Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE
True Helmet Stories from HORSE-SENSE Readers


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horse falls by becky

I'm a 26 year-old professional rider and horse trainer. I was riding a young but reliably quiet horse in an indoor arena. Only one other rider was hacking that day and the farm was quiet. I was only planning a quiet ride, walk and trot. The youngster had worked hard the day before. We were about 15 minutes into the hack when we were entering a 20 meter cicle when the horse started to get a little behind my leg. Because of my low-pressure attitude, I was late to correct him. The young horse tripped, loosing his ballance completely forward, throwing me over his shoulder, I had plenty of time to plan my fall and roll to the ground. I fell in front of the horse who, panicking at the loss of ballance, sprang back to his feet again, clipping me in the back of the head with his hoof in his panic. As it was, my helmet most likely saved me great injury. It pains me to see riders hacking without helmets because the don't intend to jump. If that was my attitude, I may not have been here today.

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