YOur worst horse fall?

Question

I just had a bad one. But i want to see if anyone's has been worse. I'll explain to you in detail when I pick the best answer.

Answer 1

i've never fallen of a horse... :-)

Answer 2

I've been pretty lucky, over the years.  Only a few falls.

The "worst" one won't even be considered as your Best Answer, since it's so innocuous.  I've never been badly injured.  Some falls "looked" worse than they were.

The worst injury I suffered from a fall was when I landed on my shoulder at full speed, and separated it.  Unbelievably, I managed to finish the show that day.  Ah, youth.

The worst-looking spill happened when a new-to-me horse I was showing for the first time, took off bucking after someone opened a car's hatchback near the ring, and it spooked him.  I was fine with that, but the horse tripped and fell...right on top of me.  I remember hearing the nearby portion of the crowd gasp in horror.  

What they couldn't know is the horse landed on me mostly with the side of its belly.  So, to me, it was actually rather soft and warm.  No pain.  Not even really scary, since it all happened so fast, and the horse got up right away.  I hopped right back on and had to actually explain to the judge in the ring, that I was disqualified.  You see, it was a flat class (I can't remember if it was hunter under saddle or equitation or whatnot), and it all happened so fast, the judge apparently didn't even notice.  (The ring was set up with jumps for the overfences classes, later.  So it's not as though there was a clear line of sight from the judge to the ground where my horse fell.)

Like I said.  ...Nothing, really.  (knock wood)

Answer 3

One of my worst falls was about 2 years ago on my horse Mr Chips, i was trekking up mountains about half an hour from us with 3 of my friends and their horses, anyways we had had a great day and were about half way down the mountain when my horses shoe became loose and he skidded on some loose rock. His head jerked forward suddenly and i tumbled of in front of him, he got a fright and reared up leaning one hoof when he came back own on my stomach. The Pain!!!! Ill never forget it!!!  I let out a scream which resulted in the horse in front of me getting a fright and kicking back hitting my thigh. i was frozen i just could not move!! eventually after about an hour i decided to mount up again get down the mountain... the pain was unreal and we had to walk the whole way because any faster than a low walk was just not an option!! Finally when we got back to the stables i was able to get something to help with the pain an bruising but god i was stiff for the best part of 3 weeks!! it didn't stop me riding though because i know it was a freak accident and Mr chips is normally quiet as a lamb!!

Answer 4

excercising the racers one day, going about 35 mph then the horse decides to spook sideways i go flying off and get ran over by the horse behind me. Very painful indeed!

Answer 5

A few years ago I was riding a school-pony named Freddy. No one liked Freddy because he dumped everyone at jumps. Freddy was afraid of jumps that were colorful and that day when I was riding him, we had to jump a red and white vertical with red flower boxes. Not a good idea with Freddy. He decided to randomly run out of the jump... three strides away from it (he had a big horse stride). I flew  off his shoulder, did a flip in the air, and slid headfirst into the jump. Ow. I had bruises all up and down my left side and a huge egg on the place where my skull meets my neck. Thank God for helmets!

Then, later, I was helping to take out some horses and the horse I was taking out was insane. She wouldn't stand still as I tried to take her halter off and stomped on my foot. My whole foot swelled up and I had to go to the ER and was in crutches for four days.

And all of that was on my 5th grade graduation day and the first day of summer. What a great way to start off summer.

Answer 6

i fell over a horses neck and the bridel came with me...

i was showing my non horsey friend how fast i can gallop bareback up a hill, my horse wanted to show her how bad i could fall off and land on my shoulder!!!

lol

Answer 7

When I was 12, my quarter horse threw me up over his head, and I landed on my right side - on a gravel driveway!!!  I broke a few ribs.... then I rolled over, to my left side, and the horse stomped the inside of my left leg.  It didn't break, but he tore my brand new pants (man, I was mad!) and gave me a pretty bad scrape - I still have the scar!

Answer 8

When I was 8 years old (about 4'5" tall) I went to my first overnight camp, 3 hours from house, for three weeks. It was a horseback riding camp and I was about the youngest age there. I had my preferences of what horse I wanted to ride, of course, but they told me who to ride and I rode them- I hardly had a say in it. In the beginning of the second week of camp, they told me to ride a horse named Billy. He was probably around 15 HH and he was a handsome chestnut. I was pretty excited about getting to ride someone new! I trail rode to the ring fine and I walked and trotted fine. Then we lined up and, for whatever reason, took turns cantering around. It came to my turn and I gave a kick and a tap, and off we went. Billy wasn't very happy with this, apparently, because he started bucking and galloping away. About 4 bucks in, off I came, landing on my stomach with my wrist curled under me. That broke my wrist painfully, and they never had me ride Billy again. I was in a cast until almost the end of summer! :(

I have had so many falls, but this had one had a bigger effect on me... (cast) :)

Answer 9

I had a Welsh cob to ride, and took him to a XC training day to liven his spirits a little.

We were heading for a 2ft trakehner - not big, but the pony had no idea there was a ditch underneath the jump until he was about to take off. He stopped, crashing his legs off the jump, and I flew straight off the front, landing on my shoulder and hitting my head. My mother shouted at me to get back on and make him jump properly, which I did, and then I was allowed to go to the hospital! I had a broken collar bone, concussion, a nosebleed, a sprained wrist, and I was bruised all down my right side. I was off riding for a couple of weeks, until my head felt right again.

Another time I fell off an hour into a day's hunting, and my mother insisted that I hadn't hurt myself and I'd be absolutely fine (notice a pattern?!) so I continued for the rest of the day, getting increasingly sore as the day went on. Turned out I'd broken my ankle.

Answer 10

I'm a lucky one! My worst wasn't bad AT ALL!

I was riding a green arabian gelding names Snesok. Snesok doesn't jump. (i'm in a devolping country not good standards. He was my first lesson horse and about the worst one! He bucked, kicked, crow hopped, and spooked all the time! He's not use to jumping and freaks at the sight of a cross pole! I had jumped at camp before. But when I did jump it was on a well trained lesson horse. Sure I'd have a refusal or two but nothing huge. I was nevous (the worst to do!) and so when I trotted him up he spooked like crazy! Reared up: I slid but just managed to keep on. Then he skidders to the side I fell of twisted my back and hit my chest hard on the jump. I got the wind knocked out of me and a pretty bad back for a few months after that! It was not a pretty site but was still ok. The worst part was my mom lost total confidence in letting me ride! Now I can't ride here! :(

- ur's has got to be worse this one was nothing!

Answer 11

I was riding alongside a busy road. The only place to ride was at the narrow top of a steep embankment.  It had rained earlier and the embankment was muddy. My horse misstepped and tried to correct herself...next thing I knew she reared back and fell onto her side with my leg pinned under her...then we slid down the embankment and a car was coming and laid on the horn.  My horse panicked as she struggled to regain her footing and ended up on the asphalt, then slipped and fell again.  I'd still been with her until this fall...I came off onto the asphalt hitting my head, but thankfully still had the reins. I then had to lead my very flustered horse to a place down the road where we could climb back up the embankment, and I don't know how we did it.  Fortunately, after the horn honker, the next car slowed and kept traffic at bay while we got ourselves back off the road. We were banged up and covered in mud, but both came out of relatively unscathed.

Answer 12

it all happened the week exacly after my birthday, my worst fall was breaking my arm directly below my shoulder bone...fell off badly when jumping and well hit the jump, flipped slightly and hit the ground shoulder on before bouncing a little. Then to top it the horse landed on my arm. It hurt! My bone was pushed up next to my shoulder blade. Nearly through the muscle and skin. I have the x- ray lol :D I also bashed my head rather badly then as well. I was took to the office straight away and my mum was called. Well it took me 5 mins to walk around the corner literally. Cause it hurt with every step. :). When my mum arrived she was asking if my head was ok!! Hello, broken arm mum? I had to sleep in agony that night, on my sofa bed cause i couldnt make it up the ladders! My mum kept on saying its not broken...probably just badly bruised, stop being a wimp! I knew it was cause i could feel the bone next to my blade and when i poked it. That hurt so much as well and sent off the muscle spasms. I had to wait till the next day till i was alowed to hospital. All my mum ever says now is why didnt i cry in pain when i usually cry when im in a little bit(supposedly! i dont) and i didnt when i broke my arm? Honestly i didnt, it hurt but i dont like to cry in front of anyone or let on that im in pain. And  i got a lot of attention that night. I didnt go back riding for 4 months. (worst 4 months of my life!) Trust me i wanted to go back the week after i broke it!  I went back to riding lessons for 2 months and then i got a loan horse (dancer <3) and i got her then rode for a while and just on sunday i jumped her again! I did yesterday as well and were going 2 compete in showjumping in the future. :D

Answer 13

my worste fall was a few years ago when i was riding i little 12.3 pony.

i was galloping along a track with some other horses and ponies, (this pony had allways been great in company) when it started to buck, and it kinda jurked sidways, i lost a stirrup and fell to one side, but my other foot got caught in the stirrup and i was dragged, but not a long way.

i ended up with stones all embeded in my arm and side

Answer 14

My worst fall was when the horse I was riding decided it didn't want me on it any more or and that it hated the horse infront and behind it. It kicked the horse behind bit the one infront on the a.ss, bucked and reared and sent me flying head first into a brick wall. I thought i'd broke my neck and just lay there groaning for ages. My back still hurts 10 years on.

Oh the memories!! lol!

Answer 15

um about 2 months ago i was training this new QH that i brought in. he was only 3 and was hardly broke, so before i got on him i ground trained him for about 3 and a half weeks then i moved on to saddleing him and putting him on a lunge line. after a few weeks he was pretty good. so i tried to get on him and he was very stuborn(of course being about only his 3 ride) i was walking him and a reflection from one of the windows in my indoor arena shined to the ground, he took one look at it and jumped to the side, lost his footing and sliped over on his side, with my leg under him. luckly he got up right away, but this was only the beggining. he took off running in the enclosed arena. i stood up with my throbing leg and when i looked over at him i realized the saddle was under his stomach. as  u may no. this can be very dangerous for a horse. so i walked slowly up to him and and he reared up at me and kicked me in the stomach and i fell to the ground..  throwing up. i think i fained after that caz i cant really remember the rest bcaz all i remember is waking up in the hospital, with a very badly injured leg, bruised stomach and still constiantly throwing up, and a broken arm. the doctors told me that when i had fainted the horse stepped on my arm and cracked it completly in half.

  i still have this horse and he is now a almost fully trained western pleasure horse.. fully trained my me... the lesson is to never give up. if u fall get right back up again :)

Answer 16

I have 2 -

   The first one was when I was about 15. I was jumping my trainer's warmblood named Hector. He was probably 16.3 (I'm only 5 feet) I wasn't quite where I was supposed to be and he stopped at a jump. His stop pitched me off balance and I went off his right side, the problem was, I flipped the right stirrup into the air and hooked it with my left foot on my way down. The stirrup caught me before the ground did and I felt something pop. We thought I had broken my leg, but it turned out I had torn my calf muscle. I was on crutches for a week or so and went back to riding about 2 months later. However, my calf was really weak so I compensated by pinching with my knees. As a result of that, I had to have knee surgery to fix the damage to my left knee.

  The second was when I was at college at Colorado State. I was jumping an Oldenburg mare named Secret in my jumping class (yes I took riding classes for credit - I recommend it to anyone). We were headed towards a rather large spread and I was a little off on her right shoulder. We came over the jump and she pitched under me to catch me. The movement tossed me off her left side and I hit the dirt, neck, shoulder, head and then the rest of me. I was really sore, but I got back on. The next day at work, my boss told me to go see his chiropractor - we thought it would help the stiffness. I did, but I felt a million times worse. I eventually healed, and decided to start seeing a chiropractor a few months later. He took x-rays (the last guy did not) and it turned out I had broken a vertebrate in my neck when I fell. I still have a chunk of bone floating around in there.

Answer 17

My worst fall was about 26 years ago. I was taking my pony club B test at the time. We had to jump a course of fences outside. The ground was pretty hard, my mare was a good jumper but a little on her forehand. I can not say exactly what happened, but she was jumping fine, then she tripped on landing after one of the fences. Some how after she had fallen and I was also on the ground she managed to put a hoof in my chest. I ended up with 3 broken ribs, a punctured lung and two fractured vertebrae.  I am sorry about your fall. Best wishes and take care.

Answer 18

*ONE* of my worst falls was I was Exercising a B**** of a mare Qh X Arab. I was asked to ride her because i was known to gte on the ones who are misunderstood. (is what I call them) So i had been riding her and her previous owner all she did was canter for hours and hours. So this mare when you ride her she just wanted to canter. But also this mare had an AMAZING jump in her. But her one problemo was that she only wants to do it when she wants to and if you ask her to canter and she doesn't want to you get pitched to the ground and anytime you ask her to do anything she doesn't want to you got pitched to the ground. ALso she is quite lazy! Well I was having a lesson on her and we were doing a 3 foot 3 inch grid. Well she jumps the first jump then after that bucks and bolts over the next jumps and they are 3 feet - 3 6 and then she over jumped the oxer by at least a foot and bucked in mid air i went flying and landed flat on my back and had the wind knocked outta me and was laying theye unconsious for a few minutes. This mare still has these issues a few years later and ive tried for 1 year and they have had huge name trainers come and she just never gets better. She has now been retired to being a brood mare because most times when they had someone ride her they came off in that day!

Answer 19

i never had a fall that needed medical attention. (ive seen falls that needed medical attention and i've seen falls that lead to death of rider and horse)

my worst fall was i was working over a jumping coarse with my trainer, and my horse made a sudden turn before the jump *we were in an indoor arena and the jump was against the wall* and i did everything i could to hold on/not fall. but i hit the ground... that wasnt the bad part. our rule is we always have to get back up after a fall. so i got back up, and started the coarse over, at the same spot he turned again, this time i went flying and hit the wall with my back and the tip of the jump base with mah head...and i was wearing a helmet, prob why i didnt need medical attition. that was my worst fall... two in a row.

Answer 20

Well I have never had a bad fall because for a girl im built like a brick! Also the horse i usually ride stops at fences a lot so i have learnt to hang on.

  A friend of mine was bucked off and was unconsious for a few minutes.

Another friend was eventing. She fell off and was trampled by six horses. Had to get a massive skin graph.

Answer 21

Well, I know it isn't the worst out there but it was the worst for me. Once I had been riding and my horse turned one way when I was expecting to go the other and I fell off and got the wind knocked out of me.

But, what was bad was when I was nine years old I was out in the field petting my mom's horse and he got spooked and ran and kicked. Just perfectly got me on the back of my shoulder blade and I flew in the air and when I hit ground I was shocked. It didn't hurt but it scared me. lol!

Can't wait to read yours!

Answer 22

The actually fall itself was pretty straight forward but the injury was the worst.  I back, break, train, school and event horses and particularly enjoy riding those that have reached the stage that nobody wants to get on them.  Adrenialine junkie!  

My eventer came to me deemed unrideable as she rodeoed frequently.   She didn't just buck but jumped several feet in the air before rounding her back and handstanding over and over again.  She had got me off several times already that way but we were making good progress and started jumping.  I took her out on a hack with my husband on his bike and we jumped over a ditch.  She tripped on the landing and it set her off into a fit of bucking.  I came off but I have an uncanny knack of landing on my feet and did so in this case.  The problem was the my ankle got stuck in a rut and snapped.  

My horse galloped for home jumping out of the field over a ditch and hedge before running up the roads.  At first I thought it was just a bad sprain and undid my chaps and lifted my leg until my husband shouted at me to put it down as it was apparently just dangling from halfway down my calf. It turned out it was broken in 3 places and the ankle was dislocated.  The hosital could get it to set correctly so I had surgery and it now held together with two 6" screws and a 7" plate.  As for the horse, she is fab now and my favourite ride!  

The funniest one was about four weeks after I got back onto the same horse after my leg was out of cast and popped over a small jump and she did it again.  I fell off making sure I landed on my butt this time and heard my friend screaming for help as my leg had fallen off.  It was actually just my boot and chaps but she panicked.  I couldn't breathe for laugher at that.

Answer 23

I've had a lot of falls... Hm, my worst... Don't know, but I'll explain one that really sticks out to me...

A few years ago I was riding the horse I own now. A couple of kids came galloping past me on their horses and it was really unexpected. My horse reared and took off with them. There was a horse camp on the trails where I was riding. The two girls ran into these people and then my horse came close to running right into their horses. I one-reined him and as he was turning around he slipped, his head flew back knocking me in the face, then he bucked and I flew off landing on the ground under the horse in front of me. The horse spooked and took off and ran my leg over. I broke my nose and tore my leg up pretty badly.

Answer 24

My hubby wins this one, over me!  He was riding my barrel horse and they were at a run, and they turned...  The horse kept going he didn't the saddle broken (this is why we'll never ride with out a breast collar again) he landed flat on his back, saddle between his legs, knocked out, dislocated his hip, got a hernia, and herniated a disk in his back!  He's still paying for this and it's been 12 yrs.  

Mine wasn't a fall but a kick my mare wouldn't load into the trailer walked kinda behind her and double barrels got me in the gut, back I went about 10 feet of more to the gate, knocked out opened my eye and told my friend, "dude all I remember is opening my eyes and seeing your navy blue tennis shoes" and she said "your eyes were open".  I got two basketball size black, water beds under my skin, (blood).  Yep fun but I'm willing to keep doing it.

Answer 25

A small pony 13hh decided to not work for my daughter. I thought I'd show my mother how nicely she could work. Jumped on and all h**l broke loose. She bucked like thpse huge bulls at a rodeo, headed for a double wire fence/shelter belt. I thought she'd gone mad and was going to crash into it. So thought I'd better hit the ground before I hit the fence.

I caught my wrist as I fell on the ground and somersaulted 3 times. That's how much momentum she had picked up.

It took four operations over a year to try and fix my shattered elbow and two years before I could confidently get back to riding. After the incident I'd gone from riding semi pro and competing internationally to not being able to pick up the horses hooves I was so scared. But thanks to my nearly 80 year old farrier I'm back on board again and having fun.

By the way the farrier got me picking up the hooves, explained to me that he even new of jockeys that had lost their nerve after falls, and I realised that my brain was just healing and not wanting my body to get hurt again. I hate to tell you my other bad ones, it sounds like I can't ride!

Answer 26

I had just finished training a 11 year old arabian to saddle.  She had previously been broke to carriage and had only pulled fancy buggies in parades.  The two of us were riding at a gallop along side the rode.  I was going to ride past the driveway,  which was across the road, and turn around and come back.  She thought I would want to go into the driveway.  So as we got to it she turned onto the highway.  I made the mistake of signaling her that I did not intend to do that.  She tried to correct in the middle of the asphalt road still in a gallop.  Of course her feet went out from under her and the two of us slid across highway 95 at about a 45 degree angle and ended up in the driveway.

It is a very strange feeling when you are sliding across asphalt with your head on the pavement thinking "Man this is going to hurt after I get up!"

I broke my wrist (actually crushed the bone that the thumb rests on) and have scars from scrapes on both knees and one arm (the one whose wrist I didn't break).  The scrapes on the side of my head were under the hair so do not show up.  I feel a tiny amount of roughness there but nothing else.

Fancy had a huge raw place where the hide was scraped off her shoulder. But nitrofurazone healed it up so well that the only way you can tell she was hurt there is that the hair on her should grows together in a little cow l**k there.

Fancy is twenty now and still going strong.

Answer 27

My worst fall as an adult was over a small oxer; only about 2' x 2', but my crazy horse jumped as high as the top of the standards and wide enough to cover an 8' spread (according to the friend who watched it happen).  I got "left" and came up about a foot out of the saddle. As he crested his jumping arc and began coming down, of course that made me fall forward. I had just enough time to realize that if I fell the way gravity would take me, he would land right on top of me, so I threw myself a little to the left.  The back of my head hit the ground first, then I rolled.  I couldn't get up for several minutes, and was sore for a good week after that!  Everyone kept asking me: "Don't you know what happened to Christopher Reeve?"

As a teenager, my Children's Hunter would do this shoulder ducking trick when he was sick of jumping and I got pitched into several jumps during shows, taking down all the rails and planks and standards right on top of me!

Answer 28

My worst wreck was actually in a round pen. I had a grumpy horse that had a bad temper and he decided he didn't want to lope that day. So, I put him into a lope and he started bucking (this is a poco bueno bred-QH and he knows how to buck!). He got me off, I heard numerous voices going through my head saying, "get back on! get back on!" So, I climbed back on and asked him to lope again and this time he blew up even harder. He bucked from side to side and ducked out from under me. I fell under him since my boot hung up in the stirrup a bit and then he bucked off of my thigh. This happened three years ago and I still have half a horse shoe mark on my thigh. I crawled around into the middle of the roundpen as he ran circles around me. I threw a couple rocks after I got my breath back. I tried to stand up but I kept trying to pass out so I just sat there for about 30 minutes. Needless to say, the horse is now gone and those days are far behind me. It has taken me a LONG time to grow my confidence back up after being hurt that bad though. (P.S. That's not my only bad wreck, but I didn't want to take up the whole screen.)

Answer 29

I've been very lucky (probably has a lot to do with the fact that I have never evented and I only did jumping for a short while as a teen).  I fell off a bucking mustang when I was 20 and messed up my tailbone (it still hurts to touch, 5 years later!)  I don't blame the mustang at all - he had a back problem that his owner most helpfully did not tell me about beforehand.

My other not-so-fun fall was about a month ago, when I fell off a spooking horse and broke my rib and hurt my knees.  That was my fault, too - a) I shouldn't have continued to ride in jointed stirrups, which I didn't feel safe in, and b) if my balance and muscle tone had been better, I may have stayed on (or at least fallen more gracefully!)

Live and learn...and wear your helmet!

Answer 30

I was training as an AI.  I was on a Dutch Warmblood Horse (built like a tank, dead lazy but loved jumping.)  We were coming into a set of bounce fences, you know, jump in from trot, land, take of again, down six lines.  Well, the horse trotted in nicely, bounced the first four and took the last two together.  I landed on the fence the horse landed on me and between us we managed to make a huge dent in the indoor school!  Even my instructor could not blame me that time!

Answer 31

Never had a very bad one *touch wood*.

But the worst was when I was riding my then-share pony who was terror when it came to jumping. Was jumping about 2ft, went up to it, he slammed on the brakes, I carried on, apparently did the tightest mid-air somersault, any diver would have been proud, and landed flat on my back, very winded and had bruised ribs/back. That was before everyone had really got in to the whole backprotector thing.