My Mistakes

[lalecl]

Now I can tell you my mistakes. I am not guilt free. At the staging area i discovered my pants were slick in the saddle. I knew I had to compensate, so I did.

Lesson always make sure your clothing is safe to ride in.

I learned that because i had zip tied garland to my reins, when i pulled on the reins, garland broke, my hands slipped. Again I compensated! I held the reins instead of reins and garland.

Lesson: doesn't matter what your tack looks like, make sure it is safe! And let your horse shine for themselves. With a paso I only wish folks would look UP above not BELOW. If you compare a paso to your car, you would never get behind the wheel if you only looked down when you drove. With a vehicle/paso the wheels/feet move FAST but the driver/rider is sitting smooth. So many folks look at the feet and say so much negative about the paso.

My costume was safety pinned to my saddle pad.

Lesson: Take care, I may have been able to dismount easier.

However Elis says that could have also saved me from landing so hard, it slowed me just enough, I did not slam into the pavement and fracture my skull, and just got lots of cuts.

I did not have a helmet.

Lesson: Wear a helmet!

Go Rikki! you were wearing yours!

I know we talk wear a helmet but rarely do peopel when they ride in a show of some sort.

I still want you to know I am an advocate of helmets

I am sorry this is so long. I am getting tired. My head has not hurt but today the pain in my hand and head is tremendous.

[CarolU]

Leila, please don't beat yourself up. We all make mistakes!!! Yes, it's always a good idea to learn from them and share that knowledge with others.

I also learned the hard way about wearing slippery material on saddles. Popped right off Zar like an ice-cube coming out of a tray. No more polyester for THIS girl.

Now, you just need to use your creative talents and find a way to make helmet covers that go with your costumes. Especially for parades where you are on hard surfaces.

Once you have that done, would you be so kind as to make me a nice airy one with my logo Paso Fino on it, so I can wear it more?

Glad to see you up, feeling a little better, and reading and typing.

[Terri]

Leila, please don't beat yourself up over what "should have" happened. It is always good to review what could have been different to learn from in the future, but I hope you aren't making yourself sad by it.

As some one who has paraded a few times, I share what we do to help increase safety. Yyou will NEVER be completely safe, that is just now how life works, but you can do somethings to help.
1) yep, you are right HELMETS. My riding riding club requires ALL riders to wear helmet in parades and on their show grounds, regardless of costume. The only time it is not require, but strongly encouraged, is in the showring itself as a western or saddleseat rider. Everywhere else, including warm up at shows and certainly parades, a helmet is required or you will be asked to step down.
2) we always have a few walkers on the ground. At the last parade one of our more veteran horses had a "bad day" His rider thought maybe it was so cold that her hands were shaking and she thought that upset him. One of our walkers snapped a lead on him, and all was fine. ANY horse can have a bad day or a bad moment. Blessing is clearly a superior parade horse and your once in a life time equine partner. But something scared him, whether it was a bb or a bee or whatever doesn't matter and it might have happened so fast a walker couldn't help you, but it is nice to have back up.
3) Insurance. Our club pays for a policy. I don't know what exactly it covers. But if you are going to ride as a group, you might want to look into that in the future.
4) All jr riders (under 18) MUST have a lead line and a walker. Level of skill does not matter. They could have ridden in the olympics and the horse trained to withstand a battle - they have a walker. These walkers also back up our adults and watch the crowd for problems.

Does anyone else have ideas how we can ALL improve our safety in a parade?

These are just some suggestions for the future based on what has so far worked for us. Bad things happen no matter how many precautions you take and there will ALWAYS be mistakes. But you can't hide in a bubble, so just do your best.

You do a good job Leila!

[CarolU]

Terri...I think the idea of walkers is a great one. A few years ago we were in our local parade and kids were throwing poppers on the ground in front of our horses. No one did anything to stop them! I complained and the next year some policemen walked with the equestrian groups. Good thing too, because I think those same monsters were there, but with super soakers. I can just see a horse shot with those.

[LynnG]

Its always a good idea after an accident to see what factors may have contributed to it and what could help prevent the same thing from happening exactly the same again. If it happened once, it could happen again, so why let it. Thanks for letting us know things to do and not....

get all better soon.

[moonrize]

Leila - live and learn, but don't beat yourself up over it. You had every good reason to assume that Blessing would be his usual self and you wouldn't have a problem. Not like you hadn't done this particular parade several times.

Hubby and I wear helmet all the time. But for the parade, we wanted to wear hats that would match our outfits. But for the Grace of God, it could have been one of us on that pavement. Just shows us once again, wear a helmet, every ride, every time.

Now, spend your time recuperating and not worrying about what happened.

[Finogirl]

Leila you can and will keep going through this over and over again in your mind but you know what....you have learnt whatever lesson you think you need to have learnt. I think that safety gear is very important and helmet has saved my life a few times, slippery clothes are never good but you could NOT have prevented this so try to stop being so hard on yourself. I was on a rented bolting horse and pulled off it when my leg hit s gatepost at 25 miles per hour, I somersalted and broke my neck (I successfully sued the stables and won). I went over it time and time again, relived it...because you NEED to do that and then I started to blame myself. Actually in most situations you can have done things differently, but when you REALLY look at things, you will come to realise that actually you probably wouldn't have done it any different.

Give yourself a break, honey.xx