Falling off

Hi . I was wondering if you can answer a few of my questions about falling off:

- How can you prepare for falling off?
-How can you stay safe during the fall?
-what should you do after the fall?
-if someone else falls off, what should you do and what is the first aid?

Have to know,sorry.

You can know what you should do if you fall off but you can't plan when to fall off so you never know whens its going to happen. Sometimes its just a clumsy fall and it goes by so quick and then your up back on the horse.
If you want to be prepared to fall off always know that your roll and put your hands over your head/ neck just like a tornado drill, as soon as you think youve rolled far enough your supposed to sort of roll up in a ball if you think the horse is near you or could hurt you, If your okay just get up calm your horse down if neccsary and always get back on if physically capible. If you don't you'll be scared the next time.

In the tiny split second between being on your horse to being on the ground, try to think about landing on your butt. Of course, wear a helmet. After the fall, quickly analyze yourself to make sure you are okay. If you are critically injured, you would know it.... stay where you are. If your okay, shake it off and get back on your horse.

Oops I wasnt finished, that only for a clumsy minor fall ^^^^^

If you think you hurt your neck/ head/ back don't move it out of position and lay there as still as possible, someone will call medical help and they'll get you situated. If your with someone riding or watching and they fall off dismount your horse and calm their horse down so their horse doesnt " trample" the person hurt. Make sure the persons okay if they think they broke their leg, arm ex. Get an adult, if ones not available try to have someone else watch the person hurt or you watch the person hurt when the other person gets a first aid kit and calls 911 ( only if necisarry).
I hope that helps

I will try my best to answer your questions:

1. Well, if you mean practicing for a fall; there are some bailing methods, but I don't know much about those. Usually you can practice this with your instructor on the proper way to fall from a horse if you absolutely felt you needed to bail. If you fall because you lose your balance or the horse tries to buck you, that's a different story (see number 2.)
2. The method I use to remember what to do when I'm falling is:
Let go, go limp, roll away.
The faster you can think and do this phrase will make it second nature to you. To explain this phrase.
If you ever feel you have reached that "point of no return on a horse", (and there is no physical way you can get youself back into postion, usually you think something along the lines of "Oh cr*p" or "Holy sh*t" or "I'm going to die".) Let go. This means let go of the horn or reins and anything else you are holding on to. And don't try to hang on the stirrups, you could get dragged, and would be in a whole lot more danger then just hitting the ground.
Next thing to do is to go limp. As you await to hit the hard cold ground, don't resist the fall. You will walk away with far less injuries if you "fling like spaghetti" than "thump like a rock" (does that make sense?)
And the third and possibly most inportant part is once you hit the ground, use your momentum and roll away. You should roll away from your horse. This eliminates the risk of you getting trampled by your horse and also helps absorb the impact (because you are letting your momentum move your body).
3. After you have fallen, it depends on your situation. NEVER worry about your horses safety over your own. What I normally do is stay still for a few seconds and get my barings and ascess my pain and figure out where it is coming from. If you feel that you shouldn't/can't move, DON'T! You could worsen a fracture or worst case scenario, paralyize yourself. If you feel ok enough to sit up, do so and if you are alone, call for help.
As for getting back on the horse, you need to asap, but only after you are positive you have sustained no physical damage (besides a bruise or two) and are capable of getting back on the horse. You also need to check that your horse has sustained no injuries from the incident and if the need be, make sure the horse has calmed down enough he is safe to ride.
4. If you are the only one around, ALWAYS check on the rider before getting the horse. First aid will depend on the injury. Follow basic first aid procedures for cuts, scrapes, and brusies. If you believe more serious injuries were sustained by the rider, call 911. It is better to be safe than sorry. If there is more than one person around, and somebody is attending to the rider, then you may attempt to catch the rider's horse. Be sure to look him/her over and that the horse needs no immediate medical attention. And don't for get to encourage the rider to get back on as soon as it is safe to do so. Falling off is a leading cause of why people lose their passion for riding, and the sooner they get back on, the less chance they have of giving up on riding.

Hope this helped!

P.S. There is no reason to be sorry for wanting to be prepared in case of an emergency. I applaud you for asking something some people look over as they learn to ride.

Well as someone else said you want to try & roll onto your shoulder NOT head! Put your arms ahead of you and tuck your right shoulder (if falling off the right) or left shoulder (if falling from the left) under so that your shoulder takes most of the impact. You don't want to try & land on your feet (as I tried once lmao) because the momentum with send you flat on your face & probably leave you with a sprained or busted leg.
This roll isnt always easy to perform because you're not always prepared to fall but i've so far been able to do it for most of my falls through the years & on 2 occasions actually ended up back on my feet lol!
Of course after the fall always GET BACK ON. If not, then your horse can get bad habits & you can get timid the longer you have to think about it. I've had the wind knocked out of me & my ankle badly sprained but still got back on even for just five minutes. ;)

Yes, if you are scared after a fall, remember that you don't have to concoqure the world in that ride afterwards. If you only want to walk a few circles this time and call it a day, that is perfectly fine. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither is confidence in the saddle.

Thanks everyone! It's just that the stable I ride at does not really have any emphasis on learning about this, so I thought I should know.

Kudos to you for wanting to learn how to fall! It really is an important skill. I pretty much agree with everybody else! The only thing I would say is that although yes, you should get back on, if you are seriously hurt then DON'T! If you are seriously injured then you could harm yourself even more, making you have to stay out of the saddle longer and nobody wants that!

When I first started riding I learnt to vault on and off my horse (who was bigger than me at the time) because she had brake issues lol. She would just get faster and faster untill there was no way i'd be sticking around and id just bail/vault off at full gallop :L it's come in handy though cause I swear she's autistic or something.
When i've had to bail off I just do it like im getting off but swing my legs higher and push myself back away from her on the way down. If that makes sense. And obviously I always vault off to the outside of her.