I fell off again?!

[JuniorxMyxLove]

I swear, Scooter has a special gift. He's gotten me off three times...including one yesterday.

We were jumping a combination and he always went over the first jump but refused the second, so I trusted him to go over the first [eek, bad me!] Of course at the first jump he slammed on the brakes and just...stopped. No warning or anything. I was flung over his shoulder, bounced off the pole cause it was an oxar, and somersaulted and landed on my side. Ouch. Actually, the falling itself didn't hurt that much. I stood up right away and, being the good HGSer I am, asked if my mom got it on tape. ^-^ But really, my head didn't even hit the ground [may have glanced the pole, but I didn't feel it].

I got back on and jumped a single jump [I did not want to try the combination again] before cooling him out.

Today, my shoulder is sooore because it's where I landed on and my back is pretty stiff. I have a few scratches on my arms, but it could have been a LOT worse - a lady I know fell off him basically the same way, but ended up breaking her collarbone.

Before I fell, we were having an awesome lesson! I jumped a 2'6"/2'9" course with him and my trainer had just raised a few jumps up to 3' when Scooter started refusing.

Cantering him...he's an AMAZING horse on the flat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qaYtD86lTk

A 2'6" warm up jump
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK5jGCWhoOE

A 2'6" round, it was quite nice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKxdkQ19zjw

The same round, just in 2 parts. You honestly can't feel the refusal coming...with other horses you can usually feel a stride or two out...but with him it's SO sudden.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTMxF8iU-zM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HSR1X9xC-8
[can you tell I didn't think he'd jump the very last jump? The first jump in the combination is where I fell the time after this, when we did just the line to try and get it]

After I fell off
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nkof1S2FtuA

*sigh* Scooter is THE only horse I've ever fallen off of. Ever. I don't know what makes his refusals different than other horses, but they're the only ones that get me off.

[moosmom]

As long as you didn't get hurt. I fell off a horse when I was 18 years old and never got back on. I give you alot of credit for your persistence.

[JuniorxMyxLove]

my shoulder was pretty sore but other then that I was fine

[Suki Wingy]

After the first refusal I wouldn't have given him a chance. Hard right leg (or even stick on the croup as well) with opening left rein. I guess he didn't feel balanced enough with that short approach around the first fence.

I just have a question, do you ride jumpers or hunters or both? I'm guessing jumpers from the courses and the colourful jumps.

[chocolatepuppy]

I guess Scooter keeps you on your toes, or maybe off your toes! I can't imagine being thrown from a horse!

[JuniorxMyxLove]

After the first refusal I wouldn't have given him a chance. Hard right leg (or even stick on the croup as well) with opening left rein. I guess he didn't feel balanced enough with that short approach around the first fence.

I just have a question, do you ride jumpers or hunters or both? I'm guessing jumpers from the courses and the colourful jumps.

Yeah we had issues. I wasn't riding with my normal trainer, either, which contributed cause this trainer didn't drill me on the things I needed haha. [crop + scooter = death, by the way haha]

I was looking forward to riding him yesterday and redeeming myself, but I got put on a devil horse instead. I swear, she was trying to mess with my mind. One direction she's super speedy, but the other direction she's ridiculously slow. -_- And she bunny hops over the jumps, absolutely THROWING you out of the saddle if you're not expecting it [which I wasn't]. Of course my trainer's trying to sell me on her so I'll ride her in my lessons "Oh, but she's so honest to the jumps!" or "She can do three foot!"

uhh well the barn is a hunter/jumper barn. A lot of the people show hunters, which is why there IS a hunter course set up in the jumps [we just usually don't jump it], but my lessons generally focus on jumper courses/riding more. The colorful jumps are in part to help desensitize the horses, as well. They freak out at the jumps for a month or two, then get over it and are much better at shows cause they've already seen it haha. SO...in short, kind of both but more jumpers than hunters.

lol chocolatepuppy...it's pretty much how you'd expect. You're on the horse, then all of the sudden you're in the air looking at the the horse. Then you hit the ground, hopefully with a little dignity left.

[Suki Wingy]

Does Scooter buck when you use a crop?
I like that you have such colorful jumps because they do help desensitize the horses but it's funny when they get used to them and then you put something else new and it takes them by surprise.

[JuniorxMyxLove]

He probably would buck. He freaks out and bolts though, cause he's a sensitive little wimp. -_-

Yeah the colorful jumps are so much fun...cause when you move the poles, even just one jump over, all the horses panic and refuse. I swear...2 out of the 3 horses in my lesson the other day were refusing at the same jump because it was *gasp* GREEN [it used to be gray haha].

Oh, and I didn't even ride Scooter...instead I got to ride a devil horse, Twiggy, who has no brakes one direction and no gas in the other. -_- But hey - no refusals [we walked up to one jump and left from a mile away on another] and I jumped the combination without any trouble I also did a 2'6" course with Twiggy, which I'm pretty happy with seeing as it was my first time ever riding her.