Grab Strap

[bruce johnson]

Ok, we are getting into some training and philososphy of riding, which gives us all some perspective of our backgrounds and needs/wants of our customers. To weigh in on the saddle horn thing, grab or not to grab. I am a grabber, I am not a choker or a puller usually. Yes those things will get you in wreck. But also horns were put there for a reason, and they serve a purpose, one of which is to be an anchor point. If I am getting bucked off and am loose and pitching forward, there are certain anatomical considerations. You can bet I am going to grab and push myself back down or push on it to stay back. I have had a couple of injuries. Two compression fractured vertebrae from being bucked off. That was kind of a bad day, as was the 40 mile ride to the hospital. I have fractured my pelvis and wasn't bucked off, that was a worse day. I then had to figure how to get off him after I got the playday stopped. As an aside, don't refuse help from the neighbor lady driving by. I thought I had aggravated an old chronic groin injury when I felt the pop. Right after she drove off, I felt the bones grating. I have no shame using a horn. Kiskaddon talks about it some of his poetry. The old farts will all admit to doing it if they are pressured into being truthful. Yeah they did it when they needed to.

Most of what we are talking about is way different than someone holding on the saddlehorn nose-to-tail-down-the-trail or learning to ride in the ring. Yes you need to learn balance, rythm, feeling the horse, knowing their feet, all that to really be a rider. I worked for a cutting horse trainer, and used to show them too. You want to see a horn, look at what they use now. It is a handle, and every one of them use it. Mostly to push on, but sometimes you pull jumping out of a sweep. A horse pops into run, leaves a roping or bulldogging box, pull yourself up or steady yourself with the horn. Barrel racers pull up leaving a barrel. Reined cowhorse riders on a tight turn on the fence sometimes need to push back up. There are always exceptions, but by an large, it is pretty common for some darn good riders to lay a hand on the horn.

[HorsehairBraider]

And here I thought all these posts would be about how my intsructions were wrong! :D

I used to have one of those really old "colt-breaking" saddles and the last thing I worried about was falling off... usually not through the mechanations of my mount, but just through sheer ability to fall off on my part. I don't ride this type of saddle anymore, the type I ride don't have horns, or I hitch up to a cart and drive. What has kept me alive is getting along with the horse, although I would not be ashamed to grab something to keep from falling off, if I ever thought that would work. My feeling has always been, once you're going, you're going.

[ArtS]

An acquaintance of mine that is a horse trainer (or so he says) had one buck him into the air and he landed on the horn fracturing his pelvis. I bet that is one time he wished that he didn't have a horn.

ArtS