# Worst Riding Accidents....



## Janasse (Nov 22, 2008)

To take the thread on Worst Riding Moments a little further, what are some of your worse riding accidents? I always say that if you work near horses you're bound to get hurt..

A little over two years ago, I was helping my sister with a little mustang she was wanting to re-break. We didn't know anything about her past so obviously we took everything slow. After a couple weeks groundwork she was listening well enough to start under saddle so we tacked her up (which she did wonderfully) and I mounted her. I was just going to mount her, sit for a minute, then dismount. As I was getting ready to dismount with one foot out of the stirrups she decided to lift her head up and hit her nose on the barb wire fence. The next thing I know I'm laying on the ground on the other side of the arena. She scraped her hoof down my entire lower leg and I still can't feel anything on it. I haven't fallen off since but it took me probably 6 months to ride another horse and when I got my first horse, who I knew was broke but hadn't been ridden in years, I almost cried when my first ride on him was over because I was so uptight the whole time. 

So anyone wanna share their stories??


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## rosie9r (Dec 1, 2008)

Youre right! Its not if you fall off, its when! So my worst riding accident was out on a trail on a paso fino. She was SUPER high strung. Would get herself worked up over anything, even me making her stay in one gait instead of letting her speed up. Anyway, we are on the way back with group and we cross onto a new trail. There is a HUGE rattlesnake laying in the trail! My paso freaks out and backs both of us over the side of the hill before I could jump off! We bother went over the side and I got rolled on and kicked. I ended up just having bruised ribs and some cuts from the rocks, and she was fine. Just another day I am glad I wore my helmet. So we had to walk home, the saddle was thrashed. I had to take the whole next week off of work, sheesh.


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

I have fallen so many times I've lost count - guess that's what happens after nearly 2 decades... ha. 
My worst landed me in the hospital for a broken arm and concussion - it was when I was 8; my pony took off (I hadn't been warned she was terrified of whips - I had just been handed one from my instructor) she took off across the field and took a weird jump over a ditch. I popped off and hit the ground, and bounced for 10 yards on frozen ground. 
When I was about 13 my mare decided she had enough jumping, and spun around in the middle of a 3' bounce combo; I came off and landed hip-first on the jump. Was black and blue for weeks.
Breaking a colt a few years back, I was riding him through his first canter. He started bucking and I stayed on for the first few go 'rounds, then popped off, and landed in riding position on the ground, then smacked my butt. It hurt to sit for weeks.
My last show, a couple years back, my mare refused a jump and I got a concussion. 
My latest injury wasn't a riding accident, but a reminder that anything can happen, anytime.. I was catching a dude pony (was managing a dude ranch at the time) in the paddock and another spooked, bucked, and caught my head. 
Those as but a few of my horse-related injuries... sigh!


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## Janasse (Nov 22, 2008)

LOL JDI you've had it rough. I've been lucky and not really been hurt except for the once from a horse but I've only been riding for about 2 years on and off. The other night I did get dragged by a Tennessee Walker for a ways but I wasn't injured in it.....


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## ShannonSevenfold (Oct 11, 2008)

Janasse said:


> To take the thread on Worst Riding Moments a little further, what are some of your worse riding accidents? I always say that if you work near horses you're bound to get hurt..


Oh, boy. I've been riding for almost 10 years and haven't gotten hurt once. I guess it's bound to happen sooner or later. =/


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## SaddleUp158 (Dec 26, 2008)

I had an experience just yesterday that could have turned out really really bad. I had my 4yr green gelding out on a trail ride (with a babysitter trail horse in front of us). My gelding has a temper and not the best work ethic yet, but we are working on it. He was pretty hot and had bucked a couple of times on the ride (still pretty early on in the ride). He bucked and threw me up and over the saddle horn. Luckily I kept my stirrups, and stayed up on his neck. My mind was a little frantic because we were going up an incline with not the best footing and flanked on either side by trees and brush with 4 other horses in front of us, and if he had panicked and bolted...luckily he only kept walking, though it took me a few strides to get him to stop with my awkward position and all. Once halted I was able to swing off, but while walking I tried but kept getting hung up so I didn't try to until he stopped. I did not want to get hung up and then dragged! But all in all it ended up good, but still kinda scary. hehe now everyone understands why I am still in a western saddle with him, lol he still likes to buck!


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## Britt (Apr 15, 2008)

Wow, nice injury stories... Lol.

I only have two 'stories' of bad injuries, but, due to my stubborness, I'venever goe to a doctor or hospital with my injuries. Lol... 

I was riding my mare a few years ago when she still liked to buck a lot and I hadn't been riding her at a canter much because of it (I was still a little nervous riding her faster than a trot). I was riding with my friend, and my friend started to canter, so my girl went into a canter. It was fine for the first few strides and then she bucked and threw me off balance. I would have been fine if my girl hadn't a bucked again before I got my balance back. I came out of the saddle and my foot got hung in the stirrup. My mare drug me a few yards before I got loose, then proceeded to trample me as she went into a gallop and ran off. It knocked me unconsious for a bit, and when I 'woke' my friend and the horse she was riding was gone and my horse was gone... Lol... My friend had gone to catch my girl for me and had left me laying there unconsious, luckily I wasn't hurt, but I was very sore for a few weeks.

Then there was the time I was riding my mare home after dark from my uncles house. We were trotting down a hill and at the bottom we had to go around a ditch. The bank of the ditch caved in on us (the ditch was about three feet deep). My mare tried to keep her footing, and I couldn't do much because I was carrying about twenty-something pounds of halter, leadropes, and saddlepads in my arms... but, in the end, we fell halfway in the road halfway in the side of the road and my girl rolled over my leg as the stuff I was carrying went flying. I was in a lot of pain, but the only thing tht was going through my mind was 'was my horse alright'... after I got home, I checked her over for about two hours, completely ignoring my grandmother and moms constant asking' do you need to go to the hospital' because I was favoring the leg that had been rolled over on really badly. But, in the end, I was ok and so was my horse... we just didn't ride for a few weeks.


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