And I’m PROUD of it. The correct way to get off a horse, is the Charles Vane-way, in my opinion.
Not one single time have I dismounted Batman the “English” way. Simply because I prefer to land facing away from the horse, not standing halfway under it, not being able to see a thing. Especially when the horse is very, very big. When I dismount, I simply give Batman the cue for lowering his head, and then jump off. It can be done from halt, walk and trot, and is comes in handy!
I started with this before I met Batman, and the first time I rode him, I spent a few minutes discussing with myself wether I should try to just throw my leg over, or jump off the “normal way”. I went for the first option, and Batman could not care less. I have actually not dismounted the normal way the past eight years, from any horse, I think.
Other acceptable ways of dismounting, is asking the horse to lie down, or fall off. ;)
How do you dismount? I’d love to hear from others who jump off the same way I do, haha!
6 comments
I do it almost english style, I’m really short and my horse is really tall, so I slowly slide down his side until I’m a reasonable distance from the ground to let go of him. I’m not very athletic either…
I dismount the same way as you, I don’t think I’ve dismounted the ‘traditional’ way in over 4 years now I think I may have forgotten how too haha! X
I would love to be able to dismount my horse the way you do, when she was alive. But the combination of me being heavy and she was a tall horse, i think I would break my legs
I kick both of me feet out of my stirrups and swing my right leg over their rump and somewhat jump down! I’m always worried about getting my foot stuck and having the horse spoon and take off while me foot is still in the stirrup. Sometimes it’s not graceful but I never end up under them and far enough away that if something happened I wouldn’t get hurt.
I dismount western-style, leaving my leg in the stirrup. I have a small and trustworthy horse so it works out.
Adding: when bareback I do jump off like you do, or slide down the rump.