I went XC schooling with a friend yesterday. Dom came with us and brought his camera so I was looking forward to some nice photos. The venue I went to had a bit of a revamp earlier this year and I was disappointed to see that a lot of the new fences were big and had replaced the older 70-80cm range so there wasn't as much for Gracie and I to have a go at. They are still plenty of lower things, in the 40-60cm range but I'd planned to push us a little out of our comfort zone and wasn't really able to do that.
Anyhoo, we had fun popping over the smaller ones and then it all went wrong. I put G to a little roll top that we'd already jumped successfully a couple of times and her striding was off so she went long, clearing it beautifully herself. I can usually cope when she's goess long but for some reason this one caught me off guard and unfortunately I got left behind. This meant that when she landed I got catapulted right up onto her neck, landing low down on the right side. Somehow I actually managed to hoist myself up and over, but because she was still moving, I put too much effort into that and ended up further over and down on the left side than I'd been on the right!
There was no coming back from it and I hit the deck. You know how these things always happen so quickly.... Dom reports that I actually fell slowly, hit the ground feet first, fell backwards onto my bum and then onto my back from the inertia of movement. This venue "advises" the use of BP's, so they're not compulsory so I had opted to wear my air jacket (lockdown weight means it won't fit over my BP any more or I'd have worn both, tbh) which activated and saved me from injury. I don't remember hearing it but Dom said it made a loud whoosh rather than the bang I'd expected. Gracie immediately stopped and started grazing so she wasn't bothered by me falling off OR the noise of the AJ going off. I was also wearing my 3-week old new HS1V helmet, which was thankfully saved from a bash by the inflated air cushion around my neck 
There wasn't a mark on it. So the only place that actually hurt was my lower back, which is always decidedly iffy these days anyway. It wasn't exposed because the Hit-Air comes down over your pelvis, but because I'd sat on my bum before toppling over backwards, it gave everything a good jar upwards I felt a bit dazed but got back on G to ride back to the trailer. I have to remember that I'm not twelve any more!! Anyhow, I took some painkillers when I got home and spent the rest of the afternoon/evening sitting on a hot water bottle and remarkably, this morning my back feels better than it has in ages... . which is really weird 
I absolutely believe that the air jacket gave me far better protection for this particular fall than my BP would have.... I'd have certainly bashed the back of my new hat and that would need replacing already..... £165 down the drain. But you can't put a price on safety really, can you?
I don't think it's knocked my confidence, but time will tell on that one.
Anyhoo, here's a pic is us earlier in the sesh.....
Anyhoo, we had fun popping over the smaller ones and then it all went wrong. I put G to a little roll top that we'd already jumped successfully a couple of times and her striding was off so she went long, clearing it beautifully herself. I can usually cope when she's goess long but for some reason this one caught me off guard and unfortunately I got left behind. This meant that when she landed I got catapulted right up onto her neck, landing low down on the right side. Somehow I actually managed to hoist myself up and over, but because she was still moving, I put too much effort into that and ended up further over and down on the left side than I'd been on the right!
There was no coming back from it and I hit the deck. You know how these things always happen so quickly.... Dom reports that I actually fell slowly, hit the ground feet first, fell backwards onto my bum and then onto my back from the inertia of movement. This venue "advises" the use of BP's, so they're not compulsory so I had opted to wear my air jacket (lockdown weight means it won't fit over my BP any more or I'd have worn both, tbh) which activated and saved me from injury. I don't remember hearing it but Dom said it made a loud whoosh rather than the bang I'd expected. Gracie immediately stopped and started grazing so she wasn't bothered by me falling off OR the noise of the AJ going off. I was also wearing my 3-week old new HS1V helmet, which was thankfully saved from a bash by the inflated air cushion around my neck There wasn't a mark on it. So the only place that actually hurt was my lower back, which is always decidedly iffy these days anyway. It wasn't exposed because the Hit-Air comes down over your pelvis, but because I'd sat on my bum before toppling over backwards, it gave everything a good jar upwards I felt a bit dazed but got back on G to ride back to the trailer. I have to remember that I'm not twelve any more!! Anyhow, I took some painkillers when I got home and spent the rest of the afternoon/evening sitting on a hot water bottle and remarkably, this morning my back feels better than it has in ages... . which is really weird I absolutely believe that the air jacket gave me far better protection for this particular fall than my BP would have.... I'd have certainly bashed the back of my new hat and that would need replacing already..... £165 down the drain. But you can't put a price on safety really, can you?
I don't think it's knocked my confidence, but time will tell on that one.
Anyhoo, here's a pic is us earlier in the sesh.....
