What is your worst Horsey Accident????

[rockin r]

Mine was when I was 14 yo and competeing in a youth rodeo in Ft. Laud. Fl....My sturdy steed was a 7 yo 15.5hh paint stallion...I had had him for sometime....VERY gentle stallion, could take him anywhere with any mare. Well I was doing a hair-pin pick up, and they guy I was picking up "kicked" him in the flanks , well there I and my steed went...0 to 1000 mph!!!! We went thru the entry gate, into the holding area, thru that, into the trailer parking area, thru, up, over and in to a few trailers and trucks, and the last thing I remember seeing was a brick wall

: that surrounded the rodeo arena...sigh...Woke up 2 days later in the hospital..severe concusion, broken ribs, callapsed lung and my horse was gone :no: ...My dad "gave" him to a paint farm for breeding...(my dad did not trust Montego) Montego never did like my dad, and was very protective of me..I just think Montego did not like men. He was very much a ladies horse..

: That was the only full sized stallion I ever owned, the rest were geldings.....

 

[wcr]

I just had my worst acident and am still recuperating. I got dumped off my kid's 5 yo paint mare and had multiple rib fractures, ambulance ride, hospitalized and pretty much trashed my whole left side. I have 5 different areas of pain in my left ribs and have done far more damage than the xrays showed. I have been off work for 5 weeks and probably can't work until around Xmas.

 

[wade3504]

I've always been pretty lucky but a friend of mine was not. This happened before I met her and with the horse that she gave me but long after he was fully trained. She decided to go on a trail ride one day with friends. The horse was not well trained at all and recently off the Standardbrred track. She wore no hard hat. At one point her horse spooked bad and she came off and got her foot stuck in the stirrup hanging off and the horse took off down the road. It was a dirt road but still hard packed. She says she remembers her head hitting the road 3 times and then nothing. She was in the hospital for quite some time. Her friends told her that her head hit quite a few more times than 3 but thankfully the horse stopped before he hit the main road.

Another who had a horse that I once owned had the horse rear up and go over backwards. She had done it once before with a trainer. They were on a trail but even with a hard hat she hit her head and was airlifted out to the hospitlal and she was out of it for weeks. She talked to people and stuff but never remembered seeing them let alone talking to them.

Now I have come off plenty of times but never with any serious injuries.

Just magining your "ride" I don't think I would want to ever ride again if I had been you. I'm a big chicken.

Amanda

 

[Jill]

I've been lucky. The only time I've actually been hurt when it relates to horses was when I had an accidental dismount off my Arab x QH gelding in a riding ring where the sand was wet and I (stupidly) wasn't wearing a riding helmet. Wet sand feels about like concrete. H was there with me and when I went to talk (to say my head hurt), my speech was slurred which scared me. So sat in the wet sand and started crying. I'd taught Sky to do this "kiss trick" and he had stopped and came to stand over me after I fell and his eyes were huge and really looked concerned. He gave me a "kiss" about 3x in a row without me asking. I know he was "sorry" (but it was my fault -- back then I couldn't ride worth a darn).

 

[JO~*]

Nothing to bad here.

I guess the worst was either the time a baling wire got hung up in my horses back feet at a run and I got bucked off and landed upsidedown right on my head

: , or when my horse tripped at a full run and she flipped over as I was thrown from the saddle landing face down in the dirt about 20 feet in front of her.

 

[minimule]

The 2 worst crashes I ever had:

1) We had 2 Indian ponies and a QH mare. We also had one of those old-fashioned hay racks. The ones with the LONG tines in the back that racked the hay over. My older brothers got this idea to pull it with the horses and one could ride on the rack. Well, none of the horses were trained to pull, the rack was squeaky, my Dad had lots of junk to manuver over. I rode Papoose, the crazy Indian gelding, Clayton was on Molly, the QH, and Clifton sat on the rack. The first 3 steps went good then all h#)) broke loose. Both horses took off running at full steam. The rack bounced over a RR tie. Clifton came off the seat, the rack dropped down and ran over him. I fell off on the hard packed dirt and Clayton managed to hang on long enough to get them stopped. No, none of us had helmets. We never even knew about them back then. Clifton escaped with just a bad scratch on his back from a tine and a wheel. Could have ripped him open. I just had a headache for a while. We never did anything like that again.

2) My hubby and I (then fiance) decided to go for a ride with his Mom. She rode my wonderful mare Babe and Dave and I doubled on T.C.. TC was a lunatic. If you got on him and it was a rodeo to start with, you had a wonderful ride ahead of you. If you got on and all was calm, stay alert and watch for the signals. Well, he was too calm. We rode for a couple of hours and were about 5 miles from home. TC suddenly stopped in his tracks and wouldn't move. Dave tried to prod him on, NOPE! His ears came back, I told Dave to watch out, TC reared up and came all the way over. Dave managed to tuck/roll out of the way but I was squished into the ground. Dave got away with a bruised kidney and some road rash. It took me 15 mins to finally get my breath back. I had several bruised ribs but that was it. He managed to chase TC down and he rode him home. They brought the truck back for me.

Yes, when I was young, my Guardian Angel worked a LOT of overtime!

:

 

[ForMyACDs]

My dressage mare had a bit of a bratty streak. She could be fine for a while and then suddenly when you were least expecting it she'd attempt to dump you just to prove a point. If she did manage to dump you then she was wonderful for the remainder of the ride. When she was good we won everything.....but BOY could she be bad!

One day we were only going to do a very light workout. I got on and as soon as I got settled in the saddle she bolted bucking like a bronc. I made it around the arena twice with her bucking the whole way and then landed hard on my back along my upper shoulders. My body folded in half and my knees hit the ground on either side of my head. The wind was knocked out of me so badly that the only sound I was making was a long moan as the air excaped from me. My mare walked over and nudged me. Knowing her and knowing that I HAD to get back on I climbed to my knees and crawled to the mounting block until I could stand. I got back on and the SAME thing! Except, this time I couldnt' use my left hand at all (found out later my shoulder was dislocated). I stayed on (bairly) until the bucking was done and she was just bolting/zig-zagging around the arena......then suddenly she wasn't under me anymore and I landed hard on my left side). Oh boy did I hurt. BUT.......if I didn't get back on with this mare then she was going to remember she could get the best of me so after about 8 minutes I climbed back on. This time she only ran full-tilt around the arena until she was tired and realized I wasn't going to give up she came to a nice stop, gave a heavy sigh and looked back. We did a little light trotting around the arena a little flexing and then I rode up to the barn where I had to have someone else help me get out of the saddle. She never did anything quite that extreme again.......fortunately.

Tho' she did flip me over her head at a show once. There was also one "blast" at a show. We were doing our warmup around the dressage arena and she started up some nasty bucking/spinning/rearing. I realized she was intent on some serious damage I bailed out. I managed to land on my feet with the reins in my hands and I was so proud of myself, but she then bolted planting me face-first in the mud. I grabbed her, hopped back on, the judge rang the bell and we rode probably the best test we'd ever ridden.....go figure.

 

[Warpony]

I've been lucky, or blessed or something because I have not had many accidents (knock on wood).

My worst accident was SOOO stupid...

I was working a 3/4 clydesdale 1/4 paint (possibly my favorite horse EVER) named Trooper. This boy was an angel but also a big baby. I was out trail riding on him and we came to a ditch we had crossed a hundred times but this time it was muddy and had water in it. He did NOT want to go over it OR through it. So I jumped off of him, jumped over it myself and gave a pull on the reins so he would follow me. He very bravely gathered himself up, and hopped across. Of course he tried to land on the only sure footing he could see.... me.

He landed one of his huge platter feet right on my left foot. Thankfully I was standing in mud, or it would have been worse, but it still broke a bone or two... you know the long bones that go along the top of your foot? Yeah, snapped like twigs.

I hadn't thought ahead when I jumped off of him, I figured i could climb back up on this huge behemoth with no trouble, but with a broken foot... not happening. I looked around for a log or fence or anything but there was nothing... so I had to walk back to the barn, almost 2 miles, on a broken foot.

Now HERE is where the stupidity REALLY kicks in......

My ex husband had been trying to get me to stop working horses and get a job in a shop somewhere so i could earn more money. I was terrified if he knew what happened he would use it as an excuse to make me stop working with the horses. By the time I got home my foot was so swollen that I could not get the boot off. I couldn't go to the doctor because then he would know.... I couldn't cut the boot off because then he would know.

So I filled a bucked with ice water and iced the foot IN THE BOOT until the swelling went down enough to get the boot off. I dried the boot in the oven *blush* then I wrapped the foot really tight and kept my socks on for several weeks so he wouldn't notice.

For years after that if I stepped wrong it would pop and hurt like the dickens for a week or two. Finally after my ex left I went to a doctor about it and they took an xray. Instead of filling in with bone the break had filled in with cartilage. The doctor said we could go in and rebreak it, scrape off all the cartilage and pin it... but my crappy insurance didn't want to cover it so i just left it alone. I think the cartilage finally started to calcify or something because I haven't had a problem with it for years now.

 

[PaintedPromiseRanch]

i can't say that i have had a "worst" accident, i have been very very lucky. but here is my most interesting:

back when we first started riding, i was on our old gelding Applejack riding with my oldest daughter on her horse and a friend on her horse. we went to a field near our house that was divided in sections with big dirt berms (sp?). we were using one section like it was an arena, practicing barrels etc. with abandoned shopping carts and a broken stroller someone had dumped. we were about ready to go home and my daughter said mom, try the spurs, they will make Jack go faster. well, i didn't really want to go faster, so i said no, but she kept begging me, so finally i said ok, i will do it one time around. so i put the spurs on and he sure did go faster! being the wise woman i am, i thought to myself since we are going faster i had better turn a little sooner and a little tighter, or we are going to hit that berm... well, i guess we were going a lot more faster than i thought we were, and i should have turned a lot sooner and a lot tighter, because we DID hit that berm. poor Jack sunk into the dirt up to his knees, made one lunge trying to pull out but couldn't, and flipped a** over teakettle, landing upside down with all four legs straight up in the air, me on one side of him with one leg underneath, and the saddle twisted to the other side. (don't ask me how, i sure wish i had a video!) well let me tell you that was some great horse, he tried ONCE to roll AWAY from me to get up, and couldn't, so he just layed there with all 4 legs in the air until the other two came to help us. he never once tried to roll TOWARDS me, and did not kick or thrash trying to get up - it was as if he KNEW that he could hurt me really bad or kill me, so he just held still. and it was a good five minutes, i know because i felt every second of it! and we all know that upside down is NOT how a horse wants to be! of all the horses i have owned i believe there is only one other that would have done that, the rest would have kept trying to get up and eventually hurt me badly if not killed me. as for myself i was terrified that i had caused him to break his legs and that's why he couldn't get up, i couldn't see much from my position and i couldn't move because i had 1200 pounds on my leg. when my daughter and our friend got to us, they tried once to help him roll away from me, so for the second time my leg felt like a pie crust under a 1200 pound rolling pin - AAARRRGGGHHHH!!! well my daughter realized the problem was that he could not roll over with the saddle, as the horn was braced against the ground. so i suggested that they unbuckle everything they could reach and then see if he could get up without the saddle, and thank God that worked. i am still amazed that we both did not suffer broken leg(s) at the least, and if he had not been the good horse he was, i could have easily suffered fractured hip(s), rib(s), and gotten kicked in the head... we both walked home, he with "road rash" (abrasions) on his chest and nose, and me with multiple and huge bruises especially on my leg, but we were very lucky!!!

since then i have been kicked twice by another horse while riding my own, once got a goose egg on my shin so big and bad that it took weeks of physical therapy and electrical stimulation to break it down, and the second time through the stirrup and my boot my foot was broken. was trying to pony a balky horse across a creek and my horse got ticked off and reared, fell over backwards but luckily i fell to the side and he did not land on me.

my youngest has been kicked in the face by a horse 3 different times... the first at age 6 was the worst, broke her nose, split her forehead open and she looked like a raccoon for weeks. her dad (we are divorced) threatened to come over and shoot the horse, but i told him you'd better talk to your daughter first, and she told him it was her fault, she broke the rules, they had been told a million times if they were told once, do NOT go in the pen without mom, and do NOT go behind the horses... well they were out there chasing them around, and he just did a little "shoo-fly" kick in annoyance. the doctor said she could have easily been killed, if he had seriously kicked it would have broken her little neck... luckily the other two times were not serious at all... (when i heard that my other daughter flipped her quad while riding with dad, i just had to tell them to tell him that i was going to come over and shoot that quad!!)

my middle got bucked off and went flying, had a helmet on but did a perfect ONE-point landing on her CHIN... i stood there watching from too far away to do anything, and all i could think was great, fractured jaw for sure... she did have gravel stuck in chin and still has the scars, but no other injuries. :aktion033:

and my oldest was ponying a 2-year-old she was training for a friend, doing very well, except her horse was a little annoyed at being bumped into from time to time... they went down into a wash, all fine, started back up the other side and the youngster decided she was NOT going up the hill, stopped dead and jerked my daughter backwards over the saddle and sliding down her own horse's rump, he thought it was the other horse and it was just the last straw and he kicked out, hitting her in the knee. both horses then took off into the open desert, out of sight in seconds, and my daughter laying on the ground clutching her leg... some of the folks with us took off after the horses and one was a nurse who got to my daughter almost as fast as i did... and all my daughter could say was mom PLEASE go get my horse, you know he won't let anyone else catch him (he was abused before and did not trust men at all, and i was riding his best horse buddy). so hard as it was to leave her laying in the dirt, i did as she asked and went after her horse. (there was a nurse with her remember, and she did not appear to be hurt badly - but it was still hard to do what she asked even though i KNEW she was right about her horse). they had easily caught the youngster but no luck with Smoke until he spotted my mare and I and then he came to us. neither horse was hurt and after an ER visit my daughter was cleared of injury, bruising only, i think what hurt her the worst was when she got the bill! :new_shocked:

so my middle is the only one in our family that has not been put in the ER by a horse... even my husband got his finger broke, holding a halter of a horse that flipped out... but that's yet another story... and i could go on forever if i told you about the accidents i have seen or that happened to friends, but the long and the short of it is, even with all the trauma and injury, there are many, many more times that we ride without incident and we love it so much!

:

: i wouldn't have my life any other way

:

:

 

[Warpony]

(when i heard that my other daughter flipped her quad while riding with dad, i just had to tell them to tell him that i was going to come over and shoot that quad!!)

:lol: :lol:

my ex rides dirtbikes, and he once told me if I let my horses hurt our daughter he would sue me. I said, "You might want to rethink that because you let her ride motorcycles and lawsuits can go both ways." That shut him down really quick.

 

[CKC]

Here are two: I don't know how to dismount. I for some reason stay glued in the saddle.

I was riding a mare in a round pen that had rocks in it throughout. She slipped and all I remember was slow motion going down and hitting the back of my head/neck on a rock or so I was told. I lost my memory. I do remember being put in an ambulance and fighting them all the way while getting in as I didn't know who they were, didn't know who my parents were. It was very scary. Got to the hospital and didn't have one single bone broken, but still had very little memory. They let me go and told my parents to keep an eye on me. They took me for a presciption. I remember telling them I was going to be sick. I got sick and would you believe the memory came back right then. I was given a neckbrace. This happened the week before my senior year. I had to wear a neckbrace for the first few weeks of my senior year. It's funny now, but was embarrassing then.

A few years later I had been riding a horse that I bought that was green. We finished riding and I got ready to get off when he reared and flipped over on me. The ambulance was called. When they came to check my pulse I heard my wrist snap. So I knew that was broken, but had no idea what else was wrong except, my entire right side hurt. Found out at the hospital that my entire leg was facing the wrong way, but wasn't broken. Very lucky. A week went by and I was still in a great deal of pain. Went to the dr. they found that I had fractured the pubic bone. They were unable to see it on the original x-rays because of the swelling.

To this day I don't have a great deal of long term memory. I've had a MRI and they say that the memory area of the brain appears fine. I really don't remember much about my childhood.

I was wearing a helmet, but this was so long ago and it didn't have a harness so it really didn't do any good as it didn't stay on. To this day I wear a helmet (with harness) no matter how long I'm riding.

Earlier this year I bought a yearling QH gelding. I've dreamed of owning a colt from this geldings sire. So I will be sending him off for training over the years. Hopefully, my nerve will get better as riding is so relaxing and such great exercise. Now that I'm older it gets harder and harder to get on. Riding is something that I treasure and love dearly so the thought of losing my nerve really is hard. I got to fulfill another one of my dreams a few years ago and rode a horse on the beach. I loved it and really wasn't scared. Now that I have one child and one on the way you start thinking more about what happens if I get hurt. Plus, Mom and Dad don't pay the insurance anymore.

Kim

 

[Marty]

I've had two that were pretty bad.

1. I bought a three year old 17 hand high thoroughbred stallion off the track to turn into a performance horse.

We were doing quite well for about 40 days or so at home in my arena and one day he just came

completely unglued for no apparent reason. He reared up then added some sort of twist to that and

went into quite an outrage and I ended up airborne, flying clean over the fence out of the ring.

Landed in the driveway which was hardpan like concrete. I was busted up and broken in quite a

few places. I did end up showing him quite succesfully that following year but never really could

trust him and we never did form any kind of bond so he was easy to sell and went to a breeding farm.

2. I was riding Sonny in the warm up ring at a show in Fort Myers warming him up for his riding classes. That dude is always as high as a kite at shows and needs to be warmed up a lot. There were

about 40 horses in there, it was packed, people riding their horses every which way in every direction at every gait.

Then there was this dumb cluck who was standing in the middle of the ring lunging his horse but he was moving around back and forth. So Sonny and I rode by at the wrong minute. The guy took his whip and threw it back over his shoulder hitting The Son man and myself with it and Sonny went into hysterics. He bolted off into a dead run and where do you

think my reins were? Yup, I had thrown my reins away on him because we were just hacking around slowly at a jog on a very loose rein so that gave Sonny the green light to go ape sh*t at a dead run bucking like a maniac. By the time I got ahold of him I was off balance and hit his mouth way too hard knocking him off balance and we slammed right into a power pole by the gate. The side of his face was all torn to heck and one eye was bleeding and wrecked and my leg was caught up on the fence and nearly was torn off my body.

That was one heck of a good ride. Yea we caused a bit of a scene...........

3. Sonny (again) and I were at the Tampa fairgrounds at a Quarter Horse show and it was his first time

in the indoor riding ring. He didn't like ceiling fans. Yea, we made another scene in the warm up ring,

seems we always made a scene in the warm up rings, and blood was involved, but we did ok at that show after all. Good cause

I was getting ready to knock him a good one all the way back to Sarastota..

4. Can you take any more of Sonny? I can't barely......But another time we were at a show and he was tied to the trailer while I was in the ring riding another horse and as I went past where the trailer was I could see rocking back and forth. I signaled to Jerry to get to the trailer but he didn't get what I was trying to show him. Well, needless to say that Sonny got himself loose and went over to see another horse that was tied on someone else's trailer and decided to EAT him. That was bad! That horse of mine is BAD! But Alas, I let him life and there he is out my window here trying to stomp squirels.

I could go on and on and on with this post for a long time........

 

[wade3504]

I was thinkinig that most of these stories were going to be pretty scary, and yours were too Marty but with the stomping squirrels and Sonny I had to smile :bgrin .

Amanda

 

[miniapp]

I have a couple that I can think of..

1. Was at an Appaloosa show on my stallion in the warmup pen.. (I, like Marty, have found these types of places the MOST scary place to ride because of all the idiots that seem to be in there with me.. LOL!!

:

: ) and had him over in the corner adjusting his bridle.. (he was young and I wanted a "safer" place to do the adjusting) I had been watching a BIG lady on an english horse charge around the arena, narrowly missing other riders and horses as she motored around the pen. I remember looking over my shoulder at her and thinking that she needed to put her hair up.. (she had curly hair that was sticking out all over her helmet), then turned around to step up on the horse. I had just started to swing my leg over him when.. "WHAM" she barreled into us full tilt.. knocked my poor horse to his knees and left me hanging onto his left side. My horse regained his footing and whirled around to escape the threat and took off, with me hanging onto the side of him. Two of my trainer friends saw what happened and immediately rode up on either side of me to try to stop my horse. One of my friends finally grabbed his bridle and pulled him over, but not before my face and left side had hit the fence numerous times and I had blacked out for a minute. My poor stallion was TERRIFIED and I looked like I had gone three rounds with Evander Holyfield... and, do you know that ##!!** lady just rode out of the warmup pen like nothing had happened and proceeded to show her horse!!!! I was VERY lucky that I was not seriously injured, but it took me FOREVER for my horse to trust horses coming up on him in the show pen... really damaged his mind... :no:

2. Involved a 2 year old stallion that had come into the barn with a BIG bitting problem... (and yes, I have read, at length, the post on the other forum regarding a biting horse...

: ) let's just say that I DO NOT TOLERATE any biting whatsoever, for whatever reason. At 2 they ARE getting more mature and need to learn that this is not acceptable behaviour and will be immediately corrected. I was lucky, all I got were some very badly bruised ribs, but he could have torn my ribs out of my body...

: He was showing all the signs of extreme aggression at a very early age... hence my recommendation to his owners to geld him. He went on to be a VERY successful gelding..

Anyway, very interesting stories and glad that we are still all here to tell them... :bgrin :lol:

Suzy Hooper

Show Horses by Suzy

Fresno, CA

 

[lovinarabs]

Mine pales in comparison, but when I was 15 I was racing along a field road and realized that there was a sharp 45 turn ahead. Without slowing down we barrelled into the turn. Now the track was muddy and my trusty steed flipped completely on his side. All 4 feet went to the left and he landed on his side, skidding. I don't remember the next part much, but I can still distinctly see that green grass rushing up to meet me. The next thing I remembered was being half way home and thinking, "I have to get back on or he will try to buck me off from now on." Crazy thoughts go through your head when you have a conccusion. But I don't remember if I managed to get on or not. I vaguely remember tieing him to the trailer at home and then according to my mom, I walked in the house, walked up to her and said, "I need my mom, I think I broke my shoulder." So off to the ER we go and yep, concussion and broken shoulder. Totally my fault!

 

[Flyin G Farm]

I unfortunately have had 2 very bad accidents...reading everyone else's stories are bringing back some scary memories!

My first one was 6 1/2 years ago...my hubby and I had gone with a friend out trail riding. Our horses were still fairly green but were doing incredibly well the whole time...until we got in the driveway back to the barn :no: The mare I had was a little @$^@^&&...she was a big fan of waiting until her rider was relaxing and then she'd strike...of course I found this out after that day. Well I relaxed...still riding but not paying as much attention as I should have been. Well she dumped me...and when I fell I was in kind of a sitting position. I hit my ankle just right and next thing I knew I was looking at the bottom of my foot...on the outside of my leg. I had a compound fracture and it basically snapped my ankle off...it was attached (luckily) by the big tendon in the back and a small flap of skin which is the only reason they let me keep my foot. Fortunately I was in shock immediately...didn't even cry until about 2 hours later at the hospital when they told me I'd have to have surgery. I didn't see the damage until 2 weeks later when we took the bandages off (after 2 surgeries) and I can tell you I almost passed out. Not only did my ankle almost completely come off...about an inch of the bone in my leg shattered...so a couple of months later I had to have a bone graft surgery to help it along because it wasn't growing on its own. So I now have probably 10 screws and a very long metal plate from my leg down through my ankle...VERY little movement...and daily pain...but I'm very luck to still have my foot!

My second one was equally as bad...I had been determined I was going to ride again

: We raised AQHAs...bred for roping, barrel racing, they were HOT heads. I was riding our stallion and things were going fine...but he decided he wanted to be with the other horse we were riding with...and I didn't want to go there...so we had a little spat...and I won...at least I thought I did! I thought we were through our "issue"...he reared up and I pulled on the reins just enough that he lost his balance and flipped over backwards landing on me. I don't think I passed out...although I could have...I layed there for a few minutes then got up and hobbled into the house...thinking I was fine...WRONG! By the next morning I couldn't move...and had horrible stomach pain. So we found out that I had broken several vertibrae (although not the main ones...the little wing ones...not sure what they're called off hand). Well after that...I just started getting sicker and sicker...with more stomach pain...so a few months later they finally decided to do surgery (after I finally got it through the doctor's heads that I couldn't keep ANY food down)...and they found my colon had flipped and was pinched off...and the horse had hit me so hard (and they figured the saddle horn squished everything in my pelvis bone) that my colon was fusing with different parts of my body in 3 places (NOT GOOD). So we got that all fixed. Then after 2 other surgeries we found it had damaged my gall bladder...and the duct in my pancreas was severed in half...so while that accident happened in 2002...it was 2005 before I finally had my 3rd surgery to fix things...I'm hoping they finally found everything.

So...after the last accident I got on 1 more horse...much to my husband's dismay (although I had him walk right next to me)...and after a few minutes I decided I was done riding for good...now I just have a pasture full of minis

:

Tracy

 

[iluvwalkers]

SEP.15TH I WAS IN A BAD ACCIDENT. MOST OF YOU HAVE PROBABLY ALREADY READ ABOUT IT BUT HERE IT IS ...SHORTENED. I WAS MOUNTING AND THE HORSE STARTED TO WALK AND BEFORE I COULD GET ALL THE WAY ON AND GATHER MY REINS, HE WENT UNDER A TREE A BRANCH KNOCKED ME BACKWARD AND SLAPPED HIM. THE REST IS HISTORY. WE WERE OFF LIKE A BOLT OF LIGHTENING! I WENT OFF THE BACK OF HIM ON TO PAVEMENT.

: THANK GOODNESS I HAD A HELMET ON, I BROKE LOTS OF VERTIBRAE AND CRUSHED MY PELVIS. LATER THEY FOUND BROKEN RIBS BUT THEY WERE THE LEAST OF MY WORRIES. I AM RECOVERING STILL AND HOPE TO RIDE AGAIN SOMEDAY. I TRY TO VISUALIZE MYSELF ON A HORSE AND I AM NOT SURE HOW I FEEL ABOUT. I HAVE HAD MANY ACCIDENTS BUT THIS IS THE WORSE AND MENTALLY IT HAS TAKEN IT'S TOLE ALSO. MY 3 YR OLD IS HORSE CRAZY AND IT SCARES ME TO THINK ABOUT HER RIDING :no: . THAT'S MY STORY

, NIKKI

 

[runamuk]

My scariest was not too damaging but could have been...........

I was working as a groom for a small breeder and was doing the normal routine turning horses out. Well there was one gelding "Handsome" who was a pushy jerk on a good day and a vile beast on a bad one

: as I went to lead him out the back of the barn ...I still dont know what he did exactly....but I was slammed into the doorjamb spun around and fell to the ground.................................did I mention I was almost 9 months pregnant :new_shocked: .....I called my employer that evening and told her I needed a leave of absence as Handsome had slammed me into the wall and that being bashed around was probably NOT in the best interest of my pregnancy.

I was slammed into a feed bin...you know the hayrack with tub below wall hanging ones......by a weanling ...knocked me out....I had a lovely imprint of the halter buckle on my cheek and temple, a concussion, and a busted up shoulder........this happened when working as a groom for a huge horse farm.

The only time I was ever injured with one of my OWN horses was the time I hopped bareback on my gelding with a pulled hamstring

:

: bad idea....we took off up a hill and he spotted a branch and instead of going around he decided to jump...........when I came to at the bottom of the hill I had busted up my other shoulder

:

: and he was looking at me wondering why I was at the bottom of the hill

:

after years of being bumped and bashed my back is shot and I have no desire to ride ..........and strangely most of my injuries happened when I was on the ground not riding

:

:

 

[sedeh]

These stories bring back toooo many memories!

I had had a few "minor" injuries, mostly involving my big TB dressage horse.....fractured toe, fractured foot, fractured sacrum and tail bone....you get the drift. He was just too much horse for me and I kept getting hurt. Drove my confidence into the dirt. Friends said......get rid of him before he kills you. So I sold him to a trainer that did 3-day eventing with him and they did great. I moved to Oregon and got into trail riding and picked much calmer, nicer horses! I had a new mustang gelding named Packer and had been riding him for 3 months....he was great, laid back and nothing seemed to bother him. Kathi(wcr) and I were going on a trail ride up in the mountains about 2 1/2 hour travel time from home. Kathi was on the faster horse and was ahead of me.....said she needed to trot to get away from a bee. As soon as I hit the "spot" where she was at(I was trotting too) Packer started bucking his head off and I knew we had stirred up a yellowjacket nest. I was basically unseated with the first buck but somehow managed to stay on and tried to get him to move forward out of the bees. I got a couple of canter strides and thought whew, made it, when he gave a couple of stinking little crow-hops and off I came. I knew I was coming off but wasn't too worried because it was fairly level ground......and I've been dumped lots in my life! Came down wrong on my right foot and felt everything give way......Kathi came back and I told her I had an unstable ankle fracture(we were both ER nurses at the time). She tried to get me into the shade but everytime I lifted my head I'd pass out. I did have a helmet on....and I had thunked my head pretty good too. I also busted my tailbone. Kathi had to leave me there and ride for help. I don't even know how long it took.....I kept thinking "I can't take this anymore" and then "well, that's stupid....what else are you going to do?". Kathi came across a group of young men getting ready to go skinny dipping in a near-by pond(luckily they hadn't gotten undressed yet :bgrin ) and they took her back to her rig and then helped her get me. I'll never forget that 1/4 mile trip in the back of the truck over this rutted track......every bump brought a curse word out of my mouth and I kept apologizing to the young man helping me......he said "that's what the words are for" such a sweetie. It was probably 4 hours or more before we got to the hospital. I did have a nasty ankle fracture...one bone was "cornflakes" per the ortho. What I didn't know and wasn't caught before 8 weeks out was that I had also broken my heel bone severely. Sooooooo, it took 4 surgeries and 2 1/2 years out of my life before I was able to return to work. I did get back up on a horse(my old Joe) a few times but would have panic attacks and just didn't "want to" anymore......that's why I got into mini's!! I'm just happy I can walk without crutches again and have a foot still. Sorry it got so long.....

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Where do you want to start??

With the workhorse that bit me when I was three, then there were the myriad riding school animals that bit, kicked dumped, jumped on and in one case to add injury to insult , rolled on, me.

I guess it came from not having enough money to pay for lessons ands thus being willing to get on absolutely ANYTHING if it meant a free ride.

The owners idea of a laugh was to send me to get the biggest horse in the stables (17.3hh) at a time when I stood 4ft 3 ins.

I was allowed to ride him round to the arena!!

I fell off, fell out of mangers, into water troughs (DEEP water troughs) hung round his neck, God alone knows (and believe me God was watching!!) what I went through.

Then I got promoted to an Anglo Arab ex- Polo Pony with Homicidal tendencies.

By the time I had saved enough to buy my first pony (a New Forest Gelding that ended up being shot by his new owner- a story in itself) I was a trained Animal Psychiatrist with superglue backside and a slight suicidal attitude when choosing my mounts- after all they had so much to live up to.

Little wonder I ended up buying an Arab mare who I worshipped and whose first action was to knock me cold falling on me after she had broken her halter and lost her footing.

She then proceed to crack my pelvis, injure my lower back to the point where nowadays I use crutches (for other reasons as well, I have to say) and move and permanently damage my neck vertebra.

God, I loved that mare.

Best horse I ever owned.

She also saved my life in the same accident that messed up my neck- but I would have forgiven her anyway.

My Arab Pony mare broke my nose (second time that happened to me) ran me into trees, bolted five times round the perimeter of the common, which was a measure two miles (one time pace makered by someone in a Mini and clocked at 35mph- not bad for a 13.2hh.

She was my first love and paved the way for all the crazy horses that followed.

This is why I do not ride now- after all that, what could I ride that would interest me, yet not kill me???

Just you wait til I get this new cart put together!!!!!