The 6 Falls of Fall

Celebrate the season, the equestrian way!

Flickr/Steven Lilley/CC

Ah, fall. We mean the season. Or do we mean that incident that does happen to all of us from time to time? Either way, here are six falls that are true signs of the season.

1. The oops fall: This is the fall when, oops, you didn’t mean to do that. Normally this happens when you mount a horse with too much eager and fall over the other side, or when you climb into the saddle without checking your cinch and you end up under your horse.

2. The emergency dismount: You’ve been practicing this one for months and finally you get to use it when your green horse takes off on you. Tuck and roll. Nailed it!

3. Head over heels: This is an unfortunately common fall. This tends to happen when a horse refuses a jump and the rider goes sailing, or when riding a horse that thought it was a rodeo star in it’s past life and bucks you off head over heels. If we took a poll, I’m sure the majority of you have been head over heels at least once… and we’re not talking about falling in love.

4. The bone breaker: The fall guaranteed to break a bone or few. These falls always tend to happen at the most unexpected time (right before your wedding or some other important life event) and mostly always end up with a (very expensive) helicopter or ambulance ride.

5. That was a close one: The fall you take that was supposed to put you in a wheelchair for life eating pudding out of a straw, but you end up without a scratch and you don’t even break a nail or mess up your hair. This is the fall that even makes no believers say “thank God!”

6. You fall, we fall, everyone falls: The fall that takes you and everyone around you out. Hacking through the woods, your horse trips, falls down, you fall off, the rider behind you, her horse falls into your horse, they both fall down. The horses get up and run home and you and your friend have to take the walk of shame back to the barn. Best friendships are made from these type of accidents.

Go riding! (And not falling, preferably.)