# Ever get that feeling....



## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

I'm in the middle of saddle/trail breaking a pair of fillies so yeah, I know that feeling :lol:
I took Saro out on the trails for the first time today. She has never been outside of our home pasture and dry lot more than 100 yards. 
There were a few times I thought I was going to get dumped but guess its not today. :lol:


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## Jillyann (Mar 31, 2009)

ohh yes. def. have had this feeling before!
when i rode my friends T.W. for the first time. The horse only had one thing on his mind from the start, and that was just to go go go !!!

She took off with me on her, and took a sharp turn, and there i went. hahaha


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## horseluver2435 (May 27, 2009)

Yeah, I definitely get that feeling. Mostly it happens about two seconds before I fall off, when time slows down and I think "I should've known this was going to happen!" Oh, yes. Or sometimes I'll mount up and think 'I don't think this is going to go well today.' I think it's just a sense that people get after riding for a while. You can sort of predict what will happen, whether it'll happen that day or months from then! =)


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## upnover (Jan 17, 2008)

I don't think I've ever gotten that feeling! I'm not saying I don't fall off! I just never have a feeling about it before hand. I have started working with a horse and thought, "ooh, this is going to be an interesting ride. i wonder what will happen...." But yeah, can't say I have! Maybe I'm stuck with the boring old 5 senses.  

A trainer once told me "what you're afraid of will usually happen when you're riding". And I found it to be pretty true.


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## ChingazMyBoy (Apr 16, 2009)

Yeah I have, although sometimes it kicks in a little to late and I'm already on the ground.


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## makin tracks (Jan 25, 2009)

Yeah, the last time I got it was when my horse took off down a steep hill after I had just got on. I knew it wasn't going to end well, and it didn't


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## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

upnover said:


> I don't think I've ever gotten that feeling! I'm not saying I don't fall off! I just never have a feeling about it before hand. I have started working with a horse and thought, "ooh, this is going to be an interesting ride. i wonder what will happen...." But yeah, can't say I have! Maybe I'm stuck with the boring old 5 senses.
> 
> A trainer once told me "what you're afraid of will usually happen when you're riding". And I found it to be pretty true.


I sure hope its not an ESP sort of thing :lol::shock: 
I think its more situational. For instance, as I said up there ^^. I rode Saro out yesterday for the first time. She didn't see a rise in the ground, stumbled and went down on both front knees. It was one of those...well I'm going to get laid down on or she is going to stand up. She stood up  
I've fallen off once in the last few years, but had hundreds of near misses where I thought 'Oh Crap I'm going off.'


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## draftlover215 (Apr 2, 2009)

Vida - I had the same thing happen to me once with my QH mare. She tripped and went down on her front knees, we were right on the edge of a huge drop into an empty pond too. Thank goodness she was able to right herself with me still on her. I was so afraid of falling into that empty pond - it was a long way down.


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## rottenweiler (Apr 16, 2009)

I have had that feeling before. Riding a friends horses around her pasture, I was riding a younger one that was a little 'hyper'. I am an experienced rider, shown in hunter/jumper etc....but I just had this feeling my ride was going to end badly, with me being hurt. I asked my hubby to switch horses with me, and he did. I instantly felt more at ease being on the other horse!


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## Walkamile (Dec 29, 2008)

upnover said:


> I don't think I've ever gotten that feeling! I'm not saying I don't fall off! I just never have a feeling about it before hand. I have started working with a horse and thought, "ooh, this is going to be an interesting ride. i wonder what will happen...." But yeah, can't say I have! Maybe I'm stuck with the boring old 5 senses.
> 
> A trainer once told me "what you're afraid of will usually happen when you're riding". And I found it to be pretty true.


Gotta agree with the trainer. Self fulfilling prophecy. When saddle training Walka, had to visualize a successful ride many times prior to actually riding. Works like the "I think today I might get dumped" thought process only this one is positive for positive results! :lol: So far so good even when he broke from a nice canter to a full out gallop (his idea not mine)! Visualized staying centered and in control and we had a successful ride (though many pine needles down my top! )


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## Jemma (Sep 9, 2008)

I recently just fell off for the first time after riding regularly for almost two years now. I started getting the feeling that I was going to fall a couple weeks before it happened, because I have been riding quite a bit lately and I knew I had to fall sometime and since I have started going faster and doing tougher things on the horse I knew the risk was increasing. And sure enough, I came off a week and half ago now.

That's really interesting what people are saying about thinking positive and even when you think you might fall stay focused not on falling but on staying balanced and in the saddle. I'll have to remember that.


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## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

I can see that too, "think positive" makes things go better. I never start the day or start a ride thinking.. "I may fall today."
I only get the feeling as my foot is coming out of the stirrup and my butt is nearing the ground :lol: Whats going through my mind is usually a little more colorful than "oh dear, I believe I'm going to fall" :lol::shock:


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## Walkamile (Dec 29, 2008)

Vida your post made me chuckle! Yes, while I do try very hard to stay positive, and focused and even visualize my ride (only on Walka) the night before, I have had a few moments that as I was sailing through the air I was " positive" that it was going to "hurt"! :lol:

And I'll be darned......it did! :shock::lol:


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## Maynme (May 15, 2009)

****


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

I have that feeling every time I get on a young horse. I have not ridden Prissy in almost a month so I am expecting some kind of reaction when I get back on her regardless of time in the round pen. Some people don't think of it like this but it is better to be cautious and it is possible to be cautious and aware without being scared. It is at 2 opposite ends of the spectrum but usually when something happens and I get hurt, it is usually because I am either scared or too complacent. That is one of the reason why so many people get bucked off of younger horses. They start riding and think, "Ok, we've made it 2 weeks and he hasn't bucked yet. I bet that means he isn't going to." They don't realize that sometimes it takes a month or more before a young horse starts bucking. It is not always a first ride type of thing. All I do is try not to think about what COULD happen. It is kinda like riding bulls; if you look off to the side, that is where you'll end up. If you concentrate on what could happen, it almost certainly will happen. Murphy's Law is alive and well in the horse world.


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## Dressage10135 (Feb 11, 2009)

So is it bad that I actually _want_ to fall? :? I have been riding for about 7 years and so far haven't been dumped! *knocks on wood* Although, I heard you aren't a "real" rider until you have fallen at least 7 times. So apparently I need to get going on the falling! :lol:


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## Walkamile (Dec 29, 2008)

Not a "real" rider until you've fallen at least 7 times. Well, thank god I'm not a "real" rider, don't think the bones could take it! :lol:

Perhaps you're looking at this wrong Dressage, maybe you're a "really" good rider and have had the opportunity of riding some very well trained/behave horses. Getting thrown doesn't develop your riding skills, it develops your "landing" skills. :wink:


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## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

Thats sort of like worrying about your first car accident. I was almost 50 when I had my first one. Doesn't mean I shouldn't keep insurance coverage. 
Like my mom always told me, hope for the best but expect the worst. Moral...Be prepared. 
I added a grab/bucking strap to my western saddle the first time I rode my fillies. I was hoping they wouldn't throw me but I was prepared if they did.


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

Oh ya -- every time I get on Jade I think, "Today's the day. Better wear my helmet." So far, at the end of every ride I let out a big sigh of relief that "whew, it didn't happen, not even close", but then I think... "wait, that means NEXT time is it..."

And deep inside, I just KNOW it's gonna be Lisa that dumps me on the ground because I won't be paying attention!


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## Scoutrider (Jun 4, 2009)

Vidaloco said:


> Thats sort of like worrying about your first car accident. I was almost 50 when I had my first one. Doesn't mean I shouldn't keep insurance coverage.
> Like my mom always told me, hope for the best but expect the worst. Moral...Be prepared.
> I added a grab/bucking strap to my western saddle the first time I rode my fillies. I was hoping they wouldn't throw me but I was prepared if they did.


Amen! Every now and again I get this feeling, kind of like waiting for an earthquake, "The Big One." Usually when I haven't fallen off for a while. I know it's gonna happen again. Of course, the first time I rode my newest horse at home, I insisted on trying him in the English saddle. I knew that he hadn't cantered enough to not give a little buck when the girth got him at the new gait, so I just intended to walk and trot. Yeah. He slid into a canter, a little excited, and bucked once, not big, just "ooh! Girth!" I bit the dust and had a sore shoulder for a week. That time I never thought of falling off, so maybe my sixth sense is on the fritz :lol:. I always wear a helmet, and I took a western curb strap and looped it through the dee rings on the pommel of my all purpose saddle, just in case! :wink:


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## ivorygold1195 (May 27, 2009)

oh yeah i get that feeling. like you get on and start walking and just think..." well this isnt gonna end well!"


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

Tons. 
It's been 5 or more years since I've come off a horse and I feel very much overdue. 
I guess maybe the kick was make-up for it?


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## rottenweiler (Apr 16, 2009)

Well I guess I was about due! My horse spooked at something and spun on a dime and took off at a gallop. When she spun around, the saddle slipped and as she continued to run away the saddle slipped more and more. Over the shoulder I went. Not hurt, just a little stiff this morning


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## Piper182 (Jun 18, 2009)

I used to fall off once or twice a lesson when I was too inexperienced for the horses my trainer put me on. Now that I'm more experienced, i get scared when i don't fall off for awhile. then I know I'm due for doooooooozy! i try not to think about it, but generally i no when i'm going to fall,


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