Falling off XC twice! | Helmet Cam

Soooo this was an eventful lesson! I’d never ridden Herbie before, but I knew he was very experienced XC so I was really looking forward to having a go on him. Unfortunately Herbie was a bit too fresh (having just had three months off), and that plus a couple of other factors made the day a bit of a fail! Before we’d even started jumping I was already finding it very hard to slow him down and steer him, and after a while I had no brakes/steering whatsoever as he got stronger with each fence we jumped. It also didn’t help that Swalcliffe was the busiest I have ever seen it, and it was almost impossible to find a jump or complex that someone wasn’t already working over! This meant that there were constantly horses galloping all around us and there were a few times where I had to suddenly try to stop Herbie or pull him away from an approach because another rider cut in front of us and went over the jump first, which wound him up even more.

When it came to doing the water, I’d just like to mention that I approached the jump from such a bad angle because I had very little control of Herbie by this point - it certainly wasn’t a deliberate choice to jump it that way!! I’ve got no idea why he decided to take a stride out and launch over it with quite such enthusiasm, but just as I was regaining my balance from the jump (I really thought I was going to make it!) he swerved left as he hit the water and I went out of the side door! He then galloped off around the course for a bit before being caught… When I tried to remount, he decided he’d had enough and bucked me off the moment I got my weight into the saddle (from the video it looks like I catch him with my foot as I swing my leg over, but I actually only caught the saddle/pad and he didn’t start bucking until I was sat down) also notice his ears are pricked forward throughout the bucking - he wasn’t scared or uncomfortable and was pretty happy about what he was doing…! He galloped off into the distance once again and at this point we decided to call it a day with him because he’d worked himself up into such a state. I jumped onto Laddy for the end of the lesson and had a little play on him for a bit just through the water and over a small ditch, then got back onto Herbie to hack him home, where he pulled like a train the whole way back to the yard! He looked very pleased with himself when I put him back in his stable!!

I was completely fine, just a bit bruised and soggy with a very mild concussion from the second fall which I didn’t realise until the next day (I can’t actually remember falling off into the water so it’s nice to live it again via the helmet cam)! 😂 And I still had a nice time despite Herbie’s shenanigans! I’m also sorry about the audio in the second half of the video, cameras and water don’t really mix! I’m just impressed it kept filming at all tbh! I’ll hopefully be going XC again later in the summer, hopefully it will be less eventful next time 😄

🚨For a bit of balance, I would appreciate it if anyone leaving rude or negative criticism/tips/advice would also donate at least £1 to a charity of their choice 😊

Question of the day: What’s your favourite kind of cross country jump? E.g rolltops, brush, drops, ditches, water etc.

Helmet Cam: Drift Ghost 4K Action Cam & Drift head strap mount
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Pony/horse: Herbie - 16.1hh bay gelding

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