Your horsebackriding accident stories

[tidbit]

This is a place to share your horsebackriding accident stories.

[SnowKitty]

Hm, well.

I've never actually fallen off a horse, but I've had plenty of painful experiences.

Like the time Babe stepped on both my feet and left hoof-shaped bruises there. >.<

[tidbit]

ew that pretty bad

[SnowKitty]

Yup. It's no fun to have a stubborn, heavy horse standing on your foot.

My friend Haley was getting off her horse once and her foot caught in the stirrup. She fell on her butt and couldn't get up.

...it was kind of funny.

[Karleigh]

Oh where to start, where to start.

Lets start at the beginning.
Once upon a time..... oops wrong story.

Lets see after I had been riding for a year or so I was moved onto a gigantic 17.2hh Thoroughbred named Sporty. Now Sporty had some issues. He kept banging his head and cutting it so we had to attach his bit to his halter because he wouldnt allow us to put the bridle on. He didnt like to be told what to do. He liked kids because they just aksed, they didnt demand. Every time you "asked" him to canter he would buck. Well one day we were having a very fun lesson and I asked him to canter without preparing myself. He bucked. My right leg got caught in the stirrup and twisted my leg. I landed on the ground right under the fence that goes around the edge of our riding ring. My coach thought I hit my head on the fence. I didnt, I was ok except for my knee. The next day Sporty was euthanized. They called the vet after I was thrown. Sporty had a brain tumour. I was the last person to ride him.
*~*~*~ I moved back onto the horse I rode before Sporty. Another Thoroughbred called Amylase. She was an ex-race horse. And being your trypicall ex-race horse Amylase got hot and very fast. One day I had a substitute coach for my lesson and she wanted me to jump a bounce. (2 jumps in a row, there isnt enough room for a full stride so the horse lands and takes off right away.) Now I had done these before but for some reason Amylase was acting up. I was headed for the bounce and she was getting a little strong so I decided to do a canter circle. As we were exiting the circle she decided she didnt know how to turn. As the wall was coming closer and closer she lunged left and threw me into the supports for the ceiling. I hit the support, landed on the fence under it, then landed on the ground under Amylase. I broke two ribs. That night The Lord Of the Rings: The Return Of The King came out. I had to sit for four hours in those tiny crampy uncomfy theatre chairs.
*~*~*~* The last and most serious time I came off I was riding yet another Thoroughbred named Fury. He was another ex-race horse. He had his little issues as do most track horses. But man he could jump. Now I'm talking 5ft plus. He was a doll on the ground. Now I had been riding for about 3 years. I was riding in a lesson, my coach was having us jump a 3ft 6in jump. It wasnt my first time to it, riding Fury I advanced in height quickly. I was coming into the jump and I had set him up perfectly. Pace, distance, everything was perfect. He jumped 5ft on me. He smashed my face into his neck. On the landing I slamed my head into his shoulder and hit the ground on my right wrist. (I dont have any memory of this, I was told it after it happened) The next thing I remember I was at the hospital. I had smashed my helmet to peices. My wrist was severly sprained. Not that bad I could deal. From hitting my head on Furys neck and again on the ground I ended up with the right half of my brain severly swollen. If I hadnt been wearing my helmet I wouldnt be sitting here telling you this long winded story. I dont remember anything from the week following my accident.
*~*~*I tend to ride horses with issues. The good news is that because I have been riding these types of horses for so long nothing can get me out of the saddle. I havent hit the dirt in almost 2 years.

.*~.*~ WOW that was really long. Sorry about that. Those were just the most memorable accidents Ive had. I've also broken all my toes and one foot. Plus sprained and seperated and dislocated many body parts. One day horses are going to kill me. lol


Whew I think Im done. Finally, I know. What can I say, I like to talk.

[Aleigh Lais]

Wow, Karleigh!! Those are scary stories!!


I fell off maybe once or twice before. The few times I did fall, I wasn't hurt because I knew how to land properly and I could tell when the horse was acting stupid before it did. Only got hurt the second time I ever fell, though. I was riding Sugar, my olddd Quarab gelding. He was 27 years old and still lively like a three-year old Thoroughbred racer. I was riding him bareback without any halter/bridle/reins/lead, because he knew the indoor arena's course thoroughly and I needed to strengthen my leg muscles. He was a very well-behaved horse, and this was my third year riding him. Me and Sugar were very close, after all, and we knew each other's personalities. So I was just walking him, tight upper-leg grip and keeping my calves loose at his flanks. I was just talking to my mom and the barn owner, Colleen, and watching her son(Peyton, 5) and daughter(Rylee, 2) playing with each other in the new sand they put in the arena the week earlier. I was of course, preoccupied, and not paying attention as I should have. Well, Sugar started trotting.
At first I was just a little startled and laughed with my mom since she saw the look on my face. I shrugged it off and let him keep going, but then he got ahead of himself and took advantage of the freedom. Tail raised and ears pricked forward proudly, he took into a canter. I threw my arms around his neck to keep from falling since I was still afraid of it happening. But since I leaned forward, my legs went a little backward, and involuntarily tightened. He instantly served and it sent me flying.
I landed directly on my tail bone, and I could tell by how numb it was down there something was broke. Sugar looked guilty and trod back to me, reaching down his head like a good boy.

Well, I did break it. I figured that out after it continued to hurt for over a year. xD But I was too stubborn to see anyone about it.

[Kholran]

Last week, I was riding my spazzy mare bareback when a big construction vehicle came by. She bolted, I slipped sideways, then just bailed out. I knew she was going to do it too...I stopped to wait, and the guy driving the machinery past the barn waved me to go...never should have done it. I've never fallen with a saddle on, and have only fallen twice total in 14 years of riding...I think that's a pretty good record.

[Karleigh]

Kholran that is a good record.

Those are just my bad falls. I can land prorperly and not hurt myself and have lots. The ones above were bumps in the road. And the first two I had not been riding for long. The third was just a freak accident.

The funniest fall I ever had was when my friend Amy and I were riding our other friends pony. We have done alot of stupid things on horses. Like jumping bareback and doubling at the same time. But the funniest fall ever was when her and I were riding Daisy (a 3 yr old Welsh Cob/ Quater pony cross). I was sitting normally on her bareback. Amy was sitting just behind her withers, backwards with her legs crossed over mine. Everything was going fine. We were just walking around the track when all of a sudden we started slipping. It was like in a cartoon. It was sooo slow motion. I felt us slipping, I looked at her and we just kinda slid off the pony. We landed on our sides with our legs in the air, in the same position they were on the pony! lol. Like I said it was like we were in a cartoon. I just remember hitting the ground and laughing so hard. Everyone I ride with was there and saw it. We coulnt do anything but laugh at ourselves.

[Bezzella]

*fallen off so many times it is hard to remember what caused them*

*.*

[tidbit]

I've had a my horse bite me once because she thought my finger was a carrot becuase I had just fed her a carrot. Also earlier last year ( this is the same horse) I was riding her out in my back pasture and my dad's tractor came up right behind her. She is very spooky( one reason she is for sale) so when the tractor got right up behind her, she shot off like a rocket. I was doing fine on her till I saw her headed towards a hawthorn tree. So I went limp and fell off. Luckly, I didn't hit the tree, but I landed in a bunch of thorns. I ended up with scars all over my arms. Worst accident I've ever had. My horse and I don't get along well any way. Never had a broken bone though. Lucky me.

[~*Farmer Jane*~]

OH! I have lots, but i'm only gonna tell you one. Okay? Okay.

My friend's, uncle's, aunt's cousin's, friend's, friend's, cousin's, boyfriend's, 2nd cousin 8 times removed, best friend's girlfriend's....... WAIT! wrong story....

Ok. My friend's sister rode a horse at her aunt's ranch in SOMEWHERELAND, and her aunt hit the horse's butt, it galloped at full blast, (hehe. like a rocket) jumped across the pond, bucked her off, and she broke her neck and the aunt go SUED! hahaha! Ok. Maybe it's not that funny or cool, I'm just wasting your time, so stop reading! Okay! Okay! bye now!

[Mystie]

Well I've been riding for 9 1/2 years now an haven't fallen off for about 3 - 4 years, i can ride any horse at my stables and now none will get me out of the saddle.

Well my first bad fall:

I had been riding for 3 years and i had gotten enough confidence to try harder horses. I got on this pony and i didn't here it but he sure did: some guy was jumping on a metal roof. He galloped off full speed (i was still quite a beginner - i had never galloped before or been in this situation), then my did a leap and turned in mid air, landed and kicked out (hitting my leg). Nothing serious but i had a hige bruise on my leg! That really shook my confidence

Next, The big one:

This time i had been riding for 4-5 years and once again had gotten enough confidence to try harder ponies. So i tried a pony called 'Snappy'.. not a nice name to start off with. Well, everything was going fine except he kept keeping his head down, especially in canter. I asked my teacher and she said (wasn't my normal teacher and i didn't like her anyway) that it was easier for him to buck. Now i was still riding ponies and had never been bucked before so that made me TERRIFIED! (bad thing to be scared). I was going up to some cantering polls and he wanted to go to the right slightly, i was so scared i let him. He did a big buck and kicked me right above my eye JUST (under my eyebrow, a milimetre away from my eye). If he had kicked me in my eye my eye would of surely come out so yeah, I'm very lucky! I had a huge blackeye for a while, not nice having people gasp when i walked into the room and kept staring at it! lmao

[Ada Russel]

Well, I have never fallen off, but I have some really bad expirences. LIke once, I asked my horse to canter, (I had just learned to canter) and I was still kind of scared. Little did I know that the day before the horse had done speed. Well, she took off at a gallop I lost a sturrip and hung onto her neck for dear life. I forgot really what happened, cause all I could see was mane. After we got her stopped somehow, I didn't want to canter that day again as you would expect. She made me because I might be scared next time. So I asked her. That was not a good idea. She bolted off AGAIN, this time I dropped the reigns (panic?) and I hung on. Then she went over a jump. I wasn't jumping yet, but it hadn't been taken down. She went over it and I still hung on when she galloped around. We stopped her and cooled out. Next lesson I rode a diffrent horse.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay, I hadn't ridden Blue (the horse that took off on me) in like a year. So I rode her again. Guess what? She galloped, AGAIN. This time I didn't hang on for dear life, I just stopped her, got off and changed horses.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finally, I gave her one last shot to reedeem herself. No she didn't gallop. But she bucked. And she almost hit another horse, and that was the first time I had ever been on a bucking horse. I grabbed the saddle horn, and if I wasn't in a Western Saddle I would have fallen off. We switched horses and I rode Dancer (the horse I always ride) and another girl rode Blue. She bucked whenever she asked ANYTHING. Finally, she cooled down and I got back on her for the end of the lesson. She cantered sweetly for me. But guess what? I don't think I am EVER going to ride her again!

[Almir]

Haha, i don't even know how many times i've fallen off a horse, must be at least 10 now... but i haven't fallen off for about a year now, and i haven't been riding for a few months anyway because of school V__V

first fall ever, i was just learning how to canter, and it wasn't really anyone's fault... but i was on the lunge and my intructor was flicking the whip behind the horse, and it got caught in his tail, he bucked, and i wrapped my arms around his neck and slid out of the saddle, he stopped, and i landed on my butt next to him xD.... i think i was 7 or something, and i just started laughing.... typical me. lol

most of the ones in between aren't that bad either, i've never done anything that hasn't allowed me to get right back on the horse, a little twisted wrist or ankle, some bruises, no problem.

A few years ago, must've been when i waaas... um... *counts on fingers* 12 or 13? well, i was leasing an ex-racehorse (haha, had to come in somewhere right? i've seen one in most of the other stories xD) that i just loved to death, he was awesome, but he loved to go fast (so did i <__<). So i had already ridden him, and i was cooling him out outside on the track that went behind the barns, and i turned him around because it was getting late, so that now we were heading the way a horse would on a real race track... and i pushed him forward a little because he was hesitating... and.. BOOM, took off at gallop. I clunnng on to him like there was no tomorrow, and was pulling on the reins, but of course that didn't do anything because that's what the jockeys do the whole ride. So by the time we got next to the indoor arena, i had no stirrups, and i finally managed to turn him in a circle til he slowed down and stopped.... then i got off and had to walk him for an hour til he cooled off T__T

but my last fall was more... annoying... than anything. it was when i was 14... i think.... and someone was riding the horse i was leasing, so i rode this really obnoxious pony that everyone was afraid of (except me, i just didn't like her...) so i thought, "oh well, why is 'so and so' afraid to hand gallop her, she's a brat but i bet i could handle her".... yeah, okay. hahah, so we were outside on a polo field behind the indoor, and i got her to go pretty fast and stay relatively in control... then she just took off in the other direction towards a big pile of wood (and the barn as well), and she refused to go anywhere else (still at a fast canter/gallop), and... she kept racing towards the wood... til at the last moment she turned... but i kept going towards the wood T__T... and the little $#!^ threw me on purpose into that pile... luckily i didn't really hit it, just hit the ground and rolled into it @__@... then i looked over and saw the pony prancing away... i knew i never liked that pony.... i had a few bruises after that.... *grumbles*

and... those are the (interesting) ones i remember, the others are mostly just jump refusals and me tumbling off over the horses head into the poles @__@

[Aleigh Lais]

Haha I remembered this accident I had. Not a fall, but an accident.
A few of them. xD

On the first one, I was riding Sugar again. The day before I had JUST learned to canter and I was so excited. I was used to the bouncy, annoying trot and Sugar's canter was like a rocking horse. So we were running down the dirt road that goes from the one barn to the other, then i turned him to the left so i could get him off the road(he never wore shoes), and we went along side these three paddocks(two fairly sized and one huge one somewhere off to the left-ish area). We were on the grass and heading up the narrow path between thin woods and the paddock, when I realized, "OH MY GOD THAT FENCE HAS A BOARD STICKING OUT!" Sure enough, it was just a board that was misplaced more likely after my Percheron, Eeva, tried escaping the week earlier. And in that board were rusty nails pertruding from the surface. Sugar had noticed it was blocking half of the already-narrow path, but we were going too fast(he has a speedy canter) to just stop. So what do I do? I yank as gently as I could, but enough to let him know we have to move, on the right rein. He serves and I let go from the swerve, and he suddenly makes a REALLY, REALLY FAST 180-degree turn almost into the board! but instead he had turned left and ran full-on into the paddock's fence.
He was stunned and confused, but got over it. xD

Another time, I was riding Sugar again, and I was also riding with my friend Michelle. She's a lot older than me and more experianced in riding, so I trusted her completely. She was riding her hot Appaloosa, Kaycie, by the way. So anyhow, we were trotting in this field wayyy in back of the property. it's a rectangular region with trees surrounding it and there's sharp turns at all the edges where there is a grass, but a worn-in path, and the middle is completely undergrowth and vines and brushes and tall muddy grass. Well we were just trotting. And then she asked me if I wanted to canter, and I said yeah. So we started cantering and both of the horses were doing great. Except Michelle was keeping Kaycie behind me and Sugar so she could watch what was happening and get Kaycie over this whole i'm-the-boss deal she had. So, Kaycie wasn't too happy and had her ears pinned the entire time. Meanwhile, Sugar's ears were pricked forward and happy. Until he was neck-to-neck with Kaycie and saw the cruelest expression on her face. So he fled, a thundering gallop, just bolting at full-speed. Never before had I galloped. I was terrified and just holding on. It didn't help he tripped over this tiny rock and it scared him so he ran even FASTER. Michelle kept yelling to turn him in a circle but I was trying, AND SUGAR WAS NOT TURNING! Finally I got him under control by sitting back in the saddle so far i was practically going gymnastics on his back. My stirrups were all the way to his neck, and i was jerking on the reins so hard one snapped. WELL, FINALLY... he stopped. :] but Michelle felt so bad and gave Kaycie a yelling at. xD

I'll tell a few more later.