# What is your worst horse related injury?



## ninjahorse (Jun 7, 2010)

Okay so it's a little embarrassing to admit this, but a couple of months ago I got kicked in the mouth by one of my mares. knocked my teeth in and everything. My orthodontist said that if I didn't have my braces that I would be picking my teeth up off of the ground. Scary I know! It was totally my fault. Here's what happened.

It was about 9 am and I was out in the pasture with my Oldenburg mare, Willow. I was running around reenacting the beach scene in The Black Stallion ( It was stupid to do I know, but it was so much fun. anyways...) I stopped and gave her a treat then went to run in a differant direction. Willow flipped around to start running around with me then kicked one leg up (in a excited "yey we're having fun" way) then popped me in the mouth. My teeth are fine now ( I had to get stiches on my tongue and the orthodontist had to push my teeth back into place) and I have certainly learned a lesson. If you play with a Horse like a friend, then you better expect to be treated like one! This was probably the stupidest thing I have ever done with a horse and I really regret it now.

What is your worst horse related injury? Please share.

The last two pictures are of after a day in the ER, orthodotist, and the Oral Surgon's offices.


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

Ouch!!!! Glad you're okay...

I don't have any pics of my worst injury, as it was several years ago, and I didn't even think about 'proof' of the incident!!! Haha...BUT...I had been working with one of my mom's geldings, and I was taking his leg wraps off, something spooked him, he flipped out, and kicked me in the right leg just above the knee. I seriously thought he busted my leg because I couldn't stand on it for a good minute or two. But even though it hurt, I was finally able to stand and walk on it...but my muscle was seriously injured. I still have a big knot where that horse kicked me (not visible, but you can feel it...); it turned every color possible I think! Makes me glad it wasn't anything BUT my leg he kicked, because I would have been much more 'damaged' than I was. When he kicked me, he sent me 5 feet away from that kick, and I had been right next to him...can't imagine if I had been a couple feet away, to where he could have built up even more momentum in his hind end.


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## ThatNinjaHorse (Jul 26, 2009)

I havnt had any really bad injuries or anything, even outside horse riding, no broken bones, fractures, sprains etc, so the worst for me would be a grazed arm. The whole side/underside of my arm. It looked gross..


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## draftrider (Mar 31, 2010)

Where do I start.

I had a rescue horse named Hailey. She was very spooky, had been beaten by her previous owners, and she was having her hooves trimmed for the very first time. I had her on a lead and holding her on the driveway for my farrier. I felt Hailey go tense, and then looked where she was looking and saw a flash- our neighbors husky. He ran right for us, growling and teeth bared. Hailey panicked and ran right over the top of me. I went under her hooves. All I could think of was to cover my face. I felt a hoof on my head and then she leaped away and ran down to the barn.

I was able to get up, by that time my farrier had the dog tied up and was walking to my neighbors house to chew him a new one. I was black and blue head to toe, and had a perfect hoof mark bruise on the side of my head. Had she not jumped off when she felt her hoof on me, I would be dead.

Second bad bad accident-

I got a rescue horse at the sales barn for 10$, a TB gelding. Dollar was totally crazy. I went into his pasture to refill his mineral feeder one day, and the next thing I knew I was on the ground being pummeled. My assistant said Dollar came out of nowhere, reared up behind me and was pawing and clobbering me. Again, black and blue. Dollar was put down the next day and it was found he had a brain tumor that made him nuts. I broke my cheekbone, jaw and knocked out 3 teeth. I had surgery to repair my face. Still don't have the teeth!


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## ninjahorse (Jun 7, 2010)

That's crazy! You're sooo lucky to be alive! I'm speechless really I am.


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## draftrider (Mar 31, 2010)

Yes I am very lucky to be alive!!! 

My neighbor lady actually had her thumb bitten off by a stud horse.


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## dizzynurse (Jul 7, 2010)

Holy crap draftrider! U are a lucky woman and strong too!

ps I was gonna say I got a bruise from the saddle horn when she reared once but just didnt seem right to follow all that with a little bruise! lol


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## lolayla (Jul 25, 2008)

my worst accident was when i was riding a known bucker. we were on a trail and one of the other riders i was with trotted off. so i trotted to catch up and once i did the horse decided he didnt like me anymore. he took off a few yards and then planted his feet and threw in some major rodeo type bucking. i stayed on for about 4 bucks and then ate grass. i remember seeing grass then sky then grass then sky and ended up on my back lol. my horse took off so my friends had to go catch him and i had to walk about a kilometer home. i think i had a cuncusion because on the walk back i was seeing black stars flying away from my eyes. went to the hospital and i had a fractured wrist and 3 broken ribs.


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## Scoutrider (Jun 4, 2009)

Good Lord! I feel like a wimp sharing my worst injury! Some of these stories make me wince just reading them.

Probably my worst injury was my first ride on Scout. I found him online while I was away at school, my sister checked him out and test rode for me w/t (he was ungodly skinny, so no canter), and decided that if I decided that I didn't want him when I met him she'd buy him from me. Yeah, complete wrong way to buy a horse. :lol: 

The next weekend rolled around and I got to meet my new guy. He was very thin, but the family assured me that he had gained weight in just the few days he'd been home. I had to test him out, but didn't want to run him in his condition. So I popped my English saddle and snaffle bit on him and took him to the arena, sis following with her QH. 

We rode around, checking systems, and eventually got into trot. He was forward and bracy, but controllable. Sis passed by us at a WP jog, and Scout bounced up into a canter, and in the first stride bucked once. I ate dirt. I'd have stuck in western tack. :lol: I rolled over my shoulder and embedded a sizable amount of footing in my t-shirt and skin. Scout's nose was snuffling in my face, for all the world asking what I was doing on the ground. Got right back on and into a trot, but I couldn't climb up the hayloft ladder for a week.

In hindsight, I figure that Scout had never cantered under saddle before, and the buck was a reaction to the girth on him at the canter. The same reaction was par on the lunge, too. He worked out of it pretty easily, and canters without bucking now. :lol: 

Apparently I've been darn lucky. I've had my feet stepped on, but never badly, never been kicked, struck at, or charged. Usually my own stupidity leads to a fall, and it knocks the wind out of me, and life goes on. Then again, I'm young. Someday I'm sure I won't bounce as well.


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## blink (Jul 14, 2010)

I don't want to scare anyone with this story, but I feel it has value as a cautionary tale. For the record, I'm recovering nicely.

It happened one weekend when we had the entire family together for a casual trail ride. On the way to the farm, we saw weather rolling in but thought we might get lucky.

Unfortunately, the clouds burst at the worst possible moment: just as I had to make a decision to turn right and head for the farm, or turn left and go to the tack store. We wound up in the tack store on a "ginormous sale weekend."

My wife and three daughters bolted suddenly and I got bum rushed in the stampede. Next thing I know, I'm sitting dazed but upright in my truck clinging to a credit card that had been pummeled nearly to death.

I consulted with a financial adviser and he assured me that if I eat leftovers everyday for lunch and darn my own socks, I should recover fully in about 5 to 7 years.

Oh, and I fell off my daughter's horse about four weeks ago (I swore that cinch was tight enough) and broke two ribs. But that didn't hurt nearly as much! And as I understand it, bones mend even stronger than before they were broken. Can't say the same for credit cards.

blink


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

Blink, you owe me a new monitor. I snorted water on mine, and it's all your fault! :clap:


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## blink (Jul 14, 2010)

Yeah, um, send me the bill on that SR. I'll get right on it!

Blink


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## Cowgirl140ty (Jan 7, 2010)

blink said:


> I don't want to scare anyone with this story, but I feel it has value as a cautionary tale. For the record, I'm recovering nicely.
> 
> It happened one weekend when we had the entire family together for a casual trail ride. On the way to the farm, we saw weather rolling in but thought we might get lucky.
> 
> ...


This really just made my day :rofl:

But to the OP: 
Well working a friends horse who I wasnt charging.... the owner came running up to me... and when she did the horse reared and struck out. I tried to move but the owner was there... and she struck me right in the chest.... somehow all that happened was a massive bruise.

Another time... at one of the cutting shows, this girl on a green horse didnt have a ribbon in her horses tail saying she kicked. I was riding Ty on the outer tracks of the arena and the girl was in the middle. She was backing the horse up. I go back to my conversation with a friend when all of the sudden my horse shoots sideways.... next thing I know I hear a loud pop and a horrible pain in my foot. Of course I still rode that night.... but i had several broken bones in my foot.


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## franknbeans (Jun 7, 2007)

Well, lets see......I guess the worst was.....jumping my big Clyde X-we had just done a jumping clinic and I felt pretty safe just doing simple X-rails.....hmmmm. He stopped....then went, and that massive neck of his came up, popped me in the face, fractured my right orbit. UGH! I stayed on through it, then slid to the ground crying. My poor daughter, who was about 10 at the time, was horrified! Since I ama nurse, the md's were convinced that hubby had beat me, altho I told them what had happened, hubby felt sorry for me, and I got a new trailer out of it, at least! I have recovered, but had to have cheek implants to make them match again......thank god I know a good Plastic surgeon!

Another horse-a kids horse no less-who had been abused in a previous life, but had been fine.....just grabbed my boob one day as I walked down the aisle. I never knew what hit me-and it hurt like hell! I had abrasions and a huge bruise from that one! Good thing I wore a padded bra! lol

I also fell on my butt once and speed dialed my gf! Pretty commical, actually! Just hurt the phone, I 'm afraid!


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## 888vegas888 (Jun 23, 2010)

oh wow. ok mine are a bit gruesome, and i've had farrrrrr to many injuries to list but i'll tell anyway. (im only putting down 4)

#1- august 2007, i was riding a horse that is known to refuse jumps, and as usual, he did. it was fallen tree, about 2'3" (im just guessing ???) and when he refused, he twisted a full 180 degree pivot, he went one way, i went another. i ended up snapping my radius and dislocating my ulna... still have a metal pin in my right arm to this day...

#2- march 2004, i was schooling a mare for sale, early in the morning. shes a barrel horse, so i was practicing her run. at the 2nd barrel, i guess she spun too tight, and her legs were swept out from under her, and i went down with her. her butt fell down first, behind me, and my left foot was flat on the ground, with my knee in the air. her shoulder then came down smack in the middle of my knee... broke my tibia (shin bone) and surprisingly, my fibula was untouched. i now have a metal plate there.

these next two aren't so bad.

#3-January 2010, i was desensitizing a stud colt with a grocery bag on the end of a stick and was shaking it and rubbing it all over him, and he was doing really well. the second the bag touched his flank, i got kicked right in the thigh. i got a bruise the size of a softball and it bulged out nearly an inch from my thigh. it just barely broke the skin and now i've got a scar there but its not that visible.

#4-July 2008, i was in a roundpen, teching my beginner friend how to lunge a horse (she was standing outside the roundpen) and i was lunging a little green filly with ADD and the worlds shortest attention span. she was just trotting along, then my friend asked me a question, so i turned around to answer her, and the filly went berserk, came up from behind me and took a chunk from the back of my shoulder. i also have a scar there. extremely visible.

i've had many more, and many more to come...


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

blink said:


> Yeah, um, send me the bill on that SR. I'll get right on it!


Why do I think you're just having me on? I do believe I detect a smidgen of sarcasm in that response.... :think:


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

i haven't had any serious injuries...hurt my shoulder but nothing serious.


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## dee (Jul 30, 2009)

My very first horse was a green broke two year old strawberry roan named Snoopy (he earned that name, and NO, he was NOT house broken!:roll. He was a really gentle baby - no buck, no bite, and no GO! He was a dead head like you would not believe. Vet said there was nothing wrong with him, he was just lazy as all gitout. I decided to ride him with some very mild spurs, just to try to encourage him a little more. Bad idea for a rider just as green if not greener than her horse! 

While riding down our driveway, Snoopy stumbled just a little. I flinched and tightened up, and accidentally gigged the snot out of him with the spurs. He had never had a spur used on him before, and he jumped straight up in the air and then a step backward of all things. I really had some hang time in the air, before coming butt first down on the saddle horn. I managed not to completely fall off, I fell forward onto Snoopy's neck, and for some reason, he held still - supporting my full weight on his neck, until I could ease back over the saddle horn and into the saddle.

My husband asked me if I was okay, and honestly, didn't feel any pain...yet. He said he heard a loud crack, but we both figured Snoopy may have kicked a rock or something. We actually rode on down the road for about half an hour before I began to realize I couldn't sit comfortably. We headed back to the house and by the time we got there, I was practically in tears and could not for the life of me imagine what I had done to myself.

Hubby put up the horses while I made my way inside the house. I couldn't find any injuries, but when I sat, it felt like I was sitting on a baseball. Hubby came inside and checked my backside for me (I couldn't check it as we didn't have a full length mirror) and Oh Brother. I had a knot at the end my tailbone the size of my fist. And it was a hideous black color. 

Went to the doctor the next day, and he nearly fell off his stool laughing (tweren't funny McGee!). I fractured my tailbone.  Could not sit comfortably for nearly three months, even with a donut. Baby had an accident later the day of the doctor's visit and wound up spending a month in the hospital. I was miserable - those chairs are horrible - and the baby wouldn't calm down and sleep unless I held her and rocked her. (She never would sleep anywhere but at home in her own crib). 

After baby came home, I decided I'd try to ride Snoopy again. He really needed more constant riding than I was doing, and the swelling on my backside was finally gone. Found out my saddle was the most comfortable place I could sit. Don't know why, but that was the only place I could sit without a donut and not want to cry. Maybe it was just in my head? Go figure.

Oh, and Blink - remind me NOT to read your posts while I'm on break at work. The cube environment is no place for a loud guffaw! :rofl:


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## TheRoughrider21 (Aug 25, 2009)

I've been lucky enough not to get into 2 many bad accidents.

#1. We were laoding an Arabian mare into the trailer and I picked her leg up to set her hoof inside the trailer. As I was talking my hand back out, she kicked out at me and caught my arm. Somehow my hand got caught in the hinge of the door and she continued to pummel me until my friend got my hand free. Resulted in a fractured bone in my arm, 15 stitches, and some other bruises.

#2. I was doing that emergency dismount thing for practice and when I swung my leg around, I slipped and ending up falling under the horse's legs(at a full out gallop). Resulted in a few broken ribs and major concussion.


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## Lonestar22 (May 22, 2009)

Well stupid me took over for smart me one day. I decided to ride my previously abused QH gelding bareback for the first time. I got one him ok, took a few steps and then (not even thinking at all) I tossed a rope I had in my hand (I cannot for the life of me remember why i had the rope, just know I had it) to the ground. He flipped. I remember hitting the ground then I stood up leaned on a gate and passed out. Into a barbed wire fence I might add. Well when I came to I walked inside and told my mom to get the horse. I was covered in blood from where the barbed wire pierced my lip and dug into my neck. I did something to my back. I never went to the doctor so IDK what. It hurt like hell to sit down, get up, bend over, twist. Pretty much everything. Played volleyball all season like that, then softball and powerlifting. Lol. My poor back still bothers me.


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## Seifur (Apr 24, 2010)

When I was 9 I went on a trail ride with my family, I was riding my old mare Gletta. We were riding on the beach and getting a little behind so I let her canter a bit to catch up with the others, then she suddenly bucked. 
I flew right off and landed straight on my right shoulder, dislocating it. It hurt soo bad and I just lay there on the ground. Gletta stopped immediately and started to move her lips across my face, she only stopped when I got up. I had to lie down again because my head had started to spin and she started to do the thing with her lips again.

When I was all healed up I was literally forced to ride her again. I was so scared I was crying my eyes out nearly the whole trail ride. She was a total sweetheart the whole ride, she had never behaved so well before:lol:
She was sold a little later, I kinda miss her and even have a picture of her on my wall.


Another story is from when I was 12. I was riding my uncle's horse Þokki (means graceful. Funny because he isn't graceful at all, roughest trot in history). Þokki then suddenly turned right and bolted straight to the fence and then stopped abruptly so I flew right into the barbed wire fence... But thankfully I hit the pole instead and also broke it. I got a nasty, swollen bruise on my thigh and something also happened to my tailbone, stupid me never went to see a doctor. It hurt so bad, I could barely walk or sit for 2 weeks.


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## Sunny (Mar 26, 2010)

Hmmmm... I have never had any accidents out of the saddle-knock on wood- so mine would be a fall I had on my 14th birthday. I was riding Gunner(my first hearthorse), and my friend was riding Bud, the other horse on the property. We were galloping along the fenceline, me and Gunner in the lead. Suddenly, I just felt air underneath my, and then a dull pain on my tailbone. Turns out the leather holding the dee ring on the saddle had broken(Western), so the saddle was left without a horse under it. :lol: According to my friend, I did a backflip off of Gun straight into a barbed wire fence. I was hanging sideways in the fence, with my tailbong grazing the ground. I sat on the saddle pad while I was gaining my breath. :lol: As I was walking back, with an awfully sore rear, I said to my friend, "Atleast the barbs didn't get me!" and I raised my shirt. WRONG. I was gushing blood out of my side, but I couldn't even feel it. With a brusied rear and a gashed-up side, I had to lie on my stomach for a few days. :lol:


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## Sunny (Mar 26, 2010)

^^ Oh, and to add, the next weekend my tailbone got beat up while running barrels on a fat QH, and the weekend after that I fell and landed on my tailbone while jumping bareback. My rear had a bad month. :lol:
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## 888vegas888 (Jun 23, 2010)

Seifur said:


> When I was 9 I went on a trail ride with my family, I was riding my old mare Gletta. We were riding on the beach and getting a little behind so I let her canter a bit to catch up with the others, then she suddenly bucked.
> I flew right off and landed straight on my right shoulder, dislocating it. It hurt soo bad and I just lay there on the ground. Gletta stopped immediately and started to move her lips across my face, she only stopped when I got up. I had to lie down again because my head had started to spin and she started to do the thing with her lips again.
> 
> When I was all healed up I was literally forced to ride her again. I was so scared I was crying my eyes out nearly the whole trail ride. She was a total sweetheart the whole ride, she had never behaved so well before:lol:
> ...


aww, thats so sweet to hear about a horse that would actually stand by you side after you fell. you almost never see a horse like that. glad you're okay.


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## Seifur (Apr 24, 2010)

888vegas888 said:


> aww, thats so sweet to hear about a horse that would actually stand by you side after you fell. you almost never see a horse like that. glad you're okay.


Thank you!  She truly is a good mare, and she would always wait for you to get back on if you fell off. Her mother was like that too.


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## franknbeans (Jun 7, 2007)

888vegas888 said:


> aww, thats so sweet to hear about a horse that would actually stand by you side after you fell. you almost never see a horse like that. glad you're okay.


Actually, my draft x always stands there nuzzling whomever has most recently been unseated, sort of saying "what are you doing down there?" Never goes anywhere! I think he subscibes to the theory of not wasting ANY energy


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## 888vegas888 (Jun 23, 2010)

franknbeans said:


> Actually, my draft x always stands there nuzzling whomever has most recently been unseated, sort of saying "what are you doing down there?" Never goes anywhere! I think he subscibes to the theory of not wasting ANY energy


exactly! theres 2 kinds of horses like that: ones that are truly sorry and worry about you after you fall, and the ones who just stop and stare at you on the ground like "woah! what the heck!!! why are u on the ground?! weren't u just on my back? oh well, if you're hurt then that means im not genning worked anymore!" :lol:


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## ilovesonya (Oct 12, 2009)

My worst injury was from when I was breaking Sonya.
It was our 4th or 5th ride, and I had a crash vest on. Everything was going fine, until a tractor went by the arena carrying a round bale. Sonya decided she was hungry and went from a stand-still to a bucking gallop, chasing the tractor and leaving me in the dirt. 
I landed on my left rib cage, and the crash vest didn't help. It actually hurt me. The left side of my ribs were bruised internally. Was not a very comfortable few weeks.  
All good now and haven't fallen off Sonya since then!


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## MacabreMikolaj (May 9, 2009)

^

Owning a type of horse like that definitely saved my life. I still cringe thinking about it. I was 13, and being a typical idiot teenager and for some reason thinking it was a good idea to jump my Arab gelding in winter. I came around the side of the manure pile and he hit sheer ice and went down hard. I still have the stirrup - between his weight and the ice, he managed to bend a steel stirrup. He almost immediately jump back to his feet, but now my foot was trapped in the stirrup and I was danging from his side like a Christmas ornament. In as much pain as he was (and I know he was, he flinched for weeks if you touched his side and limped for days), he stood like a rock while I screamed at the top of my lungs for someone to hear me. After about 10 minutes, my sister finally heard and came running back with a screw driver to pry my foot loose. Playboy never moved an inch.

It's ironic because when I think that my worst accidents have been on that little booger, and often "delibrate" (he liked to buck), that was one of my scariest accidents just from the sheer helplessness of it. I shattered the growth plate in my foot and did major damage to all the main support structure (12 years later, my foot is still crooked and a size bigger them my right) but at least I'm alive thanks to my amazing horse!

On another note, that same snot is responsible for my fractured rib & damaged lungs (bucked me sky high riding bareback and I landed on a rock), various scars on my back (bucked me sky high into a gate and then onto some razor sharp mud clumps) and a wide other assortment of injuries that usually involved him either bucking or spinning hard enough to launch me sky high into the nearest inanimate object. :lol:


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## boldstart (Oct 11, 2009)

Last day at TAFE and our teachers let us have fun riding in the arena with the whole group.
Was riding my favourite Buddy bareback (this is with a bitless bridle) and chose to go over the x-bar.
Anyway as soon as I turned him for the jump, he was away. Just bolted for the jump and leapt. Apprantly I sat the landing but came afterwards and landed on my hip.
Even though I was wearing a safety vest my back was sore, i couldnt move or bend and for the next few days was in so much pain doign the simplest stuff.

Who knew that after riding the hot-blooded thoughbreds learning trackwork and falling off them plenty of times, my favourite GP horse at TAFE hurt me the most, lol.
Still love him though. =]]


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

I havent really had a Lot o injury, just some bad falls. I broke my foot once when my trainers two year old shire colt (clumsy brute) stepped on it and refused to move. **** it hurt. Healed up well though, no problemo. Worst fall, hiwever, I was lucky to escaoe without a scratch. I was reining and the pattern was two small circles with a flying change in the center. Well Jester took a wrong step and rolled right over the top of me. I think I slid right under the saddle pikwt because I was just shaken and bruised. Jester was okay too, thank the lord. I would
hae died i he had been hurt.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Aaza Dana (Jul 24, 2010)

*I landed in ICU*

A few months after I started riding, I bought a horse which my instructor had recommended to me. I rode him a few times in the Arena, then took a lesson on him. The instrucor shouted, and my horse leapt sideways. Here's the thing. They had a man on the balcony fixing the a/c. He fell off his ladder when the instructor shouted. The clatter made my horse leap back the other way. I came off, and my tailbone was heading right for the floor. I flung myself forwards (so I doidn't hurt my spine) and landed on my ribcage. I was winded, and the horse stayed right by me, nuzzling my face.

The pain was quite a lot, and didn't go away, so we called an ambulance. They took x-rays - couldn't find any broken bones. They scheduled me in for an ultrasound, and whilst I was waiting went into anaphylactic shock. That's the last I remember before waking up in ICU.

I had chipped a tiny corner off my spine. This had shredded my spleen, which caused massive internal bleeding. That formed a haemotoma. I also ripped some of the blood vessels out of my kidney. I was in ICU for 4 days, hospital for 3 weeks, bed rest another 3. It also resulted in the removal of my kidney a few months later.

Doc says I can do nothing which may involve impact to the other kidney - so no martial arts, and no more horse-riding.


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## ninjahorse (Jun 7, 2010)

Oh my. I'm soo sorry Aara Dana. Can you at least drive carriages or halter work?


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## Quedeme (Aug 6, 2008)

My worst was my first and my last!

I had a straight Egyptian mare that I owned for a year. she was 14 years old and NEVER broke and...stupidly...my first horse....I'd never even had 'good' riding lessons or other experience...Anyway, I worked with her for a YEAR with ground work, respect, desensitizing and EVERYTHING. Got a saddle on her back, put weight in it, and was otherwise doing everything right. Before I tried to get on her though, I had a PROFESSIONAL trainer come out to evaluate her and be her first rider so that I wouldn't hurt her, or myself. He comes out, uses HIS tack, (even though I asked if he'd use mine, or at least inspect it to make sure it was ok for her...needless to say, he didn't) puts a rope around her back end and lets her 'buck it out' (I'm all about natural stuff and don't see any need to teach a horse to buck!) She stands perfectly still while he mounts, he gets her walking and walks around a few times and she does good. Clearly a little nervous, but otherwise the usual easy going, well behaved mare I had worked with for the year. He gets off, and tells me that I could get on her the next day and ride her fine. Hearing this from a 'professional' made me all YAY!!!

So...the next day, I tack her up, lounge her a bit, and get on. Perfect girl as usual. Now that I'm on she's a little nervous, so am I...So, I take it slow and just give her very little encouragement to move forward, not pushing her if she doesn't want to. However, she takes a step forward, my heart is in my throat with nervs but I'm keeping it cool and ask for another step. Next thing I know she's bolting right at a fence (not sure if it was a gallop or a canter, but it was fast either way). I pray to god "DON'T JUMP DON'T JUMP!" well...he answered my prayers, she didn't jump. She didn't stop either because part of her bolting was jerking the reigns out of my hands. Instead, she turns to the left with a SNAP. I keep going forward right out of the saddle and go flying right into a fence. I hit a wooden fence post and broke it with my lowerback/hips and the sound it made was enough to nearly make me puke. It didn't even hurt yet...

I had the wind knocked out of me but could see her rounding the area bucking now. (she waited until I was off) She took just a few seconds of spazz to calm down and I could tell, even in my state, that she felt very sorry, and I wasn't mad at her one bit. 

It took my mother half an hour to get me to just roll over, the whole time I'm yelling at her NOT to call 911 (though in hind sight...should have let her) I couldn't walk for 3 days as simply wiggling a toe caused SEARING pain to shoot up my back. I was in such pain I got 'sick' a few times, and needed help going to the bathroom. A roommate of mine at the time had some old crutches so I borrowed those for about 3 three weeks and am VERY greatfull I had a sit down job at the time where I didn't have to move much. 

I still haven't seen a doctor about it, however I KNOW I broke my back. The reason I know this is because I had a friend ride a percheron and she spooked him, he took off, and she came off when she got hit in the face with a small bit of tree. She got right back up, dusted the mud off of herself, and when her back started to hurt three or so days later, she went to the doctor and was diagnosed with 3 fractured vertebra. (Yes, I have noticed that everything is in 3s...it's creepy now that I think about it)

It took me 6 months to even be comfortable sitting on the back of a horse (ironically it was the percheron that my friend fell off of) and it took a while to get back to riding on my own. It's now almost 4 years later and I still lack the confidence to canter and have pain in some way or another, daily. I'm lucky I'm not crippled, and stupid for not seeing a doctor x.x

At least I have my Caddy now who is a comfort to ride, calm, yet fun, and totally willing no matter WHAT I ask of her. She's more than content to just get loved on when I hurt too bad to ride. ^_^


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## Brithorse1996 (May 25, 2010)

Yeah, shouldn't you go to the doctor then just saying....


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## Quedeme (Aug 6, 2008)

At this point in my life there's nothing that can really 'fix' it other than surgery and I don't want that. I'll be looking into some back support braces though so that I can start cantering again ^_^

I also REALLY need to get into better general shape and get my belly off me x.x A heavy stomach area pulls on the lower back and can cause further issues....It's a work in progress lol


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## Mickey4793 (Sep 24, 2009)

I remember jumping a little log in a field very smoothly, then being about 15 feet in the air, staring as the ground quickly approached, me being head first of course, then 3 hours later eating chicken pot pie and complaining that I would need a new helmet.

Yeah I hit my head so hard, I don't remember ANY details until 3 hours later. According to my [ex] boyfriend who witnessed it, I bounced, jumped to my feet, screamed my horses name to come back [he was galloping away] then falling back to the ground and needing to be assisted up.


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## corgi (Nov 3, 2009)

I only started riding 1.5 years ago but started taking lessons in preparation for a 40th birthday trip to an AZ Dude Ranch.

On the last day of our vacation, we were loping across the desert and the horse stumbled... we both managed to stay upright but in order to right himself he reared slightly and I was thrown back into the saddle very hard. I felt a twinge up between my shoulder blades but managed to finish the ride. 

As the day progressed, my back started hurting terribly. But I was determined to take one last fast ride across the desert. I didn't make it. When we started to lope, the pain was so great that it took my breath away. A wrangler had to help me back to the stables.

One of the other guests at the ranch told me I should go to a doc when I got back home because it was possible that I had broken my back. She said the same thing happened to her a few years back and she didn't know her back was broken for a few months. I thought it was ridiculous. How could you not know your back was broken???

The flight back east was almost unbearable. I went to my doc when I got home and he said I probably just pulled some muscles and prescribed relaxers. They did nothing. I went back a month later and the doc finally sent me for xrays.

The xrays and an MRI showed I fractured my back in 2 places....T6 and T8 but that they were already healing. The ligaments in my back were also torn and they took a very long time to heal. I couldn't ride for 4 months and I still have pain when the weather changes. I am now a human barometer.


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## westerncowgurl (Jul 14, 2010)

my worst fall was the day i got my first horse it wasnt that bad i asked him to lope and he did a rodeo buck i stayed on for a while but my feet flew right out of the stirrups  and i fell and he stepd on my arm i spraind my wrist and had a nasty bruise on my arm. it was kind of funny cuz after i went off he went and stood in the corner  and after he was rubbing againgst me and being very carefull if i was doing anything with my hurt wrist around him it was almost like he felt bad for doing it. after that he's never done it again


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## qharabluver (Jul 22, 2010)

My worst injury would be when i was riding my quarter horse gelding with just a halter he decided to take off and i managed to hang on until he decided to do a sharp turn and threw me into a concrete block. My humerous had a split and i had a concussion


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## AngelWithoutWings54 (May 24, 2010)

I was jumping a lesson horse one day and she decided it would be fun to buck in between a bounce. Yippee. Then go over the other jump, and buck two more times. I Fell off and broke my pelvis and arm. I was on a walker and in a sling. lol.


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## Brithorse1996 (May 25, 2010)

westerncowgurl said:


> it was kind of funny cuz after i went off he went and stood in the corner





**** go stand in the naughty corner


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## danastark (Jul 17, 2008)

I've ridden all my life and I guess I've had good horses or been pretty lucky because I didn't have a serious injury until I was in my early 40's. I was training a 4 yr. old gelding and working on canter transitions. Asked for the canter and he stumbled and went down..... I stayed on and he rolled over my right foot/leg. Pinned my toe up against my shin,....... crushed my foot and ankle, tore something in my knee, was in a cast, crutches for what seemed like forever.

My friend's horse just up and chomped on her boob one day, terrible!! I always keep that in mind and don't let my horses sniff me there!!!


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## GreyRay (Jun 15, 2010)

danastark said:


> My friend's horse just up and chomped on her boob one day, terrible!! I always keep that in mind and don't let my horses sniff me there!!!


OUCH!!! I know the feeling. Palomino mare didn't want the bit in, I was FURIOUS! That was 3 years ago and I was 12
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Brithorse1996 (May 25, 2010)

right now I can post on this thread

Today for the first time I was doing stirrup less cantering. And I wasn't riding my usual lesson pony I was actually riding a horse. I can do trot stirrup less fine but this was my first time cantering it.

Basicall I was just getting into the canter I fell off and landed on my lowerback pelvis area and now I can barely walk my left leg doesn't stretch out properly and my left hip goes clunk and so does my back


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## Tennessee (Dec 7, 2008)

I've had tons of injuries because I'm quite the daredevil. I don't know which would be considered worse than another, so I'll just make a list. lol.


1. Broke my collar bone after a horse bucked me off and then stomped on me.
2. Busted my head open after my horse slid going into a barrel and my head hit the edge of the barrel.
3. Busted my knee after a horse kicked it. Then I knocked the same knee extremely hard on a barrel I've had surgery on it twice. 
4. A crazy horse I owned took a bite out of my arm, so I had to have 18 stitches.
5. Not too painful, but when I was eight one of my horses thought my hair was hay and took a BIG chunk out of it. I had to get extensions for a MONTH. lol.
6. A horse reared up on me, flipped over, and the saddle horn landed on me, bruising my diaphragm. (which is apparently some thing near your lung)
7. Got drug a long way after being bucked off and got pulled hard enough that my knee popped out of place. Mind you, this is the same knee that has had surgery twice. =/ 

Those are the pretty big ones. I've had tons of broken bones and bruises. lol.


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## thats me (Jul 26, 2010)

all these stories sound a little scarey. thank god everyone is ok now.


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## wyominggrandma (Nov 4, 2009)

When my daughter was a freshman she was thrown off her barrel horse during a run because some idiot jumped off the fence at the third barrel into the arena the same time she was going around it and it scared the heck out of the horse.
She went off and broke her pelvis in 4 places.Had lots of home schooling the beginning of that year.


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## kelsey rose (Jul 26, 2010)

hi everybody, im new at this site. so it would be great if someone could tell me how to post my own questions for people to answer. 

and i would have to say i havent had any serious injurys yet. just that ive fallen off my horse a couple of times.


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## Just Ruthiey (Jul 12, 2010)

This was with my first horse, my soulie mate (RIP), Blaze & I were galloping along up the 'Hill'. (Okay, I grew up in FL, there are no hills!), anywho- we were having fun & a deer ran out in front of us, I wasn't using a saddle or anything because I was stupid & Blaze jerked right, she then kicked me in the jaw, broke it, & chipped a bone in my leg when I hit the ground. 

I had to catch her & get home... it sucked, alot. 

I learned my lesson, I very rarely ride horses with spirit without a saddle.


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## Smarby (Oct 27, 2007)

I've never obtained a serious hospital worthy injury but my most painful was...well, very painful, haha.

I was riding round a large field on my 5 year old who had a bad habit of bolting and throwing mean bucks. He was just getting a lot better and hadn't bolted/bucked in that particular field the last couple of times i'd ridden it. We were just walking down the short side of the field, there was a tractor behind a hedge in the field next to us, ploughing. Dougal obviously decided this was a good excuse to go nuts, bolted off at the speed of light and launched into a rodeo-worthy bucking fit. I stayed on for about 3-4 bucks before getting launched over his head and landing on my own head, before flipping over onto my back/side. Holy hell, it was agony. Dougal was gone like the wind, galloping off down the field like a free man. I got up and felt totally out of it, my head didn't even feel like it was attached to my body but eventually started running down the field after him, screaming his name, haha.
I was in so much pain for the next 2 weeks. My back was agony, my groin, hip and right leg were also horrendous. Ouch.

All my other [many!] falls off Dougal haven't resulted in much more than scrapes, bruises and stiffness. He has jammed my leg into fence posts a few times which hasn't been much fun. Brat.


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## kcscott85 (Jul 28, 2010)

Breaking my back! I was riding a practice cross country course with my trainer and we were coming up on a water/ditch obstacle where you jump down a bank into water, take a few strides then jump over a log in the middle of the water, take a couple more strides and jump out of the water up a bank. Even though we had ridden that exact course dozens of times with no problem, Harry decided that time that he wasn't going in the water and ducked left before the bank drop. I kept going straight, flipped over, and landed on my back squarely on top of the log. Physical therapy for over a year AND I'm not allowed to do strenuous riding! Can't really complain though, my helmet completely saved my life!


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## horseluver2435 (May 27, 2009)

Haven't broken any bones despite riding for the majority of my life, but I've came off quite a few times and have had on ground accidents too.

I [luckily] haven't been hurt badly- just a few smushed toes [that might have been broken], a bruised knee from being cow-kicked by my mare, and a bruised hip after falling.

The toes are just from being stepped on, and I'm sure I've broken toes before without doing something about it. My knee was from my mare's first or second show. She was just settling into the stall there, and I was bringing her a bucket of water. She was facing away from the stall door, so I had put down the bucket to touch her butt to let her know I was there, and before I could do anything, she cow-kicked back and caught me right below my kneecap. I just about fell over. Looking back, she easily could've broken my kneecap, which would've sucked. The bruised hip happened when Rainy fell down when her legs slid out from under her. For a split second, before she got up, all her weight was on my hip, which I had landed on, so it was bruised for a while.

No other accidents. Super close calls? Yes. Actual injuries? No. [Knock on wood]


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