# Two types of falls.



## Amlalriiee (Feb 22, 2010)

Hm...never really thought about this. Usually I think I'm more of the blackout type. I always know before I fall that I'm going to...but don't usually remember the actual falling motion. A few times I've remembered it but it was because it really WAS slow motion...like slowly sliding off or something. Interesting.


----------



## jazzyrider (Sep 16, 2007)

hahahaha i try not to fall at all lol i havent had a fall in about 13 years but i remember it being very slow motion. we were actually crossing an old bridge made out of railway sleepers and fell through it. from the second i heard the first crack of the wood to the point where we were in real trouble it seemed to take a lifetime. i knew what was coming but had no way to emergency exit so i just had to brace myself and wait for it to come and boy did it take a while lol

i did have a sort of fall a few weeks ago. i rode my mare into the dam and the mud just a few feet in was much deeper and softer than it had been before. her front feet sank so she pulled herself up then her back feet sank and so on and so on. i held on for as long as i possibly could but i was bareback and we were both wet and i was starting to slip around a bit and knew i would end up coming off so i did an 'emergency exit, stage right'  that fall was quick though cause i was laughing the whole way down and knew i was only going to hit water so it wouldnt hurt 

does it count as a fall if you choose to jump off? lol


----------



## Phantomcolt18 (Sep 25, 2007)

haha i definately do the slow mo fall......but i guess thats because i know when im gonna fall....if i feel myself losing it i try to catch myslef and if that doesn't work i yank my feet out of the stirrups and bail.......better to hit the ground then be dragged in a stirrup behind a scared horse.


----------



## Honeysuga (Sep 1, 2009)

Last time I had a big fall it was a mixture of the 2 you mentioned and them a little of my own. I didnt black out necessarily, but I do not remember from the time I left the saddle to the time i hit the ground. Then I hit the slomo phase when I hit and rolled, but also heard the thump really loudly in my head too, like i heard it more than I felt it... Then things snapped back to fast forward and I was up again trying to find my horse to be sure she was ok.

Other than that fall most of mine I was fully present the entire time, no black out no slomo, just "oh crap, here comes the ground!"


----------



## charlicata (Jan 12, 2010)

LOL...I'm like you phantomcolt. I know something's going to happen. Go through the try and collect stage. If that fails, it's hold on for dear life. When all else fails, ditch. But no, everything seems to happen in slow SLOW motion. I wish I could black out the time between leaving the saddle and hitting the ground.


----------



## tempest (Jan 26, 2009)

Slow motion, knock on wood.


----------



## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

Wow, I've never heard of the black out method. That's a bit scary. How the hell do you hang onto the horse if you don't know you're falling? I'm in the slow motion group thankfully. I always feel like I have all day to pick my spot and roll.


----------



## heyycutter (Sep 26, 2009)

ive only fallen off 2 times. the first time was a "black out" fall, and the second time was both, the beginning was "slow motion" as in i knew i was going to fall and i felt myself leaving the saddle, the second part was "black out" as in i woke up in the grass and couldnt remember how exactly i fell.
but i think i really blacked out because when i woke up, my face and shirt was soaked in blood and i had a pretty decent stream of blood pouring from my chin


----------



## Gillian (Aug 2, 2008)

I haven't fallen in a while, knock on wood, but I've always been a slow motion faller. It feels like I have plenty of time to either scramble to stay on, or to accept my dirt eating fate.


----------



## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

It has always been slo-mo for me. I remember once several years ago, Denny and I got tangled in a rope with a very mad cow on the end and he ended up going down with me. I remember everything in vivid detail from thinking to myself "rollrollroll" as we went down to glimpsing one of his front feet hit the ground no more than a foot from my head as he got back up. I also remember Prissy spooked out from underneath me one day (it's amazing how quickly cow bred horses move lol) and I remember watching the saddle horn go by and as I tried to grab it, watching as it just sailed right underneath my hand and continued on by. Fortunately I didn't fall and she didn't follow in the footsteps of her bloodlines and blow up. She simply stood while I righted myself from hanging off her side.


----------



## Amba1027 (Jun 26, 2009)

MyBoyPuck said:


> Wow, I've never heard of the black out method. That's a bit scary. How the hell do you hang onto the horse if you don't know you're falling? I'm in the slow motion group thankfully. I always feel like I have all day to pick my spot and roll.


For me, the "black out" starts when I realize I'm not going to be able to keep from falling.


----------



## Brighteyes (Mar 8, 2009)

I fall in extreme slow-mo. Right when I'm almost off and hanging on for dear life, I have time to think. "Oh, Lord... I'm actually about to fall... I hope it doesn't hurt... I hope I don't get run over... Thank God for helmets... Are they laughing at me!? This is a serious situ--" _Crash._


----------



## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

Brighteyes said:


> I fall in extreme slow-mo. Right when I'm almost off and hanging on for dear life, I have time to think. "Oh, Lord... I'm actually about to fall... I hope it doesn't hurt... I hope I don't get run over... Thank God for helmets... Are they laughing at me!? This is a serious situ--" _Crash._


LOL! Love the thought process.


----------



## thunderhooves (Aug 9, 2009)

I got reared and flipped over. I got flung to the side-and landed quite gracefully, if I do say so myself- and watched as my horse crashed down onto his side in front of me and lay there for a moment. Then he started getting up and I jumped up and grabbed him, walked him 10 min up the hill, then got on and continued riding. It was slow-mo. (i was/am fine)
*knock on wood*


----------



## Scoutrider (Jun 4, 2009)

I'm more of a blackouter, for the most part. Until my bum leaves the saddle, I go slow-mo, though. It's like once my mind realizes that I no longer have control of the situation and eating dirt is inevitable, I blank out, and 2 seconds later I'm on the ground, and _then_ my adrenaline kicks in.


----------



## boldstart (Oct 11, 2009)

Neither for me.

Usually it happens so fast that I dont know why I'm on the ground (and neither does the horse lol)

Or I 'white-out', when everything goes bright, feel like I'm going to faint and fall. (Well, I didnt fal-fall but managed to get off the horse before I did -_-)


----------



## ChristineNJ (Jan 23, 2010)

I've had slow motion falls & almost falls...(grabbing on to the horses neck while charging up a hill). Also, I had a fall where the horse kicked back an gave a little buck and I went flying off backwards and my butt hit real hard. I don't think I blacked out but it happened so fast there was nothing I could do to try to hold on. One minute in the saddle and the next on the ground thinking how did I get there. LOL


----------



## Gidji (Dec 19, 2008)

All of my falls have been slow-mo's. Even the ones I wasn't anticipating the falling process was slow. I actually enjoy the falling part, its like flying but the crashing part, ehh not so good


----------



## chrispy (Jul 2, 2009)

I've had too much experience with falling since I resumed riding five years ago.

Yes, it is a fall even if you decide to bail.

All but two of my falls have been the "sort-of-controlled slip down the shoulder to land on my butt and roll onto my back and hit my head on the ground" type. Only one was a blackout -- I hit my head hard enough to sustain a concussion and lost 30-40 minutes of memory even though I was "awake" and talking the whole time. Weird. One minute I was slipping, the next I was talking to the paramedic. My helmet probably saved my life.

My other bad fall was in June when I "bounced" off the arena wall, breaking three ribs. I wish I had blacked out!


----------



## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Haha, yeah. My favorites are those "OH, CRAP!........... I think I got it, I think I got it. Okay, I got a hand on the horn. Gosh darnit, would you quit bucking! Uh-Oh, I'm slipping. Oh, crap, I can't hang on. Oh, why couldn't I have picked a softer landing strip to ride? Is my other foot out of the stirrup? Shoot, I just lost a rein. Oh, there's no hope for me now. *looks at ground* Golly this is gonna hurt." BAM! "Ugh, that stings and I'm gonna have a bruise tomorrow. Darn, I sure do wish I could breathe. Haha, I still got one bridle rein!! COME HERE YOU!! Lets see you get that done again."


----------



## hippiemagic (Mar 12, 2010)

Definatly slo mo  Everytime.


----------



## IslandWave (Nov 25, 2009)

Gillian said:


> I haven't fallen in a while, knock on wood, but I've always been a slow motion faller. It feels like I have plenty of time to either scramble to stay on, or to accept my dirt eating fate.


Ditto! 
I hate the part when the ground is coming closer to you and all you can think is "well this sucks." The ground is also very misleading. It doesn't look too bad when you're halfway there. It's only when you're hitting it then you realize that all ground is hard.


----------



## Jacksmama (Jan 27, 2010)

I've had both really. Like, if my gelding starts to buck or crowhop everything immediately slows down, but my reaction time speeds up. If I feel that I am losing my seat I bail. Lol, I'm not sure if its cuz I instinctively shut my eyes or I actually black out but I feel the fall and impact without seeing it. Depending on the situation I normally snap back to normal. Once though I went out the side door on a spin and after i hit the ground she continued to spin and I was very close to her feet so things didn't speed back up til I scooted out of range. Dang mare kicked dirt in my mouth and everything!lol. My trainer was terrified I was spitting out teeth, nope just dirt


----------



## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

smrobs said:


> Haha, yeah. My favorites are those "OH, CRAP!........... I think I got it, I think I got it. Okay, I got a hand on the horn. Gosh darnit, would you quit bucking! Uh-Oh, I'm slipping. Oh, crap, I can't hang on. Oh, why couldn't I have picked a softer landing strip to ride? Is my other foot out of the stirrup? Shoot, I just lost a rein. Oh, there's no hope for me now. *looks at ground* Golly this is gonna hurt." BAM! "Ugh, that stings and I'm gonna have a bruise tomorrow. Darn, I sure do wish I could breathe. Haha, I still got one bridle rein!! COME HERE YOU!! Lets see you get that done again."


 Excellent description! I've had that type of fall too. I've also had the "how did I get on the ground?" types. Those usually involve the horse jumping sideways and me not.


----------



## Pidge (Sep 5, 2009)

Im a slow motion faller....last time i got bucked It was off a 17 hand mare...im use to riding about 15 hands. She yanked the reins from me, darn should have payed better attention, grab the horn, drat there goes my sturips, I saw myself come off, felt myself bounce off the saddle cantle, then i was falling, falling, still falling, where is the ground, smack, there it is.... falls like this bite cause the longer you are in the air the worse you know the landing will be. It didnt help she was so tall. I was waiting for the ground and it came a bit later lol longer fall I guess.

Slow motion falls are cool though cause they give you a better story to tell lol


----------



## Phantomcolt18 (Sep 25, 2007)

IslandWave said:


> I hate the part when the ground is coming closer to you and all you can think is "well this sucks."


 
ROFL i literally started cracking up because that is exactly what im thinking most of the time when i fall:lol::lol:


----------



## jamesqf (Oct 5, 2009)

Physiologically, it's not really that you black out during the fall. Instead, the shock of hitting the ground disrupts the short-term memory of the fall. Someone watching would see that you're aware during the fall, even though you don't remember it. If you hit hard enough, you can, as an earlier poster mentioned, lose minutes or even hours of memory before or after.


----------



## kmdstar (Nov 17, 2009)

Black out. I'm on my horse one minute, the next I'm looking at her looking down at me LOL. When I land on my feet I can remember my falls pretty well though, but when I don't I can never remember exactly what happened.


----------



## wannahorse22 (Dec 27, 2009)

Slow motion. All i ever remember is the sky


----------



## roro (Aug 14, 2009)

My first fall was definitely a black out fall. I was trotting down the long side and my horse bolted, bucked and veered to the side and off I went. My second fall was a mix. It felt like slow motion, but my mind was surprised and I didn't seem to be able to register what was actually happening or do anything to prevent it. It was about 5-7 mini bucks and each one dislodged me a more than the last until I voluntarily came off as I wanted to get my foot out of the stirrup, plus the saddle was digging into my lower back.


----------



## SmoothTrails (Oct 1, 2009)

I've had some of both. Normally my falls that came from out of nowhere seem to be blackout, but my falls that I'm trying to avoid and just can't go in slow motion. My last blackout fall was when a lady unexpected popped out of the woods. I stayed where I was and my horse hopped about 5 feet to the side. My slow motion falls were all "I shouldn't have done that" moments, and so as I was falling I was thinking how bad it was going to hurt when I hit the ground.


----------



## charlicata (Jan 12, 2010)

smrobs said:


> "OH, CRAP!........... I think I got it, I think I got it. Okay, I got a hand on the horn. Gosh darnit, would you quit bucking! Uh-Oh, I'm slipping. Oh, crap, I can't hang on. Oh, why couldn't I have picked a softer landing strip to ride? Is my other foot out of the stirrup? Shoot, I just lost a rein. Oh, there's no hope for me now. *looks at ground* Golly this is gonna hurt." BAM! "


This sounds like the last time I came off. But my "Golly this is gonna hurt." was more like Daggone it!!! NOT AGAIN!!! lol

And Pidge, I know exactly what you're talking about. The last time, the horse was bucking so hard that I lost my hold on the horn. He was 16.2, seemed like it took forever to actually hit the ground. And when I actually did, I had a handful of mane. That was my last ditch effort to hold on. It's really pretty funny looking back at it now. One of the people that was there came up to me to ask if I was ok. After I said yeah, she goes, "Well, you held on for a long time." I just looked at her and said "I tried real hard!!!"


----------



## TheRoughrider21 (Aug 25, 2009)

I mostly have slow motion falls. There was a time when after I got bucked off and hit the ground that I blacked out cause my head hit a post. But that was different cause it was in slow motion until I hit the post and woke up in an ambulance. =)


----------



## JustLeaveIt2Mya (Jun 6, 2009)

SLOW motion for me and i hate it cause it seems to take forever!


----------



## xLaurenOscarx (Aug 11, 2009)

mines the old slow mo lol ive had a few black out ones when one minute im on oscar next im sitting on the gruond/in a fence/on a jump


----------



## ~*~anebel~*~ (Aug 21, 2008)

Last few falls have definitely been real-time. I was dismounting my horse and he spooked at the exact moment I was horizontal over his back. The other one I was on a horse that had done a rear-spin-bolt-bucking fit and was headed directly for a wall, so I bailed.
I used to slow-mo fall all the time, so I could roll away hahaha. The only time I ever "black out" fell was when I was like 8 and got thrown intoa wall head first. I got me a concussion .


----------



## BackInTheSaddleAgain (Apr 20, 2009)

Extreme slow motion for ME! It's the weirdest thing.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------



## EquestrianHollywood (Aug 13, 2009)

Mine are all black outs. Although I have only had one fall that I remember nothing about. Riding out my horses bucking streaks are just about as bad as any fall. I black out at everyone of them (havent fallen though..) My mom says my body goes into a kind of 'shock' when he does it because its just too much to handle. All I know is that I need a hot bath and cannot move for the next couple of days after.


----------



## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

Eh. I normally have black outs. But with my recent falls off of my green mare Honey I've noticed I am in slow motion, which is giving me time to think and react so I can immediately correct her or correct myself before I actually touch the ground. I nothing else I can position myself better so I won't be as sore in the morning. Hehe 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


----------

