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The tack room

Discuss horse riding and ownership on our Horse forum.

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Original poster

when did you last fall off?

79 replies

MitchyInge · 23/02/2009 15:34

and doesn't it hurt when you are older and bigger!

I just made a small bit of history by falling off a huge friesian, the slowest and laziest horse in the world , flicked him wrongly with a schooling whip and he flipped me right over his head

sympathy please, as always I landed on my head! HEADACHE

OP posts:

alicecrail · 06/04/2009 08:59

nebaku I totally agree that bidding up a horse that is only going for meat seems in-humane, but many people do not see horses as a living thing but as a commodity, the same as an old car that they will do their best to get as much as possible for. The sad thing is there are many "meat men" who do their job properly, but like many professions, there are a few that give them a bad name.
There are a couple of horses that i have had the "pleasure" of riding in the past that should have gone for meat, but the stupid owners have decided to breed from them instead. Unfortunately it is a battle that i don't think will ever be won to be honest. Because often they have bred the horse themselves from something unsuitable and then handled it incorrectly so by the time it has come into yards to be trained/sold/prepped the bad/dangerous habits are well established and so often are useless for the purpose in which they are intended so they breed from it and so the vicious cycle continues and the market is flooded by dangerous/unsound/feral horses.

I hope your pregnancy is going well by the way

Nekabu · 06/04/2009 22:24

alicecrail, it was the taking it to a sale and bidding it up in order to get the most dosh, no matter to whom it went (you can say you want it to go for meat all you like but once it's in the ring, it goes to the highest bidder and bidding up is only likely to price out the meat man) that got me. I know there are some horses that sadly are unsaleable for mental or physical reasons and their destiny is likely to involve a can at some stage (or breeding lots of little versions of themselves, to keep the cans full!) but I still think directly being taken to the abbatoir is far less stressful than going through a sale and then the whole travel to slaughter bit. Personally I would prefer pts at home to be the option in such cases though.

The bump is getting bigger and sitting trot has had to be knocked on the head and I'm needing (rather inelegant!) help getting off now as I don't want to squish the bump when dismounting!

ohnelly · 15/09/2009 21:12

Last time I fell off was when I got bucked off a horse that had been lame and was coming back into work. Then on the way home I crashed my car and wrote it off! Not a very good day was it?? but luckily not hurt by either

skihorse · 16/09/2009 22:08

5 years ago and as a grown-up there's nobody to pick you up, pop you in the car and bring you a lemonade in bed.

Unable to put my bra on and having only one arm for 2 weeks has made me cling on like buggery since!

skihorse · 16/09/2009 22:09

Famous last words obviously. There is a rule at my yard - anyone who hits the deck has to buy cakes - which at least is nice.

Original poster

MitchyInge · 17/09/2009 08:55

there is one pony I just don't seem to be able to stay on, the one I fell off 3 times in about 20 minutes one day

momentary loss of stirrup + slight spook = me eating sand and pony doing victory lap, grrrr

but that was a few weeks ago, I cried (but pretended my eyes were just watery because I bashed my nose, but not sure anyone was convinced )

I hope my days of falling off are effectively over, doesn't there come a point where you are experienced enough to stay on?

OP posts:

skihorse · 17/09/2009 09:01

Well as a child we were told "7 bad falls" to make you a rider - I suppose it depends what you classify as bad. I say I've not fallen off in 5 years, but that might well be due to the fact that after the last fall I was too scared to do anything more than a slow trot for a year because my confidence was shot. I don't think the Queen falls off... I mean if you were a horse, would you dare buck the queen off? Even poor Zara Philips comes a cropper on a monthly basis.

Original poster

MitchyInge · 17/09/2009 09:19

does she still ride? I am chuckling at the idea of a horse daring to unseat HM!

OP posts:

Original poster

MitchyInge · 17/09/2009 09:20

or is it HRH?

OP posts:

skihorse · 17/09/2009 09:25

I would have thought simply "She who must be obeyed" - I bet she can give a pretty sturdy "withering look" haha!

She does still ride, albeit very slowly with minions running alongside her carrying mattresses. She tends to ride these very solid, calm, trained to within an inch of their lives ex-police/cavalry horses.

I just think bloody good on her and I hope I've still got the nerve if I'm around at that age!

Original poster

MitchyInge · 17/09/2009 09:34

hahaha! the mattresses are a GREAT idea

I am definitely going to do that when I'm rich!

OP posts:

Butkin · 17/09/2009 10:43

HM rides but tends to be on one of her Highlands these days.

Haven't fallen off for a while but since I've been married so within last 9 years.

However out hunting you are only one jump away from disaster!

horseymum · 17/09/2009 21:06

very nearly fell off lovely cob at work whilst jumping a few weeks ago, only stayed on due to very long mane- but said horse has now been hogged so not so sure of my chances next time!!

Original poster

MitchyInge · 17/09/2009 23:17

Blimey, I thought one of the women on my course was going to come a severe cropper tonight when her horse bolted and galloped round and round the school with her clinging round his neck and the cheeky boy even popped a fence on his third lap!

I don't know how she stayed on in that position, I thought she was going to slip underneath him and die

It was a bit self-inflicted though because she kept shouting at him and her legs were flailing about madly, neither of which are particularly calming signals are they?

OP posts:

Southwestwhippet · 20/09/2009 11:10

I don't think there is anything necessarily wrong with the 'unridable' ones being PTS, unfortunately horses are a very expensive hobby and few people can afford a pasture ornament. Unless you can keep the horse yourself, you can never guarantee some gung-ho teenager or NH "expert" isn't going to think they can be the ones to turn him around in 5 years time. Horse I tried to back threw me off and fractured my spine, found out later I was the 3rd mug to try and back him, he had a history of 'flipping out' and was very dangerous. Absolutely lovely horse but desperately nervous of people and had been messed up so consistently that you could get him just so far with the backing process then he'd just turn in a second and become a truly dangerous horse. I requested the owners do the kindest thing and have him PTS as they couldn't afford to keep him. I think they sold him as a project though . I hope someone managed to sort his issues out but I fear he just went on to hurt more and more other people and no doubt suffer for it himself.

However I did find the tone of the post about having horses PTS a bit cavalier, clearly this horse is dangerous but a living breathing animal none the less and very few horses are bad because they are bad - most have been messed up by us humans at some point.

On a lighter note, last time I fell off was doing a 2' SJ round, riding a little boy's pony (also a riding school pony). Pony charge 90MPH at a fence, stopped in front of it and whipped round. I fell straight over the shoulder and landed on the filler. As the resident riding school instructor I was utterly mortified as this happened in front of my boss, some of my clients, my friends, the little boy and his mother. Oh the SHAME

Original poster

MitchyInge · 20/09/2009 11:16

southwestwhippet - did you make a good recovery from your spinal injury? I've just heard that my friend has broken her back, it's not that long since she recovered from fracturing her pelvis

all very sobering stuff

OP posts:

Southwestwhippet · 20/09/2009 12:26

thanks, yes I made a full recovery, I was lucky in that it was a spinal crush in the lower spine and due to the fact that I worked with horses, the muscles supporting the injury were very strong. I had 5 days in hospital then went home to parents' to convalese. I was back teaching ridng within about 2 weeks although only if my mother could drive me as I wasn't insured to drive due to restricted movement! I rode again after 3 weeks but only for about 5 mins to check I still could. Was back mucking out/riding etc after around 3months although was rather sore!

I hope your friend is as lucky. Tell her from me to take it easy - at the time 3 months feels like forever but when you look back it is nothing in the grand scheme of your riding life. [hugs] to her though - very painful injury to go through.

Original poster

MitchyInge · 20/09/2009 12:31

it sounds awful - good to hear that you recovered so well though

were you wearing a body protector at the time, or do you wear one now? I don't like the feel of them but am wondering if it might be wise

OP posts:

Southwestwhippet · 20/09/2009 12:37

Wasn't wearing a body protector

Still don't wear one apart from for XC.

I don't like the way they restrict you from moving with the horse. Stupid really as would probably have saved my back if I had worn one.

skihorse · 21/09/2009 12:20

I'm so glad in the UK that at least we wear hats. When living in Belgium I met one woman who'd had a fractured skull and another who'd broken her back and spent 10 years in a wheelchair before having ground-breaking surgery.

Both still ride without hats. People used to take the piss out of me for wearing a hat!

whippet Yep, I still sport the scar on my hand from when I did a demo at Pony Club for the younger members on "how to jump" and I spectacularly made contact with the fence...

Southwestwhippet · 21/09/2009 12:55

"QUOTE" whippet Yep, I still sport the scar on my hand from when I did a demo at Pony Club for the younger members on "how to jump" and I spectacularly made contact with the fence...

ROFL - love it, that makes me feel so much better Ponies are little bastards for picking the perfect moment to embarass you! I have a fancy scar on my wrist from my unexpected flying dismount.

Pixel · 21/09/2009 16:41

Well, I fell off today. First time in about 20 years and now I'm feeling sore!
Although technically I was thrown (sounds more glam) as dhorse fell and I went down with him. Stupid thing was only trotting! Do all youngsters do this or is it just mine?

Do I have to send you all cakes?

Original poster

MitchyInge · 22/09/2009 08:36

well it'd be appreciated

hope you're not too badly bruised, nor dhorse!

OP posts:

skihorse · 22/09/2009 08:58

Yes please Pixel! I hope you're feeling OK this morning and not too sore.

Pixel · 22/09/2009 17:20

Righto, just post all your addresses here and I'll get the cakes in the post .

Dhorse is fine judging by the way he careered down the field this morning and screeched to a halt. Oh he can stay on his feet when he wants to .
I thought I'd got away with taking all the skin off my arm. I haven't even mentioned to dh that I'd hit the deck as I knew he'd fuss. This morning though, I've seized up all over, ouch! Well the ground is very hard atm and it was a long way down!

Am now wondering what are the best sort of safety stirrup irons to buy? (preferably not hundreds of £s). I've never got round to changing my old ordinary ones as I've never had a problem but I had my saferider boots on, which are quite chunky due to the steel toe-cap, and one got jammed as dhorse got up. Luckily my foot came out of my boot before he'd gone too far as they are very old and the elastic is loose, phew!

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