hello firstly i would like to say thankyou for the advice and support i got after the disaster with my childs first pony (posted on this forum). Now my daughter has gone back to horse riding lessons she is wanting a pony now which has pleased me as i did not want her put off forever because of one bad observation.
My question is for her and for myself. Does Monty have any type of work done with horses on how to fall off as best you can and can i train a horse or pony to stop when the rider has fallen or is falling if that makes sense. Horse riding is risky and i would like to reduce the risk of injury if this is possible.
thanks bethy
Hello aaustin1!
I do not know if Monty has any video about that point, and I do also not know if there is any way to train a horse to stop when a person is falling off.
But I am riding for about 9 years now and I have been falling a lot. The best way for me was to start riding on a very small horse (Shetland Pony), now I am even riding Warmblood horses.
Because I have fallen off so often I tought myself to roll off my shoulder to reduce the impact. I think this is the best way, but it takes some time to learn it. Maybe material arts are a possibility to learn the safest ways to fall.
Jasmin
I did see something in a magazine some time back. I don't have the magazine, so I hope I can recall what they did.
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They created a life size doll and - after the pony was sufficiently familiar with it that he wouldn't spook! - put it in the saddle with a rope attached. Basically, the training was to walk the pony forward and when they pulled the rope to unsettle the doll, they also stopped the pony, giving him lots of praise.
After the doll, they practiced this with a human (adult!) rider - who was very agile and a very good rider, I might add! - sliding off in a controlled fall.
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I'm sorry I don't remember all the steps. It was done very much in the spirit of incremental learning and a slow process that took months I think. In the end they had a pony that would stop when his rider became too unbalanced and stand still if he/she fell off.
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Still, it took much work and I do believe that for a truly frightened horse, flight behavior will override any training. So I think the best training you can do is the environmental training to make the horse less spooky.
I guess I was very fortunate to own a fab Icelandic who would stop automatically whenever I did fall off, he seemed to feel responsible and looked really shocked and wanted to make sure I was alright.
He would also stop immediately if he could feel a child slip to one side of the saddle, threatening to fall off, but I suppose, and Godi had never been trained to do so.
Hi aaustin1, I recomment that you visit the information about Monty's "willing partners program". I have seen a video where one of his instructors trains a horse with "Hermann the German", the dummy. they do what has been described above and I am convinced they have the horses of the willing partners program to stop if the rider slides or falls off. Anyway, I also aggree with the other advices above: I have been falling off attentionally many times as a child and I have been doing stunts (not with horses) and learned how to fall - no matter if off a horse or just in front of myselfe. All that makes me feel safer for the case that a possible falling off can happen. Good luck ! VioBerlin
I used a dummy in my horse's training and as I allowed Daphne(!)to slide down his shoulders,either side,I would ask him to come to a complete stop.In a short time he would be totally calm even when Daphers was hanging off at an alarming angle with her arms waving about prior to falling off!I used the Dually and a longish lead rope.Later on in his training I used the dummy on him in the round pen with him cantering loose,both ways, knowing she would work herself free and he did stop when she fell and actully slowed as she slide sideways.I think falling off,or choosing when exactly to part company,is something we just learn in our own bodies.Survival is a very strong instinct in us too !