#27 The Big Fall
Last time I posted properly, Flora was still very much the new kid on the block at her livery yard. Since then, she has settled in completely, earned herself a reputation as the yard slut 👄 , discovered some b.e.a.UTIFUL rides where she can canter through fields to her heart’s content, and last but not least, has rediscovered her love for eventing (well not the dressage, but still...) 🐎
After our XC lesson in July, where we both left with heads so big we could barely get back on the lorry, we booked in for some XC schooling at Northallerton Equestrian Centre; the idea being to school over fences we’d be jumping competitively a few days later.
Ah, the dreaded Northallerton Equestrian Centre ... 😱
I say ‘dreaded’ because this was the very spot where I took a fairly heavy tumble just over two years ago. This was, and still is (until tomorrow most likely, now I’ve put this out there) the only place I have EVER fallen off Floz 😕. And believe me, she’s done her very best a few times, unintentional or not. The venue itself is fab, but ever since that fateful day, we had never stepped foot or hoof back onto a XC course, there or anywhere... until this summer.
There were three major reasons for this.
1: Transport
We have always struggled for transport; until recently, when the lovely Bella and Sonyk started taking us places. 🚍
2: Injury 🤒
Last summer’s adventures were shot to shit when Flora took a tumble at a dressage yard on a wet concrete ramp and cut herself to pieces. This was followed by twisting a back shoe in the field, culminating in a nasty abscess which took a month of poulticing to get better. A few months later, I arranged XC schooling. So Flora got herself wellied in the field and was sore for weeks 🙄.
3: The bad memory 💩
I must have ridden that same course in my head 1000 times since the fall. It happened because we were a new-ish partnership at the time, of only 6 months or so. And though that may sound like a long time to a lot of people, as I’ve said before, it takes Flora a long time to develop a real bond with someone. Otherwise, she’s indifferent. Not disobedient, but indifferent... and any sniff of a heightened pulse rate makes hers go through the roof too 💥
On that day, our combined, authentic XC experience was thus:
Flora: 2 x XC schooling sessions
1 x unaffiliated ODE. In her entire life.
Me: 1 x proper XC schooling session. In my entire life.
So not much then.
However, the one schooling session we HAD had together was a roaring success and it was this expectation - that the competition itself was going to be just as amazing - that really screwed us over. 😥
80cm Express One Day Event. Decent-ish dressage. Clear SJ. The XC was going to be amazing. A sunny August evening, cantering and jumping outdoors. Our favourite things, yeay! 🎉
She napped.
She hung back.
She did NOT want to go.
I had to push on and kick and growl all the way round the first half of a shortened course. This was NOT how it was supposed to happen.
Then the adrenaline hit. My legs went to jelly. When Flora finally found some momentum and charged out of the water, up the bank and rounded the corner for a drop fence, I’d forgotten it was there😱. I hauled back on the reins and she broke into a trot one stride before launching herself down. I was unseated, did my best to hang on, but the skinny fence a few strides later (which we were NOT supposed to jump) meant Flora dodged round it, and I front flipped off the left-hand side, slamming into the ground flat on my back and cracking my head off the floor. Thank goodness for hats and body protectors.
I got up fairly quickly. I was winded but felt otherwise ok. I felt more sorry for myself afterwards when I realised my hat silk had come off and I’d been riding about like an egg-head for the rest of the event 🙈
Flora just stared at me, her eyes were out on stalks, her nostrils blood red, veins popping, body shaking. She had no clue whatsoever what I was doing at her feet, and I was so relieved that she stayed by my side; moreover, that she stood, still shaking but stock still, while I re-mounted from the top of the drop fence. ❤️😢
I honestly didn’t want to get back on. If it hadn’t been for the fence judge INSISTING that I did once she’d established I was ok, I’d have left the venue on foot. As it was a competitive training event, I was allowed to complete the course, and I’m so glad I did.
I fully expected Floz to refuse after all that, and my useless jelly body was incapable of helping her out by now. But... my shaking, sweaty, adrenaline-pumped pony set off in canter, soared straight over a narrow skinny, popped the house and pheasant feeder, looped back, and charged like a little war horse up the bank, over a huge rolltop and log to finish! 🐎💗💗💗
Yes I was sore for a few days, and yes, a plethora of fuck ups meant it was almost two years before our next taste of XC in 2018. But we finished that course in style, and if it hadn’t been for that, I wouldn’t have been yearning to get back to it, in spite of the bad memory, ever since.
Our schooling session this summer began with an incredibly excited, tense Flora. It could so easily have resulted in another tumble. But this time, we knew each other. And I’d like to think there’s a great deal of trust, as well as enjoyment, there now. I rode her in lots of circles and figure eights, transitions within and between paces, then started popping some jumps. It ended on a high, with her taking every fence type in her stride, locked on, eyes bright, ears pricked 💗
Over the moon that we’d FINALLY jumped XC again at The Venue of The Fall, our entries went in for the Express ODE two days later (70 only this time), on the 9th August, 2018...
After our XC lesson in July, where we both left with heads so big we could barely get back on the lorry, we booked in for some XC schooling at Northallerton Equestrian Centre; the idea being to school over fences we’d be jumping competitively a few days later.
Ah, the dreaded Northallerton Equestrian Centre ... 😱
I say ‘dreaded’ because this was the very spot where I took a fairly heavy tumble just over two years ago. This was, and still is (until tomorrow most likely, now I’ve put this out there) the only place I have EVER fallen off Floz 😕. And believe me, she’s done her very best a few times, unintentional or not. The venue itself is fab, but ever since that fateful day, we had never stepped foot or hoof back onto a XC course, there or anywhere... until this summer.
There were three major reasons for this.
1: Transport
We have always struggled for transport; until recently, when the lovely Bella and Sonyk started taking us places. 🚍
2: Injury 🤒
Last summer’s adventures were shot to shit when Flora took a tumble at a dressage yard on a wet concrete ramp and cut herself to pieces. This was followed by twisting a back shoe in the field, culminating in a nasty abscess which took a month of poulticing to get better. A few months later, I arranged XC schooling. So Flora got herself wellied in the field and was sore for weeks 🙄.
3: The bad memory 💩
I must have ridden that same course in my head 1000 times since the fall. It happened because we were a new-ish partnership at the time, of only 6 months or so. And though that may sound like a long time to a lot of people, as I’ve said before, it takes Flora a long time to develop a real bond with someone. Otherwise, she’s indifferent. Not disobedient, but indifferent... and any sniff of a heightened pulse rate makes hers go through the roof too 💥
On that day, our combined, authentic XC experience was thus:
Flora: 2 x XC schooling sessions
1 x unaffiliated ODE. In her entire life.
Me: 1 x proper XC schooling session. In my entire life.
So not much then.
However, the one schooling session we HAD had together was a roaring success and it was this expectation - that the competition itself was going to be just as amazing - that really screwed us over. 😥
80cm Express One Day Event. Decent-ish dressage. Clear SJ. The XC was going to be amazing. A sunny August evening, cantering and jumping outdoors. Our favourite things, yeay! 🎉
She napped.
She hung back.
She did NOT want to go.
I had to push on and kick and growl all the way round the first half of a shortened course. This was NOT how it was supposed to happen.
Then the adrenaline hit. My legs went to jelly. When Flora finally found some momentum and charged out of the water, up the bank and rounded the corner for a drop fence, I’d forgotten it was there😱. I hauled back on the reins and she broke into a trot one stride before launching herself down. I was unseated, did my best to hang on, but the skinny fence a few strides later (which we were NOT supposed to jump) meant Flora dodged round it, and I front flipped off the left-hand side, slamming into the ground flat on my back and cracking my head off the floor. Thank goodness for hats and body protectors.
I got up fairly quickly. I was winded but felt otherwise ok. I felt more sorry for myself afterwards when I realised my hat silk had come off and I’d been riding about like an egg-head for the rest of the event 🙈
Flora just stared at me, her eyes were out on stalks, her nostrils blood red, veins popping, body shaking. She had no clue whatsoever what I was doing at her feet, and I was so relieved that she stayed by my side; moreover, that she stood, still shaking but stock still, while I re-mounted from the top of the drop fence. ❤️😢
I honestly didn’t want to get back on. If it hadn’t been for the fence judge INSISTING that I did once she’d established I was ok, I’d have left the venue on foot. As it was a competitive training event, I was allowed to complete the course, and I’m so glad I did.
I fully expected Floz to refuse after all that, and my useless jelly body was incapable of helping her out by now. But... my shaking, sweaty, adrenaline-pumped pony set off in canter, soared straight over a narrow skinny, popped the house and pheasant feeder, looped back, and charged like a little war horse up the bank, over a huge rolltop and log to finish! 🐎💗💗💗
Yes I was sore for a few days, and yes, a plethora of fuck ups meant it was almost two years before our next taste of XC in 2018. But we finished that course in style, and if it hadn’t been for that, I wouldn’t have been yearning to get back to it, in spite of the bad memory, ever since.
Our schooling session this summer began with an incredibly excited, tense Flora. It could so easily have resulted in another tumble. But this time, we knew each other. And I’d like to think there’s a great deal of trust, as well as enjoyment, there now. I rode her in lots of circles and figure eights, transitions within and between paces, then started popping some jumps. It ended on a high, with her taking every fence type in her stride, locked on, eyes bright, ears pricked 💗
Over the moon that we’d FINALLY jumped XC again at The Venue of The Fall, our entries went in for the Express ODE two days later (70 only this time), on the 9th August, 2018...
I feel like if you don't want to get on, you shouldn't. Here's why: I once had a pretty hard fall and landed on my head but didn't realize it. I got back in the saddle and started cantering around. The arena footing undulated like kelp in the ocean. I immediately dismounted. I had sustained a concussion but hadn't realized it. Went to the ER, etc. So, despite the "get back up" after a fall mentality, I feel like it's more important to listen to our bodies. Horses will always be there and for us to enjoy them we need to be 100% sound ourselves.
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