# BAD riding experiences!!! Share Yours! Lots of Ouch!



## upsidedown (Jul 10, 2008)

Ooh that sounds bad... sorry. My pony likes to throw his head around on trails but if you let him do that for about 15 minutes he settles down.

My story:
I was riding and my intructor told me to go jump the outside line. It had a new jump in it that he'd never jumped before (the 2nd one of the line) so I was a little apprehensive. We got over the first jump nicely and were heading towards the second one when at the very last second, with great momentum, he halted and turned sharply. I fell off, and crashed into the standard. I remember sitting on the ground, leaning on it, with my pony next to me, sniffing my foot very confused like "No, you're supposed to be on my back..." It took me a while but I made myself stand up, and my instructor came running over. I stood there for a second as she was talking to me, I don't remember what she said, and when she was done I said. "I'm gonna get back on and try it again." She nodded but as I walked past her she said "Stop." The was a huge blood stain on my jeans. She rolled them up and revealed a nasty gash. Honestly I didn't know anything was wrong with my leg, and didn't think it was such a big deal, it was my shoulder that bashed into the standards that was killing me. But she didn't let me get back on and had my sister get Brutus (my horse) over the jump and then cool him out (which royally ****ed me off). She took me up to the top barn, a short walk from the arena, and poored 70% alcohol on my wound to clean it, saying "This is going to hurt." I didn't feel a thing. She then wrapped it in vet wrap and we started walking back down to the arena when everything started getting very bright, like blindingly bright, and my head was pounding. I felt like I was going to throw up. It passed about an hour, but as soon as it did the shock started to gradually fade away and my leg started aching. But my shoulder was on fire. We finished up the chores around the barn and 2 hours later I left. I went to the doctors, and got 7 stitches and had my shoulder Xrayed. I almost broke my collar bone.

Sorry thats so long.


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## GeminiJumper (Jun 12, 2008)

Yikes!!!

Mine wasn't anything serious but it did shake me up for a little while!

I was cantering my old horse, Sadie, in the field where we usually ride when all of a sudden--maybe she spooked at something--she took off galloping! I tried to get her to stop but as I was trying to do that, I could feel the saddle slipping to the left. Ackk!!! And whenever this stuff happens to me, it ALWAYS has to be in slow motion!! So I'm feeling the saddle slip to the left and me going with it while Sadie is galloping across the field. Eventually I'm dragged across the grass which turned into a gravel road thats on our property, and the saddle slips all the way underneath Sadie's belly!!! And I think my right foot was still in the stirrup!

Sooner or later she stopped and I realized what just happened. I had landed pretty hard on my left shoulder and had scraped it up from being dragged on the gravel but nothing else was hurt. Sadie was okay, too, after I fixed the saddle that was under her belly! I wasn't wearing a helmet so thank God I didn't land on my head!!


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## iridehorses (Oct 22, 2007)

Early last year I went to look at a horse for a friend of mine. The girl who owned him rode him in an English saddle and he did pretty well. We brought him over to my truck to fit him with my Western saddle and I asked if he ever had one on. The owner said "sure, the last owner rode him in one ..... I think" - That should have been my first clue.

He was acting nervous as I saddled him up so I took my time and showed him everything first then walked him down from the parking lot to the grass field that I was going to ride him in. I cinched him up again and as I went to mount him I jokingly said "The last thing I want to hear is 'gosh, he's never done that before'."

As my right leg brushed his back while I mounted him, he broke free from his holder and bolted. He went full throttle up to the parking lot and bucked on the stone driveway. I couldn't keep seated since I didn't have my leg in the stirrup yet and got thrown.

The long and short is that I was unconscious for about 5 min and ended up with a cracked pelvis, broken ribs, a concussion, and various bruises. I had to sleep in a chair for about 3 weeks since I couldn't lie down.

The next day, with the help of some meds from my doctor, I was at a horse sale and bought a pretty nice mare. It was 2 months before I could ride her though.

It was the worse crash I had had in over 30 years of riding and it took nearly a year to get my confidence back. I've got a great little gelding now that I've been sorting and penning on. I've taken a few falls since then but nothing like that big one.

PS, my buddy didn't buy that horse.


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## GeminiJumper (Jun 12, 2008)

wow! :shock:


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## Harlee rides horses (Jan 13, 2008)

I was running Chief along the outline of an open field and we were turning so I was kinda leaning with him when he decided to go into the woods I was still leaning and he went one way, I went the other, my ankle got caught in the stirrup and then came out and twisted under me and I broke the growth plate and I was a mile away from home so I had to get back on and ride..


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

iridehorses said:


> Early last year I went to look at a horse for a friend of mine. The girl who owned him rode him in an English saddle and he did pretty well. We brought him over to my truck to fit him with my Western saddle and I asked if he ever had one on. The owner said "sure, the last owner rode him in one ..... I think" - That should have been my first clue.
> 
> He was acting nervous as I saddled him up so I took my time and showed him everything first then walked him down from the parking lot to the grass field that I was going to ride him in. I cinched him up again and as I went to mount him I jokingly said "The last thing I want to hear is 'gosh, he's never done that before'."
> 
> ...


Ah you did good my friend. I need someone to beat this tho. Sorry for those of you whom have seen these already. That's what happens when Kelly tries to be superman and does a belly flop onto hard grass...

Left upper arm and wrist:

























...no riding for me for a year :lol:


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## Angel_Leaguer (Jun 13, 2008)

I think most have me beat by a long shot. I have had my "life" lessons with horses, the more embarassing ones are the when you fall off at a show or around other people but here is one that was just pure stupidity:

I was 10-11 years old...you know that brave age where you can do what you want with out worrying about the outcomes. My parents had just traded a you colt for a 5 year old broke quarter/pony cross for my younger brother (he is 3 years younger then me)...anyhow he was turned out in the pasture with the other horses and I was going to take him out for a ride. So I brought his halter and lead with me and caught him and started walking him up the barn (it was a bigger pasture). I was a creative thinker and thought to myself "why should both of us walk?". I tied the other end of the reins to the halter to make reins and jumped on. He got a little excited when I did this but all was good until the other horses decided that they were going to race us back the barn.

When I heard the thundering hooves from behind me I knew I was in trouble. Our barn was on top of a hill and had a door where they could go in and get out of the wind/rain and gain access to stalls also the pasture wrapped around the barn...however on the backside of the barn was a grove of pine type trees...

Rusty (the pony) decided that he wasnt going to be beat to the barn and me having no control and not really knowing the pony had to decide what was going to do. I was 90 percent sure that he was going to go for the barn door and I was just going to bail once I got to that point. He had to slow down at some point right??? well wrong... he sprinted to the top of the hill and then right back down the hill were he continued to weave through the grove of trees. I tried to stay as close to his body as possible when all of a sudden my neck just burned and about 4 strides later I hurt all over. I was laying on the ground and I rolled over to she the cocky little pony extended troting back to the barn as to say "gottcha!!!". I had the wind fully knocked out of me and my neck was stinging and my left hip was hurting really bad. After my breathing went back to normal (not the first time I had had the wind knocked out of me) I went to sit up and I remember my hip making a "pop" sound and I limped back to the barn. While going the barn I tounched my neck where it was burning and to my dismay I pulled pine needles that had poked me and I was bleeding.

I got the barn and there was rusty standing in there with the big horses. It looked as he was grinning from ear to ear. I grabed the lead and walked him up the garage (where we stored the saddles). I saddled him and then went into the house to tell mom I was going to go ride. She asked why I had grass and blood stains on my sheet. being too proud I said "what are you talking about?" After a few minute lecture I went for a ride and it went much better with a saddle and no other loose horses racing us.

I still look back to that day as it was yesterday. My hip still pops and it lets me know when the weather is going to change. If I ever complain about it my mom will say "well you were the stupid one not the horse... he did find a way to get you off after all"


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## gotxhorses (Jul 6, 2008)

Wow, all of yours seem so scary. Mine wasn't too bad, but I did end up breaking my arm.

I was at my first w/t/c show on a horse named Ghost. I was in 6th grade. (I'm in 11th now) and my instructor told me to canter a small circle in this small field where everyone else was warming up. We got 3/4 way through the circle and something happend where she took off and I fell off. My instructor said she threw me, but I still believe it was me not gripping hard enough. Ghost took off all the was around the show grounds jumping lawn chairs and finally stopped by the only other horse from our barn on the complete other side of the property. I got up and was dizzy, but felt no pain and wanted to ride, but my instructor wouldn't let me. My friend's mom took me to the hospital and turns out I broke my left wrist, but the worst thing is, the hospital told me to go to another doctor in 3 days and until then they would just put a splint and sling on it. I got to the other doctor, and turns out I should have been there that same day and my arm had already started to reheal, INCORRECTLY. So the doctor had to give me a "numbing" shot (yeah right) and then re-break my arm. It hurt so badly.


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Wow some scary ones...I don't have a big scary ouchy one, LOL! Most of my past falls weren't that serious...although on my old horse Cody I had fallen on the trail, RIGHT into a sticker bush! Talk about ouch. :roll:


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## Mandyy (Jul 13, 2008)

Ouch . A lot of these made me shudder. 
i Have a few but i'll share one with you guys. I was riding a new horse at my barn and hes a warmblood but he's very awkward and lanky and he's very heavy in the front, so i tried to keep him collected the whole time. I went over a few jumps then gave him a break and started to canter, he completley tripped and fell on me. I thought that Wow that wont happen again...two days later i get on i jump him over a vertical and we went to do a roll back and BAM he falls on me and i crack my nice IRH Helmet, besides that not much but a few bruises and i came out okay.


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## gotxhorses (Jul 6, 2008)

Ouch! Sounds painful! :shock:


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

You know what it's not that bad. We are at a day and age where fortunately for us a lot of serious injuries are fixable.

It's a risk we all agreed to when we started to be with horses


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