# Whats the worst youve ever been hurt...



## ameliaboo10 (Sep 15, 2021)

wvfarrier said:


> ....by a horse.
> 
> I got trampled 5 yeard ago by an Irish Draft that was under anasthesia. I was working with a vet, we were doing a complete resection when she came out of the anasthesia suddenly and stomped me into a puddle of human goo. Im still not completely healed from it, I have one more surgery to go to repair the hiatal hernia I got from her stomping on my abdomen.


Ouch! I’ve been lucky and haven’t had any super serious injuries!! I’ve fallen plenty but the worst I’ve gotten is bad road rash, an almost broken nose, and some minor back injuries. I’ve also Broken my toes tons of times 😂


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

wvfarrier said:


> ....by a horse.
> 
> I got trampled 5 yeard ago by an Irish Draft that was under anasthesia. I was working with a vet, we were doing a complete resection when she came out of the anasthesia suddenly and stomped me into a puddle of human goo. Im still not completely healed from it, I have one more surgery to go to repair the hiatal hernia I got from her stomping on my abdomen.



just reading that hurt. I have nothing to hold a candle to that.


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## Zimalia22 (Jun 15, 2021)

It didnt happen to me, but to my farrier that I was riding with ages ago back in the early 70's. 
He was starting this young mare. He had given the mare to a friend of his the year before, and that friend bred her. So here she was 3 years old, and weaning a colt. But all was going well, or so we thought.
We got roughly 3 miles from his place, and someone had thrown out a large cardboard box, that was flattened. I went to put my gelding over it, and he said nope. So Hap went to put this young mare over it. She went, and to this day, I think she forgot he was up there in the saddle. She went over the box, looked back at my gelding saw Hap, and bogged her head. She was all over the place. Up on the road, in back of us was some railroad tracks, she was up on those and reared up and jumped off. It was late September so the ground was dry and HARD. I went back in a few days to find his glasses, I found her shoeprints in the bottom of the 2 holes her front feet made when she landed. The bad part was he was doing real well riding her until that leap. He came down on the horn. 
There is a joint in the center of your pelvis, he split that nearly 3 inches apart. He rode her out, and rode her all the way back to his place. All he told me was "A redheaded woman was the cause of it all". I told him nope, it was the grullo witch he was on! 
He spent 2 months in the hospital. That ride nearly killed him. In fact, it did kill him, but it took another 11 years for it to happen. He did die from injuries he sustained that fateful day.


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## BethR (Feb 17, 2021)

My pride was hurt each and every time I took a tumble off Angelina 😐


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## Knave (Dec 16, 2015)

My worst getting hurt was kind of funny I guess, just because I’ve been in a lot worse of wrecks and came out golden. It was my fault all around too.

I had ridden this horse called Partner for a few months, and he was a good horse, but he wasn’t mine and I felt I had hit his talent level, and wasn’t satisfied, so I had quit riding him. Anyways, a couple months goes by without him being ridden, and they decided he needed to go to the ranch. They asked if I wanted to ride him that day, and I agreed.

This horse was scared of cows, but he was a pretty good cutter ridden down. I had been riding another horse who took more leg, and when this calf turned I asked Partner to sit down and cut like I would have the other horse.

Now, I had Partner super light, too light to be honest, and this horse went to blow up. I knew he could buck, and I wasn’t convinced I could ride him. Instead I tried to take his head away, and he reared up. I decided then that instead of flipping him over, or trying to ride him, that I’d just let him buck me off. That was stupid. I maybe could have ridden him; I had before.

He threw me off hard, and when I hit I messed up my back. I worked the day, but ended up flown out to a hospital by that night. I had fluid in my pelvis and had twisted a vertebrae in my lower back.

Really it wasn’t that bad an injury, but the worst I can remember getting. It was completely my fault too. I put too much pressure on him and I knew it, and then to top it off I decided to fall off. I never had before, and I tell you what, I won’t again!


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

My worst were due to the failing of a human. My shoulder will never been the same after a driving accident 23 years ago.


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

Separated ribs, a fracture at the sacral/coccyx joint, and a bruised spleen. 

The rib injury was from a horse rearing. I was supposed to figure out why he occasionally, rarely, did that. I wound up hanging off him like a rag doll until he leaped forward (bless him for being fit) and my ribs met the cantle. Horse had upward fixation of his right patella and wasn't stable going down hill. And he knew it. I figured that out fairly easily after that. 

Fracture was from me wanting to ride a pretty horse to do a job he wasn't ready for. I was a teen. Boss told me, but I went against his advice and horse proved him right. Horse eventually became a really good partner. When he was ready. 

Last was getting between two loose horses that got into a kicking match. I was young and not savvy to horse behavior. My spleen lost that one. I've heard it said that being on the ground with loose horses is the most dangerous horse activity. Stuff like this is why.


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## Knave (Dec 16, 2015)

@boots post made me realize I was wrong about my worst injury. My worst was when I was around 6, and again my fault. We had two broodmares in a corral, one was a mare I rode, and another was a grey horse called “the Blue Mare.”

I was playing with this colt my mare had, and the Blue Mare hadn’t foaled yet, so she was just in there. The colt and I wandered around Darcel (my mare), and everyone who saw what happened said that the Blue Mare, when I wandered too close thought I was Darcel’s colt.

The Blue Mare, in any case, picked my up by the neck, and she rag dolled me, before throwing me across the corral. Older, when I was having some issues and explained that neck had always bothered me, it was MRIed. It showed a floating vertebrae which just touches my spinal cord.

The Lord kept me from being paralyzed. I’m sure I watched the Blue Mare close after that. She died of colic a few years later at the breeder. She had some nice colts, and I missed her creating new horses for me to know. My favorites all came from her. I heard she was a good mare herself, but I never remember her ridden.


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## Zimalia22 (Jun 15, 2021)

So I been thinking about this, and the worst I was ever hurt was when I was halter breaking a couple of yearlings. I got distracted for just a second, hubby spoke to me, and I got kicked in the chest right over my heart. It spun me around so doggone fast! I dropped like a rock. My entire left ribcage and shoulder felt like it was going to fall off. I couldn't breathe, just sat there thinking I'd screwed up. 
My arm wouldn't work, not real sure how I got out of the corral. But by the time I got in for a shower, I had some glorious colors coming in. The bruising had started.
Well, it didn't kill me, but I sure made sure I never got distracted again!


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## Knave (Dec 16, 2015)

Everyone’s stories are awful! They are interesting and written well, but that’s why I don’t “like” them.


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## dustyk (Nov 14, 2020)

Got struck in the bridge of my nose while harnessing a standardbred colt for his first time. Looked pretty rough for a while then surgery to repair the damage.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

I've fallen off plenty of times, but all but one were in the sandy arenas, and the one that was in the pasture, I hit the ground on my feet, then rolled forward to my hands and knees. I just ended up with slightly scraped hand heels and knees. One of the falls in the arena resulted in bruising but not much.

So, thus far, my injuries have not been too bad. This stuff other people are posting -- wow. I'm not sure I ever would have gotten my horses if I had heard all of those stories beforehand.


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## Robert Atwood (Apr 27, 2021)

When I was 14 years old I was riding my Grandads favorite Stallion up a dirt road at a full gallop and a car pulled out of nowhere across my path and I slammed the rear fender and left the saddle sailing over the car and landed on my left elbow in the gravel which made quite a gash. The horse only had a cut at his hoof line and bled very little. By the way I had the right of way but what diff does that make...


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## kewpalace (Jul 17, 2013)

Not "by" a horse, but in relation to a horse. Broke 4 ribs coming off my horse. We were practicing herd work - she went one way; I didn't go with her. 










Yea, not real fun, LOL ....


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## wvfarrier (Sep 13, 2021)

One of my riding friends was leading a trail ride when some nimrod on a stallion (who was not part of the ride) rode the horses directly into the crowd of riders. The stallion attacked my friends horse and she got knocked off, during the ensuing scuffle she got kicked in the face and broke most of her facial bones. It was gruesome.


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## dustyk (Nov 14, 2020)

that is a "you can't fix stupid" moment


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## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

I heard of a couple bad ones from friends...one acquaintance's horse slipped off a cliffside, and after they rolled down, the horse hit his head on a tree. She was pinned between the horse and the tree, and the horse started having a seizure, which pulverized her lower leg bones (the horse died). Another gal I know was turning her horses out, and woke up in the mud. Apparently her young horse had turned and kicked her in the head, giving her a concussion and breaking her jaw. Of course being a horse person, she drove into the emergency room herself, and they were rather horrified to see her walk in with her face all swollen up and holding her jaw together. 

Another man I know was attacked by pit bulls on the beach, and his horse reared and flipped over, breaking his pelvis and rupturing his spleen. He always still rode and trusted that horse, saying it was extreme circumstances with dogs trying to hamstring him that caused the accident. 

I've watched a horse gallop over one of my best friends, and also saw her get run over by a horse cart. She broke a rib and strained her ankle, but was OK both times. I saw my other friend have a horse smash his head against her head into the side of a trailer when he spooked while being loaded. She did not pass out, but put a gauze on where it was bleeding and then smashed a helmet on top for pressure, so we could still go riding. Horse people are nuts.

I've been very lucky myself. Broke my nose when my horse was avoiding getting kicked by another horse. I was leaning forward to gallop up a steep hill, putting my head right where my horse would hit it if she threw her head back. I've had a couple serious hematomas on my legs from being kicked by loose horses in the field. My TB spooked, spun and kicked my knee out of joint, but I only had a minor ligament tear. He also ran over my chest one time after knocking me down, but I only had a chest contusion. I've had several concussions from being bucked off before I learned to wear a helmet. 

What amazes me is that I've been stepped on, bitten, kicked, run over, smashed, bucked off and fallen more than a hundred times with nothing more than bruises. Even in the worst circumstances such as horses falling down with me, bolting, panicking, tack failures, etc., most of the time I come out with no injuries or very minor ones. It's not just me being lucky, I've seen the same with many people I've ridden with. Percentage wise it makes me feel horses are somewhat safe. I can't imagine getting into a hundred car, bike or ATV accidents and coming out so lightly.
Of course just like when you fall down walking, you can also land just wrong and have a severe injury.


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## Woodhaven (Jan 21, 2014)

I would have a tough time deciding which one was the worst. The first I was kicked just below the left knee by a horse that was sharp shod. It shattered the tibia and needed surgery to put the leg back together again, was four months in a cast from toes to hip.

the second this happened about 6 months after the first break, I was in a lesson and going over a jump, this jump was called a chicken coop it was solid and shaped like an inverted v. The horse slipped on wet grass and fell on the jump with me underneath, same leg broken again this time in two places. Another four months in a cast from toe to hip.

Nothing bad for several years then I was riding and cantering and my horse just fell, my leg, same one, the left was underneath him when he landed and I had a western saddle on, the horse kept rolling and the horn was pushing into my stomach, I could see the legs coming up and I thought he was going to roll right over me but he struggled and managed not to. I was afraid to look at my leg thinking it would be completely flat. Off to Emerg but nothing was broken but the leg was black and blue from toes to hip, I was very lucky there are not many bones left on that leg that hadn't been broken. the knee was damaged and has pained/bothered me since

the fourth could be a bit humorous, I was riding a mare and out clearing trails, this mare was a good horse but when I first got her she would NOT stand still for any length time just wanted to go. We were in a woods and I saw what could be a way to get out at the edge into a field. She would have push through some heavy brush but I thought she could do it so we pushed through. A vine caught me around the neck and pulled me almost out of the saddle. I was hanging by my neck and my feet only on the saddle. I did not want to take my feet off as I was afraid I might be left hanging there. That mare stopped kind of sideways looked at me and stepped back under me and I got the vine off around my neck.


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## Woodhaven (Jan 21, 2014)

P.S. The first break when the surgeon was operating he was sure that it wasn't a kick from a horse. It looked exactly like a gun shot injury. others had to convince him that it really was a kick


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## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

wvfarrier said:


> ....by a horse.
> 
> I got trampled 5 yeard ago by an Irish Draft that was under anasthesia. I was working with a vet, we were doing a complete resection when she came out of the anasthesia suddenly and stomped me into a puddle of human goo. Im still not completely healed from it, I have one more surgery to go to repair the hiatal hernia I got from her stomping on my abdomen.l


OUCH. The worse would be a fractured eye brow. Some bratty kids had their dogs chase the horse.. sic em.. Horse reared hitting me in the head. I was bareback , hanging on to the mane as I could not slide off as they dogs would go after my legs. Next worse was when Ace /horses name. fell on me/, just really bruised no fx. I walked crooked for a few months.


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## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

I've had a lot of injuries from 64 years of riding almost every day. One really memorable one was a March day in Maryland when we had a freak warm spell. The ground was still frozen underneath. Near my house was a riding arena, and at times I would ride there through the woods just for fun.

It was a glorious warm spring day and they had jumps set up in the arena for a horse show the next day. My horse was a lovely jumper, so of course I wanted to sail her over the jumps just for fun. What I didn't know was that during the 1950's folks poured heavy motor oil on the arena before each show to damp down the dust. It worked right well . . . but 30 years later, that motor oil in a layer under the sand was super dangerous. So, frozen ground thawing, motor oil, and my lovely jumper slipped at one of the jumps and fell on me.

She crushed my leg and foot. I was about 3 miles from home in the middle of nowhere. I had to get on somehow and ride home. My foot hurt SO BAD! At the bottom of my pasture was a railroad track. Trains only came along that track twice a day. Just my luck, when I got to the railroad track by my pasture, a long long looooonnng slow coal train was coming. I sat on my horse with my crushed foot all hanging down hurting so bad.

Finally I got home, untacked my mare, hobbled into the house. No one home. I called my god daughter's mother, a close friend and neighbor, and asked her to take me to the emergency room. When she got to my house, she had a car full of kids and a rambunctious dog that kept leaping from the front seat to the back seat onto my injured leg. What a nightmare. Instead of driving straight to the hospital, she thought I'd like to see how another neighbor had fixed up his house getting it ready to sell, so she drove down a dirt road side street. She kept pointing out things the man had done to the house. I said, "Please, can we just get to the hospital?"

My foot was broken in six places, but they couldn't cast it for a week because it was all crackled with little bloody lines. The doctor said, "That's what happens to a grape when you drop it on the floor and step on it."

I learned to ride with only one stirrup for many months while that thing healed.


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## LB_4379 (Sep 23, 2021)

Wow! These are some terrifying stories!
When I was a kid, I climbed a fence and got onto a random horse in a neighbor’s field and he ran off and I fell off. Another time, my friend went and caught his basically wild horse and I got on him, the horse reared and fell backwards, I rolled the opposite direction fortunately. Just bruises and some healthy respect were what I got from those experiences. I haven’t been kicked or bitten, but I know it’s a possibility.

Honestly, the most traumatic experience was at my friend’s barn when I was about 7 years old. My little brother grabbed the electric fence and got stuck to it. I ran and grabbed him and pulled him off and it about shocked the crap out of me too! I still hate electric fences 😆


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

Broken thumb, separated ribs, and torn bicep tendon that required surgery were the worse. Some others that seemed fairly minor at the time are coming back to haunt me in the form of arthritis. Some of them may have been worse than I thought but I'm one of those people that says, "Well, I'm talking and breathing so I must be ok". One of my neighbors is still traumatized from when I fell off while he was here, busted my forehead open which bled like a stuck pig and went into the tack room grabbed some gauze to slap over it and got back on the horse.


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## Horsef (May 1, 2014)

An acquaintance of mine had her whole bicep bitten off by a stallion. They managed to reattach it but her arm is rather gruesome and she had some loss of function.

I fell off many times, lots of bruises but as far as breaking things, the worst was a broken nail. It still doesn’t look the same after five years. I was very lucky but I am also a huge coward and nowadays I only ride in very safe conditions.


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## Woodhaven (Jan 21, 2014)

Knightrider, after my first break, when the cast came off my knee was enlarged with calcium deposits and I couldn't bend it so I also had to ride with one stirrup and because it was the left leg I had to mount from the right side. It took months of physio to get the knee bending properly and then I broke the same leg again and the Doctors were concerned that the knee would be permanently damaged and I might end up with a stiff knee for the rest of my life. I was lucky and lots of physio and the knee worked more or less ok.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

To be fair I guess I'll say selective memory at work as I did have one accident - no other human present - still to this day can't figure out the how but came to over 12 foot from where I started and all I remember is the wrong side of a horse face connecting with mine. Why after over 20 years of feeding in the dark at that time I will not feed in the dark any longer. Had to have my face reconstructed on that one. Over 8 hours under for them to clean up and put together. Amazing surgeon. Not one visible scar. The nerve damage though could not be repaired.

Worse than that though was being in the vicinity and seeing the aftermath of someone killed holding a team by standing in front of the pole between both horses that spooked.


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## TrainedByMares (Jun 5, 2021)

Beaten,battered and broken, kicked and K.O.'d not one of you says "I am done with horses" . True horse people do not quit!!


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## dustyk (Nov 14, 2020)

Amen!!!!


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## wvfarrier (Sep 13, 2021)

Here is me shoeing with a Spiral fracture of the tibia and 3 broken tarsals. Im also a knee stabilizer because of an MCL tear.....ahhhn good times


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## Knave (Dec 16, 2015)

@wvfarrier I was trimming a horse I struggle with last month in a boot for torn tendons and a small sheered bone in my foot.

Anyways, that boot got in the way from me moving quickly and Cash broke the big toe in my other foot!


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## Woodhaven (Jan 21, 2014)

TrainedByMares said:


> Beaten,battered and broken, kicked and K.O.'d not one of you says "I am done with horses" . True horse people do not quit!!


Hi Trained, at one time when I was at the Dr's and he said something about getting me fixed up and I said ok as long as you don't say get rid of the horses. He replied "oh no, I know better than that, you would just get rid of the Dr if I said that"


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## Zimalia22 (Jun 15, 2021)

Woodhaven said:


> Hi Trained, at one time when I was at the Dr's and he said something about getting me fixed up and I said ok as long as you don't say get rid of the horses. He replied "oh no, I know better than that, you would just get rid of the Dr if I said that"


I know the feeling! When I was in my 30's, my Dr told me I needed a "cultural reassignment". I asked what that was, and he told me that I am a 5'4 small framed woman, not a 6'3 strong as an ox man! I laughed at the time.
But now that I'm in the later part of my 60's, and hurt bad when the weather changes, I can understand why he told me that.


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## pnr (Jan 16, 2021)

I have a traumatic brain injury from being kicked in the head by a horse last year. Changed my life.


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## Knave (Dec 16, 2015)

I’m sorry @pnr. I’ve seen first hand how someone’s life is effected.


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## Kalraii (Jul 28, 2015)

What a story @knightrider 



knightrider said:


> I learned to ride with only one stirrup for many months while that thing healed.


Ofc you would why doesn't this surprise me  I rode in a cast once and hoped my instructor wouldn't see! 😅


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## Kalraii (Jul 28, 2015)

My mare tanked off/bolted on me after too many triggers. We reached a T-section and I ran her into a fence but she ofc stopped. I kinda slid off and fell on my back into a muddle puddle. I bruised my coccyx but done that many times in worse ways not involving horses. I sat in that puddle, still holding the reins, while she pranced around but took care not to step on me or try run away. I even managed to get back on after hand-walking for 30mins once I felt calm enough. 

It's coming isn't it? I am thinking of investing in an air vest or something as most of my falls I've landed on my back. And I'm about to really commit to this horse business so its COMING ISN'T IT? I maybe shouldn't have read this thread and while most of these make me react viscerally it also heartens me that most of your stories so far end up OK. 

A friend's mum has epilepsy and passed out in the field. No one knows if this was before or after her face was crushed and her eyeball hanging down her cheek. Her 8 year old daughter trekked it all the way to the yard by foot in the country because mum was late and she was worried. No phone so had to go find help. They did a fantastic job mending her though!


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## Woodhaven (Jan 21, 2014)

One exciting ride that I had, so many years ago I had almost forgotten it til now) I went out for a ride and was on a gravel road and way ahead were two sisters that had their horses at the same place. My horse spotted them way ahead and got excited and wanted to go. I checked him up and the snaffle bit broke in two. A split second of horror on my part and then away we went at top speed after them. In my hands are two useless reins swinging in the breeze.
I shouted ahead to them and they heard me and stopped, when we caught up, going so fast he just swung off the road and came up to a fence, when he hesitated I jumped off and caught hold of what was left of the bridle. I showed the girls what happened an my useless bridle. I tied the reins to the noseband got back on, headed back to the barn, changed bridles and had my ride.
I had found the bad bit buried in some old hay in the loft, thought gee a bit so I put it on a bridle and thought I could use it. No telling how long it had been there.
I live on the edge of a fair sized city and we rode in traffic all the time. I could ride down a paved road with just a rope and halter from the barn to our house and never had a problem, so go figure this one. I guess he just got excited when he saw his stable mates way ahead and his only thought was to catch up to them.
That horse was running just as fast as he could and I would look down and see the road just flying past us.


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## Aldo (Aug 6, 2019)

Like they say its not if you get hurt riding its when .
I had a young horse go into a buck down a railroad embankment, bucked me off ,and stomped my back. Cracked 2 of my ribs and lacerated my liver.
Cost me 5 days in the hospital. Took a few weeks before I got back in the saddle.


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## Cordillera Cowboy (Jun 6, 2014)

I’ve had a few spectacular spills that both I, and the horse came away from unscathed.

I’ve had a knot on my forehead since childhood from trying to hang on to the side of a runaway pony before we were separated by a tree stump.

I had a bruised coccyx from landing square on my butt after being tossed over a horse’s ears. 

A few years ago, I noticed that one of my hips hurts much worse than the other when I get those “weatherbone” pains. Then I remembered that, many years earlier, a horse had tried to scrape me off on a tree at a gallop.

In my younger years, on the amateur rodeo circuit, I drew a bronc that had a reputation for blowing up in the chute. I got my rig on him and started to get settled in, when the horse sat back and tried to roll. The ground crew opened the gate so I wouldn’t get ground to hamburger. The horse stood up on his hind legs and rolled out of the chute. He blew me out of the rig on the first couple of bucks.

I still have a dead spot about the size of a half dollar on my lower back from being banged into the chute.

With 6 decades in the saddle, I figure that I’ve been really fortunate in the injury department.


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## Zimalia22 (Jun 15, 2021)

A trainer friend of mine had a young stallion that he was real high on. He was just getting him on cows, was saddling him up that morning, and the horse reached around and literally ripped his upper lip off! As in GONE. 
He ended up having surgery to try and make a new upper lip and grew a mustache to help hide it. But you could tell something had happened.


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## COWCHICK77 (Jun 21, 2010)

Zimalia22 said:


> A trainer friend of mine had a young stallion that he was real high on. He was just getting him on cows, was saddling him up that morning, and the horse reached around and literally ripped his upper lip off! As in GONE.
> He ended up having surgery to try and make a new upper lip and grew a mustache to help hide it. But you could tell something had happened.


Many years ago I rode a horse for an older man. The horse had been a stud for the 9 years, the former owner was trying to hand breed by herself, the mare wasn't receptive, the stud became frustrated as he couldn't mount her. He then bit the ear off his owner.
She immediately gelded and sold him.

The older gentleman took him to a cutting where the horse proceeded to mount a mare in heat with the riders on board while in the lope circle. Thank goodness no one was injured. But I fixed that problem 😂


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## Missy m (10 mo ago)

Rode a horse with wobblers (I'd never heard of it) he bucked me off and I've broken two bones in my back, my left leg keeps cramping up and had concussion. I'm in a back brace for next 10 weeks and then six weeks of physio.


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

Like @Woodhaven I would have a tough time deciding which one was the worst. Probably the first day my own horse was delivered to my parents farm when I was 12. I never used a saddle in those days. I got on her bareback to ride her thru our pasture, which was ~90 acres back then. She unwittingly walked over a pheasant who then tried to fly, hit her tummy, she went one way while I went the other. That was when I decided to learn how to tuck n roll.

That was the beginning of lifelong damage to my spine. I didn't tell my parents what happened for about two weeks, and only then because I was having noticeable trouble getting up and then sitting back down again. I was terrified they would sell my horse --- thankfully my grandfather intervened, telling them it wasn't the horse's fault and thankfully being farm folks they got that through their heads. Back then (1959) not near as much was known about lower back injuries as today, so it was a very slow downward deterioration of the back that I did nothing to help by reschooling some really rank horses as a young adult, finding them good homes with trail riders, and also riding my snowmobile like it was the General Lee on The Dukes of Hazzard - I'm from the OH/PA border originally


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## Dixiesmom (May 26, 2013)

Feb 8th I was trail riding my gelding (who was badly abused in the past) when he bolted. A branch was hanging out over the trail so I shifted right, but then he did too and I couldn't get squared up before hitting a tree on the right. Still out of work with fractured right elbow (plates & 12 screws) and fractured sternum no repair as no displacement Good times, but as of last week I'm allowed to lift a whole pound!!


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## Zambiesaur (Nov 20, 2020)

oddly enough, I got hurt worse while feeding than riding! My mentor asked me to feed for her one evening, so I went out to her property to get everything set up. She keeps her grain in large metal trash cans with 50lbs weight on top so a horse cannot somehow get into the cans. I was by myself, I am a quite small woman (only about 105lbs) and the trashcan are quite large, I had to lift the weight high to get it off. I didn't think much of it, but it turns out while doing that I hurt myself severely. Somehow (my doctors not even for sure what happened exactly to cause it) but the cartilage connecting my 10th ribs TORE! This means there's nothing connecting my 10th ribs to my ribcage in the front.. so my 10th ribs move around freely, and sometimes gets hooked under other ribs. Worse part is though, when I ride a trot or lope, my floating ribs bounce up and down on nerves in my abdomen causing excruciating pain. Its the worst pain I've ever felt In my life. Luckily, I am able to post trot and canter in a 2 point position.. but I ride western! I live in West Texas so I can't find any trainers to properly teach me how to ride posting or 2-point so I just have to do the best I can. People give we weird looks riding with English disciplines in a western saddle, but they don't know my story so I don't let it get to me. I have surgery scheduled in July to get my ribs fixed. It will be a very serious and extensive surgery, and I might not be able to ride for 6+ months afterwards so that my cartridge is able to heal, but if half a year, or a full off of riding means I will be able to live a pain-free life.. so be it! I'm just thankful I was able to be diagnose, have surgery and have a support team. It's a nightmare but I can get through this- I'm equestrian tough!

Not my experience but still story worthy I believe- my college professor who taught me how to ride always told me "NO TREATS!!" I always wondered why he was so adamant about this until he told me a past student of his had a peppermint in her breast pocket for her horse, the horse got impatient, reached right over and BIT her nipple off! Luckily the horse spit it out and she got it reattached at the hospital. I wish I was kidding. Holy moly! A few years later another one of his students, a boy, had baby carrots in his rear pocket, and when he bent over to pick up a lariat, his horse bit him bad right on his booty! It was severe and he had to get off the rodeo team. Sad situation... so now I believe in "NO TREATS!"


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## Woodhaven (Jan 21, 2014)

Wow Zambiesaur that is some story I sure hope you get the surgery and all is well for you after. 
Some stories you had to share.


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## Zambiesaur (Nov 20, 2020)

Woodhaven said:


> Wow Zambiesaur that is some story I sure hope you get the surgery and all is well for you after.
> Some stories you had to share.


Thanks so much. I appreciate the good wishes!


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