A PSA: Lower Leg Security and Back Seat Drivers

[is_it_tru]

I'm glad she's okay and I know accidents can happen to anyone. But shame on whoever her coach is/was for deciding that this level was appropriate for her. She spent atleast half her cources with her knees drawn up into the knee rolls and her feet just floating into the stirrups. And then all the time spent pumping and riding in the back of the

Comments

[remix22]

I'm not arguing that her riding is horrible at all, and I can't quite tell if she totally inhibits the horse's form going over that jump or not (thought, I suspect she is), but it seems even the best rider would have fallen off a fall like that.

She almost looks like a dressage rider turned h/j... it's so ingrained in our brains that we much SIT BACK, while h/js are taught to ride more forward.

[madeyemads]

This. I don't think many people could have survived that fall. After having a fall a few weeks ago where my horse stood on me and my lungs collapsed I am just amazed she was okay after he fell on her! VERY lucky.

[hooveshealme]

I didn't see the link.

[hooveshealme]

"After a 9 hour surgery i now have 6 pins in my pelvis holding everything in place, and an external fixator bar across my hip which will come out hopefully by october (2011) and i will be able to start walking again."

AAAAHHHH.

[hooveshealme]

I usually don't critique stuff but I don't feel like her riding was that bad. I probably don't know as much as other people on here, but I thought her leg looked pretty quiet. Didn't the horse pretty much face plant? Not coming off could have been worse. I also wonder if the horse's conformation played a part in him not being able to catch himself after charging and launching.
I could be totally wrong, but I think I've seen a lot worse.

[tatjna]

From what I could gather the horse left a front leg behind on takeoff (perhaps overreaching from getting a bit too close and skipping?), then took the rail with that leg, which then prevented it from getting its front legs down for landing.

So maybe she caused it through mistiming the strides, but I wouldn't call her riding a disaster.

[purplmeg]

this. She got a weird spot to the first one and her trainer probably said "THAT LINE IS A 7" and instead of adding she did a weird rushy line to try and get the striding.

Sometimes ya gotta add...

[horseflyr]

I like workingtrot's answer, too, I just thought I'd add how my trainer says it - if you're going to do anything, you do it 'in the rhythm of the canter'. So you can press or shorten the stride, but the rhythm stays the same. And yes, we try to do things as early as possible - if you have a five stride line, you try to get yourself sorted out by stride three so that you can be soft and giving out of the line.

Again, it's easy to armchair quarterback, but with that awkward jump in, she looks like she felt like she needed to power him up the line - but she rode him past the distance, and he got caught. Theoretically, if I was riding exactly how my trainer would like (like that ever happens!) I would ride him forward 3 or 4 strides, calmly in the rhythm, and hold my shoulders and let him find his spot out and be prepared to go with him.

Overall I agree that I don't think she's that bad of a rider, and her horse looks like a solid citizen. Just an error up the line combined with an unlucky fall. :(

[greyskyridge]

I don't think your assessment of her ability is correct. Do you train jumpers or jump yourself at all?

She rides fine and is secure in the saddle, and she is pretty accurate to the jumps for the most part.
They came in a little long and flat to that jump so the problem came more from quality of the canter than from position faults on the part of the rider. Fatigue could have played a role.

But there is no reason to watch the first half of that round through your fingers since up until the accident she was doing a perfectly fine job. There is no reason to say that she has a terrible trainer or doesn't ride well enough for that course.
The canter got away from her and she had an accident. It happens.

[is_it_tru]

I do jump, actually. I'm eventer turned H/J

[wastedrock]

I agree with this.

To is_it_tru
My horse actually caught his back stifle on a giant spread in a jumpoff when he was younger. We flipped and fell. Was that because of my shitty riding? No, I mean I wasn't stellar but I didn't make him catch his stifle.
That horse caught his foreleg, and flipped, that was NOT a fault of her position. Maybe it could have gotten clear if the canter was better, but it certainly wasn't all her doing.