# Thread to share our falling stories



## ChieTheRider (May 3, 2017)

Once I forgot to put a saddle pad on and just put the saddle on without it on my gelding. He decided that was a "no" and promptly bucked me off. Never forgot that again.


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## BlindHorseEnthusiast4582 (Apr 11, 2016)

Not my fall but one I saw that was really funny

Clydesdale mare, rider tried to lean down and hug her neck when she dropped her head to graze, and promptly ended up on her butt looking that mare in the eye lol


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## GMA100 (Apr 8, 2016)

I've had plenty of falls, but my most memorable was when I jumped on my mare in her pasture (she had no tack or anything on) and was riding her around. Everything was fine and I had her at a canter, then the neighbor shot a gun just as we were jumping over a log. She bolted and I went over her neck, she flew right over me and I had a very hard impact. I am 99.9% sure I had a concussion and cracked a rib. My sister saw it happen, but I told her I was fine and she didn't think anything about it because I kept on doing all the work even though I felt like dying. This is the first time I've ever told anyone how bad it was. LOL! 
Other times were a saddle slipping, a spooky horse and a naughty horse.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

none of my 17 falls strike me as funny. sorry. they were just falls, and I didnt' enjoy them.


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## tennesseewalkers (May 3, 2017)

I haven't really enjoyed my falls either but I do enjoy the stories they gave me.

One time I was riding a horse out in the pasture and I was fairly new to cantering and in a saddle (I have much better balance bareback because I can feel the horse, plus at this point in time it was my first time in a saddle in over a year). I didn't know that this horse loved to canter in the pasture and was also very barnsour. We were chilling when suddenly she went straight into a canter that I was not prepared for at all. I tried to get her to stop but when I pulled back on the reins I couldn't feel anything. I looked down and realized the reins had broken off the bridle. So she just cantered full speed while I was desperately clinging to the saddle then slammed into a sudden stop right in front of the fence. I flew over her head and faceplanted into the top board of the fence (which is set horizontally and just the right width so I could hit my whole face with it). I also happened to hit right where I broke my jaw some years ago and for a couple of minutes I thought I might've broken it again from the pain. I didn't ride in the pasture for a few weeks after that incident lol


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## livmaj (Jul 7, 2017)

I posted a couple weeks ago about my first real fall. I call it my first "real" fall because this is the first time I've taken lessons regularly and seriously. I've fallen off draft horses that I rode bareback as a kid and I definitely fell off then but really didn't give it much thought.

Two weeks ago I fell off during a lesson. It was my stupid mistake that caused the stirrup leather to come off the stirrup bar. Was practicing half seat at the trot and the stirrup slipped off. I fell between the horse and the wall and landed pretty gently but didn't move away in time and got my hand stepped on. The stars must have been aligned just the right way and nothing in my hand was broken. It's still very sore and hurts to move my one finger, but all things considered, it was really not that big of a deal.

So, not really funny, I suppose. I'm thrilled to have gotten my first fall out of the way and it was really just not that big of a deal. I'm not worried about falling, it's going to happen no matter what I do, ya know?


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

livmaj said:


> ...I'm not worried about falling, it's going to happen no matter what I do, ya know?


Grumpy Old Guy Alert!​ 
Very few falls qualify as "Acts of God". Most are rider error. Either you were trying to do something you didn't have the ability to do, or that the horse didn't have the ability to do, or there was a problem with your tack (or lack of tack), or you were doing something wrong in your riding - because the first rule of riding is to keep the horse between you and the ground.

I've had one "fall". I was trying to dismount from a scared horse without calming her down first, and she exploded during the dismount. Rider error. I landed on my back, hitting a small rock. After 30+ years of jogging, I wasn't able to jog for over 5 years! I'm pushing the 9 year mark, and it still aches at times. I take Motrin BEFORE I ride...due largely to that one fall. Rider error. 

I haven't fallen since. As I push 60, riding on pavement and in rocky desert, I cannot afford falling. And there is a LOT you can do to not fall. It is not possible to prevent EVERY fall, but MOST falls are preventable. And to prevent them, one first needs to take them seriously. I may fall tomorrow, but I'm not falling without a fight. I may find a new way to screw up tomorrow. Or my horse may have a heart attack and fall on me. I can't prevent "Acts of God", but I can try to avoid the avoidable.








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## mkmurphy81 (May 8, 2015)

I can remember several spectacular falls from when I was a kid. I bounced back then. I was horseless for 20 years until almost 2 months ago. Here are a few of my favorite falls.

My very first fall was when I was just learning to ride. I was on an old school horse in an English saddle. The horse tripped and his head went down, reins went down, hands went down, and I followed. I did a flip over his neck. When I looked back up at him, he had dirt on his forehead.

The most impressive fall was when I was 9 or 10 and had my own horse. We were both stubborn. We had a disagreement over which way to go. I pulled right and she pulled left. She ended up flat on her right side. I started coming off as she went down, so I only had a toe stuck under her. We both hopped up, I dusted us off and climbed back on, and we rode on... to the right. Fortunately we were on the far side of the barn out of sight from the adults. My mother didn't hear about that one for years.

I was once bounced off of a Shetland pony. I was on bareback and he had a very rough trot. I had to keep both hands on the reins because he was trying to veer out from under me. I couldn't grab mane to recenter myself, and I ended up on the ground cross-legged still holding the ends of the split reins.

I fell off of my mare when we ran up The Hill. We always ran up The Hill and stopped at the top. I tried it bareback and she stopped before I did.

I lost track of the unplanned ungraceful dismounts I did when I started jumping.

I was bucked off an OTTB that I was trying out. It was greener than advertised. I handed that one back to its owner and got back on my old horse.

That's all I can remember right now, but I'm sure there were more.


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## livmaj (Jul 7, 2017)

bsms said:


> Grumpy Old Guy Alert!​
> Very few falls qualify as "Acts of God". Most are rider error. Either you were trying to do something you didn't have the ability to do, or that the horse didn't have the ability to do, or there was a problem with your tack (or lack of tack), or you were doing something wrong in your riding - because the first rule of riding is to keep the horse between you and the ground.


I know. I even said my fall was 100% my fault. I didn't say it was act of god. I messed up and fell off. I will mess up again. I'm human. We all are. There is no big guy in the sky that dictates when and where I will fall off. It's all on me.

Not sure where you got the idea that I said otherwise.


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## Horsef (May 1, 2014)

My funniest was when a guy was giving me a leg up bareback (that sounds... much raunchier than it is). Anyhow, he was using a wee bit too much force and launched me to the other side.

Another time I was walking down a very steep decline. On top of that hill, behind me, were two restaurants chock full of people, all seated outside on a lovely, sunny day. EVERYONE was looking at me because I just cantered uphill, passed them. Wisely, I decided it was too steep to canter down. I didn't count on the saddle slipping to my mare's neck. All of a sudden there was just air between my legs. As soon as I tried to dismount, I would start pivoting around my mare's neck. I had to just let go and I went down like sack of potatoes. Laughter of 200 people still haunts me.


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## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

Not a falling story, but...

I did high center in a saddle thanks to my generous boobs once. 

Daughter was young, about 8? maybe 12. IDK it all runs together now. We were in Missouri staying at that Bass Pro Shop owned resort/hotel thing... Big Cedar Lodge? 

Daughter and I opted to go on a 'trail ride'. We get there, fill out the paperwork, I check the Really Don't Have Any Recent Experience type box... fill out the height and weight box. I was honest. They bring out a horse. And I didn't know enough in my adult years to even bother to check the girth or change the stirrup height.

I'm 5'9"... then I weighed about 175. I wear a 34" inseam on my jeans and work trousers. I'm not a small woman by any stretch of the imagination. The stirrups were like... looking back... horse jockey short. Front girth was just a little too loose.

I didn't remember it being so hard getting in the saddle. As a kid I just climbed right up. As an adult?

YOU GOT TO BE COMMITTED and follow through when your first foot hits that stirrup and the other comes off the ground. I wasn't committed.

I got halfway off the ground, the saddle starts to roll my way, I lunge up and over... and my boobs hang on the saddle seat and there I was, high centered. The trail hand puts his hands on my rear end and SHOVES me up with all he had.

I could have died. Daughter is 20 now, and loves to tell that story.


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

Ride enough horses, esp young ones, and eventually you hit the ground-it goes with the territory.
I never considered any of them funny, although a few came close to being so, because the end results did not hurt!
When a horse goes down, you hit the ground, unless you can remain air borne, thus sprout wings!
I had a horse slip on an icy puddle on the road, that was hidden under a few inches of snow. Gentle landing, but horse could not get his feet back under him. Luckily, this was a calm colt, and I had left his halter on under the snaffle bridle, thus was able to pull him to the edge of that ice, where he got up, and I got back on, no worse for wear.
Another time, I took a colt for his first river crossing, alone. It was not a deep river, but was moving fairly fast, he got a little bit out in that river, tried turning around, then we kept turning, until both of us were too dizzy to know where the shore was, and he simply fell down. Only about two feet of water, so just had a wet ride home!
Six broken ribs on frozen ground,not so funny!
Broken colllar bone when a young filly, loping for the first time, tripped and flipped , pitching me forward, onto my shoulder, also not funny.
A concussion, teaching a young horse flying changes out in the snow, after work, as that is the only footing I had, and with that horse falling with me, also not funny.
Yes, I took risks in those days that I no longer take


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## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

I personally don't have a funny falling story because the two times I have come off a horse were scary and both times, two different horses, both bolted because of a dog running out of tall grass and nipping heels. I really hit hard both times. Though NOW the story told in person is funny.

As far as OTHER people falling and it being funny though - last year my kids and I, and the young man that lived with us for a few years, were all riding. He's the daredevil, grew up on horses, Gina was his and we bought her from him.

He was on Gina, I was on Leroy, Son was on Supes, Daughter was on Nope. L was goofing off,loping and acting like a maniac on Gina, lost his cap, tried to lean down and get it from the saddle, and fell off Gina like a sack of potatoes and just lay there laughing while Gina nosed him to make sure he wasn't dead or dying.

Same day, coming home, he decides to try the cowboy leap of faith from his horse to the back of mine... without telling ME this. He flings himself off Gina, catches me at the waist, neither Leroy or I budged, but he totally missed any hope of getting close to getting astride Leroy. Instead, he flopped across Leroy's butt on his belly, then sorta slid off and hit the ground with a thud. Leroy AND Gina had to see if he was dead or dying that time.

I was too busy laughing both times for it to occur to me to make sure he wasn't dead or dying.


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## Cordillera Cowboy (Jun 6, 2014)

One that I suppose would qualify as funny happened when I was a teenage stable hand. One night, the owner came in from Texas with a truckload of new horses. We took them one by one to a holding pen on the back side of the barn. As each one was unloaded, one of us would throw the lead rope over its' neck, and hop on bareback. Just to see what it would do. Things went routinely, until we were almost done. That's when we noticed that one of them liked to crow hop. Everything had to stop while each of us took a turn riding that horse down the aisle. Just to see what we could do. 

Being the youngest, I was last up. By then, the horse had grown tired of us. He was doing more running than bucking. Then, he took a little hop, hit on all fours, dropped his head, and threw his rump in the air. I sailed straight over his head, and turned a complete somersault before I hit. The horse kept running. I landed sitting upright, with my legs splayed out in front of me. Then, I fell back, unable to move. I heard the hoof beats, and thought "Well..... I'm gonna get stomped on." I closed my eyes, and tensed up as the wood shavings from the floor rained down on me. Then, everything stopped. 

The horse had slid to a stop, and was standing with his nose in my face. He had a "What are you doing down there?" look in his eyes. I just blinked back at him. The guys helped me get up. We all had a good laugh, after we realised I wasn't dead or crippled. It was a while before I could sit in a saddle again. And, I took a good ribbing about my bruised tailbone.


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## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

I can't decide if its insult to injury or comforting or funny when they look at their humans that way.

The kid that used to try to help me with Trigger confessed rather sheepishly to thinking he had Trigger to a place where he could surprise ride! bareback. With nothing but a rope halter and lead rope.

C launches himself off the ground, trying to 'John Wayne' it onto Trigger's back. Trigger kinda wigs a little, C misses and lands in an undignified heap on the ground at Trigger's feet.

Trigger gave him that exact same look: One full of worry and confusion as to how the boy ended up down there.

Reportedly, the time my daughter came off Trigger at a full gallop, he circled back and did the same thing. She looks up, he's nose to nose with her looking down, all worried and wondering what happened.

He's returned to me and my son too when we came off him, and did the same thing.

Pretty sure it bruised our egos even more.


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## Cordillera Cowboy (Jun 6, 2014)

This one wasn't me, and the funny part was more the aftermath than the fall. 

When I was in the Cavalry, at Fort Hood, Texas, we had 2 mules that pulled our wagon. One of our muleskinners decided that the mules should ride as well as pull. So, one afternoon, he saddled Red, the smaller of the two, and mounted up. Red wasted no time in explaining that she was not interested in a change to her job description. She took off bucking for the back field. Our guy looked like a rag doll up there. But, he stayed with her until she made a hard right at the road ditch. 

Red circled wide and came back to where we were standing by the barn, where we relieved her of the offending saddle. The muleskinner still hadn't come out of the ditch, so we hopped in the truck to go investigate. He was alive, but pretty well out of it. So we tossed him into the bed of the truck and took him to the aid station. 

The medics took him into the back to patch him up, and the guy at the front desk asked us what happened. 

"He got thrown off a mule."

"Really, guys. What happened to him?"

We were in our duty uniform of fatigues, Stetson, Big brass US belt buckle, knee high boots, and brass spurs. We just looked at each other and repeated "He got thrown off a mule."

"No, really. I have to put this in my log and sign my name to it. What really happened to this guy?"

"He got thrown off a mule."

Eventually another medic who knew about our unit, came out and explained to the poor guy who we were, and that our job was with the horses and mules. 

The muleskinner recovered. We often offered to saddle another mule for him, but he always declined.


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## newtrailriders (Apr 2, 2017)

I had a pony for a year when I was a kid, and I'm sure there were some falls that I've forgotten about. My dad likes to share stories about how we kids would get on him bareback and he'd deliberately stop suddenly and send us tumbling down his neck, laughing. He sure was a good boy. I wish my family'd known more about horses back then and we would have been able to keep him.

I got my first horse about 5 1/2 years ago and have had three falls since then, but none of them struck me as funny. 

The first time was when I was pretty much a rank beginner, leasing a horse from my neighbor. I had been hacking out alone on her 6-year-old green mare for several weeks (maybe months?) and having a great time. Of course, she had not bothered to tell me the mare was green and at the time I thought 6 was OLD! I didn't even find out until the end that before I started riding her she'd only been on 3 short trail rides. I'm convinced my neighbor had a mean streak. Things were going along great until she decided the mare had to be kept in the stall 24/7 and only let out when I wanted to ride her.....and she started graining her. So one muddy day I had saddled her up and went to get on and my boot slipped as I was getting on. I had one foot in the stirrup and one hand on the horn when she went bucking bronco crazy. She sent me flying and I landed on my head, then my neighbor came out of her house and had a "come to Jesus meeting" witih her. That poor mare  She was the sweetest thing ever. I wanted to buy her so badly but my neighbor wouldn't sell her to me. I hear she's been sold to a teenage girl who loves her to pieces and takes really good care of her, though.

The second time I fell was two days after I found a breast lump. The lady I brought Ona to for training called me on an unusually warm November day and asked if I wanted to go on a trail ride, me on her 20-yr-old dead broke 16'2 mare and her on Ona. I needed to get my mind off things and jumped at the chance but should not have gone, because my mind was on other things and I was feeling panicky about the lump. The horse kept spooking at invisible things, and she was not normally a spooky horse. On the 5th spook she bolted back to the barn and when she rolled back to avoid hitting the fence I went flying and she took off running. My legs wouldn't move after, and my friend had to lift me into her van to bring me to the hospital. Not an easy task, I'm telling you. All the way to the hospital I was drifting in out of consciousness and when I got there I still couldn't walk but my legs were moving better. I was in the ER for a couple of hours and by the end of the visit I was able to walk to the bathroom but my legs wouldn't move forward on their own. I had to lurch my hips to make them move. I was confused and nauseated and in severe pain. The ER doctor (Dr. Alexander Judy, from St. Francis Hospital in Escanaba, MI) had the NERVE to accuse me of faking it and sent me home! He wasn't even going to give me anything for pain but his shift was ending as I was leaving and his colleague at least had the decency to give me some pain pills. My friend drove me home, with me vomiting the whole way. When I got home I couldn't make it up the stairs to the bedroom where the blankets were. The house was freezing - we heated with wood and I couldn't feed the wood stove. My husband was out of town for a week and could not come back. I was alone, freezing and in severe pain on the sofa all the first night. In the morning my stepdaughter came and brought me to a different hospital (67 miles away). My pelvis was broken in five places, including the places where the nerves go through to the legs, which was why I had initially been unable to move my legs at all. I got a wheelchair and my stepdaughter stayed with me until hubby got home. Over the next few days we made many trips back and forth from the hospital. I had to lay face-down with pelvic fractures on the MRI table for a breast biopsy, got diagnosed with breast cancer......and this was all when we were in the middle of selling our house in the upper peninsula of MI to move back to my home state of KS.

So I got to KS, and Thank God we were moving because KU is a really, really good breast cancer center. Unfortunately, DH still couldn't be with me and I have terrible memories of bringing myself to all my doctor appointments. I was on crutches by that point, and the ice storms were awful. I had to navigate across ice-covered doctor office parking lots alone, over and over again....most traumatic time of my entire life.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, I'm all recovered from my double mastectomy and my doctor gave me a 100% guarantee I will definitely be alive ten years from now. He says my cancer was so slow-growing that I'll most likely die of other causes when I'm an old lady. I'm almost done with my reconstruction and just have to have some fat grafting (which is when they do liposuction and then transfer the fat into the areas around the implants). 

So two days before my fat grafting I decided I might just try to learn how to pony Ona behind PJ. Because PJ is 19 years old and dead broke, and Ona is 5 and gives me some trouble, I thought maybe I could start ponying her up and down the road to get her calmed down. Everything was going great until she balked and I yanked on her rope to make her go forward. I don't know what happened after that, but I think maybe the rope got caught under PJ's tail or something. He started bucking and I forgot to let go of Ona's rope and went flying off backward. I landed on my back and hit my head hard.

When I went in for my fat grafting the plastic surgeon asked how I was doing and if I was having any pain LOL. I told him I was fine and had the surgery, didn't tell him about the horse accident. I went ahead with our plan for my husband to drive to us back from KS to MI so we could visit family during my recovery. It was only after we got there that we realized I had a broken rib from the horse fall. But - I'm fine now!

The end. NO MORE INJURIES! I bought a helmet (duh me) and an air vest, which should be arriving shortly, and I'm not getting back on a horse again until I'm as protected as possible.


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## seabiscuit91 (Mar 30, 2017)

Not sure if its even considered a fall, more a slip. :lol:

I went bareback down to the beach a few weeks back, we were about belly height (of the horse) so I jumped off the horse, into the water so I could cool down, and let him have a roll. 
Since we were so deep I thought jumping back on would be a piece of cake.. which it was.. too easy. I didn't take into account how slippery the horse was (since he'd just rolled in a body of water) and jumped to much and completely toppled over the over side and fell completely under water. 
He just looked at me like a was a fool. :lol:


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## horseluvr2524 (Sep 17, 2013)

My funniest fall was back when I was first learning how to vault on bareback. I placed my hands on my poor, patient mare's back, crouched, jumped... and vaulted onto the otherside, stumbling onto my feet. Then I laughed at myself and looked around to see if anyone saw.

I'm also super glad my mare is a saint about unexpected things, she is rock steady, because another time I was trying to vault on I ended up underneath her between her four legs! I don't remember how that happened but it sure was scary. She stood so good for me though. She can be such a little turd sometimes about doing what you want, but she does not spook!

FYI... I'm still not great at vaulting on. :lol:


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## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

Last winter - when I still rode Gershwin, a huge grey Hannoveran. I rode with my instructor's son (also an accomplished rider) and we cantered uphill on a well traveled dirt road. Gershwin managed to find the only patch of ice, lost his footing, and dumped me onto the snow-covered berm. When I looked over, he was on his back slowly sliding back down the road, whinnying rather pathetically. I felt immediately sorry for his predicament, but he still got up before me. I caught him without a problem, got back on, and continued the ride.


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## redbarron1010 (Mar 11, 2017)

I have had a few bad falls that I don't want to relive. But one of my "best" falls was on my first horse when I was about 20 yrs old. He was a 17 hand belgian/saddlebred cross, and was like riding a big couch! We were riding on the trails, and I was in an English saddle, and he stepped wrong on a trail with an embankment to one side and slid in the mud and fell on to his side. He was laying on my leg and bless him, he laid there instead of panicking as I held the rein steady. I had fallen on to my butt in the grass, and my leg was stuck under him in soft dirt, and so I slid my free leg back over the saddle and grabbed his mane and neck and loosened the rein and he rolled and stood up and I was back in the saddle! It was perfect how we worked together. He was such a good boy for not freaking out.


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## Luce73 (Dec 7, 2012)

I definitely have a funny one... In no way the horses' fault, of course... 

I was about 10, cooling down at a walk after a lesson, bareback, reins long. My best friend had come with me to the barn, and at the end of the lesson friends/siblings were allowed to come in and walk besides the horses and chat while we cooled down. My friend started joking with me until I was in a laughing fit so bad that I slid right off the side of that pony... and promptly we both started laughing even harder. Poor horse just stood there and looked at us with the most confused face ever xD


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## SketchyHorse (May 14, 2012)

I actually hadn't fallen off in a couple years (like a good couple). I'm more likely to dismount mid-run or sillyness to avoid falling. My gelding is helping me settle the score this year LOL.

The first time I went to get on him I had to mount from the ground. Without even thinking I must have dug my toe in real hard. He popped, I landed behind the saddle, he popped again & off I went.

Second time we were schooling some cross poles in a lesson. Took the diagonal then did circles after. For some reason after the like 6th time doing this exercise he wanted to go left instead of right. As we approached the wall I could tell he was going to turn left. It was too late to fight the point so I was just going to let him do it, then circle back correctly. Last minute he must have had that OH RIGHT!! And turns right X_X I was already unbalanced because of his quick, wheeeee left! Popped right out the tack. Was standing there holding the arena wall, his reins still in my right hand. He felt _really_ bad after that. Rest of the ride he got super adjustable & was listening better. Guess it worked in my favor? LOL.

Then the last one - which the BO tells me doesn't count LOL. I was riding him bareback in the arena wearing full seats, no helmet. Had just got my wisdom teeth pulled probably 4 days ago. One of the neighbors shot off a mortar so the initial pop made him jump then it BANGED (and he could see it out the arena door), full 180 turn, I slipped right off. I was laughing but yet again - _extremely_ worried horse lol.

At least he has the decency to look concerned?


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## highwayvagabond (Oct 4, 2017)

I’ve done the infamous “didn’t cinch the girth tight enough” rookie mistake and went sideways (and fell off) while going up a hill. My FIRST fall was years and years ago when I was young, and less fragile—I didn’t know what the crap I was doing… and the horse knew it… so she clotheslined me on a low lying tree limb and I just slid right off the back of her!


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## Espy (Feb 25, 2015)

This one isn't funny, but I thought it might be fun to share! I learned a valuable lesson.

I was at my first ever schooling show with my TB x QH mare who I had just gotten a few months before. She was only 6 years old and quite green. I was told she was 12 and had a lot of experience, and by the way she performed during lessons I believed it! Anyways, we won my first flat class ever which I was pretty happy and excited about and we were walking out of the ring. At the gate someone handed me a prize bag and, not thinking about it, I took it. Being a young and green horse, my mare just lost it from the sound of the bag crinkling in my hands on her back and she sort of ran around frantically and was bucking like a bronc. My trainer was yelling at me to drop the bag and I did so, simultaneously leaning back in my saddle to try to keep my seat. The sound of the bag hitting the ground scared my mare even more and she gave an enormous buck just as I leaned back. Her butt collided with my body and literally launched me 10 feet into the air. At least, that's what I've been told. I do not remember. I hit the ground (I remember that part) and was immediately knocked out cold. I came to a few minutes later with all these people around me, including an off duty paramedic, and I was taken to the hospital. I broke my left clavicle and got a concussion (I am SO glad I was wearing a helmet, because my fall even with a helmet was enough to knock me out) as well as a MASSIVE black bruise on my back from the buck that launched me into the air.

For one thing, this solidified my ideal of never getting on a horse without a helmet. But you know, despite how much this sucked and was painful and scary, I don't look back on it with negative emotions. Learning to trust my mare again after this fall was really hard. It was one of the most challenging things I have ever done, but I did it. I came to trust this mare more than any other horse I've been on and went on to show and accomplish new things with her (although I never did trust her to be okay if I held anything unusual while mounted). Maybe a lot of people would say that I was overhorsed and should have sold her and got something more experienced and safer after already being severely injured. And I considered it. But I'm really glad I didn't because I enjoyed our journey (and only fell off of her one more time in the 8 years I had her after that). And when she was diagnosed later in life with muscle disease, that was its own crazy journey that brought me to new places in life. I really learned a lot from this mare and am grateful for the lessons she taught me. The fall was also sort of an important event for me and helped me realize how much I love riding, even if it involves getting hurt. I got on my mom's TB 3 weeks into my healing process, which was not allowed, and immediately got bucked off (he hadn't been ridden in a while and was just energetic). I'm glad I didn't get even more hurt, but I just couldn't stand that it was summer and I wasn't riding!

And of course don't get me wrong. This whole thing was all around foolish. This was 8 years ago when I was 15, and I have much better sense now! I would never get back on a horse while healing a broken bone and I also get the whole green rider/green horse combo. To be fair, for being 6 years old and green, this mare was fantastic even though I was also really green (if you don't count he whole breaking my clavicle thing). I miss her.


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