Do you think it scares horses when you fall off?

[WPeg]

Until I got the horse I have now, I’d have thought “I doubt it”, because I’ve been launched from a variety of horses in my life and never noticed that they seemed bothered.

However, the first time I fell off my young horse he looked scared and confused. Something spooked him, he teleported sideways, I came off. He looked pitiful - he started to take off, then he realized he was alone, and he turned and jogged back to me with a “help! what is happening???” look on his face. He is the master of the lower lip/chin quiver and can look so dramatically sad when his wee delicate feeling are hurt :lol:

[joiedevie99]

There are all kinds! I’ve seen lesson ponies who I swear were thrilled every time they got a kid off. I’ve seen a lot of confusion - you were up there, now you’re on the ground, how did that happen, I didn’t know that could happen. I’ve also seen a few who were totally freaked out by it. All under 6, and all hot horses by nature.

[Finding_Serenity]

Some horses… yes.

Years ago I rode my uncle’s horse in a saddle that was way too big for me (couldn’t really reach the stirrups at all). Horse was buddy sour but we didn’t know it. Step-mom turned to cut across a field, he spun and bolted and I landed hard. Dad made me get back on and it was like he was tip toeing the whole time trying to be gentle.

Lesson pony I loved (and constantly fell off as he teleported when spooked), would just stop and look back at me like he was rolling his eyes. I think he got used to it and never really felt bad, but always was good to get back on.

My current guy… I’ve only fallen off twice (?) in the four years I’ve had him. The first he was rather freaked out about (we went completely opposite directions and I think he was afraid I’d be mad at him), the second (tack malfunction leading to mini buck when the saddle slid) he stood and waited for me and was a doll after so I think he did feel bad.

[DJohn]

My horse thinks its funny!

He launched me over the handlebars once and I did a front somersault and landed on my feet, facing him, both hands still holding the reins. I can assure you the look on his face said “Oh sh*t, I was hoping you wouldn’t stick the landing so I could run off!” When I got back on he didn’t try to buck again, not because he was scared, but because he knew I had excellent not-letting-go skills :lol:

My first horse seemed as though he felt bad for me. I fell off him many times and not once did he run off. A few times he even had to move legs quickly to avoid squashing me. He was my trusty old man (appaloosa) and he was really quite attached to me.

[walktrot]

Depends. I’ve been off zillions of times because as a novice adult rider on a spooky horse I didn’t have a good enough seat to stick with him. A few months after I bought him the BO built a huge new building with a large indoor and attached barn down one side. He was boarded out but he did okay in the indoor except… any tiny little noise from the other side of the wall made him jump. Sideways out from under me. I’d be on the ground and he’d stand there calmly waiting. Then I’d get back on and we’d try again. It took a long time and a lot of remounts, but he mostly trained his way out of it and my balance improved. Occasionally he still jumps sideways, but I can stick with him. I did learn that if you grip you react like a spring clothespin on a wad of laundry. A little nudge and off you go. I developed cat-like moves so I land on my left butt cheek.

The very first time he ever dumped me was Sunday about 10 days after I bought him. We went down the powerline trail and I took a hard right down a wooded trail I hadn’t ridden before. At the bottom of a hill we stopped by a beautiful little pond with a couple of mallards floating. All of a sudden I was sitting on the ground, the reins yanked out of my hands. I watched his beautiful Paint butt gallop up the hill, stirrups flying. I walked back worried because I was afraid he’d get lost. Back at the main intersection I found his shoeprints. He had turned left and headed straight for the farm.

When we left a bunch of them were working on the new stalls. BO was running a compacting machine on the gravel base when she saw him run past the barn to his pasture. She didn’t feel well, though, on account of having some beverages Saturday night at the tavern. She grabbed him and rode out calling for me. We met up at the halfway point. We still laugh about it all these years later.

I still haven’t figured out if it was a prehistoric marine monster or denizen of the woods that spooked him.

[HungarianHippo]

I have to imagine yes, but also think some of the reaction is that we’ve caused them pain in the process of the fall. Maybe the rider held onto the reins so they got a hard yank on the bit when we landed, or the rider’s heels really dug into their flank, or the saddle shifted causing suddent discomfort somewhere. Pretty rare that a rider falls off without yanking or kicking on some part of the horse as they part ways.

[meupatdoes]

Generally only if the rider is in the habit of beating the bahoohoo out of them every time they come off.

Horses that get punished for spooking or playing up can also become afraid that the rider is going to really come after them if the spook/playing was big enough to dislodge.

[Bluey]

Decades ago, riding a four year old bronc, that later I was told had bucked off every one that tried to ride him on the ranch I bought him from, he bucked and I went sky high and landed on my behind so hard, I broke my tail bone and could not move one leg for a bit at all to get up.

The other rider with me, on a three year old colt that kept looking at me laying there and was blowing his nose at me and trying to sell out, only my horse standing there grazing unconcerned, guess he was familiar with that, kept him from it.
The rider kept telling me to hurry and stand up, I was scaring his colt.
I said yes, I will as soon as my leg gets some feeling back on it, which eventually it did and I could get back up.

I think that how scared horses may get by someone laying there definitely depends on the horse and situation.

[sophie]

I have a friend who used to get bucked off regularly by her piece-o-work of a WB mare (who was not scared at all whenever that happened). I once was riding my 4 yo just off the track Tb with her on a hack, when her mare spooked and my friend fell off hard by the road. And was stunnd enough that she wasn’t moving for a few seconds. Her mare started grazing immediately. My mare - I thought she was going to have a heart attack right there and then! She started snorting and spooking and I thought I was going to eat the dirt too lol

I once got “jumped off” by a green horse who over jumped his first xrail in such a way, he launched me into orbit and I landed next to him as he was taking his 1st stride after the fence. He spooked big time, took off, and was visibly very upset about the whole thing when I caught him, poor thing! But he was level-headed enough to take that jump again and in a much less exuberant way.

[luvmyhackney]

It depends on who is riding my pony. I’ve only came off once and he didn’t wait for me, went off grazing over the fence. With my kids, he stops and goes over and nuzzles them or waits by them till an adult comes. Once the adult gets there he either goes grazing or I snatch him up.

I used to ride a Hackney who took pride in getting his people off. He would snort and blow and have a grand ole time riderless. If you gave him long enough he would roll in the saddle before you could snatch him up. He was 12 hands of total little sh*tness.

[skipollo]

My childhood horse, no. My move-up horse, no. My current show horse and heart horse, YES. I’ve fallen off him a few times, twice recently on XC for similar reasons. He freezes and looks at me. He gets the “stress eyes” and is very anxious and upset by the whole situation. It takes him a minute or so to settle down, and then he relaxes and is okay.

[AltersAreUs]

Yes, certainly with some horses.

My mare is a jackrabbit/arabian cross BUT she takes you with her. When most horses exit stage right, they drop the left shoulder. Miss Mare picks up the left shoulder and throws herself (and you) to the right, which is easy as pie to sit. It also looks impressive as all get out to people on the ground … the big suspended gaits, the flagging tail, and 90+ degree turns at speed and you’re up there cool as a cucumber, barely moving in the saddle.

She’s also the type that, if you do start to come off, she’ll try to step under you or stop all together until you get yourself back in balance. For these reasons, I put children & husbands on her because she’s a complete babysitter even when she’s having a flighty day. She totally works at keeping her rider up there.

I’ve only come off this mare maybe 5 times in the almost 20 years I’ve had her and every time, she’s reacted the same way … by coming over to me, sniffing me from head to toes and then not putting a foot wrong afterwards, sometimes for weeks afterwards. No matter how wound up & bouncy she was when I came off, once I was back in the saddle, she was like a 30 year old trail pony … head down, flat gaits, constantly checking back on you to make sure you’re okay. I even came off of her once on a hunt, cantering with a group and she turned around, came back to where I was sitting in a brush pile and checked me over, head to tail. Rest of the hunt, she was the opposite of her normal, high on life & cross country self.

You can tell, she’s totally sorry about loosing you and she’s not going to do it again.

[axl]

Here’s an opposite story: When I was a kid I took over my older sister’s games pony. She was pretty small and very fast. We were running a barrel pattern one show and she turned out from underneath me. When I stood up, she gave me a look of pure disgust and then bashed me with her head :lol: for ruining a very nice run.

[ecileh]

My big mare was 11 the first time anyone (read: me) came off her. I’d had her since she was 3 and between myself and my trainer, the seats are pretty sticky.

She was scared when I came off (whiffed a distance in a MAJOR way) and it really shook her confidence. She sucked back at every oxer for about a month after that, no matter how much leg was put on.

The second time I came off her, she was not bothered. The third time, I broke my leg and she galloped for home, leaving me for dead.

[SharonA]

Yes, It scared my mare in that she would have been terrified that I had killed some of her grass, when I landed my fat butt on it. Every blade is sacred, after all. Or clover. WHAT IF I LANDED ON CLOVER AND CRUSHED IT? OMG.

[candyappy]

I don’t think so. Of course at the time we are parting company I have to say I am not thinking about how this may affect them mentally. Sometimes if they are green they can be a bit skittish when you try to remount but I do not think it is because you fell off.

[BrookdaleBay]

My horse is a very sweet guy, always tries his best, but his little Thoroughbred butt has a nice teleportation to the side when something scares him. My unplanned dismounts tend to happen at the walk, cooling out, when I’m relaxed and we’re just wandering around the arena. My first serious fall off him, he spooked at the arena door opening (the rider didn’t call ‘door’ first) and he darted forward. I took a rear exit and landed hard on my hip. He’s not a bolter, so he stopped and turned to look at me laying on the ground, moaning in pain. The barn owner called my mom and took care of my boy for me, and later that night he texted me to let me know my horse looked depressed.

So, in his case, he doesn’t get scared when I fall, he just looks guilty. I typically have a good stick when he pops a buck or teleports, but sh*t happens.

[pAin_t_Misbehavin]

@Pocket Pony

(Mr. PoPo had perhaps been retelling a funny story about when he was cooling this horse out after a ride and went down the trail…at the end of the trail was a house and they had just gotten pigs who were not there the last time one of us rode this horse down the trail. The horse did a spin, left Mr. PoPo hanging in the air, and then the horse went running back for home. No problem, Mr. PoPo could walk back. But then, the horse came running back for him, like "We have to get out of there - there are PIGS!!! :lol: )

I think that’s a great story. :lol: I’ve never known one to run off and then come running back to the rescue.

The one time I fell off Conjure he wasn’t upset. He’d been upset all morning at the sabre toothed tigers lurking in the woods but I suppose my falling off scared them all away because afterward he just stood there and grazed while I lay there moaning. :rolleyes:

But I’ve heard Buck say it upsets the horse to fall off him. I don’t know if that’s true or if he just thinks we’re more likely to pay attention to that than if he said “It really upsets the clinician when you fall off.”