Emergency dismounts

Isn't another point of ED to learn HOW to dismount and roll? I have heard it's to teach you how to roll into a ball or something, right? I have no experience with it, as I have always felt like the majority of you. However upon close examination of some factors (like falling back/rearing) I have to agree knowing how in extreme situations is probably a good thing, if taught when TO utilize it and when to NOT. I also know part of being a truly good horseman is keeping us both safe, IMO.

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Exactly. It is less about ditching and more about learning how to ditch safely when the inevitable happens and you don't really have a choice.

If you learn how to fall, you don't fear it. If you don't fear it, you don't tense up. If you don't tense up, your chances of landing safely increase dramatically.

I've only had to do an E-dismount once. I was galloping a horse in a field (which I knew had no holes so he didn't step into a hole) and the horse tripped, went to his knees and his back end was still traveling at gallop speed so if I had stayed on I would have been crushed. I jumped off (well...the momentum from the fall kind of helped with that. Lol) and rolled out of the way.

I think E-dismounts really should only be used in the case of you the rider being hurt or possibly killed in a fall. You don't want to just go jumping off your horse for every problem like "Oh my horse is bucking! BAIL!!" or "Oh my horse is bolting BAIL!!!". That will just teach the horse "Hey if I do this then you go flying and I can do whatever I want!".
I was taught never to do and E-dismount unless I absolutely had to and as a result I've only had to do it once in 11 years of riding. I've heard of people teaching new riders to bail whenever they feel uncomfortable but that does absolutely no good for the riders confidence or the horse.

Good point! Reminded me I did dismount once several years back. Horse (chronic rearer noone could cure) went straight up on hill, lost balance and started flipping over (not a 1st time he actually fell backwards, but I didn't know about it). Heck, THAT was very scary! I just dropped everything, sled off and rolled away. BTW, that horse sent a very experience rider to ER later on also on rearing and flipping over...

Yes, there is a reason it is called an emergency dismount and not a "mild discomfort/increased nervousness" dismount! It should ONLY be employed when the chances of being hurt by hitting the ground are far outweighed by far your chances of getting hurt by trying to stay in the saddle.
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I've never "learned" an emergency dismount, but I've jumped off of several rearers or horses that were spooking out of control and not been hurt.

I honestly don't know if I would jump off a bucker. A friend did that and didn't manage to get out of the way and he came down on top of her. I usually stay on the runaways until I can get them under control. Though if the horse was running towards a cliff or a semi I would jump off.

My old mare was trained to stop the second she felt you start to come off. So an ED was never really needed. Though it has been used to stop her when she "ran away" (walked away quickly she was 29 and arthritic) when a kid was riding her.

That's exactly why I jumped off Mitchell when I did, the momentum from his bucking was that much that if he had thrown me off fully, he would have thrown me in front of him and run me over.. So I chose to complete my fall by pushing off the side of him while I was already half off anyway. I ended up with a gnarly bruise on the inside of my knee and calf, which was the talk of the school. But my back, my head + Helmet and everything else was safe.
-On his average bucks I just sit them out, but there was no sitting this one out without a super-glued butt.

I've never done an emergency dismount.. I've let go when I was sideways, and heading for a big tree, but I still bounced off another tree and ended up underneath, being rolled along underneath her belly until I hit a log and she jumped over the log and me with it. Only got a concussion, but I black out now whenever I leave the saddle even remotely and therefore I go flying... and have to either get an eyewitness account of how I fell, or try to interpret the pain and bruises to figure out how I landed! ?

I've taught a few kids to ride, and I've always told them that at least while you're on the horse you have control.. what control do you have if you jump off?

I have to agree with JDW. There are certain situations where it is good to have that knowledge in your back pocket. I do think there is a wide variance in how they are taught. It's an EMERGENCY dismount, not bail off because your horse bucked or spooked dismount. I was taught an ED very early on and just this year at age 30 had to use it for the first time.

I was working my youngest stud in the indoor and he went down. Groundhogs had tunneled under the arena and there was no visible disturbance. Woodstock went down at a lope to his knee in a hole and we rolled pretty hard. I had the wits enough about me to push off hard in that split second when everything kind of freezes, just enough it got me out of the way. An ED saved me from having 1200 lbs of horse on top of me.

To me, they are very important! I once was in the indoor arena and it was storming very badly. I was having a grouP lesson and I was last in line. I was riding a little pony named Gabe and he was freaking out. I hopped off and turned him away from the jump, just in time.