Falling off is inevitable
All smiles after a good canter on Riley
Those of us that ride horses know that falling off is, at some point, inevitable—though we all do our best to avoid it. This week, however, I found myself falling off repeatedly and on purpose. Thankfully, it wasn’t from a real horse, but a stationary wooden one. I had signed up for the “Falling with Confidence” clinic led by Freddy Steele and hosted by Original Equestrian.
The afternoon began with a talk—not just about falling off, but also about building confidence in other areas of the equestrian world, including mindset and goal setting. The eight of us attending the clinic listened intently, though reading the room, it was clear that we were all slightly anxious about the wooden horse we’d been eyeing nervously, knowing it would soon be our turn to get on.
Our initial encounter with the wooden horse would involve three consecutive attempts each. The lady who went first said that she felt anxious, so Freddy calmly guided her through what was about to happen as we all watched on. We observed her first fall onto the crash mat and surprisingly, she more or less ran back round to the wooden horse for the second of her three falls. This did make me feel slightly better about my current predicament and hopeful that it wasn’t going to be as scary as I’d imagined.
The dreaded moment arrived
My turn on the dreaded wooden horse
Soon, the dreaded moment arrived and it was my turn. After watching a few of the others, I was surprised to discover myself a feeling a little shaky and took a few deep breaths to gain composure. Before I knew it, I was on the crash mat, and just like those who had gone before, I was looking forward to my next go.
We were taught to fall in both a forward and backwards motion, I personally preferred the forwards fall (although as we all know on our horse we never get the luxury of choice). As the session drew to a finish, I didn’t want the afternoon to end as it had become such good fun falling off and landing on the mat. I thoroughly enjoyed the event and would definitely book to go again.
A dose of confidence
Fortunately, my newfound skills weren’t required when I next rode Riley. I did however need a dose of confidence as our first attempt at canter wasn’t successful. I’m not sure that Riley felt the commitment on my part and so he broke into a fast trot. I found myself trotting round doubting that I had the courage to try again and considering avoiding canter until my next lesson with Laura Parkes. I dug deep however and decided to ask Riley again. This time we were successful and had multiple canters.
Sometimes those small steps can give you the biggest highs.