How to Fall Off a Horse

that my L4L5 disc was ruptured but my symptoms muscle atrophy and pain radiating down my leg indicated L5S1. A visit to the neurosurgeon brought the diagnosis that I had a sequestered disc. A piece had broken off travelled down the spinal canal and was lodged against my sciatic nerve. Its one of the few cases where surgery helps and it did for me.
The experience left Woodworth with zero core strength and shattered confidence.
She tried to get back into jumping and worked with a sports psychologist but occasional whiteout panic would plague her even in the middle of a tiny course. While she did recover her nerve to ride and even to show jumping was confined to carefully controlled lessons.
None of these falls was spectacular but there was likely a connection to the severity of my injury. The damage done in the first one weakened my core strength enough that I fell more easily and allowed greater damage to be done probably because the falls were close together.
At some point weve all been there. A fall during a simple ride hacking along a trail working out in the arena schooling over jumps or on an eventing crosscountry course can turn an ordinary day into a traumatic event.
Falling off a horse isnt something we plan on but it is an eventuality we need to plan for. The vast majority of falls are straightforward and the rider can get up unhurt ready to remount and continue the ride with little more than an annoying bruise. But in a nanosecond a fall can go sideways and result in serious or catastrophic injury or it can be fatal.
Unfortunately fall safety techniques or how to protect oneself from injury during a fall are seldom taught and even less understood. Riding is widely recognized as a
risk sport. A rider is sitting atop a 1100pound animal with many moving parts and a mind of its own. As prey animals horses use flight as their primary defense mechanism so when they perceive danger their instinct is to shy and jump away or to flee and bolt. An unruly horse that unseats its rider a misstep on uneven ground a jump refusal or stumbling on landing can also result in a fall and if the horse hits a solid fence it can cause a rotational fall. 
When children take swimming lessons they are taught essential water safety skills to help protect them from drowning. When learning gymnastics they are taught proper body and landing positions and how to roll out of a dismount. Riders are taught to stay on the horse and although falling is an inevitable part of riding most riders are woefully unprepared when it happens.