the rider, or the rider get caught in the reins, etc. It is definitely meant for stadium jumping ONLY. It looks like they also work to improve a rider's core fitness and balance -- always useful, and as I said above, the "tuck and roll" looks like a great skill to learn also, just not as an "automatic response" in my opinion.
Jacki
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Post by horseguy on Feb 13, 2017 13:56:43 GMT
I think coming off your horse is something important to address. The old style Pony Club "Emergency Dismount" was a way to address this that I found. It is a controlled fall with a roll. But when I taught this PC required move I always emphasized that it was "Plan B". Good deep seated defensive riding is the best solution (i.e. Jim Wofford - "Good riders sit"), but with the current trend being to ride perched, that is not a practical contemporary answer. So, I guess these clinics are useful in today's context. I rode before I was a ski jumper in high school.  It was in this sport that I perfected my ability to fall. Although by the time I was a ski jumper I had a real good start on falling from riding.  |
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Post by jimmy on Feb 13, 2017 15:29:05 GMT
Ski jumping? I always suspected you were crazy! LOL
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Post by jacki on Jul 12, 2017 1:15:26 GMT
Horseguy said, "Good deep seated defensive riding is the best solution". My daughter agrees; not surprising as he taught her to ride. She thinks from the video that they are "teaching" riders to shift too much weight forward, and in the process eliminating the potential to stay with the horse and not come off. She told me about a time her hunt horse fell sideways down a hill, and she did not fall off -- not the first time she has "ridden a horse to the ground and back up again." In some of the video scenarios, you can see the rider's leg is way behind the girth before the fall even begins - no "vertical stirrup leather" or obvious weight in the stirrups. Perhaps the rider is anticipating the "fall", or perhaps it is typical form - either way she is predisposed to falling rather than staying on. Also, the "training" seems to be aimed at grand prix level stadium jumping, and rotational falls in particular. Horseguy from his earliest lessons warned his students about rotational falls and taught them never to risk their own or their horses' lives for money or fame by not "squaring up" to a jump. Good advice.
Jacki
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Post by rideanotherday on Jul 12, 2017 10:41:29 GMT
Sometimes, I'm really glad to be a western rider. There is not much call for "perching" on the horse and it's rare to "get off their back". Falling on the other hand....well, it happens. I learned an emergency dismount, but there's also no shame in pulling leather to help stay on.
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