Jockey Safety

"If there were no ear to hear me,

Still the pounding heart would fear me.

For in most manifold array, I exert relentless sway,

Haunt the seaway, haunt the canyon,

Ever timorous companion.

Ever found and never sought,

Ever paid both curse and court.

Grey Care, am I unknown to you?"

Death Spirit from

Goethe's Faust, Part II, Act 5.

Back to horse bones hopefully tomorrow. One to many mental projects for the meager brain have distracted.

Good day, see below, to discuss rider safety, a subject near and dear to my heart. Riding horses is an extreme sport. What's the attraction in mounting a powerful, athletic, totally unpredictable animal that can maim you, kill you, turn you into a paraplegic?

Jocks, of course, partially for the money. Yet, obviously there need be something else for those of us who merely exercise our steeds. This post is about safety instead of what the attraction is in race riding. Suffice here that riding a horse at speed is fun with a capital F. It's a blast. If the rider is also the trainer there's the added benefit of gaging the horse's progress and riding and maneuvering the steed correctly for injury avoidance.

For every rider fear of injury and death is the "ever timorous companion". This you understand every day when the leg goes up. In such a sport fear has to be dealt with. For riders fear recedes to the back of the brain where it is harnessed to brain cells that dictate extreme care, caution and reaction time when trouble inevitably occurs. Unknown other rider's thought processes, but mine-- every stride, every hoof strike out there is preceded by a mental strategy of exit.

How does the rider cope? My favorite example is the "No Fear" slogan stamped on the back of Mike Smith's exercise helmet in those Mandela "On the Muscle" "Dvds. My second favorite memory was old old jock Terry McGee statement to me that when something happens you have about 2 seconds to get off. From experience, that is 2 seconds the rider fully appreciates.

All this has come to the fore at the farm lately as our latest good horse has taken to bolting at anything from blades of grass to the imagined lions in the bush. Big Rod now days has his ears up at the post. He's looking for trouble.

This is of course other than good for yours truly who is particularly tall for a rider and possessed of hips stiffer than they once were. When the center of gravity is up higher on the horse reaction to what happens below is geometrically slower. And, with this horse, we sit forward of the barrel almost on the shoulders due to his construction. This creates the problem of reducing Terry McGee's 2 second reaction time as with Rod compared to most, you sit right over the very front end of the horse near the point of first movement. When the horse panics and bolts so do I and it's instantaneous instead of the 2 second delay.

Rod bolts because he panics. Its as if he's hit by a jolt of electric and you feel the vibration. The good part is Rod quickly regains his composure instead of running off in fear.

This comes to mind for me due to my particular horse and the link below. Riders are nearly defenseless against a horse propping and sharply veering at the bolt. The fear involved is much less the fall, for every rider mentally practices falling and we believe we can survive a mere fall. The real fear is getting caught in the stirrups, getting kicked in process, or, as happens to the unfortunate in the link, the horse fell on him. And hence the q of rider safety and that the sport with regard to this is still in the dark ages. Continue tomorrow.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/58537/rider-injured-in-saratoga-training-accident

Training:

Sat. 8/21. Off. Rain.

Sun. 8/22: trotted about a mile over new course. horse "looking" all the way, + 5 x 3f riderless spurts fairly fast.

Mon. 8/23 1 mile trot with a little gallop. Horse more comfortable today. 2 miles riderless slow gallop.