Your worst horse falls/accidents..?

Question

i was wondering what your worst horse fall or accident was?

im asking because i had my worst today. i was jumping a XC jump at this XC course we ride to a couple times a week. it takes bout an hour to get there by horse. anyway i was cantering towards a jump and there was a mud bank before it. my horse refused it. i fell over the jump..and then my horse jumps it without me on him. i am infront of the jump. i am face down in the dirt at that point (i had no time to react) and then my horse lands on me and canters over me. basically trampling me. he stepped on my calf, thigh, back, and head. im surprised im not in worse condition (although I am pretty bad) i laid there and the only way back was the trail so i got on and rode back to the barn (thank god i had a friend with me.. who btw was terrified of what she saw) now i have a reddish mark/bruise in the shape of a hoof print on my back and my calf on one leg and thigh on the other are really bruised and swollen. i have to walk

Answer 1

worst fall that happened to me: fell off twice (in the same corner of the ring) and second time hit the wall.

worst fall that ive seen in person: the girl fell off the horse and hit the landed on her wrist and the bone popped out thru her skin, she was taken to the hospital. . . she ended up pushing the bone back in place her self before they got to her in the field.

worst fall of a friend/trainer of mine: her and a friend were at an event, her friend was riding the cross country coarse and his horse's leg caught on the fence and the horse flipped over it, landing on the rider's chest, both died that day.

my trainer had been bucked off a horse and broke her pelivis in a few places, a friend fell off a horse in the field and broke his leg in 3 places (full leg cast), i've had a horse fall on top of me (that wasnt a bad one b/c we landed in the mudd and neither one of us were hurt), i fell off my horse on a trail, but the scariest part was it was right before the road that we had to cross to get back to the barn and my horse ran across the road. . . that made my heart stop b/c people fly down that country road and i thought for sure he'd get hit by a car. (thank god he didnt).

but yeah me, my friends, and trainers have had a few spills that were scary and bad. i suggest that if you havent already go to a doctor, one thing i never play around with, if i'm hurt i go(your only given one body), if my horse's hurt i call the vet. . . hope you feel better and get some medical attention if you havent already.

Answer 2

My worst was during a lesson a few years ago when we were schooling some tricky grids which had been going very well.

We worked up to 3'6-3'9 with no issues, and then the trainer set up a 4'3 fence at the end of a long line of jumps that got progressively higher. The last was 3'9 to 4'3 fence with a wall filler in three strides. The last thing I remember is not seeing the distance.

I woke up with a grade 3 concussion and two cracked ribs about 5 minutes later.

The scariest one, however was when I took a horse out on a hack with my friend around the stable's property and ended up getting dragged upside down caught in the stirrup leather and nearly getting kicked in the head several times before my foot came loose. I just had very sore ankle..probably just sprained, I never went to the ER-but it was by far the scariest thing I ever went through(the other probably would've been

scary..but I can't really remember lol)

edit;

Also, worst fall that's happened to someone I knew(she actually gave me some lessons when the trainer wasn't around) was over low warmup fences with a young horse-she was killed when she fell over and got caught between the horses the legs. The mare was unharmed, but it was absolutely unmistakeable that she was grieving for a long time.

Answer 3

Ugh.  Sadly, my falls seem to hurt more the older I get even though they aren't nearly as bad as some of my early ones.  

For my worst, I was training a 3 year old mustang and had been prepping him for backing for a few months.  When the day came to actually sit on him for the first time, some people were supposed to come help me and didn't show up.  He had never batted an eyelash when I had tacked him up or laid across his back, so I figured we'd be fine.  I mounted and everything went well until my butt hit the saddle, when he took off on a bucking bronco ride.  He popped me off over his head and then landed on me pretty purposefully - I never used to wear a hardhat but somehow had the foresight to do it that day and the dent in the helmet was almost down to my skull when I took it off.  I have never ridden without one since =P  I also had various hoof shaped bruises and a sprained neck, but I am really lucky to have gotten off so easily.

My worst injury was a broken tail bone, but that was me showing off my bareback riding skills when they weren't really all that great :D  a grading truck went by on the road while I was showing off and my horse spooked to the side and I didn't follow - landed ungracefully flat on my butt.  not a huge accident, but boy I couldn't sit for a month =P

I just consider myself lucky since I have been riding for 28 years and have only ever broken 1 bone - and been thrown off a *lot*.  Now that I am older though, I try to minimize it and ride more predictable horses ;)

Answer 4

my worst experience was that i was on a trail ride to get to my summer camp with my horse. I figured my horse loves trail rides why put him in a trailer when he is so scared of them due to a bad experinece. I was over half way their when a car came out of nowhere and was speeding the loud noise spooked my horse and he backed right into a tree. a branch was pushed on my neck and he kept going in to the tree so i grabbed the tree branch jumped off and as soon as i did the branch smacked my horse on his butt and he ran across a busy intersection and he is an EX RACE HORSE so you could have imagined how frightened i was. But luckily he made it threw safely and i caught him down the road at a church. We made it to camp in one piece.

Answer 5

Thank goodness youre okay. I had only one fall so far on a horse because we got off track in a circle. It wasnt a bad fall but I was happy that I didnt get kicked by a horse that I landed right behind during a lesson. I had a bruise the next day and I was fine.

Answer 6

Well I rode bareback broncs in amateur rodeos and one professional performance. I also broke horses for people as a side job. I had some pretty awful wrecks but the most I ever got was a broken tailbone, bruised ribs and a concussion.

  My worse wreck though was probably on the back of a mare that everybody said was crazy but I wouldn't listen. I didn't possess the knowledge I have now and I figured I'd just get on and hold on. She bucked a little nothing to unsaddle a greenhorn even then she took off at a gallop. Fine I'll run her into the ground until she stops acting stupid.

  We had plenty of room to run but she chose to head for the shorter route towards a fence line. No problem you want to jump the fence we'll have a go.

  Jumping isn't what this loco caballo had in mind. With her head turned slightly from me trying to turn her she just barreled right through the fence. I came off to her left and unfortunately the left side of my face and collar bone hit one of the upright posts. She went through the rails maikng no attemp to jump at all.

  My jaw was swollen and I hurt everywhere but nothing was broken.

  We ride and never worry about the fall. I guess that's just the cowboy in us all.

Answer 7

my mare bucked me into the fence! i tried to catch my self on it and scarped and the skin off my right wrist, my left bicep and hit my chin on the top rail which made me black out.   (im fine now and im still riding her!!)

Answer 8

ok, i was just warming up on a horse i rode(but dont ride anymore) we were doing some jumps that were near an electric fence the horse stoped got zapped by the fence them rered up fell backward over the wire fence with me on her and fell on my leg, i could not fell it then it was ok nothing broken though!

bye xoxoxo

Answer 9

wow that's awful! glad your OK! Actually i have never fallen off! no idea why... my mom had such a bad accident i guess i panic and am alot more carful than others... ill tell you her accident...

she took a horse trail riding (rented it for the day) and the owner was greedy because the horse didn't even belong to him, and on top of that, had laminitus! So when she was out, the horse spooked, bolted, and jumped over a 5' iron gate! flipped over on top of my mom! they were both hurt really bad. The horse had to be shot :( and my mom went to the emergency room. She was at the hospital for 6 weeks after breaking almost every bone in her body. She will NEVER go riding again. I wish she would though. She wont watch me, or come to the barn except to drop me off... and now that I'm jumping she is even more nervous. But i definitely cant blame her for that! I hope i never fall off, but someone said your not a good rider until you fall off 7 times...

anyway, glad your OK, feel better! But the hoof print bruise sounds kind of cool... lol

just get back on when your better! dont give up on it.

Answer 10

Fell of an 16hh horse at canter when I was 12. It was the gentlest horse ever just a bit bumpy, and high. I kind of turned round in the air and landed on my shoulder, on a mounting block.

owww

Answer 11

Oh my god glad your ok get better soon :) My worst fall was when me and a friend were riding in quite a narrow field the farmer lets us go through it to get onto the gallops i was riding my horse and she was only 5 at the time and saw this tractor and started to rear i managed to settle her down we had to ride right next to the tractor to get out the field as we were approaching it she reared fully up landed back luckily not on me got up and shot towards the tractor and he wasn't aware of us and he was still driving quite fast i just remember seeing her racing upto it sliding and falling luckily my friend managed him to signal to stop. I did come away with a broken arm and nothing worse. As for sooty she had to have a few weeks off she hurt her back. But anyway don't let your bad fall get you down or weaken you coz it really does make us stronger belive me :) x

Answer 12

its good to hear youre doing that well!

i have learned to stick with my horse through about any behavior.. and when i fall i tend to land on my feet, but when i first bought her, well she is about 16-16 2hh and i am only 5'2", so i had to step up on this ledge across the road and coming back across the road she just stopped moving and a car was coming at us down the road... i was panicing thinking i was going to get hit because it was somewhat dark out and i had led her 1/2 mile and didnt want it to be pitch black out walking back so i was gonna ride her the first time at my house.. anyway i was kicking frantically trying to get her to cross and she took off at a really insane english trot [i was expecting a walk] and in my panic stage i lost my balance and fell to her side.. by then my leg had flew up to her neck and i was in my private drive and i let go so i would just land.. but my leg got caught on her neck ..tall horse, short girl.. head held high.. and where i landed there was ice [because it was late november at the time] and my other leg slipped out from under me.. i ended up pulling the muscles in my left hip and the bruise the size of a large brick all across my butt from the landing... because i was so sore and terrified of the road at that point i had no way to get back on her and had to lead her the 1/2 mile back in the pitch dark anyway.. its not so bad, but i could sit or ride for awhile..

the second time i really got hurt wasn't riding, i was leading my horse across a field to see my friend and my horse spooked at something [it was dark and the field was mostly empty] and i went around her to see what it was when she spooked again.. she charged into me knocking her face into my chest then reared up and caught my jaw... i was flewn backworks and i couldnt breath. i blacked out for a bit then when i came to i was confused and couldnt talk/breath so i start hyperventalating which made the now breathing thing worse as i was gasping to breath.. i got to my feet and ran to my friend who was loading her horse into the trailer and i was bawling trying to scream to her and she kept saying "one second im busy" "just wait" "katie, WAIT!" because she couldnt tell what i was trying to say and she was inside her trailer.. when she got out she realized i couldnt speak or breath and grabbed my horse from me so i could sit and catch my breath.. i got a concussion and she smashed my jaw hard enough to scrape off skin and knock my spine so it was disaligned.. i have to go to the chiropracter all the time now and the disalignment of my back resulted in the later disalignment of my hips and since i run track it strained the hip muscle until my sonic muscle tore and i had to miss my whole track season walking around on crutches.

Answer 13

i was rideing a new mare for a freind when she freaked and started bucking she went thru the gate when i tried to get off my boot got hung up in the stirupp so she started drragging me finaly my boot fell off ut by that time i was beat up perrty badly never yoused a helmet to ride.sorry for the spelling lol

Answer 14

So many for me to choose from. I'd have to say my worst most recent was out riding this big ole 3 year old gelding in a corn field. He was extremely green but I needed to get some using time in on him and checking the irrigation system. Not thinking much of going in the field because he'd already had a good month riding in the arena and had never bucked I figured he'd be perfectly fine. He was good about a quarter of the way into the field, then he saw our tractor and flipped out. He reared up much higher than I thought, and because the ground was pretty moist, his back feet sunk in and he fell back and then rolled on top of me. The saddle horn went into my chest, breaking 3 ribs, and my arm in 3 places.

Turns out, his previous owners use to pull him at high speeds along side their tractor and atvs. Their ignorance almost cost me my life. I think the only thing that saved me what the fact that when he fell back on me, I sunk into the dirt.

BTW: My grand-daddy told me one time that if you've never fallen off a horse then you aren't riding enough.

Answer 15

I know EXACTLY how you feel mine happened 3 weeks ago but the thing is i had no saddle no helmet and no bit .All i had was a halter rope and me on top in a rocky uphill trail. well i couldn't stop him so i did an emergency dismount and he decided to stop while i was hanging on the side off him and there i go and miss calculate my landing hit my head slam my leg against a rock at least that is what i thought happened and then had to walk back with the horse  and swollen cut and bruised foot.later when i got back i looked at it my shoe was almost about to rip open because my foot was so swollen then two weeks later a hoof pint shows up end up i  was unconscious while he stepped on me. i went o the doctors and they told me not to walk on it at all so crutches it was for me 3 weeks now my armpit area hurts and the swelling went down now but the hoof print remains. now i think i should have put on a helmet i still hurt but i stopped limping already and im off the crutchesbut next time i will think about i I FEEL UR PAIN. Email me if u want my email is [e-mail]

Answer 16

i have had too many to count and i cant recall most of them but here it goes

two spiral fractured legs

broken ribs

broken fingers

broken arch and ankle

spinal compression

broken jaw

over 32 concussions

over 800 stitches

permanant nerve damage in my neck

all within 40 years of riding and rodeo.

Answer 17

The worst fall i had was my first, i was 8 and only weighed 80 pounds. My horse took off galloping and stopped straight infront of a rail and i flew off her neck, my back and head landed on the rail, and now every time i ride my back kills.

Answer 18

glad to hear youre ok. ive really only fallen off once. like a month ago i drove the school horses i was riding wrong and she got spooked and kinda side stepped and rushed. it wasnt serious at all. i fell on my butt and my instructor said "are you ok?"

"yeah."

"then get back on"

i have gotten dragged tho. thats not fun. i was grazing a horse who had hay in her stall and she just marched back in. but my more expirienced friend told me to turn her around then go back to her stall. so we did and it was all good.

Answer 19

WOW! that stinks I'm sorry for what happened to you. glad that your OK, and yea always were a helmet! the worst fall i ever had was i had a horse flip over on me. it was very scary but luckily a had someone up there looking out for me. i was just sore the next day. but over all my life of riding my horse i only have fallen off like 3 time. but your life experience will only make you a better rider.