Just falling around - getting dirty with the MBBA

I have to say I did not know quite what to expect as I sat outside Kingfisher Equestrians gate, waiting for a familiar face (any familiar face) to arrive, but I had offered my services as a trainer, and here I was.

Once inside the impressive new dressage arena, it took no time for Cherry, Ginnie and the other MBBA folk to get the kettle on and multiple plates of cake out. I was more concerned with the arena surface, which was being flattened and rolled at the time, and also whether anyone was going to turn up. I need not have worried about either, as the surface turned out to be one of the best I have used so far and the turnout was outstanding.

So, after Cherry’s news update and intro, I stepped up to ‘do my thang’. After a quick demo of the fast and slow forward rolls, followed by the simple and not so simple breakfall, I invited all those present to join me. There was that moment where everyone looked for someone else to go first, and then off we went.

First practice was a very simple forward roll, practiced from a kneeling position and I have to say from 8 to 80 everyone got the hang of it very quickly. More importantly, there was an awful lot of laughing going on. We then moved to a standing position and a bit more ‘impulsion’ from behind soon had bodies going in all directions.

From an instructors point of view, one of the delights of training on sand is that it leaves its tell tale signs all over peoples back. What I saw was very encouraging and for the first time since I started training riders, no one tried to land on their heads, although I suspect there are one or two bruised shoulders (landing too soon) and bottoms (landing too late) out there this morning.

As people were in need of a natural break, we took the opportunity to stop for ten minutes, when at last I could enjoy some of that delicious cake, and then we were back at it.

I demonstrated a very simple backwards breakfall and then roll to breakfall, these two techniques combined are more important than anyone watching realised, as they are the main methods of dissipating the energy of a fall, especially a slow speed tumble, which so often results in broken wrists, collar bones and ribs. Rolling onto you back, before you land, allows you to go splat, like a jelly on the kitchen floor, rather than thud, like a bag of spuds. Once again the throng joined me on the sand and began to get down and dirty.

The highlight of the evening was the three girls at the top of the arena all dropping into perfect synchronised breakfalls; OUTSTANDING!

After another twenty minutes of floor work, Ginnie asked if I would do a demo just prior to the session closing. I normally use a jump and will happily clear four feet (wish I could pull that off on horseback), but as jumps are pretty few and far between in a dressage arena I picked a chair instead and showed the main technique that can be used to judge height and speed when falling and the roll that is used to avoid crashing. We had a quick Q&A session and then ended just about the fastest two hours that have ever passed.

I hope everyone had a good laugh, more importantly I hope they learned something they can take away and practice in their own time that could save them harm or injury in the future.

Ride safe.

Neil MacKinnon