Remember when we were all talking last week about how great it is to get media?
I do! So on Tuesday, I strapped my helmet cam to my helmet and set off for my jumping lesson. With a freshly dragged ring, a new course set up, and temps in the mid 50s, it should’ve been a perfect lesson.
In a lot of ways, it was. We jumped higher. I felt more confident, and I did a lot more jumping than I had been able to handle in my last lesson. Then we had a quick conversation where my trainer said, I just want you to do the grid one last time, so you can really nail that turn.
Sure! I thought. I also thought I had already turned off my helmet cam. Turned out, I had JUST turned it on… so the below is the only helmet cam footage I have of the whole lesson (other than a lot of talking):
[wpvideo iBLTQEpn ]
Sooo what happened? I never got straight coming around the turn. May has a bad habit of falling through her outside shoulder and in my desperation to get a better distance to the first jump, I sacrificed my line. By the time we were over the first fence, we were already practically outside the grid.
May, bless her heart, tried to correct it, but she realized (as did I) that there was no saving it. She scrambled right and stopped, and I just went over her shoulder.
I ended up asking my trainer to get on. She had never jumped May and has only ridden her once, so I think it was beneficial for both of us. Her thoughts? The right shoulder issue is a lot more prominent in the saddle than it looks from the ground, and I clearly have been compensating for May just blowing off my outside leg when turning left. (PREACH!)
She sorted it out, and I got back on so that she could teach me how to manage it. Three more times through the grid with good results, and we were done.
Today, I am bruised and sore. My elbow is skinned. But honestly? I kind of feel BETTER now that the “worst” has happened. I fell off because we made a mistake. I am fine. She is fine. And overall, we had a great jumping lesson. More on that soon!
It’s always kind of a relief to get “the worst” over with. Definitely makes everything else seem super attainable afterward! Glad your trainer could hop on and feel things, too, so you could get some more specific help to resolve things. And, of course, I’m glad you weren’t hurt badly!
Thanks! It’s been three years since I last fell off May, so I think I was “due” haha
I HATE when I don’t turn on my helmet cam properly! So irritating. I once ended up with 20 minutes of footage of myself walking Duke to the trailer after an XC school, saying “good boy” about 100000000000 times and then untacking. RIVETING.
Sorry you fell off but I know the feeling of being kind of relieved that it happened. And it sounds like it became a really valuable learning tool!
right? I was super disappointed to not have the rest of the lesson because it was REALLY good.
Ha ha this is why I hate being videoed. I always have my worst rides when the camera is rolling
Glad you’re doing ok!
Hahaha right? I think there is video floating around of our “good” moments, but I couldn’t help but laugh when I got off and realized this was the ONLY footage my helmet cam got.
well you made my night last night 🙂 Sorry I laugh at your expense 🙂 but i am glad the rest of the lesson was great. May has her opinions for sure:)
And omg she really was like cruising 🙂
Just because I ride forward doesn’t mean I ever make good decisions hahaha
Oh no! Sorry you fell but yeah sometimes having it happen gets it out of your head. Glad you weren’t hurt.
I mostly just rolled off hahaha. I think I am more sore from trying to stay on than from the actual act of falling!
The first time I toppled off Doc was seriously a relief because I hadn’t come off in… 14? years. So in a big way, it was way worse in my head than in reality – where I just kind of tumbled over his shoulder (there’s actually video of it, it’s hilarious) and popped back up. But sounds like you got some valuable insight from your trainer hopping on which is always nice!
yes! It has been 3 years since I have fallen off May.. and this is probably the second time I have fallen off a horse in… at least 6 years? I consider that a pretty good track record! (let’s not talk about my jr days)
I am really glad that my trainer agreed to hop on. It wasn’t so much a fear thing as a “this issue is getting progressively worse, and I don’t know how to fix it.”
Me: worries about locking keys in car, not locking stalls, not checking something and countless other things
All those end up happening.
Me: Oh, sweet. Now that it’s happened, I can stop worrying about it.
LOL I have no idea why that happens or why like once the worst happens you don’t worry about it anymore. I’m glad you’re okay tho! As much as it sucks that it happened at the end of the ride, I think the same as you do – it’s an issue you were able to work on, and get better by the end and have good steps to move forward. It’s weird because those rides sorta suck, but at the same time really get you pumped and excited to work on the issues lol. But such is the horse life! Can’t wait to hear about the rest of the lesson!
The annoying part was that it was REALLY good, up until that point. I’ll post the pre-fall videos tomorrow, but we wanted to clean up that ONE LITTLE piece… and it all fell apart.
Still glad we figured it out and worked through it tho! Sometimes, that’s just how it goes.
Aaaah, watching helmet cam footage of falls is always scarier to me than watching it front somebody else’s perspective filming the fall. Glad you are no worse for the wear. Sydney likes to throw her shoulders too if I’m not super insistent with my outside leg. Thankfully we aren’t doing anything terrible complicated and it just means she typically jump the higher part of the cross rail towards the edge if we flub it up. ?
so much going on at once! Enough pace, good turn, get straight, jump! hahaha I just never got the “get straight” part of that equation.
It’s so hard to stay on when they decide to exit in the middle of a gymnastic line. I got dumped onto a standard many times by my last horse who took a while to get comfortable in grids.
The good thing about this fall is that it will give you bonus incentive to fix that turning left problem!
Totally! I totally felt her think “oh, how do I fix this?” before making the decision to bail. I’m glad she didn’t try. She would’ve just launched me! haha
Well… at least it’s exciting media? All kidding aside, glad you’re ok. These things happen! And sounds like it actually had a good outcome since your trainer got to sit on May and really feel how she’s going.
Yup! It all worked out in the end. Sometimes you do kind of need things to fall apart before you can put them back together correctly. In typical May fashion, she showed 0 hesitation going through the grid again haha
Glad you are ok! Did you land on a pole – I always hate hitting poles.
Luckily, I think I fell clear of the poles. But have some bruises either from a hoof or my stirrups or something. Haha who even knows