So I had a bad horse fall a couple of weeks ago and I need your advice....
I was in a jumping lesson with a lovely horse called Otto. I'd never ridden him before but we were getting along quite well. Unfortunately, towards the end of the lesson, we were popping over a couple of small jumps, it went horribly wrong. Let me make this clear before I go any further. It was not his fault or mine. It was a freak accident and miscommunication between us. I was working on getting him cantering away from the jump in a straight line when he thought the wall of the indoor arena was getting to close for his liking and stopped. I lost my balance slightly but then he launched into a canter again, this time continuing to the wall and turned to canter down the side. By this time I had no hope of recovering my balance. I was thrown forward down his left shoulder, between him and the wall. Because I was being crushed by him, I couldn't just fall. He went on for about four strides and eventually realised that something was happening next to him so he shuffled away. I whacked my head pretty hard on the wall and then slid down, landing on my head and shoulder. However, I was slightly in front of him so he cantered over me. The last thing I remember is his back hooves coming at my face. I opened my eyes and I was completely unsure of what had happened. My riding instructor called the ambulance as my left hand was burning and I had taken a pretty bad blow to the head. I lay in the damp sand in a very odd position for about twenty minutes. By the time they arrived, I had gone numb and had pins and needles all over which they then thought was because of the head injury. The paramedics called an air ambulance for suspected neck injury. They arrived ridiculously quickly. I was lying there for about an hour and a quarter until they ruled out severe injuries. I was lucky as I had no broken bones, just badly bruised and a mild concussion.
Why am I telling you this? Well I keep meaning to go back to ride but I just seem to be putting it off. I do want to get back on desperately but it's shaken me up. I'm not sure how to put it aside and just jump on like I usually do. I'm not a nervous rider as such but I do get a bit anxious about new things like putting the bar higher. I've only recently got over a knock in confidence from another accident and now its been dented again. I don't know what to do. It's not like I can just build confidence with the horse on the ground or ride more as I don't have my own and I can only go once a fortnight. Gah! If anybody has any advice, it would be much appreciated.
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