Can falling off a horse kill someone?

Question

Can falling off a horse kill someone?

Answer 1

yes it can, but it depends on stuff like where you fell, how fast your horse was moving when you fell, did it step on you when you fell, etc.

Answer 2

Yes it can, and if it doesn't----- well think SUPER MAN!!! He fell off a horse.

Answer 3

It can. But, it depends on how hard the person falls. What I'm saying is that it's possible, but you have to fall pretty hard. Hope this helps!

Answer 4

idk ask christopher reeve

Answer 5

It most certainly can. That is partly why there are "riding helmets" to wear. A helmet wouldn't prevent all injuries, but adds a small safety belt at least.

Answer 6

You betcha it can! And you don't even need to fall on your head. The 19-year-old daughter of our neighbor down the road got thrown and landed solid on her butt. That fall on her butt was fatal. She died of a massive brain stem stroke caused by a vertebral artery dissection.

Answer 7

yes, do you know actor christopher reeve who played superman in the those 80s movies, he was paralyzed for life after falling off a horse and could not walk, just sitting in a wheel chair. RIP my fellow actor, for supporting a stem cell research foundation, so it can kill. Hope this helped

Answer 8

i can kill someone by making them trip. of COURSE falling off a horse can kill someone x_x

Answer 9

It depends, where they fall and if they hit their head or not, they could get a concussion if they hit it on a rock or something else that is hard.

Answer 10

its possible if you hit your head

Answer 11

Yep, and paralysis often occurs with horseback riders!

I.E. Christopher reeves (aka Superman)!

Answer 12

rarely

if u fall and break ur neck ur dead

if u fall off and the horse tramples on u than u mite die

but people rarely ever die from a falling off a horse

Answer 13

Certainly.  It's 6 foot down... depending on how you land or what you hit when falling off, yes, you can certainly die.  And the most dangerous thing that can happen is to have a horse fall on top of you.  I knew of a 12 year old girl who was jumping in a horse show and her horse flipped over backward and landed on her and killed her.  Legendary jockey George Wolfe died on the racetrack... he fell off a horse because he was too weak to ride from diabetis... I'm not sure if his injuries were what killed him or the diabetis though.  Horses are massive creatures and sometimes they're unpredictible.  I read about a jockey who was in the starting gate on his horse when the horse started acting up... it reared up and his head ended up between the post and the horse's body... it cracked his skull open and he died immediately.  There's a lot of danger involved both for horse and rider in every style of riding.

Answer 14

Yes ofcourse it can i know many people who have died all it take is the horse the step on the wrong place or u fall very hard on the wrong place

Answer 15

yes

Answer 16

sure ....they run at 40 mph...try jumping out of your car ar 5mph

Answer 17

It depends on the type and severity of the fall, and the circumstances under which it happens. In general, most falls are pretty harmless- I fell off numerous times while I was learning to ride as a kid, and I am still here to talk about it- and no, I am not paralyzed, nor have I suffered a permanent brain injury. In fact, I have never even broken a bone as a result of falling.

There are always exceptions to this, however. One of the other writers mentioned what happened to actor Christopher Reeve as an example. I want to add in my own perspective, which is based on my years of experience in the horse business. Chris Reeve got hurt and eventually died because he was just PLAIN STUPID and irresponsible, and because he wouldn't take NO for an answer. He was warned not to ride that day, 13 years ago this month, and he ignored every warning anyone tried to give him about the danger he was in. He even ignored his own coaches, whom he was PAYING to give him advice and help with his riding. Now what does that say to you about his character and the kind of person he was? He was in WAY OVER HIS HEAD, but instead of heeding the warnings the other competitors were giving him, he apparently thought he was Superman and could beat the odds and get away with riding in such conditions. It might have worked- but there was just one problem with that. Reeve was on a horse with a known propensity for stopping ( which is the name given to violent refusals to jump, which often result in the rider being unseated or thrown off) and which didn't like or care for mud- and there was a lot of it on that course on that particular day, because of the heavy rains the night before. The horse, Eastern Express, got about half or three quarters of the way around the course, and then came to a log or brush jump- and STOPPED. Reeve fell off over the horse's left shoulder, and got his hands tangled in the reins on the way down- that's why he broke his neck and was paralyzed. Initially, there was a rumor circulating that he had been killed- his heart stopped for about 20 minutes. The medics brought him back, so to speak, and he was airlifted to hospital- but the damage had been done, and he was forced to use a wheelchair and depend on a machine to breathe for the next 9 years !!

Now ANY rider can have a stop on course- even members of our Olympic teams have occasionally had issues with horses that stop- but the difference is that in most cases, these are people who spend a LIFETIME in the saddle, and are seasoned professionals who know how to deal with such incidents WITHOUT either falling or getting themselves or their horses hurt or killed. Reeve was an AMATEUR- someone who rode on the weekends as a hobby in between acting gigs. He simply didn't have either the know how or the experience to deal with a horse like the one he was riding that day- nor did he know how to get himself out of danger in the event the horse acted up. The result, of course, was a completely preventable tragedy- not a great deal unlike some of the ones which have occured in the racing world recently. Reeve's attitude was what got him hurt and eventually led to his death- and this was NO ONE'S FAULT but his own. He was warned repeatedly not to ride, and he elected to ignore the warnings- no one would have thought any less of him had he done the sensible thing and said no that day. Riders in the eventing world do that all the time, for numerous reasons, and it's not something to be ashamed of- nor is it or was it considered to be a sign of cowardice or weakness. We will probably never know what it was that was going through Reeve's head that day so long ago now- or why he felt he had something to prove.

Being ignorant and inexperienced when it comes to a situation like this one is forgivable and understandable- we ALL start out as novices, no matter what the activity. But ignorance is NOT an excuse for stupidity, or for irresponsibility- and Reeve behaved in a way that was both- and paid a high price for it. He wasn't the ONLY ONE who paid for what happened, however- the whole sport of Eventing has never been the same since his "accident". There are a lot of people who lost their livelihoods because of Reeve's irresponsibility- and the sport itself has been forever altered in both appearance and format. The original long, or classic format, is now a thing of the past, with the exception of the competition at Rolex in Kentucky. Two of the most important parts of cross country day, Roads and Tracks and the Steeplechase, have now been eliminated. The distances have been shortened, and the speeds have been lowered. About the only thing that hasn't changed is the rather unforgiving nature of some of the fences- fences are still solid, heavy, permanent structures which are not designed to be forgiving. There are some who argue that this makes the sport safer- but I disagree. Eventing is ALWAYS GOING to be risky and dangerous- the danger element is part of what attracts people to it.

I am going to end by saying that Chris Reeve's accident was an exception, not the rule, and by and large, most people who ride are able to do so safely and easily. Deaths from falling off a horse are relatively rare, at least in my experience.

Answer 18

yes. There have been several jockey fatalities in horse racing.