Learning How To Fall Off The Horse

My 8 year old daughter had her first horseback riding lesson a few weeks ago. My friends TJ and Barbara own the Crown V Ranch and operate the riding stables at Highland Recreation Area. TJ is an accomplished horseman and he is fond of pointing out that he has never had a formal riding lesson. His lack of experience with riding instructors has lead to a novel approach to the new rider and one that I, as a parent, appreciated greatly. Isabella’s lesson consisted of learning how to lead a horse on a rope, walk around a horse, without startling the animal or putting herself in harms way, and, most importantly, how to fall off a horse. Essentially, it was disaster preparedness for the horseback rider. I have taken my share of riding lessons, and never have I been taught how to fall off. I have to admit Isabella was tentative at first, but eventually she became accomplished enough for uncle TJ to declare that lesson complete. However, she was only done once the horse was brushed and ready to be turned out to the pasture. Talking with my dad a few days later, I told him about her lesson. In his early life he was a cowboy, he smiled and agreed that it was awfully important to learn how to fall rather than to learn about falling by accident.

I recently have been reading a book by Temple Grandin, Animals in Translation. She talks about how animals perceive their environment differently than humans and how humans commonly miss the fact that the animals perspective on events happening around them is totally different than our own. The obvious result from these differing perspectives is miscommunication. It is these little misunderstandings between human and animal that leads to accidents, injuries and general mayhem. An example would be the friends meeting on a walk with their dogs, they stop and chat, the dogs introduced for the first time appear inquisitive, but one begins to shy behind the owners legs. The owner pushes it away, insisting it needs to be friendly, after all the other dog is a nice dog. Then the shy dog gets pushed too far and it attacks that nice, but pushy, dog . The dog fight was actually created by the humans misunderstanding of the cues given by the dogs. Both the dogs went to the emergency room and the owners were uncertain if their pet was aggressive or mean. Neither one has an aggression problem. They were just acting like dogs.

So what does this have to do with falling off a horse? It is about misunderstandings, miscommunications that then lead to injuries or worse. The small child that wants to hug the dog, but as he wraps his arms tightly around the dogs neck, the dog senses not the fondness the child has for him, but restraint and confinement. If the dog cannot wriggle free then it resorts to biting. So that is why the 8 year old, first time on her horse, learns to fall. Because shortly there will be a misunderstanding and her horse will give her a hard time and off she may go. That is why my children, since they were very small were taught how to approach a cat or a dog, how to pet them and respect them. Even now that my children are older I watch them closely when they are interacting with animals whether they are our family pets or not.

Animals are integral parts of our families and our leisure activities. They are such a part of the fabric of our lives that we assume that they perceive our actions and our environment just like we do. It would be wise to remind ourselves that we are still learning about speaking our pet’s language and understanding their communications. We are on the steep side of that learning curve and we should always expect the unexpected.



Crown V Riding Stables is having its open house and ribbon cutting ceremony on the April the 18th beginning at 12 noon. Come out and visit us at Highland Recreation Area.