# Share you bad accidents with horses



## bensmomma (Aug 18, 2010)

I thought it would be interesting to hear some of the accidents and injuries we have recieved while having our beloved horses. I'll start with mine. 

My mom had bought this arabian mare that was broke just for kids about 6 or 7 years ago and she was by far the best horse for us, we had her for about 8 months and i had bought a belgian colt as well. We had them both for another couple months and one day we were in the field trying to get a new halter on my baby ben (belgian) our mare was just bread for her first time and we found out later that the stallion tore her up so she was pretty tramatized. We finally managed to get his halter on and when he went to pass behind her to get to the field his nose touched her rear end, we think she thought he was going to mount so of course she kicked at him and he moved. She ended up getting me instead. She hit me right in the face! All i remember is running while my moms husband and my husband were chasing me screaming at me to stop, i looked down at my hands and they were covered in blood. So we knew she hit my mouth, my husband rushed me to the hospital and as wee were speeding to get there we got pulled over, the cop took one look at me and had us follow him to the er. It turns out she had broken my jaw!! They had to do surgery to fix it and put in 2 steel plates, when we were ready to go home from the hospital we found out she had also fractured a couple of my ribs. Mow the kicker part of this was at the time i was 3 1/2 months prego with my daughter. Thankfully me and my baby were ok. I had to go through months of dental work but in the end everything turned out ok. We still have this mare and she is still the best horse we have known, my daughter is in now almost 6 is learning how to ride with her. She can lead this horse anywhere, both my kids can do anything to her and she just lets them. We had so many people say if she had belonged to them they would have shot her for kicking me, but we know she was not meaning to hit me so we dont blame her at all. 


Ok thats mine so lets hear some of yours lol


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## ShutUpJoe (Nov 10, 2009)

Wow! I couldn't even imagine.... 

One time I went trail riding with my ex and his brother. I was on my all time favorite horse Rocky. I started showing off and doing figure eights and circles when we got to this paddock of the neighboring farm. (We were allowed to ride there it's how you got back to the trails). Well I decided to go for a canter. Rocky was one of those horses who LOVED to go. So he started to go faster. I bent down on his neck to give him his head. All of the sudden I went over his head and was on the ground. He had hit a ditch and tumbled over me. When I regained consciousness I tried to get back on but my wrist hurt and my ex and his brother were demanding that I didn't. So I took the horses and turned them out and they made me go to the hospital. They thought there was something really wrong with me because a horse had just rolled over me. Turns out my wrist had been broken. The kicker is I was 2 months pregnant with my oldest and didn't know it at the time!


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## BarrelracingArabian (Mar 31, 2010)

Well i have a couple 
When i was about 7 i think my parents weren't very horse savvy and me being young didn't know better but they bought me a greenbroke mustang gelding. He was the sweetest horse ever would walk anywhere but one day my other mustang bit him and he took off bucking with me all i remember is finally letting go and then waking up sprawled out on the arena ground.I had a slight concussionan and a nice raspberry on my forehead. 
The 2nd worst time was about 3 1/2 -4 yrs ago now i was helping condition an arabian mare named imprint. I was in the back of the group with my friend brianna who was on outlaw, imprint had been acting up and bucking the whole night because she doesn't like to be in the back. Well we were cantering next to an alfalfa field when she spooked at something. She bucked spun and ran and i didn't react quick enough and i ended up body slamming the ground on my elbow. I was stunned for a minute i just sat there and finally when i touched my elbow i burst into tears from the pain. By then everyone but 2 people had dismounted when the riderless horses ripped the reins away and took off i was being taken to the hospital for x-rays but all i could think about was how the horses were. Turned out i had just badly bruised my elbow and i couldnt ride for 3 1/ 2 months and didn't have full extension of my elbow for about 8 because it would lock and i'd get a sharp pain through it.. even now during the winter it acts up


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

*accidents and helmets*

Just read the first few stories of those hair raising accidents. 
Question, did you then and do you now wear a helmet?
I see so many beautiful young folks our riding with no helmet and I always think, 'If you were my daughter, I would kill you for not wearing a helmet, always." I often gently chide folks I meet on the trail and have to be careful not to become too much of a helmet Nazi.
The first time I came off as an adult rider, the fall was simple, but hit the ground hard enough to crack the hard foam liner of my helmet. (had to send it it for replacement). I had some serious whiplash, but I would have had a concusion for sure had it not been for that helmet.

Please get over any worries about how you look. Think about how you would look as a "vegetable" with drool coming down your face?

Sorry, I kind of kidnapped this thread.

Nevermind . . . .
Back to your regular programming . . . .


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## sarahver (Apr 9, 2010)

When I was 19 I used to train horses for people, usually horses that had come off the track. Well one guy brought me this beautiful big dark bay TB, 16.3hh and gorgeous, he was almost black all over except for a tiny star, stuff of dreams I tell you.

Well the first day I rode him he did quite well, we just did some walk-trot work, worked on turns, little bit of flexion, transitions, nothing too dramatic as it felt like he juuuust wasn't quite right but I couldn't put my finger on it. The next day I rode him again, same feeling. However his owner really wanted to see him canter so after I warmed him up I asked for a canter.... nothing. Once we had a nice balanced trot again I asked again for a canter. That horse stopped and flipped. I wouldn't even say he reared as it was all in one motion. He landed right on my pelvis flattening my hips and giving me internal bleeding. My hips are still stiff to this day, particularly the left side. Yes I was wearing a helmet.

Since I couldn't get back on (couldn't even get up initially) the owner jumped up and rode him - with exactly the same result except the horse didn't land on him, he bailed earlier than I did. The owner was an accomplished rider himself, just didn't like trying new horses out for himself as he said he was 'too old' to mess horses that were idiots. I learnt an important lesson though - don't just jump on any horse just because someone tells you they want to see them under saddle! Ah the beauty of hindsight.


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## dedebird (May 21, 2010)

hmmm my worst fall is nothing compared to all this i got bucked off and went flying into a fence i can't remember much i couldn't see very well it was all blury i remember three mothers and my own surrounding me and another person in my class trying to keep his freaked out arabian from me i don't remember but everyone says i was babbling the whole time i do remember looking down and seeing blood all over my jeans though i had cut my face pretty good on the fence i still have the scar after awhile i could finally see and my dad came and took me to the er ... o-o the weirdest thing it was the day before the show and i dreamed about the fall the night before i'm not even kidding !!!!


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## reyvin (May 16, 2010)

tinyliny said:


> Just read the first few stories of those hair raising accidents.
> Question, did you then and do you now wear a helmet?
> I see so many beautiful young folks our riding with no helmet and I always think, 'If you were my daughter, I would kill you for not wearing a helmet, always." I often gently chide folks I meet on the trail and have to be careful not to become too much of a helmet Nazi.
> The first time I came off as an adult rider, the fall was simple, but hit the ground hard enough to crack the hard foam liner of my helmet. (had to send it it for replacement). I had some serious whiplash, but I would have had a concusion for sure had it not been for that helmet.
> ...


 
really? your gonna harp on wearing a helmet? when no one really wears a helmet turning a horse loose into a field? nor would a helmet save a wrist from getting broken. and yes you can still get a severe concussion while wearing a helmet. The ONLY thing a helmet will do for you, is protect your skull from a possible crack/fracture. It will not save you from whiplash, broken ribs, broken neck or back or any other extremity. It will not save your face shoudl a horse kick you in the face.. as it only protect your skull. 

now- riding horses is dangerous. yes i wear a helmet since i seem to always be hitting my head and i got tired of it hurting so much. still hasnt helped when i almost broke my back, recieved a conssusion and whiplash, cracked ribs et. 

this is a thread to hear about horrible injuries that have happened to people while being with or riding their horse. they are definintly hair raising. only been to the ER once with a horse injury and i wouldnt have gone if they hadnt of made me.. of course my horse had run off and i had a concussion, so its not like i would have made it back on my own... not that i wouldnt have tried. 

so please dont preach about wearing a helmet to these people. its their life, their noggin and i sure as heck dont wanna hear it.

My worst moment was when i thought my back was broken form a horse flipping over on me while riding. He wanted to buck and i woldnt let him so he reared up and went over. after a 1/2 hour i managed to get up with help and limp back to the house. never hit the ER, no blood. if anythign was cracked or broken... well who knows. I did hit the side of my head on tree once, tore my ear in half, blacked out, and recieved a concussion.. but managed to stay on my horse and even drove home!:shock: who ever let me do that was an idiot. but i must have sounded coherent to them! another one was my only ER trip. we got charged by a buck and the horses took off. Well so thats what is told ot me. I dont recall it. I just remember waking up on the ground and tryign to figure out why i was there and where i was and why i couldnt move my arm. but managed to stager to my feet and heard my friend saying she thought she broke her leg so off i went in the direction the horses went (friend pointed me the way) and sometime later foudn someone who came and helped us. friend never broke her leg but did break her arm. funny thing!!!!! i got the concussion and i was the wearing the helmet!!! but friend only broke her arm! 

so those are a few of my harrowing incidents.. suprisingly very little blood ever comes from my accidents... and i really hate hearing people harp about helmets. the only real reason i wear one is because i got into the habit while teaching at horse camps. 

you people with the bloody stories... you carry a lot of gauze with you now???? :lol: i should carry a gps with as many concusions as i get... :lol:


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## Amarea (May 25, 2010)

*Knocks on wood* I have yet to have a truly BAD accident with a horse. I've had a couple of minor ones but that's it so far. 

The first one was when I was 7 or 8 and I was in the pasture with the horses. I was standing next to my dad's gelding Corky when someone whistled and he threw his head up. He hit me square in the mouth and drove my 2 bottom teeth through my lower lip. It's still scarred to this day.

Another was when my not-so-horse-savvy mom tied my shetland pony to a tree with a flat lunge line. Rainbow got it wrapped under her right rear leg and panicked. Being all of maybe 9 I didn't know any better and I tried to help. She ended up knocking me on my butt and then proceeded to fall on top of me.

I ride routinely now with Indyhorses and our friend Tracie and this weekend I was somehow the only person not to get any kind of head injury from a horse. I will let them post their stories if they want to LOL


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## Sunny (Mar 26, 2010)

I have never actually had a serious injury on the ground...the occasional bite or head-bob gone wrong, but nothing worth of re-telling. As for riding, the "nastiest," so to speak, was when the leather attached to the D-ring of the saddle I was using(Western) broke at a full-blown gallop. According to my petrified friend who was behind me, I did a back flip off of the horse and then proceded to fly into the barbed wire fence next to us. I was hanging by my shirt in the fence, I had to rip my clothes to get down. My side was gushing blood, and I had to go to the ER, mainly because my hip was throbbing from being slammed into the ground after landing in the fence. No serious injury, just bruises and I now have three lovely scars along my left side. :lol: This wasn't my worst fall, but certainly the most gory.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## DaraT (Jan 30, 2010)

I have had my share of horse related injuries, although 2 stand out as the worst.

The first one was on a Sat while I was riding a school horse. I had ridden him a lot so I was well versed in all of his tricks. This particular day, he stumbled and I just lost my balance. I fell and hit my ankle & foot on the ground. I thought I had just sprained my ankle because it hurt a little. I got back on the horse & finished my lesson. Afterward, I walked a little to shake off the hurt. I then saddled my green broke 2yr old filly and trained her for about an hour. Most of that time I rode with my hurt foot out of the stirrup because I could not bend it. I got home about 4 hours later and finally unlaced my boot. I knew it would swell immediately. My husband & daughter were worried when they saw the goose egg sized bump on my ankle and talked me into going to the emergency room. Well by Thurs, I was having surgery on a badly broken ankle. I now permanently have 2 titanium screws holding my ankle together. I have never had problems with it since.

The 2nd one was while I was riding my 3yr old gelding. I was also riding a newly purchased Billy Cook saddle that hadn't had the stirrups turned yet. I made a turn and was getting ready to go over a set of raised cavaletties. Dollar hit the first one with his front foot and went down. He collapses when falling because it is easier for him than fighting to stay up. I could not get my foot out of the stirrup and he fell on me. He rolled back upright and just stayed there looking at me for direction. He pinned my leg between him and the log that the cavaletties were on. My trainer ran over to get him up. My leg had been crushed below the knee to the ankle. Yes the same ankle as in the story above. The doctor said I was lucky. There were no broken bones, only trauma to the soft tissues. My leg swelled to twice it's normal size. It was about 2 months before I could back in the saddle. This was 3 years ago. I'm just now getting feeling to the strip on my shin where I landed on the log.

It's not if you will have an accident, it's just when and how bad.


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## Silvera (Apr 27, 2010)

My worst experiance would have to be when I was riding my mom's Arab gelding. We where out on a trail ride with some friends riding through an area we always ride through when we where caught up in some old electric wire. It wrapped around my horse all the way up to MY knees. He started bucking, rearing and spinning to get himself out of the wire.

I landed on his butt and then was half thrown and half bailed. I landed on my feet then fell down. He did end up getting out of the wire and I caught him, got back on and rode back to the barn (it was about a 10min ride from where we where). When we got back to the barn I looked at the sturrup leathers (western) and found that it was almost all the way sliced through on the one. He had cuts on all four legs and then I discovered that I was cut also. It wasn't hospital seriouse but it was bleeding pretty badly.

Another time I was working with a horse that we where just in the process of backing. I was on her and my dad had her on the lunge line. He led her around a little and then she spooked at something. She hit the end of the lunge line and flew back into my dad knocking him 10-15ft away onto a rock. He kept a hold of the lunge line long enough for me to get her partly stopped so I could bail. Anyway, that one didn't really hurt me but my dad did get a cut on his head (it was a small rock luckily).


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## brookebum (Oct 1, 2010)

I took my then 4 1/2 yearr old mare Brooke to our first One Day Event. We did dressage and she nearly lept out of the arena afew times, then cam ecross country. she had mever seen a cross country jump in her life, so i was worried. we went out and after every jump i was shocked... she was amazing. then there was a "house" jump.. it flustered her,, after a few refusale i got her over it, then we had a water jump and i got her over that... then second last jump... and i was so into my forward momentum that when she slammed on the brakes i flipped right over her, and slammed my leg onto the log. It hurt so much!! I could walk eventually, and had to find my mare who had run off the course... until someone found her, untacked her, sponged her down and fed her haha. I had to find her and then walk her ll the way back to our gooseneck carrying all her gear! I was still unbelivably happy with her!!! I think the impact did something o my nerves in my leg becuase i still have a spot that is partially numb.  thats my story!!


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## JackofDiamonds (Aug 31, 2010)

Well my worst injuries "horse" realated would have to be when i was riding my 4yr old at the time Connemara and we were waiting around at ponyclub when a mare out of no where came backing into us and lining him up, Jack is a bit nervous of other horses as it is so i reared and tried to strike but also turned to run he stopped in a few strides though. But i heard a crack when he reared and when i went to re-possition my self the pain set in. My hip had locked and i couldnt move my right leg/hip i manadged to half scramble half fall off and tried to stand but i couldnt so i sat. They called the ambulance although it wasnt the biggest emergency because i hadnt fallen the paramedics took me to the E.R and i had X-rays and other scans that in the end showed the force had created a blood clot that was grinding in between my hip and pelvis bone, i also had tissue damage. It was really painfull!!!

The next was i was out riding on the same pony and he was being piggy and i went to jump a jump and he shyed off the side and we both hit a tree, i ended up with 3 cracked ribs....I dont advise trying to ride witht them either Its hard to breathe.

The last but most serious was when he spooked and bolted, and when he bolts there is no reasoning! so he just goes!! He kept spooking himself so was broncing the whole time. I didnt want to bail because we were on gravel, i had to duck because of a tree and i lost balance and went flying. They said i litteraly skidded for metres it was so forcefull! Anyway it was a bit blury from there and i was numb and had a MASSIVE headache and wanted to spew. In the meantime i got a pretty big black eye so when i got to the E.R they were stressed out! So i immeadiatley had a neck brase on and they were checking to make sure i hadnt broken my neck or back. That took ours!!! Anyway the neck brase didnt fit and they didnt know at the time it was putting pressure where i had cracked my skull. So it made it worse. Anyway i ended up with major concussion aswell. I stayed there for 4 days and had to do memory tests (i have a memory like a gold fish anyway), I had serious withdrawl isssues from the horses so my mum had to go by my clothes from a saddlery so it smelt similar ;P im a weirdo. 

Anyway thats my stories... Oh and by the way the pony isnt Bad i just seem to fall off him "alot"! But he is actually wonderful!!


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

Where do I start?
I have had a wrist fracture which turned out to be quite severe(didn't know that at the time). It happened back in 1997. In the middle of a lesson, we were jumping a line and it was a bit on an incline. It was a 2'6 vertical, 4 strides to an oxer. We did the vertical fine, but did the 4 stride in a 2. We both landed on the other and fell to the ground. Horse was ok, I essentially was to except I won myself a broken wrist. It took 8 surgeries to fix my wrist.
Wrist






These are my pelvis. Another horse injury.


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## Riding21Years (Oct 1, 2010)

My worst expeirence was actually on my baby boy, Cousteau. 

After about 2 years of training him to where I wanted him, I took him to his first show. I entered a school show. We went in 1 walk trot class (for a warm up), 1 walk-trot-canter, 2 pleasure classes (he failed, he could never be a pleasure horse xD), and 3 jumping classes. It seems like a lot, but his young little body handled it. In our last jumping class, all went wrong. The tip of the highest jump was 2'8, not very high. We were doing perfect in the course, he was doing his flying leads, h had his ears forward, he was taking his corners, but then some idiot pulled out a camera. 

Don't you hate it when a horse show says "Please No Pictures" but people do it anyway? Well as the idiot pulled out the camera and Cousteau and I approached the last jump, the camera flashed. Cousteau freaked, and as we were about to jump, stopped, reared up all the way, twisted around, and bolted off. He started bucking, and I fell off. Cousteau actually jumped over me, but landed on my wrist. It was smashed into 48 pieces, and since then, it has had 4 surgeries, and has a metal plate. 

Since this accident, Cousteau is now not afraid of flash, and has been broken of his rearing habit. I actually think that this accident brought Cousteau and I closer, but I'm happy that nothing like this will ever happen again.


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## IheartPheobe (Feb 15, 2009)

I don't really know what my worst experience has been. . but working with the mare I rode in Virginia, Clementine, has been quite an experience! She was brought to us the craziest horse I'd ever met, but a year later and you'd never know it. She was great but I knew she was difficult. This summer I started riding her & she was one of the hardest, most tiring horses I'd ever ridden, but well worth it!! If you could get her to, she would be the fanciest pony out there, she was great. 
So I went skating one night and fell and sprained my tailbone. . then the next day, Anita had me ride her without stirrups for a half hour. I was in soo much pain and when we went to jump a 2'3 verticle, I went ahead of her, she put head down, and I slid off onto my shoulder. She was going fast, but it didn't hurt; I hopped back on and finished the course.
I'd seen her buck higher than any horse I'd ever seen, but I thought she'd stopped doing that.. so we went out into the field, and we were cantering up a hill; she tripped, I fell forward, she started tossing her head and getting annoyed at herself, so when I came back down on her back she bucked HUGE, like, almost a hand-stand and I flew off. I guess my shoulder wasn't "fine" from my previous fall, because after that, I could barely move it for weeks. My hip hurt whenever I walked and my back killed for a few days too!! That mare also bit me twice & kicked me one... she was a trouble maker!! but well worth it!  i may even take her home with me next year.


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