# How have you been dumped off of a horse?



## ChristianCowgirl (May 5, 2010)

I've fallen off twice... Both times thanks to dogs. The first time, my brother and I were riding (taking lessons, but not very conventional... long story, generally wasn't a good thing) and a dog came out of the cornfield we were riding by. My brother was afraid of dogs like many little kids and tried to shoo the dog away--while holding the reins! His horse bolted and thanks to the herd instinct, mine followed suit. My brother and our teacher, who was riding double with him, hit the ground in a few seconds. I managed to stay on almost until the horse stopped. I hit the ground about 10 feet from the corral where he stopped!
The second time, the dog popped out right under my horse and scared him. He took off and a kid riding with me whipped his horse around to cut him off. Smokey stopped and I went off sideways. I was set to ride it out (I'd dropped the reins) so I wasn't ready for a sudden stop. Sprained my ankle. Almost gave up riding completely because I wasn't allowed on a horse until the ankle healed and by then I'd gotten too worked up.
Haven't fallen since, but I've ridden several horses.  I'll probably take my next spill soon as I'll be riding a high-strung retired barrel racer. Oh well, I'll live!
(What's your story, btw?)


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## frecklesgirl4ever (Sep 15, 2009)

I've been riding two years and so far have fallen off three times..all with the same mischeivious little pony. All of my falls have been when we were jumping. the first time was an easy fall, but the second time I wasn't quite as lucky. i fell onto the jump and hurt my wrists (of course i had to get right back on) My final fall wasn't too bad. We were coming towards a cross rail and everthing was going fine until my pony spotted the plastic flower at the base of the jump flipped out, dumped me, and then ran away. it took us a full half hour to capture him xD

i've _almost _fallen off a galloping horse too...that would've been bad


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## BarrelracingArabian (Mar 31, 2010)

ive fallen quite a few times but only 3 bad ones
first was when i was about 7 on a greenbroke mustang my other mustang spooked him he took off bucked like crazy i stayed on for about 8 seconds or so till i went off and hit my head on a small rock.. i had a black eye and a minor concussion
2nd was on a my 27yr old mare when i was about 9 she spooked at a horse on the trail took off my foot got hooked in a bush and i tumbled off .. I had huge deep gashes on both my shoulders but was just sore besides that
last was about 2 yrs ago on a endurance training ride. I was helping train i younger arab mare who is known for being flighty and bratty i used to ride her alot before this. Well i was in the back with my friend bri on another fligthy arab and my horse flipped out bucked jumped to the side spun and i went off body slamming th ground with my elbow. Out of riding for a month.


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## CopperPennyPony (Feb 14, 2010)

Ok so my first time was a few weeks ago. I was riding with my boyfriend's mom on a horse named Max because my horse Tex had stepped on a nail and was still healing (he's completely fine now). We decided to ride down a road near her house and close to some fast and busy roads. At the end of the road there was a trail we were going to ride on. Just as we get to the entrance Rascal, Lisa's horse, saw a little bird. Now one thing you need to know about Rascal is that he loves to spook when he isn't the least bit scared of something. So he sees the bird and I know there's gonna be trouble so I brace for impact because he often runs into me in his mock terror. The problem is that Max has a very wide back and no withers which makes it nearly impossible to find a saddle that fits him well. So true to form, Rascal freaks out at the bird and bolts and Max follows causing me to crash to the ground. As soon as I am off Max starts trotting calmly down the center of the road. We soon realize he's not stopping or coming back and he's heading for the main, very busy road. So Lisa tries to take off after him but Rascal, being aptly named, starts bucking and rearing after him. He did this so the Lisa couldn't catch Max until half a mile later a few feet from the big road. I had to sprint the whole way to keep up. When she caught him I got right back on and we rode the rest of the way home. We had quite the story to tell my boyfriend and her husband when we got back :lol:


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## horseservant (Jul 29, 2010)

once my horse slipped on the grass and fell over while galloping. I went flying off neatly between two strands of barbed wire fence without a single scratch.

By the way, if you are a true rider you never fall off you are thrown from your horse. There is no sigma attached by being thrown no matter how many times it happens


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## CopperPennyPony (Feb 14, 2010)

BarrelracingArabian said:


> ive fallen quite a few times but only 3 bad ones
> first was when i was about 7 on a greenbroke mustang my other mustang spooked him he took off bucked like crazy i stayed on for about 8 seconds or so till i went off and hit my head on a small rock.. i had a black eye and a minor concussion
> 2nd was on a my 27yr old mare when i was about 9 she spooked at a horse on the trail took off my foot got hooked in a bush and i tumbled off .. I had huge deep gashes on both my shoulders but was just sore besides that
> last was about 2 yrs ago on a endurance training ride. I was helping train i younger arab mare who is known for being flighty and bratty i used to ride her alot before this. Well i was in the back with my friend bri on another fligthy arab and my horse flipped out bucked jumped to the side spun and i went off body slamming th ground with my elbow. Out of riding for a month.


Wow! You'd had a rough time! Good for you for getting back on the horse, literally!


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## CopperPennyPony (Feb 14, 2010)

horseservant said:


> once my horse slipped on the grass and fell over while galloping. I went flying off neatly between two strands of barbed wire fence without a single scratch.
> 
> By the way, if you are a true rider you never fall off you are thrown from your horse. There is no sigma attached by being thrown no matter how many times it happens


I totally agree with you. I should have used "thrown" instead of "fallen off."

Falling off only happens when your horse is standing still and you don't have enough skill to hang on lol


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## BarrelracingArabian (Mar 31, 2010)

haha yea it wasnt the horses faults. I would say i had something to do with all of the accidents .. I should have locked musty up the first time. Should have stayed away from teh fence not knowing how my mare would act and should have been paying better attention on the arab knowing her history lol 
i love horses to much to not get back on :] 
plus im accident prone no matter what haha


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## dedebird (May 21, 2010)

i've fallen off four times the first time i was going over trot polls and the horse in front of me knocked it out of place so my horse triped and i literaly rolled off i hit my neck the middle of my back and my tail bone my tail bone still hurts its been like 4 years. the second time i jumped a jump waaaay to high the person kept sayin go for it blah blah you can do it i knew i couldn't i lost my stirup and i fell i rolled in the dirt. the third time i was riding a horse and he bucked and i flew off and into a splintery rusty nailed fence, i have a huge scar on my chin cause of it i fell bad i couldn't hear or see for a few mins and when i finally could i couldn't get up and i looked down and started paniking more cause i was bleeding yes i couldn't even feel that i was completly like out, i almost gave up riding it i didn't ride for a few months. when i got on again i was doing ok then i fell of a running away horse o-o of course i was still scared cause of the third fall it has just been recently i started riding


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## Carleen (Jun 19, 2009)

I have more stories than I care to share, lol, but I will share a few of them.

One, my horse decided he was going to be a race horse for a day. I think he may have been stung/bitten by something (but we never did find out) and he took off full speed around the arena with NO control. After about 10 laps I was trying to get him into a corner to help me stop him and he started slowing as if he was going to stop - then he shot out to the side and I came tumbling off.

Another time (same horse) we were at an outdoor dressage show and it was rainy and muddy. Everyone's horses were refusing to go into the corners, bucking, etc. So we go out there and my horse is being an absolutely ANGEL, we probably would have won the class if not for what happened. I asked him to pickup him right lead canter and instead he bucked, according to spectators I flew like 6 feet in the air and then I landed on my butt in about a foot of mud. 

Another time, I was jumping in a lesson and I guess I was really not paying attention. We were coming up to a little vertical and I guess I just expected him to go over it but he veered off to the side and I did a somersault down his leg and landed on my butt again. Right as I hit the dirt, a friend who was in the stands stood up and yelled "NICE DISMOUNT!" Lol.

And one more that I can remember right now - I was schooling a little pony mare over fences and she refused and I did a flip over her head and ended up on the other side of the jump.

Haha, I have more stories somewhere but I can't remember them right now.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Geez, I cannot remember all the times I have come off a horse LOL. I will just hit some of the worse or most recent ones.

I was 9 and trying out a "kid horse" that a doctor friend of my parents was looking to buy for his daughters. My brother and I were loping down a road and as we passed a vacant lot on the right. My horse saw some kind of boogeyman and sucked back to the left. I went flying off his side and when I went to break my fall with my hands, I shattered my left arm. Broke one bone in 3 places and the other in 2 before shoving all the little bone fragments through my wrist and up into my hand. It took 2 surgeries, 4 screws, 1 pin, and an external fixator just to get it back to the shape it was supposed to be. Spent all summer in a cast before going in for another surgery to remove the screws and pin. Dr's said I would probably never have use of the last 3 fingers on my hand (pinky, ring, and middle). However, I do have full use, just some limited mobility and pain.

Then when I was about 14 or 15, I was starting this huge red roan mare. I pushed her too fast and got her out in the pasture before she was ready to be out of the pen. She got spooked, jumped to the side, took a huge buck, another spin, a rear, a lunge, and another huge buck. Down I went and I hit on the right side of my head and the top of my right shoulder. I don't think it knocked me out but I layed out there in the pasture for probably 2 hours thinking that I had broken my neck because I couldn't move. After a while, I started getting that tingly pins-and-needles feeling all over and was able to crawl back to the house. I spent the next month going to the chiro like 3 times a week. I still have neck and back pain thanks to that witch.

One of the more recent ones was off of a little Arab gelding I was training. I was riding him in the country on a fairly windy day. He was going along fine until he saw the windmill. All of a sudden, he sucked back, spun, and then did this huge rear-lunge thing that just dumped me out the back of the saddle. I hit on the right side of my back. I am fairly certain I ended up with a pinched nerve because I had random shooting pains down my right leg for a while after that. As if dumping me wasn't enough, he ran off and left me to walk like 2 miles back to the gate that he was waiting at.


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## Tennessee (Dec 7, 2008)

Err...I think the more appropriate question for me is how haven't I been dumped off of a horse? lol.


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## wildberryxX3 (Jun 28, 2010)

I really haven't fallen off too many times! *knock on wood!* Just a few times because I was unbalanced and twice because a horse spooked! The last time my gelding spooked in our pond that we like to go riding in and I went for a swim. 

The same thing actually almost happened today... We were bareback in the pond and he spooked and took off galloping and bucking like a mad man back to the barn... I have NO idea how I stuck that one though! I thought I was gonna be toast! haha! I'm quite proud of myself though!


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## boldstart (Oct 11, 2009)

I hadnt fallen off for about a year until i started learning trackwork at TAFE. I have fallen off 5 times in total, including 3 out on the track. =/

The first time was when I was out on the begginers track horse called Medulla. Sometimes hes a bit naughty, btu hes just fun to ride. Anyway we were crusing along out the other side of the track and out of nowhere he did this massive buck. Head between the legs buck and I just got dumped. Good thing he stayed, but I couldnt vault back on so we pretty much walked abotu a 1000m back to the teachers. lol

The second time was Mr T and after a weekend with no work he gets quite strong. Well, we did two laps and he started to get really strong on me and then when he headed out to do his 3rd lap I lost him about half way though. He wasnt galloping, but it was a strong canter and he just wasnt responding to me trying to pull him back. He went flying past the gap (and about 98% of horses slow down cause they know they are finished) and he just started bucking, pigrooting and all that jazz. I stayed on all that UNTIL we ended at the rail and he ducked out and I just went over his shoulder and underneath the rail (very lucky I didnt hit it) and Mr T galloped off around the track in the wrong way by himself. Now that was a very amusing day.

And finally, I was riding Shorty for the third time and I hadnt quite figured him out. He spooks badly (he has pretty much dumped everyone!) and has to wear pacifers. Anyway if you go to slow on him he looks at everything and spooks, but you cant go too fast or he will grab the bit and run. Anyway we were travelling down the straight part of the track, and I didnt see anything but he just slammed on the brakes and I just came off. =/ I wasnt very happy with myself, but I managed to get a leg up back on and finished our lap. lol

lol, some very amusing times =]


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## Jessabel (Mar 19, 2009)

I haven't fallen off in years, but my horse used to unload me quite a lot in our earlier days together. We would be walking along, having a lovely ride, and all of a sudden he would throw his head down and buck. One time we were loping on the trail and he stopped dead and pivoted back toward the barn... and nailed me right in the gut with the saddle horn. Then another time we were doing trot poles and he decides to buck and take off sideways across the arena. I've also fallen off several times while riding bareback, mostly when my horse spooked.

Good thing I always had either grass or sand to land on. :lol: I think it amused him to no end, but now I don't get thrown off as easily and he's decided that his efforts are frivolous. He behaves now.


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## lid7239 (Jul 28, 2010)

*Fell off just yesterday...*

Yesterday I went to the barn where I ride and the instructor wanted me to ride one of the lesson horses. I had never ridden him before, he is a horse that they usually use for the less experienced riders but my instructor wanted me to ride him in the outdoor arena because she doesn't have anyone else that is really able to handle him outside (he is deathly afraid of one of the long rails and one of the corners). He also hadn't been ridden in 2 weeks and needed some exercise.

Our ride was going nicely. He was being pretty spooky (it also didn't help that 2 of the barn cats were hiding in the bushes) but becasue I made him go in the parts of the ring that he didn't like, he seemed to be doing fine at the walk and trot.

My instructor had me to pick up the canter and we were doing fine for 3/4 of the ring... until we got to the "scary" part. Out of no where, he jumped sideways 2 times, my saddle slid to the left and I fell off and landed sitting on my butt.

He immediatly stopped, I got back on, and he was fine for the rest of the ride, we even did some 2 foot jumps and he was an angel!


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## PeruvianEquine (Aug 1, 2010)

I've been bucked with a few times, and I ride bareback, so its really a miracle I've never fallen off.

The one time I DID fall off was when a cat jumped onto a tarp covered boat that was outside my roundpen. My horse was right on that side of the roundpen and she basically just jumped sideways. I wasn't prepared for that at all (who could have been?) and I just went right over the side of her. It was nothing major, I wasn't hurt at all and the ground was quite soft.


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## CopperPennyPony (Feb 14, 2010)

PeruvianEquine said:


> I've been bucked with a few times, and I ride bareback, so its really a miracle I've never fallen off.
> 
> The one time I DID fall off was when a cat jumped onto a tarp covered boat that was outside my roundpen. My horse was right on that side of the roundpen and she basically just jumped sideways. I wasn't prepared for that at all (who could have been?) and I just went right over the side of her. It was nothing major, I wasn't hurt at all and the ground was quite soft.


Horses and tarps. Almost never a good combination!


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## Saskia (Aug 26, 2009)

As a child/young teen I fell off more times that I care to remember.

The first time I fell off was when I was at a show with a friends elder horse. I got a leg up because she was too big for me but she moved forward and I went behind the saddle, started hopping and I fell off. There was a blurry video of it and all you could hear was my mother laughing her head off, and then me crying. 

A fall that particularly sticks out for me was when I was on a trail. I was riding my horse and my mother was on a push bike. These trails were in a city/town sort of thing, so we came to this high fence with a small trail running down it, we were about to turn down when an emu came up to the fence, and sort of pushed its head forward, as they do, to look at my horse. He freaked out. Spun on his hindquarters to bolt but while turning got the bike stuck on his saddle/stirrup. I went flying of and he bolted, kicking out like mad until the bike came loose and run about 5kms home without stopping. 

We started walking back, me bleeding and bruised, and met a guy on the trail who said he'd seen the horse and was checking if we were okay. He offered me to ride his 17hh horse back, but to an 11 year old it looked like a monster. By the time we got back people at our agistment place were about to "mount a rescue" which was sweet. They had caught my horse, untacked him and put him in a yard. 

These days I don't fall off - I have a fear of it so I just flat out refuse to come off and haven't for years.


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## horseluver2435 (May 27, 2009)

The first time I fell off was when I was taking a private lesson when I first started riding- I might have been seven or eight. The mare I was riding either spooked or I did something to cue her without realizing it [this is too long ago for anyone who was present to remember] and she took off. I went flying. Wasn't hurt, just scared out of my mind!

The next three falls all happened off the first horse I showed. He was the slowest, laziest horse you ever met, and I probably would've done better in Western Pleasure classes then in my English classes, but regardless. He spooked at any small thing, and twice he spooked in a corner of the indoor arena. Directly outside was the mare's pasture, so I'm sure they were acting up and he heard and spooked. I slid right off both times and had the wind knocked out of me but again was not hurt.

The third time with the same horse was out on trails. There were two horses in front of me, and the middle horse was trying to go down this little hill.
_____
|__________ < It looked like this. Literally, a tiny hill, but the horse kept getting upset over it. His nervousness made my horse nervous and the first horse nervous, and while the other two were trying to fix things out, my horse spotted a deer that was on the trail ahead. He spooked, I slid off, and that was that. Being young, we all dismounted, too scared to continue riding, and walked home. No injuries.

The next time was off of Rainy, my current horse. I was putting her over a few 8 inch cavalettis when she [and I suspect she was frustrated, since we had been working for a while, and I was pushing her to continue, rider error 100%] reared up and bolted. I was off before she bolted, but still no injuries. According to my friend who was riding with me at the time, she was perpendicular to the ground. 

Time after that, my girth came loose and I bailed, rather than being thrown/falling off. After that, I was on trails and she spooked [I wanna say it was a deer] and bolted off. 

Finally, the last time I fell off, we were cantering in the outdoor arena and she lost her footing. It had sprinkled eariler, but the ring seemed fine, so I went ahead and rode outside like an idiot. Her back legs slipped out from underneath her, so I threw my weight forward to help her get her balance. Instead, her front legs slipped out too and my weight going forward nearly pitched myself over her head. Then I lost my balance too and we both fell to the left. Luckily she jumped right back up so she wasn't laying on top of me. I was slightly bruised, but no major injury.

I've been pretty lucky. For the amount that I've fallen off, I've never been seriously hurt. *knock on wood*


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## Jacksmama (Jan 27, 2010)

Probably 99% of the time my falls have been my own fault. I've gone out the side door on a spin, flown through the air because I didn't check the girth and the saddle slipped resulting in the horse making a huge all 4 off the ground leap, over the shoulder on a sudden stop, bucked off after a horsefly stung a huge mare going up a steep hill(thankfully I stayed with her until we got to the top of the hill and past the trees lining both sides of the trail, I landed on my butt and skidded about 5 ft and was digging dirt out of my pants for the rest of the day,lol) I must say, there is no teacher like pain!


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

horseservant said:


> By the way, if you are a true rider you never fall off you are thrown from your horse. There is no stigma attached by being thrown no matter how many times it happens


No, you have this backwards.

Very rarely is someone ever _thrown_ from a horse. Thrown implies intent by the animal to get you off its back.

99.99% of the time, people _fall_ off. If the horse stumbles and you lose your balance, you _fell _off. If the horse spooks and you come unseated, you _fell_ off. If the horse bolts and you don't have the ability to stay with him, you _fell _off.

If a horse deliberately bucks in an attempt to get you off, _then _you can consider yourself thrown. Otherwise, in the majority of scenarios you've merely fallen off because you couldn't stay in the saddle.


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

Speed Racer said:


> Very rarely is someone ever _thrown_ from a horse. Thrown implies intent by the animal to get you off its back.
> 
> 99.99% of the time, people _fall_ off. If the horse stumbles and you lose your balance, you _fell _off. If the horse spooks and you come unseated, you _fell_ off. If the horse bolts and you don't have the ability to stay with him, you _fell _off.
> 
> If a horse deliberately bucks in an attempt to get you off, _then _you can consider yourself thrown. Otherwise, in the majority of scenarios you've merely fallen off because you couldn't stay in the saddle.


Well said, Speedy. I've seen Tommie Turvey once fell off the horse when the horse suddenly stopped on canter (couple years back at the Expo). And he's definitely a TRUE rider. 

I fell off together with the horse once going down the little hill (he tripped). And the **** thing stepped on my chest while getting up and trying to run away from me. I didn't go to the doctor, but I still think I had a broken rib, or two, as I had problems breathing deep for quite a while. 

Another nasty fall was when my cheap saddle broke throwing me over the horse head.


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

Too many times to count, here...haha. But only like, once every couple of years now...

Last fall, I had been riding my mare bareback in one of the fields, and she tripped; well she's really sensitive to how your weight is positioned, so she got even more startled when I slid a tiny bit forward, from when she stumbled. She jumped foward a couple of times then stopped...as I went to readjust my seat, she then jumped to one side, and I landed next to her on the ground...yeah, she didn't plan that one at all hahahaha!


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## corinowalk (Apr 26, 2010)

Proof that I get the hard things easy and the easy things hard. 

I had ridden successfully for about 8 years doing local shows and some very upper level gaited shows. I have always had a velcro seat (not a pretty one) but it sticks. Believe me, I'm not bragging...its gotten me into more bad situations than it has good. No one ever asks me to ride their dead broke nice old gelding. Its 'hey cori...I havent ridden HellFire in a few years...wanna jump on him for me?' and I usually go along...

So I decided to take a friend up on a basic english lesson. Shes kinda hippy-dippy and was in to natural horsemanship before PP and CA ever saw a saddle. She has me on the sweetest mare bareback on a lungeline. I was going along well and was having a really good time. I know my position isn't pretty so working on it is always something I want to get back to. We stopped to chat for a minute and I was just setting on her mare, flappin my gums. Mare takes *one* step to the left and off I go. Hit the ground like a ton of bricks. I didn't get hurt but I had a stitch in my side for a month from laughing so hard. 

After that, I hadnt come off in about 5 years. I bought Nico who is a reclaimed horse and boy did he rack up my 'tossed' status! Hes short and round and QUICK. We were going on a trail ride and I shouldnt have gone. I was hung over and tired and he was in a foul mood. I saddled him anyways and off we went. My 'friends' charged up behind us at a gallop and I pulled a Wile-E-Coyote. My horse dissapeared out from under me. I landed square on my butt...I didn't laugh so much that time. 

Second time, I was fooling with him in the round pen and he was being really sweet. I thought...Im gonna jump on him bareback. Its in the round pen...were safe. I am no longer agile enough to jump on bareback so I grabbed a mounting block, tossed it next to him, stepped up and went right over. Hindsight being 20/20, I realize that a 14.2hh horse had probably never SEEN a mounting block before and that he probably didn't have a CLUE what I was doing. 

The last one was the best. I was showing him for clients and they were bugging me to push him. I am no longer a big speed girl...atleast not with him. His quickness intimidates me. So we run a really nice poles pattern...he was firing his lead changes like a dressage horse. On the run home, im pushing him. He gave it to me alright. He slid to a stop at the gate and up and off I came. I landed perfectly on my feet....the crowd thought it was a trick. 

Long story longer, I have been tossed a few times. I think it is more like 90% rider error and 10% snarky horse. Thats been my case...but as I stated, I get stuck with the nasties quite frequently.


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## Brighteyes (Mar 8, 2009)

It's dialogue time! This is the brief story of my fall a few hours ago...

_Riding on the trails behind the kid's hay ride. _

My Boss: You don't have your helmet on. Don't fall.

Me: I NEVER fall. I won't do anything dangerous.

_5 minutes later._

Me: Hey, Paul, want to hang back and race?

Paul: Sure...

_Hangs back about 200 feet._ 

Me: Ready?

Paul: Suurrrree....

_Races off at absolute full speed. Whoever said Walkers weren't fast lied. Reaches finish line. Falls epically at a full gallop_.

Boss, panicking slightly: I told you to wear a helmet!

Me, to Paul: I still won the race.


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## camphammock (Aug 5, 2010)

Being dumped isn't easy, but if it wasn't that serious of a relationship to begin with, you will get over it soon. The pain you feel right now will turn into a dull ache that will linger for maybe a couple weeks. But after that, you'll start to forget, and you should be as good as new in about a month.


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## Brithorse1996 (May 25, 2010)

camphammock I don't think that was quite the meaning lol


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

camphammock said:


> Being dumped isn't easy, but if it wasn't that serious of a relationship to begin with, you will get over it soon. The pain you feel right now will turn into a dull ache that will linger for maybe a couple weeks. But after that, you'll start to forget, and you should be as good as new in about a month.



The thread is about being thrown/falling off a horse, not being dumped by a BF or GF.

Seriously, did you even READ the original post? :?


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## Sunny (Mar 26, 2010)

camphammock said:


> Being dumped isn't easy, but if it wasn't that serious of a relationship to begin with, you will get over it soon. The pain you feel right now will turn into a dull ache that will linger for maybe a couple weeks. But after that, you'll start to forget, and you should be as good as new in about a month.


 Bwahahahahahaha. :lol: :lol: :lol:
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## dee (Jul 30, 2009)

I've only fallen off a horse once, although I have always lived in terror of it. (It's the height thing, I think). It was about 20 years ago and hubby and I were at a benefit playday in an arena that hadn't been used in several years. The ground had not been properly worked up, either. I'm not exactly sure what started it, but it pretty much happened in slow motion. I know there were some other horses in the arena that were really being nasty - bucking and kicking - a couple of other riders were thrown (yes thrown - they didn't just fall) and pretty banged up. 

We were cantering up the side of the arena when the shodeo happened pretty close to us. I think Sugar must have jumped a little sideways - one of the bucking horses came pretty close to us. I remember sitting a bit sideways in the saddle and trying to pull myself back up. Sugar was actually trying to manuever back underneath me (at least it felt like she was trying to help.) When I realized I wasn't going to be able to get back in the saddle, I just let go. Landed square on the top of my head and felt my neck pop. Loudly. The momentum carried me over in a nearly perfect summersault and I came straight up to my feet. 

I was sure I had broken my neck going by the way I landed and the sound it made. So did the people nearby. However, I was completely uninjured. Guess my neck just needed to pop. Sugar turned around and actually came back for me - through the press of horses and other people trying to catch her. She even ignored the open gate. That was amazing - but that was my girl! 

I sure miss her!


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

Giggling at not only the post about this being about a girlfriend/boyfriend but at the fact that so many people can tell you exactly how many times and the story behind each and every time they have fallen off a horse.

I guess I suck worse than I thought I did (which is sad because I never claimed not to suck) or I have been riding too many years on too many very athletic beasts.

Most of my falls revolve (literally) around cantering horse, jump right there, horse stops, me flies and splats on the other side. Darn that jumping ahead thing. Fails me every freaking time.

More recently I can honestly say I was bucked off. I felt like the coyote on the road runner cartoons. One minute I am sitting on the horse the next I am way up in the air and horse is not underneath me anymore and there is all this air between me and that very hard ground underneath.


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## PeruvianEquine (Aug 1, 2010)

Haha I'm surprised thats never happened to me! My horse had this horrible habit of just like, bolting when told to move forward from a stand still. Not really bolting...She's gaited, so she would just take off into one of her faster gaits. I'd nearly have to grab onto some mane before I'd tell her to go....Except then she'd learn that when I put my hand near her neck, I was about to ask her to go XD 

Problem solved by switching to voice cues. But it was still a frustrating but hilarious thing. 

One other time I nearly fell off I remember is when she jumped over a pile of poo. Yes, she took a dump in the round pen, and she did NOT want to step in it, and she didn't think going around it was an option. So she jumped over her poop.


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## Sunny (Mar 26, 2010)

I have only been /thrown/ once. I was a thirteen-year-old who knew nothing about riding. Looking back at pictures, I can't believe Splash didn't toss me before he did. Anyway. I was really ready to ride this day, so I tacked up, walked to the field, and hopped on. I was very ready to go, so I layed my heels into that poor, confused, six-year-old Paint as hard as I could, as many times as I could. What did he do? He bucked me off like I deserved. I hung on for three or so bucks, then I was gone. Came down on my hip and knee, and have permanent damage. I have severe pain in my hip usually every other day, but most noticably, I am now bow-legged because of my smart, first pony. Oh, I was terrified of him after this and my parents gave him back to his old owner. Now that I look back, it was a VERY good thing. I shouldn't have had him at all at that point in my life. Goodness, what horses teach you. :lol:
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

Alwaysbehind said:


> Giggling at not only the post about this being about a girlfriend/boyfriend *but at the fact that so many people can tell you exactly how many times and the story behind each and every time they have fallen off a horse.*


I think it really depends on what you do with horses and how many/how much you ride. If you have just one nice horse, or you've been taking lessons on been there done that horses you may NEVER hit the ground. Even if you are a not-so-good rider. But if you try new horses or do training it should definitely happen more often (although some people will never admit that :wink: ).


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## Tennessee (Dec 7, 2008)

camphammock said:


> Being dumped isn't easy, but if it wasn't that serious of a relationship to begin with, you will get over it soon. The pain you feel right now will turn into a dull ache that will linger for maybe a couple weeks. But after that, you'll start to forget, and you should be as good as new in about a month.




lol. Fo realz? 
:lol:


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## PumpkinzMyBaby22 (Jul 5, 2009)

Well, i have come off quite a few times.. Lets say i can hold on a bit better now...
Anyway.. stopping suddenly, ducking out of a jump, bolting, bucking, and sharps turns of Pumpkin's own accord. Thankfully, his bad behviour is becoming less and less!
Oh well, I am still alive. I am lucky I havn't broken any bones yet *touch wood*


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## CopperPennyPony (Feb 14, 2010)

Wow! I never expected this thread to become so popular! A lot of great stories guys! Keep them coming!


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## juniormylove (Aug 28, 2008)

I've fallen off twice in the 7 years I've been riding. Both were off the same horse [who I'm actually riding today] and they were within 2 weeks of eachother.

The first time, Scooter and I were jumping a little warm up jump [maaaybe 2' max]. I leaned at the jump, Scooter stopped, and I slid right off his neck onto my head. -_- 

The second time we were at the same jump, cantering in, and I saw the wrong distance and Scooter decided he didn't want to jump it short so he stopped, I was flung off, and in his stopping he dislodged a pole that ended up underneath my back when I landed. I had a beautiful bruise from that!


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## juniormylove (Aug 28, 2008)

Well, I've officially fallen off Scooter three times. I came off today in my lesson. We were jumping a combination [2'6" to 2'9" to 3' I believe] and Scooter refused the 3' twice and then stopped dead a third time at the middle jump. I was catapulted over his shoulder, bouncing off the pole on my way down. I landed right on my side. GR. The worst part? My mom didn't catch it on video.


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## xShilohxLovex (Aug 4, 2010)

Well, I have been riding for ten years now and my horse and I are inseparable. We never really had a consistent trainer before, but finally we found one named Ida. She taught me all through 2008 and she finally stopped teaching me when I fell off for the first time ever in September of 2009. This was approximately a year ago or so when I fell off by the way. But anyways, this is what happened -

My horse is an off the track Thoroughbred. So if you even walk another horse next to him, he'll go faster because what happens is his mind will click and think he's in a race. So my trainer, Ida, was teaching me to canter. Well, I was doing fine until we turned. Now my horse does everything, including run barrels, so of course he turns really fast and tight. She was cantering beside me on my friend's horse Lucky. They're both off the track, so what happened? My horse took off at a flat out gallop thinking I wanted him to. I flew off and landed on my head, bounced in the air and landed on my shoulder, and then slid across the ground. I was about two inches from the fence post. Everyone thought I was dead for sure, but I was perfectly fine, or so I thought. The only thing that kept me alive was my Troxel helmet and the fact that I know how to tuck and roll. Without that, I would have died and most likely his the fence post. So, I was very lucky.

After the fall it took me about a minute to be able to breath again, literally. Of course as soon as Shiloh felt me slide off his back and halted, turned, and ran towards me anyway which was amazing because he just cares about me enough to see if I was alright. The way my mom and trainer crowed beside me gave him enough room to take his front feet and step inbetween them and nudge me trying to get me to stand. Haha, I love my horse sooo freaking much. But yeah, that was the first time I ever fell off in the ten years I've been riding. I haven't fallen off since, but I'm sure I will soon again anyway, lolz. Since then I've gotten a new trainer whom I have been training with for about five or six weeks now. She's very good actually, and I'm really learning from her. She just may be my first consistent trainer ever. ^__^

Well, that's my story. The morals of my story: 1.) ALWAYS Wear a helmet and know how to tuck and roll. If not, be sure you know how to hang onto a canter, hahaha. 2.) ALWAYS trust your horse and treat him well. Shiloh really stepped up to me that day and showed me just how much more he cares about me.

Thanks for listening. 

- <3 Shiloh


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## xShilohxLovex (Aug 4, 2010)

Oh yeah, and the fall left me with the following:
Out of school for a week
Out of gym and riding my horse for a month
A serious concussion
Cracked Ribs
Dislocated Shoulder (actually I don't think it was dislocated but it was pretty badly hurt lol)
And then I had cuts and bruises everywhere. I had passed out for about 11 seconds about 10 minutes after the fall. But all in all, I got up and gave my horse a kiss anyway. I walked away in pain but happy to have a horse who cares so much. <3


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## Cheshire (Oct 17, 2009)

lol yes, of course.

My first ever dump...my instructor put me on a highstrung OTTB who had no business packing a beginner around. He ignored me and went over to sniff noses with a horse in a paddock adjacent to the arena -- instructor had forgot to turn off the electric wire...hehehe. Bum, meet dirt.

I've had some other unplanned dismounts but nothing huge, knock on wood. Helmets are wonderful things though...reckon one saved my life once!


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## GreyRay (Jun 15, 2010)

I have fallen off many times, 4 years old being walked under short branches ECT... I was 6(I think) riding my gelding, mom had him on the lunge line, my little sister ran in front of him, so Smoke tryed to run around her but slipped and fell over, my foot was cought in the stirrup. I had a sprained ankle.

I was riding Smoke bareback with only a rein around his nose in 07. The ragweed was huge and two of my little siblings fallowed me, they thought it would be funny to hide and then touch his hind legs as we walked by... Well Smoke reared and I rolled off his but Hahaha! good times! 

I was riding Chip for the first time, he threw me into a barn door... He felt it just as much as I did.

Twas a warm summer day, riding my dads pally paint gelding down the road... He wanted to trot and throw his nose in the air when I told him to slow down, so I pushed him into a canter, his hind legs slipped out from under him and we both went sliding down the road. I had a big lump on my elbow, road rash on my knee, a broken wrist.. and the @SSHOLE RUINED MY FAVORITE PANTS!!!! Oh... and Littleman had a small bald spot above his eye.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## trIplEcrOwngIrl (May 13, 2009)

I've been riding for 5 years and I remember falling of 3 times but there have problably been more . The first time, I was riding a barn sour mare who decided to canter back to the barn while I was ridng alone. So I made the quick decidon to jump off while we were in the grass rather than hold on a risk getting dumped of the gravel. The second time, me and my brother were racing our horses and my horse took a crazy turn I wasn't ready for and I did a backflip off . The last time, I was cantering my horse coming back after hitting the trails and he turns and starts galloping towards the barn. I fell off about 3 seconds before he stopped . Well, thers my stories!


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## Regan7312 (Jul 5, 2010)

i just got bucked off yesterday actually...landed on my tailbone and elbow. i am quite sore : /


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## AnimalFarm2006 (Aug 6, 2010)

I think I'm the only person that has ever fallen off while trying to get on a standing horse. He didn't even move. I was trying to get on page from a block. But I'm short, and page is tall so it was a chore to get on him. That one time I fell, I pulled myself up, failed, and went down to miss the stool and fall on my back. Page turned to me to give me that, "what are you doing down their" look. He's a sweety pie and I love him a ton!!!


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## gratifite (Jul 8, 2010)

camphammock said:


> Being dumped isn't easy, but if it wasn't that serious of a relationship to begin with, you will get over it soon. The pain you feel right now will turn into a dull ache that will linger for maybe a couple weeks. But after that, you'll start to forget, and you should be as good as new in about a month.


Actually, there's a lot of truth to this when is comes to riding. Being dumped isn't easy, the pain does fade and after awhile you forget most of it.....if it didn't, who would ride again 



Speed Racer said:


> No, you have this backwards.
> 
> Very rarely is someone ever _thrown_ from a horse. Thrown implies intent by the animal to get you off its back.
> 
> ...


Yeah, but who wants to admit they *fell* *off *their own horse??? It's kinda like admitting you fell out of bed :lol:. Last time I *came off* my horse, he spooked, and I made an unanticipated dismount which resulted in a broken leg. Just my clever way of hiding my ineptitude .


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## ErikaLynn (Aug 3, 2010)

Ive fallen off about a million times, but the funniest one was when I fell off at the walk. I was just walking around the ring on a horse that just came to the barn about 4 hours ago, and the bridle was messed up, so I leaned over to fix it, and I guess the horse saw my hand out of the corner of her eye and spooked and did a little side step and off I went. I just think its funny, because who falls off at a walk.


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## Michael (Aug 4, 2010)

Well we were trail riding I was on a green horse putting some miles on him for my uncle who swears every horse he has is broke to death LOL. Anyway this was this horses 6 ride so I found out when we got home. Going through a water crossing the girl in front of me horse did not want to cross. She got her started in the crossing and she spun and came back our way. Well the horse I was on decided that, that little mare was going to eat him and went NUTS. Well to make a long story short don't trust my uncle about a horse being broke which I should have know. Story of my life riding horses for my uncle I should have learned a long time ago.


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## flamingauburnmustang (Dec 25, 2008)

gratifite said:


> Yeah, but who wants to admit they *fell* *off *their own horse??? It's kinda like admitting you fell out of bed :lol:


I was thrown out of my bed.....? :lol:

Okay, honestly, I can't count how many times I have fallen off a horse, but I can list a few briefly:

When jumping Stoeka a few years ago, let's just say I went left, she went right. My knee is still sore from hitting into the upright...

Jumping Prinsie, she overjumped and I was pretty inexperienced in jumping at the time so I stayed in the air a few seconds longer than she did...

Somersaulted off Yster, he was cantering then stopped dead and I went over his head, half landing on my feet then eventually my butt.

Jumping Night Heat, she had been refusing the second jump of a combination a few times, so I wasn't expecting her to jump it. She half stopped, then went over it awkwardly and I came off and landed on both my knees (looked like I was praying :lol: )

Cantering King around the lunge ring when he bolted, tripped and half fell, I went down too and slammed into the rail...ouch...

Was unseated by Argentine's buck and landed on my tail bone...

I think I better stop now...... :mrgreen:


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## ellygraceee (May 26, 2010)

> I was thrown out of my bed.....? :lol:


You can be thrown outta bed!  You never know what lurks in your bedroom at night... haha. 

I stopped counting at 100 falls (my friend and I were competing to see who fell off less)... My brat of a pony used to throw me. He'd buck, bolt, pigroot, rear, flip, stop, spin and roll all with the intent of getting me off. Once he'd succeeded in getting me off, the rest of the ride would go perfectly. If he didn't manage to get me off, the rest of the ride would be a fight. He was a fantastic pony until I started getting more experienced. Then it was like he felt the need to test me. But that ended up being fine. My confidence sky rocketed and my ability to stick to horses improved immensely. Half of the falls would have been my fault, but god he could buck. 
All my falls off Barcoo revolved around jumps. He had the ability to start to take off from a jump, then slam his front feet down and sit on his backside, neck down. He managed to get my cousin off and she's headed to Nationals for Eventing... I had one fall when Barcoo did that, slipped and fell sideways onto me. My leg was trapped for 1/2hr and the ambos got lost. -.-' 
I've fallen off Toby and broken my back (my worst fall ever). He tends to just scoot sideways when something scares him and he just happened to catch me mid-rise. He saw a horsefloat and decided to chase it so I landed on my chin and had my body flipped over my head. Then the ambos got lost trying to find our place. -.-' 
All my falls off Joe have been completely my fault. That horse doesn't have a mean bone in his body. My worst was when I was cantering without stirrups and he has a real rocking horse canter. I asked him to stop and I started bouncing around so turned him into the fence. I ended up landing on the fence. That wooden fence is really solid apparently.


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## Sunny (Mar 26, 2010)

This is a fall I witnessed. I was riding Gunner, and my two friends were riding double on Bud. We were riding down a road and passed train tracks where a train was coming. We thought it'd be fun towatch it. WRONG. The first car went by, Gunner was prancing and snorting, but under control. I guess my friend didn't expect it, so she didn't have Bud tight. He bolted, my horse followed. Friend 1 fell off to the right and landed on the grass, and Friend 2 fell onto the assfault at bolting speed face first, and my horse went over her. My horse refused to stop until the train had passed, and when I got off I hit ice and twisted my ankle, and had to run to catch Bud. I hobbled down the road leading two horses, crying and screaming for my friends. When I found them, Friend 2 had a VERY bloody face and had been knocked unconscious. We had to walk back over a mile and were alone. My mom had to make the 30 minute trip over and then to the hospital. Friend 2 has MULTIPLE scars on her face and arms. Very scary day.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Sunny (Mar 26, 2010)

Oh, too add.....the horses ran over a mile. So, I walked around 2.5 miles with a twisted ankle holding two horses, one who was walking WAY ahead and one who was lagging way behind. Just because I love considerate people, multiple cars passed and didn't stop. :/ Oh, Friend 1 was the only one of us wearing a helmet, so Friend 2 was VERRRRYYYY lucky to get by with scars, blood, and a concussion after hitting assfault face-first with no helmet at breakneck speeds.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## DSJ46 (Aug 11, 2010)

Only been thrown once. A cat flushed a rabbit from some weeds, and it went right between Sassy's fronts. That was ok, because she only took some quick steps backwards and to the side...but...right into some hot wire. She jerked forward, and since I had turned back to see where the hot wire was...just in time to see her hit it...I was off balance and twisted out of the seat and hit the ground. I was worried she would run, but had to laugh, since, not only did she stand perfectly still but looked back at me as if to say "what are you doing there on the ground?..." I mounted up again and we rode for another hour or so.


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## shaker (May 22, 2010)

We have two pastures, one where the horses stay most of the time and one just for grazing. They are about 600 yards apart, and usually when we take the horses back to graze my daughter and I do it together. She leads Thunder and being I am lazy I use Dixie's lead rope as reins and bareback her. (Why walk when you can ride?)

So about two weeks ago my daughter is not home and I decide to take the horses back to graze on my own. I am going to bare back Dixie and pony Thunder. Now usually Dixie stands solid as a rock when I get on, but Thunder is not usually right next to us when I mount her. Anyway I jump up on Dixie and as soon as I left the ground thunder spooked, which made Dixie spook. I rolled off the back of Dixie and landed square on my chest knocking the wind out of me. Dixie stopped and looked back at me with a "I'm so sorry" look on her face.

I sure found out a 31 year old doesn't bounce like a twenty year old that day.


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## kaydeebug (Aug 10, 2010)

haha well my way was the most embarrassing ever. i decided i was gonna use my pole and racing horse. now she is an extremely hot horse and scared of things, so i decided i would carry a flag on her for the riverton rodeo. BAD IDEA. i did the sponsor flags. once i got in to run around she freaked out cause the wipping sound of the flag. she ran straight down the middle. i went one way she went the other. i fell off somehow my hat ended up halfway across the arena. and the flag stuck in the ground while she was running and it broke in half. and she was still running, she is lucky the part that stayed in the saddle didnt stab her. and so i was left with a HUGE internal bruise on my leg. and this was in front of hundreds of people. lovely huh? well im new to this so add me and i dont know how to use any of this so help me


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## meldives (Jun 30, 2010)

I'm 31 and have just started lesson - i've had 8 or 9 I think so far. Everything was going really well until my most recent lesson where I fell not once but twice! The first was at a small jump where my horse just stopped and i kept going. Somehow though i managed to land on my feet. Seriously it's the best dismount i have done so far! Twisted my knee a little but was all ok. The second time was probably about half an hour later. We were cantering in the paddock and the horse infront of mine swerved into my horse. That made my horse swerve and i swerved with him and he swerved again and then again and that's when I came off. Landed on the back of my hip which is seriously sore at the moment and then my head. i was seeing blurry stars for a while! The thumb on the other side of my body is also really sore and is already turning lovely shades of yellow and purple


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## Brithorse1996 (May 25, 2010)

I did a somersault of a 16 hand horse and we'll leave it at that


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## Hukassa (Jun 10, 2010)

I've only fallen about...15 times and I've been riding for 7 years. Most of the time when people tell me I should have fallen off I end up with one knee bent of the horses back and one arm grabbing around their neck for dear life while my arm closest to the horses face find the reins and stops them. I don't know how I stay on like that..I've ridden a horse bucking like that but...I don't know haha. 

My worst is fall is my most embarrassing fall because it was just so STUPID. I was riding my horse at a nice slow trot, I wasn't really paying attention (I was trying to figure out what this person was doing) my horse turning left, I turned right and land flat on my butt on a rock/slash ant pile. Couldn't sit down for about a week and had over 30 ants bites but I got right back on right after that...though I think I stood up in stirrups more than I sat down


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## Oakley Eastern Miss (Aug 10, 2010)

AnimalFarm2006 said:


> I think I'm the only person that has ever fallen off while trying to get on a standing horse.


Haha, I shouldn't be admitting this but I have done the same. I went to get on using a plastic mounting block, as I jumped I managed to slip, completely underestimate the jump to get on and my mare freaked at something. All things combined ended up with me being mid-jump, falling and landing flat on my back on concrete. Smooth :lol:

The other memorable time was when I was bucked off as a kid. My foot got stuck in the stirrup so I got dragged half way around the school then my foot fell out and the pony trod on my leg with both its back feet. I was so lucky not to be badly injured.


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## DiamondJumper (Jan 16, 2010)

Hmm, I've been thrown/fallen my fair share of times...
One of the most memorable was a whiiiiile back, when I was about nine, and I was riding double with a friend on one of her Arabian mares, bareback with a halter/leadrope reins. We were moving from a forested area to a field, and Secret(the mare) walked between two stumps. My friend and I lifted our legs so they didn't get caught, and Secret took off at a dead gallop. My friend, who was behind me, started slipping off, and ended up pulling me off with her. I was holding Secret's neck in a death grip however, so we both ended up swinging in front of her, then falling. Secret jumped us both and kept on running. My friend and I both stood up, then she(my friend) starting crying, and yelling "Mommy, my backs broken!! My back's broken!" (we were by her house, out riding in her pasture) I had landed on my arm, and twisted my wrist rather badly, but I remember staring at my friend and going, "Lisa, Lisa!" Until she stopped crying and looked at me. "Lisa, you're standing up, right?" "...yes..." "Well then your back can't be broken, can it?" "No...but it hurts!" Whenever I tell people the story now, I say it is the perfect example of the differences in Lisa and I's personalities!   

I rarely fall off Diamond, and when I do it's usually my fault...ex. my most recent "fall" was two days ago, when I was cantering him bareback, and I decided to try kneeling on his back while he cantered. It actually went pretty smoothly until he veered sharply to avoid a stick on the ground, and off I slipped. I hung onto his mane and ended up landing on my knees, bouncing up again(because of my grip on his mane) flying in front of him, and managing to get my legs under me so I ended up standing. Got away with just a slightly twisted ankle, and the feeling itself, of bouncing through the air, was actually kind of fun...I was laughing when I finally stood still  lol


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## Lobelia Overhill (Nov 3, 2009)

I used to ride a horse -at a riding school- who's sole purpose in life was to dump his rider... He sucessfully put me on the floor 3 times. First time I was cantering, and the next thing I was laying on the floor (no idea what happened and no one else was looking!), another time he stopped at a jump, dropped his shoulder, sidestepped and sent me crashing into the jump (this was his piece de resistance and he did it to everyone who jumped him) the third time he did something weird going over a jump and I ended up sitting on his rump, where upon he started bucking and threw me against the wall of the indoor school.

I saw him run under a tree and have his rider dragged off by a low branch one time. I swear if I'd had a gun I'd have shot him there and then. He was downright dangerous. Injured several people, nearly killed that girl under the tree (and he did that to someone else) he'd bite anyone walking passed his stable - and I mean bite leaving teeth marks. He was just plain horrible.

My own horse dumped me not long after I bought him! I have to use a mounting block to get on, and it's a plastic one, when I was getting on he started to walk away, I lifted the reins to stop him, so he side stepped, onto the block, gave himself a huge fright, leaped into the air, landed and started broncing to get that evil monster off his back legs, got to the door [of the school] and did a 180, sent me flying into the door post! Didn't put me off riding him


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## Shenandoah (Aug 9, 2010)

I've been dumped off for a variety of reasons more times than I can count. But here are a few of my more memorable ones.

Growing up, I had the sweetest mare. She was the absolute bomb proof kids horse (she later went on to a therapeutic riding school where she was almost everyone's favorite).
First fall with her: I was in her paddock sitting on her bareback, no bridle or halter, nothing. Just sitting there relaxing. I did this routinely, and she didn't care. The problem was, my dad came out and she went to say hi. My dad somehow got it in his mind that it would be funny to pet my horse with one hand, and touch the electric fence with the other. Scared my poor mare to death, and left me hanging in mid air. Thanks dad :roll:

Second on the same mare (hey, I had her through my teenage years - didn't always make the smartest decisions): Out riding on the trails bareback. For some reason I got it in my head that it would be cool to lie down flat, head on her withers, feet sticking out over her tail, and ride that way. Once I was in position I tried to get her up into a trot. Poor thing tried hard to ignore me, but I was getting more and more upset with her for not listening to me, so finally she took a couple hesitant trotting steps, and off I went. I swear her look said "I told you so."

Another time I had a green gelding out to learn to trail ride. He'd been out a few times, and had always done great - he had a good head on him. The problem came when we were at the bottom of a hill, and he decided that he needed to lunge up the hill instead of walk it. That in itself wouldn't have been a big deal, if we hadn't been right under a tree at the moment. The tree just swept me right off the back end.

For a while I owned a gelding who I bought untrained. He was the sweetest thing on the ground, and I had him go through professional training. Trainer did great with him, then put me on. He took off bucking. This was repeated over a couple years, through three different trainers, with the same results. Trainers had no problem with him, but every time I got on, I got bucked off. None of my trainers could find anything I was doing to upset him - my balance was good, my aids were good - no one could figure it out. I took a LOT of spills off him. Finally I had to give in and put him up for sale (with full disclosure of the issue I was having).

Last one was more recent, I was out trail riding a never-raced thoroughbred. He had been great around all the deer on the trails over the past couple months, so I wasn't terribly concerned when we came around a bush and found ourselves head on with a young buck. They had a staredown for a few seconds, then the buck took off in one direction while my horse spun a 180 and took off in the other. I stayed right in the middle.

Fortunately, so far I have not had any major injuries from my falls. Just lots of bumps and bruises and sore muscles.


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## phoenix (Jun 7, 2010)

I've been dumped a few time. The first and most spectacular was when i was on a winter beach ride in the north of England with some friends. The pony i was riding was fine until we started to canter, he then decided it would be fun to rodeo buck his way down the beach. i managed to stay on for quite a few big bucks (all while my friend was riding as close as she could get shouting "are you okay?") he then got in this huge twisted buck and i flew off the side of him. i hit wet sand which felt more like concrete. 

luckily i was wearing a helmet as i cracked my head pretty hard when i hit and had a concussion but other than that and a sore back i was fine. The pony bucked off down the beach and i'd say he had a pretty good time.

I stupidly fell of my own horse a few years back. i gt on him bareback with no reins and no halter, we were in the arena and had done it a few times before. He spooked, took off running which was fine until he turned a corner. I unbalanced and slid off his side. banged up my knee pretty good and got 2 of my fingers tangled in his mane so they broke as i ripped part of his mane out. my fingers still aren't straight.

Most of my mishaps have been almost falls where i've ended up on his neck after a spin on a buck or something.


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## Tasia (Aug 17, 2009)

I have fallen of 8, 9 or 10 times I lose track.
The worst was when a horse rolled on me in a mud pit. God forbid I get crap becasue I broke the owners rein.
I was bucked of a pony named salt now that was painfull. I have been thrown off a large horse and I didnt go as far.
I was loping Champ once and I pheasant hoped on the fence line he went one way I went the other landed on my knees I didn't notice til I got back on my pants were ripped and bloody. 
I have so many more...


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## Mackieb (Aug 16, 2010)

I was riding an old (32 years) pony mare named Bonnie. We were cantering and all the sudden she just started galloping and bucked me off. I almost flew headfirst into a barrel, but landed about an inch away from it :lol: Also, if she had bucked any harder, my neck would have landed on a chain that was wrapped in between two barrels, and probably would have put a nice little scrape there, too :shock: At the worst, I would have choked on it for 2 secs, and then my dad wouldn't let me ride anymore because horses were too 'dangerous'.My instructor said it was the first time in her life Bonnie had bucked anyone off. Hey, everything has a first :lol: Also, about 6 months ago, I was riding an old-ish(22 years) TB mare, we were bareback trotting(my first time doing it), and at a turn, I simply slid over her shoulder. I almost hit my head on the wall. Old mares must be unlucky for me :lol:


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## Heatherloveslottie (Apr 12, 2010)

I've fell off quite a few times, the most recent one was mostly my fault for letting it happen really. When I ride in the field normally I move the other horse into the next field so that they don't get in the way, but this time I let Tazz stay in the field since I couldn't be bothered to move him  so he was pretty docile most of the time, grazing at the other end of the field.

But when I started cantering towards a jump, he started to canter and follow Lottie, I couldn't get him away because Lottie was trying to rush towards the jump and she took my attention. Then just as Lottie went over the jump, Tazz caught up and cut across her, so Lottie pulled up sharp and I fell off the back


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## corporate pride (Feb 23, 2010)

i've fallen off every horse i've ever owned! hahahaha
my first fall was on a 16.3hh warmblood tb, she jumped a HUGE log (20cms) and i was a total beginner and cantered out of it - huge movement, didn't know how to jump (tand up dead straight in the stirrups and hold onto the main just before the bridle path) well anyways, i couldn't recover, i slipped out of the saddle, landed on my feet in front of her running backwards with my reins in my hands! LOL
then she bucked me off in the bush and took off home (fenced in on the agistment property thank god!) jumped a fence and ripped her bit out of her mouth.
the next horse was nearly every ride, buck, rear and spin, once she didn't stop and i ran out of arena so i turned her and she slipped, i landed face first and dislocated my jaw!
ozzie is had him for 2 years before he got me off, he reared and spun twice in a row and i fell off the second one, took off flat sticks for the gate (at pony club and out on the cross country course, it was rainy and wet, i landed with a splash) the gate was shut and he did a 2 meter sliding stop! then turned around and galloped straight back to all the riders (some on ponies) and then went into the best extended trot in frame then took off again and got cornered! hahahahahaha
other times with him are, bucking, refusal of jumps, and jumping funny. i haven't fallen off him lately (touch wood)
here's a funny jump:








marco (my new horse) has gotten me once, he's sensitive on his flank (this is how i found out) i lost my stirrup and he bucked vertical and i cartwheeled over his head!!!! and landed on my butt confused!! hahahaha


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## Lonestar22 (May 22, 2009)

I have been thrown or fallen waaaay to many times to count. Soo I'll recount the most memorable.

I was playing "tag" with everybody else on horseback ( did it all the time with no problems) And my gelding decided he had enough. He reared up and ended up falling over on top of me. Luckily he only landed on my leg and i wasnt hurt at all. 

I was riding an abused gelding bareback for the first time. he has allways had issues with his sides and as soon as my legs touched him he started bucking. I landed on my lower back/butt area and stood up immediately. Next thing I knew I was laying face first in the barbed wire fence. I had a barb going through my lip and sticking in various parts of my neck and chest. I hurt my back so bad I could hardly walk/stand/sit/lay for about 3 weeks. I still have problems today. 

I was jumping my mare and raised the jump up about 8 inches. I had jumped this height before but she had also refused this before so i got nervous and of course she refused. i somehow hurt my hip and couldnt move my leg for a few minutes so I was just laying on the ground. By the time I decided to call my mom and tell her I could use my leg again. i got up and my dad caught the horse. I put her up and fed her and as soon as I got into the house the pain hit me. i could't walk. like at all. That was 3 weeks ago and my hip still hurts sometimes.


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## RodinKy (Aug 20, 2010)

A couple of years ago I was going to ride my horse, I got him saddled up and started to get on him and the alarm on my Durango went off and this horse took off like a TB. I didn't even have the reins in my hand so at an opportune time I bailed before he made it to the woods. Nothing injured but my pride. I don't carry the keys in my pocket anymore.


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## poppins (Aug 26, 2010)

i've been riding 20 years now and as a kid i fell off plenty of times, they were just your typical tumbles, loss of balance, unexpected refusals etc....after i hit about 19 i had a spell of not falling off at all, which ran until february this year (i'm now 26) and i think i made up for the 7 years of no injury!
i was riding a friends horse who for no reason that we could figure out had a massive spook in the arena, none of us have any idea what spooked her but she just bolted full gallop up the long side of the arena. as she cam to the top, i thought there was no way she was turning, she was heading right into the corner, but last minute she went and turned and i just flew straight ahead and landed full force, chest first on the arena fence, did a full flip and landed face down in the dirt!
i was in huge pain and after 10 minutes of trying to catch my breath realised it was actuall getting harder to breathe so an ambulance was called and took me to hospital where i found out my impact with the fence had cracked some ribs, but worse that that broken my sternum (breastbone) and the bone had punctured my lung as it cracked.
a spell in hospital and lots of morphine later i was allowed home but couldnt ride for 5months.....it was a very painful and miserable time i can tell you!!


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## Yvette (Aug 13, 2010)

I have fallen off horses when I was small in the past but haven't "fell off" a horse like I did today for the first time in years. I was out riding my new mare for the first time away from our farm. I decided to ride her though our pasture where we had cut away our crops. The wind was horrible today but my mare didnt seem to mind it. We came to an area in the field and a rabbit ran out in front of her. She spooked. But calmed down after a moment. I noticed we was in a waterway and dont like to ride there as I dont know how the footing is. As quick as I noticed we was there, my mare stepped in a hole and knelt forward and then laid on her side. She dumped me in the process. Luckily neither one of us was hurt. We was only walking but it scared the bejeebies out me. I had to ride her back home and it took all I had to get back on. The ride back home brought the confidence back though. My fall felt like slow motion. In fact if I didnt see the hole after I got back up and didnt see my horse show fear when I was on the ground, I would of thought she decided to lay down and drop me off!! ( it was a smooth fall)


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## Solon (May 11, 2008)

I came off Solon once when I was trying out a medieval saddle that didn't fit him, but I was in my armor and went sliding through the dirt about six feet on my chest and was fine. 

Part of our medieval show was I got pushed off of him so I had been practicing fall from him (18 hands) for a few weeks.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

:shock: It scares me just to _look_ down from 18 hands, let alone trying to gracefully _fall_ without being hurt. LOL.


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## Solon (May 11, 2008)

It was interesting practicing I will say that. Then I tore my ACL, had surgery but had to be ready for the show season so I had to learn to fall off and land on my right leg and not bend my left leg at all. That's when it started getting painful.

And what was funny during the shows, I would fall off and Solon would bend down and nose my head which made the crowd laugh!


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## CopperPennyPony (Feb 14, 2010)

That's so cute! I love how after you fall off a lot of horses will turn around and look at you and then come over to investigate and give you a look that says: "How the heck did you end up down there?"


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## HorseSavvy (Mar 15, 2009)

I've only fallen off twice, which surprises me (Moon had a bucking problem when I first started riding him). Once when I was 7, I was on a trail ride and a guy's (who spoke little english) horse moved up the line and bit my horse in the butt causing her to rear and throwing me off. I had the wind knocked out of me and my back was badly bruised, but it turned out okay. Then about two years ago I was cantering Moon bareback in the indoor during winter and some snow slid off the indoor (it's like half a circle, it's weird) and caused Moon to spook. I just kind of slid off and Moon just stood there over me wondering why I was now on the ground xD nothing got hurt that time.


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## africanstardust (Sep 6, 2010)

LOL mine are ever so slightly pathetic...I've fallen off twice. Once was (yes, you have permission to laugh) at the slowest trot you can imagine. I don't even know what happened or why I fell off, because I wasn't daydreaming or anything, I was pretty focused. But anyway, I just kind of slipped off, landed flat on my back (ow), and was splayed like a starfish for a couple seconds because I couldn't get up. My instructor had to pull me up and basically push me back up onto the horse (who, by the way, had just kept running along).

The second time was during a jump, although luckily I didn't hit the poles. Once again the horse just kept going; he did the jump, surprisingly enough, and then trotted off before stopping and turning to look at me like, "Oh, are you not on my back anymore? I didn't notice." Haha. I wasn't hurt either time except for a bruise on my rear from the first one; the second one was in deep, soft sand.


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## Nutty Saddler (May 26, 2009)

I've been bucked off a couple of times, been rodeoed off a couple of times, had a horse drop it's shoulder doing a sharp turn on landing after a fence, gone straight over a horses head twice, had a horse dissapear from underneath me at full gallop when she side stepped to avoid a rabbit and had a horse suddenly sidestep a jump ( from this I managed to land on my feet and still had the reins in my hands )

When I learnt to ride ( way back when ), I was told that when you have fallen off 7 times you could count yourself a rider !


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## Outbound (Sep 10, 2010)

Fell off twice and almost a third one, all inside the riding pen. First time I was riding too fast but lost balance an control of the horse and he kept going forward towards the barrier where he stopped. All my weight was on the right stirrup and the buckled on the strap just snapped, but it must have taken most of the momentum from my body because that fall was as if I had just slid off the horse. Second time was when I was trying out jumping for my second time, the reins weren't short enough so the horse just bolted once he saw the jump. I tried to slow him down but just broke his rythm )and mine) so after the jump I just bumped around on the saddle a couple of times before flying off. That one I felt but after about a minute I was fine and back to jumping.

Third time it was because of a stupid dog they had at the riding place, one of those little shepperd breeds, that would just run into the riding pen and charge the horses. First time he had done this I was on another horse that didn't even flinch. Second time I was on another horse that is just afraid of anything so he just suddenly sidestepped. I lost one stirrup but was able to keep myself on the horse.


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## HollyBubbles (Jun 22, 2009)

omg corporatepride ive done exactly what is in that photo on the 7th page :O
except i was hanging on for dear life infront of my horse around her neck... i wasn't eliminated till she stopped either cause it wasn't untill then that i touched the ground hahaha. My friends mum has it on video but she hasnt had time to email it to me yet, i'll have to post it sometime.
But what had happened was she jumped the jump (a HUGE 70cm, im serious im sure it was bigger than that and it was an oxer) her front half went over it properly, but being bubbles she HATES knocking poles, so in a great attempt not to clip it she twisted her back end clockwise so her back legs went to the left and tipped me off the right (every single fall i've had has been to the right, including when i broke my ribs)
and SPLAT into the one and only puddle between the 2nd and 3rd jump of the course (yes the i fell off over the 2nd jump, how humiliating)


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## WickedNag (Sep 7, 2010)

My one and only dump (not fall) was in Feb of 1988... broke my leg in 5 places, tore off achilles tendon and three surgeries later finally got out of my last cast (most of which were full length till the last one) in Jan of 1990. So yes just 1 month short of two years! I did learn to ride in a full length cast it was just a little tough getting on


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## JackofDiamonds (Aug 31, 2010)

Well ive been thrown off too many times to count now XD horses i tell you. 3 of the one i remeber most was when i was 6 i was watching a showjumping lesson (they were jumping like 1mtr) after they finished i went to the paddock to get my 10hh black and white shetty Quantas. Quantas was your normal shetty stubburness but times that by 20! and he was only 5. Well anyway i was riding along and dreaming of the day i jump like that!! Well i had a bright idea!! Lets just skip the 8 years of training and flip a 44 gallon drum on its side. So i did... and then rode Quantas about 100 metres away, had to stop there and work myself up, Then.. OFF WE GO hundred miles an hour (shetty canter) right on top of the barrel he hit the brakes and i went flying!!! For some stupid reason the areana was gravel too so i grated the side of my face.. It hurt (this fall was my fault) !! The second time was i had my young,green 4yr old Connemara and i was riding with a friend and we found a log that looked like a good jump it was safe and small enough for a 4yr old. So we jumped it a few times and on the final jump he spooked and bolted. I couldnt stop or turn him. We ended up running into a tree and he picked himself up, i t however thaught i was dead.. Turns out i have low pain resistance! I only ended up with cracked ribs. Last but deffinatley not least on the same pony this time he was 6. I was at Pony club and he spooked at the people setting up the jumps and bolted and was going under a tree *again* so i ducked and ended up loosing ballance (the whole time i sat his broncs) and came of on the road part. I ended up with a fractured skull,MASSIVE black eye and ripped my elbows to shreds. I ended up in hospital for 4 days.... XD 3 of the millions of times. Lets hope its true with the more falls the better rider you are. lol

haha 8 yrs down the track and i won my jumping a 1mtr 25 XD


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## EternalSun (Mar 29, 2009)

I've fallen off more times than I like to count, in every nasty situation you could imagine. As long as you can look back and laugh, it's all good though. 

I taught my friend how to ride a few years ago on my barrel horse, Chance, who is, in a nice way of putting it, a "hot" horse. Chance took off with him one day, rounded a corner, and Joel went flying. I managed to capture him mid - fall in this picture. This was 5 years ago, we still laugh everytime we look at it. 

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/GreenDay11286/JoelFallingOffofChance.jpg


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## Amba1027 (Jun 26, 2009)

I've fallen off a fair amount of times but my most interesting ones were off this pony I used to ride. I feel off him 3 times, all in the same way. We would be riding around outside and he decided he wanted some grass. He yanked his head down and I slid down his neck. The first time I landed on my feet, which I thought was pretty impressive (being 12 I'm fairly certain I thought it was the most awesome thing in the world). The other 2 times I think I landed on my knees. I always thought I would scare him, sliding down his neck and landing in front of his face like that, but he always just went right on grasing. Silly pony.

The first horse I ever fell off of is boarded at the same barn as the horse I lease now. I was ten and on a lunge line lesson when a car backfired and spooked her. She dumped me in the one mud puddle in the arena. She looks a lot smaller than I remember.


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## CopperPennyPony (Feb 14, 2010)

Wow! Keep them coming!


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## ShotgunsAmmo (Oct 14, 2010)

Oh gees, i used to work at a barn with 80 horses, and it was our job to train each one of them to become lesson horses, so i have fallen off alot, never got too seriously hurt, 
Unnnttiill, i was on my Quarter horse, in the ring at a show, some girl squeezed between breeze and the wall, so of course the girls horse freaked, when that horse kicked out, breeze bolted, but i got kicked in the leg by the mare,

Seconndd. i was on a horse that hadnt been riddin in 11 years, i get on her, she was alright, untill my trainer made me canter her, tried tellin her she wasnt ready, but she came at KT with a dressage whip, KT bolted, bucked...when she kicked out her foot got stuck in the wooden wall, she reared up and slammed me into the mirror in the indoor (thats why i hate those) and the mirror shattered all over me, and her, and i had a concussion, so i passed out and fell, she took off...


uugggh.


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## HorseOfCourse (Jul 20, 2009)

Oh goodness, I have fallen off so many time, let me try to pick out some of the best ones.

One time, I was riding a horse named Bit who was a rather sweet guy, but very tall. I was maybe 11 or 12. I was riding him around his owner's large fenced in back yard and decided to canter him [it wasnt my first time on him] but then learned that when he goes, he really goes....and doesnt stop. So he ran me right into a large tree branch which I hit so hard I snapped it in half. Luckily all I got was a scraped up face.

Another time I was on my friends pony and we were galloping down the traight part of a trail at the end and he tumbled and I launched over his head and landed face first in the ground. Then he just ate grass like it was nothing. I ended up with a pretty bad face and a concussion. Here is what I looked like

















Another bad fall I had was off of my mare, Summer. We were at 4-H and we were doing fine and then for some reason my saddle slid. It slid onto her side and she sort of freaked out a little bit and dumped me off. I fell so hard that I did a backwards somersault. I ended with a concussion, pinched nerves, and whiplash. 

My most recent fall wasn't a bad one, but I was riding my new haflinger mare. She was doing good and it was the first day I had gotten her to trot for me. After a while of trotting one way we switched and went for a bit the other way. She spooked at something.. who knows what and took off. I pressed my feet more firmly into the stirups and one of them snapped and I fell off onto my butt. When I picked my stirrup up, I had it almost straightened with just a couple curves. Daisy was just fine after that and I rode again.


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## flamingauburnmustang (Dec 25, 2008)

^^ Ouch! That looks really really painful... :sad:


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## tempest (Jan 26, 2009)

Well, let's see. I've come off a horse 4 times (I don't remember). It was my arch nemesis, Billy. I had a good record until he came along. I was riding Billy outside and he decided to have a little fun. He took off at a canter (I wasn't prepared and lost my balance). Executed a hindquarter turn that, despite the moment in question, made me very proud. and I ended up on the ground after sliding over his shoulder. I don't know how close he came to kicking my head, but I know it was pretty close because a dirt chunk went flying past my face.

A few minutes later, he bolted and I went over his shoulder, again. You would've thought that I would have learned my lesson but no, I decided to show him, and put up with his many annoying antics in the attempt to put me back on the ground. I came off of him one last time during a bareback class and decided that I was never going to touch that horse again. I will say that he taught me how to ride, I'll give him credit for that.

The fourth time I came off a horse was when I had Rocket. I was getting on bareback and he moved off with me only half on him. You know how Little Creek rides Spirit while escaping from the fort in the movie "Spirit?" Well, that's what it looked like. He came to the side of the arena and I quickly came to the conclusion that I either could get off myself or get scraped off by the wall, and decided that an emergency dismount was in store. I stuck the landing. So maybe it wasn't actually falling off, but it was close.

Ahh, good memories. *wipes small tear from the corner of eye*


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## Luvs2jump (Oct 11, 2010)

I've never been thrown or dumped but I've fallen off more times then I can count. 
The funnest one though, when I first started riding my gelding before I bought or leased him, I was taking a jump lesson and we came over a narrow jump that Eventers call a skinny, he landed, I got bounced in front of the saddle, couldn't move myself back and my gelding starts walking towards the side of the ring which wasn't enclosed and put his head down to munch on the grass, when he did, I slid down part of his neck and landed in the grass on my knees, the easiest one I've had.
Another one, him and I were out schooling cross country, went over a beginner novice ditch fine and a novice ditch one way fine, we tried to go over it the other way, he stopped and hopped over it like he was a bucking horse, I came off, we went through this like 3 times till we went back over it the other way and he was fine. 
Both times I didn't get hurt, just sore along with a bruised ego


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## juniormylove (Aug 28, 2008)

here's an embarrassing one:

On Friday, my friend and I were riding "my" horse around bareback after my lesson. It all went well [we had some issues mounting her as she's 17.2+] and so after her lesson, she invited me to hop on "her" horse bareback with her. The first time I tried to get on I slid backwards down his butt. The second time I got on...for a few seconds. Harley didn't like being ridden double so he started bucking...I bounced on his butt a few times then flew off the side and landed on MY butt.  Everyone laughed at me.


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## roljess (Oct 19, 2007)

I have fallen/been thrown/been dumped more times than I care to remember.. But that's what you get riding lots of different horses. The first time I ever fell though I do remember the horse in front of mine kicked mine in the face/chest and the horse literally spun out from underneath me, just as one of my stirrups came off the saddle, and I just remember landing on the ground, on my butt. Thrown a few more times after that, then I got a QH x gelding who decided it was his job to teach me how to fall.. and he proceeded to dump me on my head periodically til I got the picture.. Since then I have pretty much mastered landing on my feet regardless of the method I use to dismount


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## Just Ruthiey (Jul 12, 2010)

I fall off all the time! I have been riding for 10+ years, I pride myself in both the way I ride & the connection I with the horses that I ride. 
Last time I was dumped off of a horse: I have been working with Khanner on his canter/ gallop. Khanner being 4yrs old I don't stress this a ton. Well we came around a corner to fast- it was a sharp corner in-between the gate & the creek. I couldn't get him to slow down so I gave up, I let him slide around the corner. He toppled over- me under him. Still have the marks to prove it too. 
I can tell you right here right now he will not speed up around corners- he promptly puts on the brakes & does a reigning stop. 

Before my last fall when I had my soul horse, Blaze (RIP), I fell off all the time! She was a very spooky mare, she did the shy & snake run thing. I never rode with a saddle (being in Flordia it was just to hot!). Last big fall with her was a deer, the buck ran at us & she flew one way. I was dangling on one side- I gave up, couldn't pull myself off. I let go & she chipped my leg bone. 

Good times... good times.


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## Smarby (Oct 27, 2007)

I have fallen off Dougal nearing 20 times, which is quite an embarrassing number. He used to do a lot of acrobatics when I first got him.

One of my most painful was when I was riding through a large field, he exploded and took off at a flatout gallop and started throwing some rodeo-worthy bucks [not for the first time, haha]. I went absolutely flying and landed on my head. Was in agony for over a week. Youch.

He's also reared up and gone over backwards with my friend on before.

Also have a fall on video, this happened at PC a couple of weeks ago. Just cantering merrily along and he absolutely decked it, did a forward roll straight over his saddle. Luckily I got thrown clear. Poor boy, he got quite a shock. And it wasn't because he was being naughty, for once! We both got off very lightly, he cut his lip and was pretty dazed and winded afterwards but other than that we both lived to tell the tale.





 

Most of my falls have been me being bucked off, a few from him over jumping a huge amount or just some of his crazy acrobatics. He's much better now though.


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## Walkamile (Dec 29, 2008)

Two of my _falls_ were actually emergency dismounts gone horribly wrong! LOL! 

First time I landed on feet but lost my footing and went into a bit of a side roll (broke a few ribs) but still managed to hold onto the rein. 

Second time was pure stupidity. Riding Walka when he was 2 1/2 bareback in the field (was only to be for 10 or 15 mins at a walk) and he spooked and I slid back and he starting bucking (probably out of fear). I made a conscious decision to get off, but my timing was off and ended up mid air landing on my back. Found out later at the hospital I broke 3 lateral processors in the lombard region of the back.

Third one was mounting T! Wench did a huge sidestep just as my left foot was almost in the stirrup, crate I was using tipped at that exact moment and T side stepped. Talk about timing! Ended up on the ground with good clump of her precious , skimpy mane (she's an app). That one was quite entertaining for my friends. 

Have decided that staying in the saddle no matter what is where I will be. Every time I have decided to get off in case I get hurt, I get hurt doing that very thing! Not to mention, at my age , I don't bounce well. Bones way too willing to break instead of bending. :lol:


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## tempest (Jan 26, 2009)

It's seems like he stepped in a hole.


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## Smarby (Oct 27, 2007)

tempest said:


> It's seems like he stepped in a hole.


No hole, it's a very well looked after jumping arena. I think he just kind of went over himself or something. Silly ponio.


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## mmpgrumpy (Jul 30, 2010)

I've fallen off quite a few times, but I don't keep track of how many.
One fall wasn't Grumpy's fault- it was a while ago, when I was still learning to sit deep in the canter, came off in the corner, landed on my butt.

Another time we were jumping- I didn't set him up correctly and he ran out just before the jump, whereas I kept going over it.

Once my friend and I were riding bareback and decided to switch horses. Her mare Angel is _not_ an angel by any means. Anyway, Angel's gaits are super-smooth, but she likes quick turns and her back is so smooth and flat that it's hard to stay balanced even at a walk. Angel tried to put me in the fence, so I pulled her towards the inside of the arena, and she turned a little too quickly-- I came right off and landed on my butt, and then she took off. Thankfully we were in the arena and had the gates closed, so she didn't get far.


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## ponyjumper (Oct 22, 2010)

Okay so ive been riding for 5 years and I lost track of how many times ive fallen off. But Ill tell you some of the funny ones. Well I ride a pony who just loves to buck (now we have tried everything even a Chris Cox and craig cameron clinic) well he was being good (You know he will be good when his hissy fit is at the beginning of the lesson when you ask for a trot) and my trainer told me to do an extended canter well I sat deep and asked him and well he decided to buck and I was cought off gaurd.
Another time was when I took my pony to a show. Well it was the night before and we were schooling and I sometimes hold my breath the ENTIRE course. Well my trainer gave me this really long course like 15 jumps and he did perfectly and after the course I went to turn him while he was still cantering and I passed out and fell. Well I now talk to him or say my ABC's so I have to breath


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## wingsinmoonlight (Aug 17, 2010)

I've had two really noteworth falls in my 10ish years of riding. I've also jumped off raher than fall a couple times...My trainers have always joked about how stubborn I am about it-(like how did you not fall off?) once in a show I was in a bareback class and ended up hanging on by an elbow and an ankle- and got back in place. I placed in that class too... So, if I see it coming, I'm not falling...but:

My most fun fall was on my friend's Quarter horse. She had only bought her about 3 weeks before, but she was a lesson horse at our barn before that, so we both had ridden her. Dixie was 21 at the time but still ready to run (in fact, at 30 she still ran away with me last month). My friend is the better rider, but I am braver, so she asked me to ride her a bit to take the edge off. We did great until it was time to stop and switch riders. At that point, you stopped Dixie by aiming her at the wall, and she'd either stop, or turn sharp and slow down. My friend was on the ground, and she said "I'll just jump in front of her and she'll stop" I didn't like that idea, so I pointed her at the sawdust pile in the arena. It was about 8 feet high at the top, and big, so I figured it was solid enough to stop her.....she JUMPED over it! I flew over her head, and bounced off the arena wall and landed on my back in the sawdust heap unhurt, and my friend walked over and kinda sheepishly said...oh,I forgot to tell you I let her play in that. 

The other was last week on my Bonnie. She is only 3.5 and I (with a trainer) have been training her. She had never cantered with a rider, but we were doing so great working trot that I went ahead and cued her to canter. First lap was perfect. About ten minutes later I cued her again, but coming around the corner she stumbled and went to her knees. I flipped over her shoulder and landed on my back. The whole thing is kinda fuzzy, but I have some nice road rash from the fine gravel in the outdoor arena, and have been limping all week. Luckily my hip took most of the impact, so I only knocked myself silly, and didn't break anything. I was really glad for my helmet that day!  In fact, today is my first day back in the saddle, as I've been too sore to mount up.


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## zachmyfavhorse (Feb 15, 2010)

Im a jumper so we have many...interesting falls. This fall i was helping train a little pony to jump higher maybe 15 hands so we were taking it slow then we decided to test him my trainer set a 3'3 course and the first time he was perfect she added a tripple and the first time went great ten we screwed up the course so we had to redo it then i asked instead of getting a 4 stride to get a 5 and he refused right intront of the jump as u can imagine i did this whole fly over the jump thing so i got back on and tried to redo it this tim i asked him for the 4 and he refused infron of the jump again so i asked him to circle but instead of citciling he bucked me onto the jump

The most recent was the most embarassing i was riding my horse Rupert and we have an electric gate and it beeps when it opens and closes we were trotting and came by the jump standard going away from the gate and it beeped right as we were going to pass another horse he threw me into the jump standard and the other lady flew off backwards they both trotted over to the center of the ring and they rolled on my nice saddle... I was fine i landed on a soft spot so was the lady we laughed it off

Not to mention many more stupid falls...


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## KerBlanng (Oct 22, 2010)

I have some, but probably my funniest is when I was doing mounted games at my pony club, when the pony I was riding bolted across the arena, so to stop him, I aimed him at a corner, unfortunately, he nearly went straight into the corner, then pulled a sharp turn, so I wound up in all of the spare games proprs, half in a bucket.


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## Smarby (Oct 27, 2007)

Haha, this thread is reminding me of a really bad ride I had a few months back. Dougal used to buck a lot when I got him and about mid time this year he got a lot better and hardly bucked at all. I was schooling one night, just went into trot and he went absolutely NUTS, huge vertical rear and then launched into an enormous rodeo fit. I came flying off. Was ****ed but got back on and he did the exact same thing about 3 minutes later, got me off again. Third time he did I managed to stick it out and he gave up after that. :L For a 14.2hh he can throw some mean bucks.

Usually when I fall off he doesn't run off. There's only been 2 times he was actually bolted off after I've fallen off him. The fall i mentioned earlier in the thread about whenh e bucked me off at flatout gallop in an open field.

The other was on the XC course. I was at PC, we were doing training and some lassie couldn't get her horse over a jump so I went and stood on the opposite side quite a while away. Meanwhile, there was another group of riders riding off into the distance to another part of the course. Dougal was extremely excited to be out on the course, jogging on the spot and snorting, he loves xc. Anyway, Dougal sees them riding off and does a rather spectacular set of acrobatics. Does a lovely vertical rear, leaps through the air like some kind of lippizan horse and then launches into one of his crazy bucking fits. I went absolutely FLYING off him, didn't have a hope in hell of staying on and he bombs off after the other ride, bucking the whole way. I wasn't hurt at all, suprisingly!

Hahah my most pathetic, embarrassing fall was on my first time outo n the XC just a month or 2 after I got him. It was at the end of the training and we were both knackered, just standing really relaxed near the water jump. Dougal shook really, really hard and because I was so relaxed I just slithered straight off him. xD He wasn't even moving, haha.


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## ArabianDream (Oct 26, 2010)

My most interesting spill happened when I was 12 during a group riding lesson back in Britain. I was one of the more intermediate students in the class, but I was put on a horse that was way to advanced for me to ride. The riding stable had double booked one of the horses, and being nice I agreed to let the other girl ride the horse I was supposed to be on. 

Well things were going ok at first. We were in the arena and taking turns cantering. My horse loved to canter so I had no issues getting him going, but he didn't want to stop. So we went round the arena twice. As we approached the other horses I thought he was going to go round again as he was showing no signs of stopping. Instead he slammed the breaks on and catapaulted me over his head! 

What makes it so memorable is the fact that I landed heavily on the backside of another horse, then somersaulted off that horse and onto the ground landing on my neck with my legs over my head. 

I ended up with a chipped tooth, split lip and whiplash (which actually came on a few days later when my neck seized up). What was bad though was the riding school did not tell my mother when she picked me up. I didn't cry until I was in the car driving home, and my mum asked me if I was ok as I was so quiet. I burst in to tears then because I hurt all over, my mum was so angry at the riding school. At least I didn't break anything though.


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## rumba12 (Aug 15, 2010)

I can still remember the first time I fell off. I was about 7 and at pony camp. I had the most wonderful mare as my pony. She was quiet and she was a beautiful pinto and the sweetest thing you have ever met. A dream pony, right? At the closing of camp we had a show and you got to pick out of a hat what you'd do as your closing event. I got barrels...So I groomed that sweet little girl to within an inch of her life and got on got ready and there we were ready to go and there goes the gun and that sweet little angelic mare turns into a cannon ball shot out of a cannon. Little did I know she was a retired professional barrel horse. I'm seven and don't know squat about squat and she goes around that last barrel and I flew. :rofl: I still love that little mare even if she did dump me on my butt...She was just doing her job. :lol:

Since then, I lost count...but I'll never forget my first. :wink:


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## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

Hmmmmm, where to start? 

The first time I actually remember falling off, I think I was about 4 or 5 years old (I started riding before age 2). I remember I was helping to check the cattle in one of our pastures with my mom and brother and my ol' Appaloosa pony named Cheyenne decided to shake himself after we walked through some water. He shook me right off. :wink:

Probably the silliest time I fell off was when my mom and I were just goofing around and kind of playing tag as we were out trail riding. I don't remember exactly, but I think I went to reach for her and stretched farther than I was able ... and made myself fall off!!

Kind of a funny one is I was working in a small corral with our mare, Misty, trying to get her to accept having a person behind the saddle because she absolutely HATED when we would ride her double. Of course, I didn't have as good as control with the reins when sitting behind the saddle by myself to simulate double riding, and she got me off one of the times. But that little stinker came right back over to me where I was sitting on the ground because she wanted me to let her out of the corral! I couldn't even really be mad at her when she did that. :lol: But we continued on with our lesson and she eventually got tired of bucking that day ... but she still does not like being ridden double. She's getting fat and old now so she can't get more than a few inches off the ground, so she probably couldn't put up much of a fight anymore. 

A slow-motion fall (at least in my head) was when I was riding a horse names Scooter that I only had for a year while my horse Beau healed from his injury. But we were out in one of the fields that was just baled into round bales. We were galloping slowly through the field and I was turning every single bale in the field like it was a barrel, so we could practice our turns since I was training him to barrel race. I was galloping slow and watching for holes, as the ground was so-so. As we were getting to the end of the field with only a few bales to go, I went to round a bale and he slipped. It happened so quickly. I fell off to the inside but still kept a hold of my reins. I landed on my back against the hay bale and I distinctly remember looking up at him and locking eyes. I could tell he was trying his very hardest to get back up quickly but not to step on me! I thought for sure there was no way he could get up without stepping on me, but somehow, he was able to. That moment probably was no more than a half a second, but I swear that time stood still as we looked at each other when he was trying to get back up. I walked him for a while to make sure he was okay, which he was, but that kind of "connection" was pretty amazing! 

I think I have a tie between two of them as far as which one hurt the most. 

The first one happened when my mom and I were doing the Hangman's Race at a fun show. It's where two people ride one horse. The back person grabs onto a rope that is hanging from a hangman-looking kind of pole and they must hold on and hang there while the other person takes the horse around a barrel and then comes back to pick up the hanging person. You cannot touch the ground or you are disqualified. The fastest time wins. I was always the hanger, cuz I was the young'in. Well, there was a ton of people entered that day with tough competition. We were mostly doing it just for fun but we came into the rope a bit too fast. I was thinking in my head though "oh shoot, if I don't try to grab for it now, we'll have no chance of placing for sure". So I tried to grab for it with both hands ... and missed the rope ... and went off over the back of my 16.1 hand horse and landed right on my lower spine. Both of my legs were tingling as I sat there (I'm thinking ... not good!!) and I had a nasty bruise after that. But I wasn't seriously hurt. 

The other one was when I was training a late 2-year-old to ride. I was having a bit of trouble with her bucking, which I later found out the people I had bought her from had LIED to me in that she had already been sent to a trainer and that trainer was scared of her because the horse kept dumping her ... they told me she'd only had the saddle set on her ... liars ... but that's another story. Anyway, she would always immediately start bucking before I could even get my feet into the stirrup (mind you, she was a perfect angel with any and all groundwork) so I decided to tie her up in front of our barn to the sturdy post. So if she decided to act up, she wouldn't be able to go anywhere. WELL ... she snapped her leadrope in her fuss and me (the idiot) didn't bother to put on a bridle or reins. So when she was free, she obviously took off bucking and running and I had nothing to stop her with. I hung on for a good 100 yards I think but then I just started to lose it and off I went. She almost kicked me in the head on my way off too. I banged my knee up a good one and it swelled immediately and I couldn't even walk on it. We'll say I learned a hefty lesson with that one. 

I've fallen off tons of other times, those were just the memorable ... or NOT so memorable!!!

Just like the old saying where you are not a good carpenter unless you are missing a finger ... I say you are not a good rider until you have tasted dirt.


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## SissyGoBob (Oct 17, 2010)

rumba12 said:


> I can still remember the first time I fell off. I was about 7 and at pony camp. I had the most wonderful mare as my pony. She was quiet and she was a beautiful pinto and the sweetest thing you have ever met. A dream pony, right? At the closing of camp we had a show and you got to pick out of a hat what you'd do as your closing event. I got barrels...So I groomed that sweet little girl to within an inch of her life and got on got ready and there we were ready to go and there goes the gun and that sweet little angelic mare turns into a cannon ball shot out of a cannon. Little did I know she was a retired professional barrel horse. I'm seven and don't know squat about squat and she goes around that last barrel and I flew. :rofl: I still love that little mare even if she did dump me on my butt...She was just doing her job. :lol:
> 
> Since then, I lost count...but I'll never forget my first. :wink:


Your story is awesome, I run the barrels and my first fall was very similar on the horse in my picture. Her name is Rose. By the way I LOVE your picture.


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## dance21 (Oct 28, 2010)

I've only ever fallen off a horse once. The pony I was riding has a natural fear of bright things, particularly jumping poles. We were about go over a small jump (couldn't have been higher than 8 inches) and my pony stopped. I had to really kick it up hard to convince it that everything was okay and then the pony took a massive leap into the air and cantered away (we were only walking over the jump). I fell off a few strides after the jump and once I'd fallen the pony just stood there next to me as if nothing had happened.
At least it's another experience to reflect on.


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## appywalker (Oct 6, 2010)

I Love what horseservant said 
Yes I agree I have thrown from my horses many times!!!
hahaha!!!


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## faye (Oct 13, 2010)

As I ride young horses, difficult horses, quirky horses and top competition horses I've fallen a fair few times in the last 20+ years.

My most spectacular fall would probably be when I was schooling a young event horse. This horse was headed for the top however he was too much for his owner.
I was working on his flat work as his owner couldnt. The last thing I remember is giving him a long rein in the walk along a long side. I woke up nearly an hour later strapped to a spinal board in the local A&E.

Mum saw the entire thing, said something spooked him, he bolted, jumped out of the arena but hit the top rail with his breast (it was close on 5ft and he came very close to clearing it) and he sumersaulted. I ended up underneath him and out for the count. He stood on my head when he scrambled up and only my top class hat saved my life.


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## SamboStar (Sep 18, 2008)

I rode a Percheron X mare that wouldn't canter; I got out a dressage whip and I got her cantering nicely, headed back to the gate in her pen, when she STOPPED. Just STOPPED. I was somewhat prepared, I reached down to wrap my arms around her neck (like I had done once when Sam jumped a bush at a gallop and I lurched forward, lol, almost fell that time), but...her neck wasn't there! She stopped, then spun around and took off, just sorta left me there!

I almost fell of gaming once, it was Buck's first time in the Key race; He went right through the poles like a dream, I was so proud, I pushed him into a gallop and he started bucking like a bronc!!! I almost came off, but when I told my mom she said, "Thank goodness you've got a better seat than me!"

Other than that, I've been incredibly lucky not to have fallen off more than a couple of times since I was born!


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## Sunny (Mar 26, 2010)

Just remembered this and it made me giggle.

My friends used to lease a paint gelding at a local barn, so we were there all of the time. A girl was going out of town and asked one of my friends to ride her precious-but-evil Welsh pony while she was gone. We got him out one afternoon and were going over some raised ground poles, bareback since he was so teeny. Well, I took him over the first "jump", then the second, and the third. Right after the third he decided that some grass sounded mighty tasty so he put his head down and cut to the left. I went right. :lol: My first words after the fall were, "Gah, that was a short fall!" 
The fall in and of itself wasn't painful; however, the week before I had come off Gunner and SEVERELY bruised my tailbone, and I conveniently landed right on it when I came off the pony. I was in tears by the time I left. 
Oh, because I wanted to spite my tailbone even more, the next weekend I went to a barrel race and had my rear slam into the cantle after the final barrel. I was in tears when I left. :lol:
Three weeks in a row I used and abused my rear.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## PonyAngel (Nov 1, 2010)

My only fall is a stupid one...i got this bright idea of getting on a mule bareback. Someone told me they put like 3 kids on him and lead them around all the time. so my friend gave me a leg up and as soon as i was on him, he took off bucking. I held on for about 3 bucks, and flew off, hit the ground 3 feet away (screaming because the wind was knocked out) and proceeded to roll down the hill. possible cracked rib and VERY sore back and tailbone, lol. First fall, hopefully my last! Probably not tho. LoL


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## HorseChic (Jun 19, 2010)

I have fallen off 2 times... 

1st time: I was riding a horse named Chilli and was being naughty and when we were cantering, i dunno if he got spooked by something or not, but he turned shaply inward when i didn't tell to, and i slipped forward and off...

2nd time: I was riding a horse named Mate and we were doing jumping and i didn't know till i fell off that apparently he over jumped... Thats exactly what happened, and i fell off... And we were only jumping cavaletti/crosspoles!

So yeah...


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## BarnBratt (Oct 11, 2010)

I've fallen off numerous times..most of them occured while jumping. But this one is a fall I will always remember.

Sometime last spring, we went on a trailride on the neighboring trails. My pony, Cloud, was a perfect angel the whole time. Then we were on this path that followed a river. It had rained recently so the river was a tiny bit higher than normal and of course their was mud. Then we came to this marshy/muddy spot. Everyone else with me corssed it fine. I was the last to cross so my pony plunged right into it. The mud only was up to the othe horses cannon bones t0 upper fetlcoks. Well, Cloud is a good 4 hands shorter than the rest. when the mud started sinking past his knees, he wanted out. He lunged one way and I went the other, landing in the mud.......ugh. Here's a pic


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## Katesrider011 (Oct 29, 2010)

I've fallen of once, thanks to the dog. He came running behind the barn where nor me or the horse could see him and came out of nowhere and spooked her. She bolted and I didn't go with her. Usually I don't fall off when she spooks, but that time I wasn't prepared.


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## CanyonCowboy (Apr 30, 2010)

Well, I'm not sure I'd class this as being thrown OR as falling off. I had a QH Gelding as a kid that was dead broke, but still had an attitude. Occassionally you would need a quirt to make him walk on, but he would remember that you smacked him. This day, my dad and I were trail riding and I had smacked him for refusing and turning back to the barn. Later, we were going under a tree in the front yard of a house. It was a big tree that had been cut off under the canopy at about 5 feet, so you had to lay over the horn to ride under the tree. Sam walked about half way under the tree and stopped. My 8 year old legs flailed, and I swear he looked back at me and smiled.

Then he crow-hopped forward. I went up into the branches of the tree, and when gravity took hold, there wasn't a horse underneath me any more.

He liked to roll under saddle too, particularly in peach orchards... but that's a story for a different thread.


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## HNS101 (Oct 26, 2010)

yes millions of times only 3 rly bad ones i was going threw the cowboy curtain at the fair in the trail class and it got stuck on my saddle horn and my horse spooked and ran off and the curtain went with and i held on but i eventually fell on the arena fence and fell off into the grass on the other side then my horse got mad and reared and spinned around rly fast and i fell and others like that


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## Phantomcolt18 (Sep 25, 2007)

My first fall was one I'll always remember because it was so stupid and embarassing lol....I'm probably the only one this has happened to.....Very very new rider (10 yrs ago) and I was on my friends Percheron he is the biggest sweetest teddy bear and I was riding bareback....well my friend stops her horse to I stopped king and we were talking about something King did nothing wrong just shifted his weight and I started slipping then I kinda just let myself fall....17hands to the ground....landed on my back was stunned at first then started Laughing and king is looking at me like "uh what are you doin down there." here was the convo
My friend literally almost came off her horse from laughing and was like...
"what happened? How did you fall off he was standing still...I was at least expecting you to grab mane but you just kinda plopped."
I love that horse he is now 31yrs old and still the sweetest teddy bear he has a 3yr old riding him in shows now.


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## Perfection (Nov 6, 2010)

I have fallen off eight times.
I'm going to tell you about to 2 off my dismounts. 

The first one was last February. I was riding my Shagya in the open field and she has been standing for 3 days, we were trotting, everything was fine, I noticed though that she was looking forward to canter, she tried to go faster and faster so after a while I let her canter and after a quarter mile I made her go a little faster and suddenly she stiffened up, pulled her head down and started bucking, I fell and she cantered away. I called my mum, she brought me to the hospital where I had to stay for 2 days (concussion + strained wrist). My horse cantered back to the stable and the people there took care of her. 

The second one was about 3 weeks ago, I was cantering on a lesson horse, he stumbled and fell. I landed in front of his hooves, he grazed my arm with his hoof while standing up. We went to the E.R. -> concussion, a badly sprained elbow and a sprained rib. The horse had a wound on his left front leg but he's okay now, I am too.


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## Mackieb (Aug 16, 2010)

Also, about a month ago(on 10/10/10), I was riding in the hack division at a small barn show. They had just asked for a gallop in the road hack class, and I looked to see if another rider was doing it. I was really tired and sloppy, and accidently steered Pi into an oxer. It was higher than he cared to jump(2'6), so he spooked to the side, and I slid off. My mom said it was almost like I slid off in slow motion, because my saddle had slid to Pi's side without me realizing it, so I tried to stay on for about 2 seconds, then realized the saddle had slipped, and fell off! I guess I got lucky, because if he spooked to the other side, I would've been slammed into a fencepost, and if he had jumped, I would've been flung 10 feet in the air


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## Crossover (Sep 18, 2010)

Well lets see, since I'm in the habit of riding green or retraining there are lots of falls in my past. 

Start with the broken cinch, saddle, and me flying off at a canter (now I always check first)... I'm thinking strait horse decides left fork better I end on ground... the ohh look a tree to rub her leg off on (that one hurt)... the rodeo queen in the snow (thank goodness for the snow)... the drop the shoulder and buck after a jump then run back to the barn a 1/4mile away (common with that pony, to bad he didn't realize by that time I learned the hold onto the reins as I fly over the head)... the falling backwards from the spooking horse sitting on her haunches, then turning around and looking at you on the ground with a "what are you doing down there" look on her face... the galloping through the woods and suddenly ending up over a steep hill (learned to be more careful there)... the horse taking off and hitting a patch of ice and seeing the flailing hooves and your life flash before your eyes... hmmm that's really about it in my 20yrs of riding, I actually have very good balance, so many saves and hugging the neck to count. It just tends that when I do go off it's usually in a way to remember. I do remember the one time I was bucked off, flipped, and ended standing with the reins in my hand. I couldn't repeat that for a million dollars and thankfully I had witnesses.


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## oopsydaisy (Nov 8, 2010)

hehe i remember the last time i got dumped, i was trotting :S LOL! and i was in a park near a road, and a bus back-fired, the horse had a bit of a mad moment, she jumped one way and I just stayed where I was lol  it happensss haha


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## paintluver (Apr 5, 2007)

Yepp. I actually recently got bucked off Romeo for the first time, and I got bucked off of PintoBean really bad last year. I couldn't sit down for a long time...


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## Crossover (Sep 18, 2010)

I always said your not a true horse rider until you've been dumped.


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## RandomHorsey (Oct 10, 2010)

I havent fallen off BUT there have been so many times!!!!! Like one time i was riding my mare bareback and she wandered over to the buckets that we fed them in....one was broken....anyway b the time i realized that she was halfway to China!(lol jk) she had gotten her nose stuck in the bucket and I can off but landed on my feet(is that condisered a fall??? I also blocked my face with my hands in soccer and sprained my wrist I came home crying cause mum had just decicded i could take lessons again and i had one scedualed for that day.... boohoo! I bandaged it up and did the lesson(getting my horses neak in my face over a jump when my wrist gave away!!!) OW!


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## PaulyPalomino (Oct 6, 2010)

_have been thrown off quite a few times in my life......these two instances were more for fun._

_1) I was about 9 or ten and at my girlfriends ranch (where i spent every moment possible) and we were riding her mare in the winter, bareback, double, in snowpants, trotting downhill and would see how long we could stay on before we both slid off into the snowbank....about 10 seconds! lol_

_2) We got bored with the well trained older horses and decided to ride the mini's...our feet could touch the ground, anyways we rode them down the trail and realized that the pony i was on liked to brush its riders off in the trees. Brushed me off about 4 times before i remembered that if i just put my feet to the ground that the pony would come out right from under me!!!!:lol:_


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## saddlebredlover (Oct 17, 2010)

In over 30 years of riding, there have been a few memorable ones... Mostly the early years. I've only been separated from my horse twice in the last 20+ years. 

The first was at 8 yrs old on my first pony, 3 days after I got him. He knew voice commands, and I was cantering him on a dirt/gravel road at my Grandparent's farm. My Mom thought he was getting away from me and yelled "WHOA" from across the yard. Yep. He stopped on a dime and left change. I sailed across his head and landed on my right shoulder, breaking my colllarbone. Thanks, Mom!

I've been bucked off green horses, and had a horse rear up and fall over backwards with me, almost falling on top of me... but she fell on the fence and landed right next to me instead.

I was riding one of my Saddlebred show horses next to a wooden rail fence (he was a rail hugger) when my jeans got caught in a split in the old wood rail, pulling me off the horse and suspending me in the air and breaking the board off the fence, spooking my horse. I managed to hang on to him, though! My jeans had to be cut to get me loose from the board, though...


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## fizzlefazzle (Nov 10, 2010)

Ive fallen off a couple of times, but the only one I can still vividly remember like it was yesterday, is when I must have been about 4 or 5 at one of my sisters shows. Her friend had the cutest, prettiest, little black and white pony I'd ever seen for sale, so my parents put me on for a test ride. It was a big green field with stone walls and everything was fine for a few mintues until something spooked him. This little pony went what honestly must have been close to 100mph straight towards the wall. He stopped just before it... I didnt, right over his ears! After that apparently according to my parents I refused to ride ponies and would only get on the biggest horses. Maybe thats why I'm so drawn to the draft crosses these days


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