# First falls- lets hear um!



## Moei (Jan 11, 2012)

lets hear your stories about your first falls of your horses!!! i'll go first!!! 
so yesterday i took my first fall of my new horse! he was out of work for 3 weeks due to an abcess! he was feeling better and it was the first time i was riding him in 3 weeks (bareback with only a halter in a pasture-not the smartest idea!!) we were trotting behind another horse between 2 tress! my horse started bucking and i grabbed a tree branch to stay on but when i let go i fell and my friend started cracking up! i only got some minor cuts on my knuckles from the tree and got right back on and rode for another 20min! i think he bucked out of excitment not to get me off he is an awesome horse and doesnt have a mean bone in his body (towards humans- not other horses)!!!


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## happy123 (Jan 4, 2012)

Mine was not so long ago. Back in fall, I was on a trail ride with my instructor (Outtatheblue) and we cantered, but Reily decided to hand gallop ( I think lol, I am still pretty green) and I had neve done it before... So I went right over his shoulder. My leg hurt pretty bad for a couple months, and sometimes it hurts when it's cold out, but I was fine. I got mine out of the way early


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## Moei (Jan 11, 2012)

happy123 said:


> I got mine out of the way early


 haha! i guess thats a good thing!!!


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## ElaineLighten (Jan 1, 2012)

Happened when I was about 10, I went to a terrible riding school, it was my first jump attempt. They didn't give me any position training, pole training, nothing. They just said "Stand in your stirrups and lean forward over the jump". I got left behind and fell off. 
I really wish I had known better and gone to a different riding school, I go to a really good one now but it's like learning all over again!


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

When I was little I was practicing gymkhana events with my Mom. I was on my big horse named Chocolate. I don't remember exactly how I ended up on the ground, but my feet came out of my boots and I was on my butt in the sand. I was so ****ed off  Mom literally had to grab me, kicking and screaming, and set my butt back up on the horse because I was so mad at Chocolate. I was a little kid with an attitude. lol


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## Ink (Sep 25, 2009)

My very first fall was shortly after I started riding. I was at a week long camp at the place I took lessons. We were on our way back from a trail ride and one of the other girls came flying past me. My horse jumped. It wasn't much but enough to unseat the unbalanced beginner rider that I was. My riding instructor brushed me off set me back on the horse and told me I was now officially a horse back rider. 


The best one to date! I was riding my friend's barn sour pony bareback. At one point she spun around to make a break for home. I started slipping but managed to grab a hold of her neck so that I landed on my feet with a hold of her bridle. The "oh s***" look on that pony's face was priceless!


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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

My first fall was probably about the..15th bareback ride, and 6th time jumping bareback over about 1.2'. Drew was on the horse he was showing, Sox, and I was on his little push-button lesson pony (only 3 and a half). Well, everything went well and his mum showed up a little early. So we decided to jump one more time and put the horses away. Well, when Sox left Toby's side, he kicked Toby (barely) and Toby got anxious. I kinda felt rushed (and being too confident for my own good lol) did a 180 and took off toward the jump at a canter. Well, when he spun, I got a bit unbalanced and while trying to rebalance I went even farther off balance. Toby tried to stop before the jump because he knew I wasn't balanced, but there wasn't enough time and he popped over it. As soon as his front feet hit the ground I rolled off and fell flat on my back, lol. We both had a good laugh, and no one's parent or the BO ever knew a thing 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## AbbyLee (Feb 1, 2012)

I was on a trail ride and there was a log in front of me. I was paying attention to my friend or something and my horse decided to jump it. And this thing was big. It was actually more like 2 trunks stuck together. So she flies over it and I'm not prepared and I go flying over her. Lol I had bruises for a while.


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## Cruiser (Aug 28, 2011)

I had been riding 10 years give or take, when I was riding on hard pack trail when something spooked my horse (turned out the rigging snapped in my saddle), she bolted and my saddle fell off with me. I have scars all over my back from the road burn that took months to heel properly. 

Some don't consider that a fall because I wasn't unseated, the seat just happen to brake I went with it, if it doesn't count I haven't fallen in 13 years of riding.


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## heymckate (Nov 23, 2010)

Second lesson ever. I was 9-years-old. A horse kicked the wall of the indoor arena I was riding in, and the horse in front of my horse spooked and started cantering. My horse said, "Oh! We're cantering now! Okay!"

On the plus side, I think I made it a good 1/4 of the way around the arena before I bit it. 

Surprised at how many of you have had such a low number of falls. I've had tons... jumps gone wrong, saddle slipping during pole bending, freak bucking escapades, randomly falling for no reason...


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

I didn't fall off but wanted to ride our horse when I was about 7. My much older cousin gave me a boost so I could get in the saddle. Unfortunately she ended up tossing me clear over the horse and landed on my back on the other side.


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## SEAmom (Jan 8, 2011)

My first fall was off a lesson horse when I was 14. The horse had been on stall rest following major colic surgery. I was the lucky one to be the first to ride him post-surgery. I asked the instructor if I needed to longe him (we'd been longeing for a few weeks, just not riding) and she said no. I should've done it anyway. We were riding along in the arena for a few minutes. He suddenly started spinning in a corner and the laws of physics took over. *plop* Off I came. He stopped, looked at me, looked at the instructor and walked over to her. I got back on and kept going with no further incident.


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## tlkng1 (Dec 14, 2011)

First horse at age 13. I had taught him to jump, which was strange as 1. I didn't have a riding instructor and 2. I had only had about 6 weeks total of riding lessons (summer girl scout camp) in three years time . We, menaing theparents of the kids who owned horses, had just built this new gate for the jumps and everything was painted all new and pretty . I cantered over the course we had set up and he was jumping beautifully, until he saw that gate. He cantered up to it, then stopped dead, dropped his head and watched quite happily as I did a complete somersault over his neck. Fortunately neither of us broke the new gate  This same horse, on my first three foot course in a show a couple of years later. We had taken the warmup course with no problems. When it was time forour round, we jumped nicely into an in and out, he slammed on the brakes right before the second element and then turned so I hit the pole sideways with my hip...I busted that standard jump pole in half I hit so hard. I got back on and jumped that line easily on the second try though I DID literally crawl around the house for two days afterwards.


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## Lafitte (Jun 6, 2011)

My first fall was a few years ago. I was just starting jumping combinations and I must have lost my balance because I cantered out of the jump and the next thing I knew, I was on the ground. LOL. Me and my instructor wasn't even sure what happened because she said I looked fine when I was jumping and then I just fell.


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## LValentina (Jan 25, 2012)

My first fall was very un-spectacular, I was trotting up a road when the horse I was riding slipped and fell slightly forward on his front right. My rain jacket was tied to the back of the saddle and made a bit of a noise and he just kind of popped his butt up and up and over his shoulder I went...  Definitely focused a little more on being a rider than a passenger after that...


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## its lbs not miles (Sep 1, 2011)

Remember my first fall? I started riding in 1968....I do good to remember the horse I learned to ride on ) but I can't remember it's name. Just that it was a lovely Percheron.
In 3 years I never fell off that horse, but over the years I've made up for it several times, since I was given my first horse in 1971. If you train enough horses you'll end up coming off at some point )


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## teamfire (May 27, 2011)

Ah, my first fall... not sure if it counts, lol.

It happened on my 2nd lesson ever. (I started at 19) Horse did a mini buck, but me still getting used to horse movement, I thought he was going to fall over, so I jumped off.

My instructor laughed because she said I had sat the buck perfectly and threw myself off right at the end.

Never rode Happy again after that, lol. He'd never really done that before, but she put me on another horse anyways. Of course, about a year later that horse bolted when he spooked and then I had my first real fall, complete with a good knock to the head against the wood railing.


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## Moei (Jan 11, 2012)

it is so good to hear that i'm not the only one who has taken some spastic falls of horses in my life time!!


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## gothicangel69 (Aug 2, 2011)

My first fall was last July- and boy was I PO'd. I've been on bucking broncos, rearers, and downright crazy beasts, and have never fallen off. I bought my boy, and they said he was broke, but just needed some fine tunning. I went to get on him, had one foot in the stirrup and was halfway up when he bolted- skooting sideways at the same time. I went flying and hit my head pretty hard (stupid me for not wearing a helmet, but I sure learned my lesson and never get on without one now). Had a pretty good concussion from it. Turned out the horse was not broken in the least. Does this count as technically, I was not even fully on the horse yet?lol
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Fear The Tree (Feb 12, 2012)

I was riding bare back on "Mr. Tree" My Clydesdale. I had no bridle or anything, he got spooked reared up and went flying over his face. I landed in a puddle of muddy water. He almost trampled me, he jumped over me and the puddle! It was my first and only fall. It happened yesterday actually. Once he calmed down I got back on and Rode for 3 more hours


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## Piaffe (Jan 11, 2010)

My first fall was when I was about 9...I had been riding since 2 and had never fallen off my 1st or 2nd horse...3rd horse is a charm I guess  My parents bought me a (misadvertised) barely broke prancy-dancy-spook-at-the-wind 4 year old Arab cross. I was riding her in our back yard for one of the first times since getting her when my little brother (who was about 5 at the time) came over and threw one of the huge inflatable beach balls right at my mare's face...well I was riding with no saddle (I don't think we had one for her yet) and I'm pretty sure I only had her halter on. Anyways...it hit her square in the face and she reared up and took off and I just fell right off the back of her. I wasn't hurt and was just annoyed at my brother. I don't think I tattled on him though because I was too embarrassed for falling off X) lol. And that mare ended up being amazing...I used her for everything...probably my most favorite horse I've ever had. Sadly she got stolen a couple years back


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## Sweeney Road (Feb 12, 2012)

I was about 13 or 14, and was riding a stable horse from the old Buck Norred stables at Santa Teresa Park (in San Jose, California). Amazingly, in those days we didn't have trail guides, we just got thrown on the horse and got sent out the gate to ramble around the trails.

One of my sisters was with me that day. She didn't really like horses, and the horse she was riding knew she was a real beginner. That gelding was giving my sister all manner of grief. I started to feel sorry for my sister, and told her to hand over the reins of her horse, because I figured I'd better just lead her back to the barn. 

I didn't count on the gelding pulling back at the same time as her handing over the reins, and I got pulled off the horse I was riding, landing flat on my back. Fortunately, I didn't hurt myself at all, but I sure had the wind knocked out of me! My horse high-tailed it back to the barn. I hung onto the reins of my sister's horse, and I made her dismount so that I could get onto her horse, then maneuvered her horse to a place where my sister could get on behind me.

The stables people sent out a search party when my horse showed up riderless. They were quite relieved to find us unhurt.

Even then I thought it was pretty amusing. My sister has never been on a horse since--and that was over thirty years ago!


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## DejaVu (Jul 6, 2011)

My first fall has been my worst so far.
I was about seven, and not riding for very long. I know I hadn't started cantering yet.

The gelding I was riding, who is still to this day, the laziest horse I've ever ridden, suddenly took off at a canter, and then followed by three good bucks, which ended me in the dirt. Looking back on it, at the time, it seemed like he bolted off at a gallop, and did a flat out bronc ride, but really, it was just a slow little canter, and the bucks really not that bad, but at the time, I had no clue how to handle a situation like that. Not sure what possessed him to do it. I've just assumed a bee or something stung him.

Pretty sure I at least cracked a rib. I just remember it was super hard to breathe for a week or two. Any aerobic activity completely would shut me off from breathing, and I remember my back being very locked for awhile.


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## FreeDestiny (Jul 3, 2011)

My first fall was the day before new years eve...day...my coach said she was determined to have me on the ground by the end of 2011. So Destiny was having a pretty fast day, I thought, alright the wittle OTTB wants to race again, so I let her do an extended canter on a 20m circle and got off her back into a two-point to let her stretch out, well coming out of the circle onto the long side of the arena...bucking fit, sat that one, stayed on  Trotted over to my coach to tell her what happened, and she suggested I just let her do a gallop down the long side of the arena to get her race jitters out, and at the moment I cued for a canter and leaned forward to let'er go, my coaches horse who was next to me, spooked at something, in turn spooking my mid-first-gallop-stride Desy, and next thing I knew I went over her shoulder and landed in the sand. 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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