what was your worst fall?

[firthy85]

2 incidents do spring to mind. the first being with me and second with a friend. the first a car alarm went off and the horse reared and off i flew out the side door. thankfully i was only a little 6 yo. second time my friend was riding at college and a police car went past. unfortunately the police unit sounded the siren as he came level with the horse which then bolted and flung her into some nice nettles. so what is yours?

I used to be a work rider on a racing yard in a braver life so have some horrors...

Two standouts were we had this horrid mare who people used to draw straws to ride no one would have her as a regular mount. Just meant to be working upsides, and she crosses her jaw and fucks off ive ridden g1 5 furlong sprinters and have never gone that fast. She’s going so quick she trips over her own feet and we both go flying and she rolls over me. I remember the bosses teenage daughter telling me about a week later she thought i was dead. Amazingly just a few cracked ribs.

Another racehorse pissed off with me on a road and slipped on a drain cover, hitting tarmac at that speed was pretty foul.

I don’t learn and still pretty much only ride ex racers/full TBs now.... I think they are marvellous animals but their top speed just makes falls that bit more dramatic.

Pulled in to tighten girth by 6ft stone wall. Dickhead cob decides I obvo want her to climb said wall so rears up from a standstill, falls backwards onto me and then stands on my thigh getting back up. It was a long couple of miles walk home as couldn't remount. Still feel sick thinking about the hoof shaped hole in my leg and picking my jodhpurs out of the flesh.

When I was a kid I was cantering towards a cross country ditch when pony decides to spin 90 degrees to the left, get down on his knees and crawl under the rope. At speed. Catches me by the throat while he gallops off. Looked like I'd tried to hang myself, couldn't speak for a week.

Cold, dark grey sky's at the beach.. Got swept up by a wave I was wearing a brown and orange knitted dress I was 5 or so.. 40 or so years on and I cannot bare my clothes being even a little damp. How women go out with long wet hair down their backs is a mystery! Freaks me

wow some pretty epic answers i think what shocked me was being so young and i know now how to sit to a rear we weren't taught such things so off i went like a cannon lol

Aged 7, riding at a Western ranch in New Forest.
Pony spooked and did a runner, fell off, tiny foot caught in stirrup, dragged along, A&E for badly broken arm.I was very proud, mother had a breakdown.
5 weeks later, I fell off the loo, whilst reading a book, father thought it hilarious and announced to all in A&E on subsequent visit.
Age 19, had horse knocked from underneath me by white van man.
Horse luckily just had a few cuts and legged it back home, safely.
My new boots had to be cut off, not happy.
Was back in the saddle the next day.
Too many more to mention but still riding and driving at 64 years old.

Trying out a showjumper. He suddenly went mad and galloped into a fence. I fell off and he flipped and fell onto me.

Broken pelvis and vertebrates.

I never quite managed to ride properly again- it took me months to walk again.

I miss it. :(

I've been pretty lucky considering - had a few nasty ones as a child/teenager including falling off into a nettle patch, being bucked off into a fence and most alarmingly as a teenager going far too fast in an SJ jump-off having a miscommunication about a stride which really wasn't there, me being brave/reckless I said 'go anyway' and my lovely pony being super genuine and honest said 'alright I'll try', result was us both upside down and tangled up in the poles/wings. I guess it really is true that young 'uns bounce as none of the above resulted in anything worse than a sore head and a lesson well learnt!

On the other hand as an adult I had a very innocuous 'slip off' type fall from my friends mare jumping an embarrassingly small cross pole, she stumbled a tiny bit on landing, I was perched too far forwards and plopped off over her shoulder onto a nice soft arena surface and yet somehow managed to break my ankle in the process which has never quite healed properly and gives me gipp in the mornings to this day? Oh to be 15 again

I’m lucky enough to have escaped really serious injury but 3 spring to my mind under the heading “worst”.

1. Hacking through a wood and my stirrup got caught in a tree branch, the horse was only walking but wouldn’t stop and as he went forward my leg went further and further back, I really thought it was going to break but thankfully my stirrup came off the saddle and I ended up on my backside with only a few torn ankle ligaments.

1. Another hacking one, a dog came at us and the horse jinked away - I ended up sitting on the floor with my back against a tree. That was probably the worst injury - torn shoulder injury which required two ops and eventually will need complete shoulder replacement.

1. The horse and I disagreed about jumping a jump next to a gate and he decided on the gatepost - idiot. I hit the deck hard and knocked myself out. I was so concussed that I didn’t appreciate that I’d hurt my back - a facet joint fracture!

Actually looking at them they are quite serious injuries and I still have some effects from falls 2 and 3 now, but I do consider myself lucky bearing in mind that I have been riding since I was four and am now over 50.

I’ve had a few crackers amongst the run of the mill . The scariest was probably when my sisters horse slipped over on the road when I was out with him , we were just round a blind corner and he just lay in the road and refused to get up with me frantically trying to get him up before a car could come round the bend and kill us both . The worst horse related accident I’ve had was not a fall at all , I was grooming my ex race mare and she just decided to lay down , which she did , knocking me over and bashing my head onto the concrete resulting in a fractured skull . Nothing wrong with her she was just hideously badly behaved and seemed to like scaring people .

Not scary to some but as a child we had a horror of a pony who decided when your ride was over. He would either flat out bolt to the water butt which was ancient cast metal as if he was going to jump it but do a filthy stop so I would end up dumped in icy slimy water with nasty bruises
The bottom of the paddock by the stream was boggy and both ponies used as a toileting area. Along that side there was an ancient tree with a preservation order that hung over the edge of our paddock. When your time was up he would flat bolt you along the edge and duck his head under the branch which would then hit you hard in the stomach and you slid off his back. So you were winded and sitting in boggy ground surrounded by shit crying.

I haven't had any really bad ones thankfully! My most dramatic was when I was about 8/9 and I was having a joint lesson with my friend. My pony suddenly decided he wanted to catch up with my friends pony in front, and as he sped forward a gust of wind came up behind and he bucked me off - he then proceeded to jump over me, slightly grazing my leg with his hoof as he went. I was absolutely fine but apparently it looked like he had trampled me from the side of the arena!
My most painful was a couple of years ago when I was riding a friends ex racer, he spun round in canter because he objected to me grabbing some of his mane. He's 16.3 and I'm short and I landed flat on my back and completely winded myself and was bruised for a few days.
I'm lucky I've never had any worse falls than that, though I've bruised my ego many a time!

I've come off a few times, but nothing as bad as some of these. I did get dragged once, though fortunately not far. Lost quite a bit of skin from shoulders, elbows and knees. I was wearing jeans and the dye from the ripped jeans got into the grazes on my knees so I had blue tinged kneecaps for about 20 years.

Why is this in "The Tack Room". I came here because I was curious what terrible falls happen while sewing, or maybe 'fall' is a term of art amongst seamstresses.

... slopes off

A fall from a partly broken 5yo TB who reared right up, slipped and came down on top me, trapping my left leg in a stone/ horse sandwich.
Still have the scars 25 years later.
One I can’t remember, cantered through the start flags, next memory is being helped back to my trailer by someone and them saying “ is this your trailer” ( mid week SJ and had gone on my own) .
A last minute refusal where my very reliable mare had a pain memory and ducked out of a xc last second, only there was a tree where she ducked out which took me out totally.

Broke my nose as a child out hunting when my pony tripped over a tree root. Had to carry on as we were in the middle of nowhere, bleeding all over the place!
Different pony tipped me off on a cross country course and I somehow managed to land in a 2ft wide water trough! Hurt a bit but not as much as my pride

Well... I don't remember it.

We rode out in the morning... I vaguely remember getting up in the hospital and using the loo in the middle of the night. There was a lovely night nurse that chatted with me about horses.

Got to go home the day after. Remember not being allowed to participate in PE.

(I was a about 12 when that happened.)

No, 10, actually. Before my 11th birthday.

Age 12, riding my daft Arab, freshly clipped, windy day.
I was trying to open a 5 bar gate (as my sister refused to jump the tiny sleeper next to it on her pony, so I was a bit cross).
Horse decided that I wanted him to jump the gate, from a standstill, whilst I was leaning over trying to undo the latch.
To be fair to him, he cleared the gate. I came out the side door, resulting in a fractured collarbone, a fracture vertebra and a concussion.

Riding my friends recently broken in horse when I was 18. He took off and started bucking furiously trying to get me off. It was like being on a bucking bronco, I managed about 2 or 3 minutes clingingon and tryingto calm him (which felt like a life time) before I was thrown off. Had severe concussion and had to go to A&E. Haven't been back on a horse since!

Similar to @lastqueenofscotland race horses are the thing.

Remember riding a 2yo that was so spooky he was scared of his own shadow. Was told to show him the gates, all I remember was a massive blow to my head then black. When I came to my senses the trainer legged me back up and I continued to ride the said bastard (vaguely remembering he reared but not badly enough for me to fall again). Then blank till I got home. He was a sweet animal, just not when ridden.

Second was in a race, reins snapped and after the finish line (still came 4th) there was no brave soul to take the remaining rein and stop my animal so he eventually came to a very sudden halt/span around and that was it, I was off from about half-canter to ground full stop. I had another race in 30mins and did ride (how on earth they let me when I couldn't even remember my own name is still a mystery). I came way back though, and was well and truly done.

My fave is still my current mount who reared b4 a race and I slid off (gently, mind you) and landed on my bum. Hopped back on, raced (came 3rd) and next day was taken to hospital with severe headache and 2 cracked vertebrae. The most uneventful falls are the worst.

@lastqueenofscotland

I used to be a work rider on a racing yard in a braver life so have some horrors...

Two standouts were we had this horrid mare who people used to draw straws to ride no one would have her as a regular mount. Just meant to be working upsides, and she crosses her jaw and fucks off ive ridden g1 5 furlong sprinters and have never gone that fast. She’s going so quick she trips over her own feet and we both go flying and she rolls over me. I remember the bosses teenage daughter telling me about a week later she thought i was dead. Amazingly just a few cracked ribs.

Another racehorse pissed off with me on a road and slipped on a drain cover, hitting tarmac at that speed was pretty foul.

I don’t learn and still pretty much only ride ex racers/full TBs now.... I think they are marvellous animals but their top speed just makes falls that bit more dramatic.

First one sounds like my worst. On the gallops on a young event horse who was a being a prat. He caught the back of his boot and we went down in a heap at speed. Cracked ribs and a dislocated shoulder.

Also not really a fall but I broke my hand while riding. Pony slipped and I jammed my hand down on his neck... Only I had two fingers on one side and two on the other. 🤢

My DD is the rider, she regularly tests out the arena surface with her face, but twice she’s really scared me.

She set up a jump course in the arena, all was going great, put the jumps up to 1m 10. Jumped a few fine, going down the middle, DD looking to her next jump, pony then jumped out, over the arena fence and hedge into the field next to the school. DD brained herself on a low branch of a over hanging tree and went off the side, into a prickly hedge. Scratched to death, but mostly uninjured. The field was a lot lower than the school so pony stumbled and stacked it. Fortunately was also uninjured.

2nd time - XC - dirty stop at a ditch - dislocated shoulder

I fell off a mounting block trying to climb up into the barn loft to get a box of rugs down and broke 2 fingers and chipped a bone in my elbow.

This reminded me when I tripped in the stables and required medical care plus months of physio afterwards.

But that's not quite the fall you're talking about.

Check out the ‘shiteventersunite’ Facebook group, it’s not just for eventers, lots of people documenting their less than finer moments on (and coming off) their horses. It’s kept light hearted and its truly hilarious at times `(if you don’t mind some choice language!) 😂 I often don’t think accident sharing does anyone’s confidence any good, but there it’s looked at with a healthy level of humour..