As Easy as Falling off a Horse LandSafe Shows How By Sarah Eakin
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here is a saying that you need to fall off a horse at least seven times before you can say you’ve learned to ride. Falling off is an unwelcome event, but a likely one for any rider. And yet, while the average horseman spends hours perfecting how to be in the saddle, he is unlikely to spend a lot of time pondering the best way to fall out of it. Danny Warrington is not that horseman. A former steeplechase jockey and international event rider, he launched the LandSafe program several years ago in partnership with his wife, Keli, a former nationally ranked gymnast. By conducting clinics nationwide he has been teaching riders the best way to fall while minimizing injury. LandSafe is coming to Aiken at JH Eventing from March 25 to 26. All are welcome, from the professional event rider to the horse owner who saddles up for the occasional trail ride through the Hitchcock Woods. “In all honesty we think that anybody who’s ever going to ride should take the program,” said Danny.
Falls are a common occurrence in equestrian pursuit. Unfortunately, you don’t have to be riding around an Advanced Level course to be at risk: there are plenty of examples of devastating injuries sustained from falling off a horse that is simply walking; or even being thrown from a spooked horse that was quietly standing still. “Anybody who sits on a horse is involved in an extreme sport and should be prepared for all possible outcomes,” said Danny, If word of mouth stories of riders suffering from a bad fall are not enough to convince riders of the danger, there are statistics allowing you to calculate the risk. On the landsafeequestrian.com web site, the home page shares the following: “FEI Research shows that the risk of a fall with injury ranges from one in every 250 starts for low impact falls to one in every 520 starters for serious injuries. The type of fall also correlates to the risk of injury
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The Aiken Horse
or death. The risk of having a serious injury is once in every 55 falls. A rotational fall, however, increases the risk to once every 5 falls.” The LandSafe clinic accommodates 20 riders and takes place over two days, totalling eight hours of instruction. Live horses are replaced with a custom-made mechanical version and riders are trained ‘to defend themselves on impact.’ If it sounds like a combat exercise, Danny – whose father was in the Marines – points out that gymnastics and the cavalry are both rooted in the military. “There is a lot of history of equestrian sport and gymnastics combined. Gymnastics was militarybased so we look at that training.” Techniques are taught “to prevent catastrophic injury. To disperse energy better than a direct impact.” And this is not classroom-based instruction. “You do fall,” Danny explained. “But it is done in a very educational manner. We assume you know nothing about rolling, and by the end of the first day, people are doing dive rolls. Then we put you on the [mechanical] horse and get you to roll off of the horse and away from the horse. And then on the second day we come back and do some more exercises trying to teach you how to find your feet, as well as more rolling.” Danny and Keli have welcomed clients from all sectors of the horse industry to their clinics over the past two years. Those who have attended speak of retraining their responses both mentally and physically. According to Danny, one of the toughest instincts for a rider to overcome is not wanting to let go of the reins. There is a popular sentiment among horseman that keeping hold of your horse after a fall is a heroic feat that should be applauded – even celebrated with a case of beer. But holding on to the reins generates a few unwelcome consequences, such as the possibility of pulling the horse off balance and causing it to fall on top of you. “Having the reins in our hands creates a human rationale to hold on and not defend ourselves,” said Danny. “Reins can be a hindrance during a fall.” Another common response during a fall is to reach out with your arms, resulting in such injuries as broken wrists, collarbones and dislocated shoulders. If used correctly, however, arms can help prevent injuries to the neck and head. If the clinic sounds challenging, Danny reassures us that “it’s a physical program but it’s not an abusive program.” The objective is to cushion the blow of a fall through having the knowledge to respond the right way in an instant. “There are a lot of things we can do in that split second to reduce catastrophic injury,” Danny said. “We educate clients so that they won’t go back to instincts – they will go back to techniques.” For more information, visit www.landsafeequestrian.com
February-March 2019