[HairOfTheDog]

I think they are much more scary going down than going up.

I lost my nerve jumping when I started getting so high that I felt like we were going to somersault on the downhill it was so steep. Never had a bad fall like that, and I still quit out of fear ;~D

[AnAmericanMother]

The thing about going down is you have to lean back TWICE as far as normal (that "safety seat" again). A trick that I use a lot is to approach a bank or water jump VERY slowly - often on a slight diagonal. If you let your horse get a lot of speed and a lot of air on a bank, the landing is much much worse. Plus, the bigger you let them jump into water, the DEEPER it is, which means sudden deceleration on the old legs, nose into the water, rider into the water . . . all that sort of stuff. My mare and I are a couple of old ladies, and we aren't going to set any land speed records doing this stuff!