Tell him the Department of Defense has “redundancy is a proof against failure” as a motto, practically. Lots of people check and check and check again. Someone at the DoD told me this. 
4 Likes
Reminds me of my OTTB gelding doing the same thing. But I managed to stay on (with him balancing on his knees and chin), and me throwing rein to him. Unfortunately, when he managed to struggle back up, his head and neck shot up first - smack into my nose. Ouch!
3 Likes
Thanks everyone for your replies! There are definitely some good stories here! I hope everyone is doing well! 
2 Likes
Heh, don’t feel too bad. I managed to fall off twice in about 3 minutes at a halt.
I was horseless at the time but taking a group lesson with my friends, riding the trainer’s 3 year old. I had been riding for 20 years, so knew my way around a horse. Or so I thought. Before the lesson started, trainer went to make a phone call, I proceeded to mount up on this 16.3 lovely girl (I was 5’3" then; before I shrunk an inch with age). I was in the center of the ring, adjusting my leathers, busy talking with my friends who were mounted and walking on the rail. Next thing I know I’m on the ground.
It was a HUGE buck from the stand still while I was leaning down fiddling. I climbed back on, didn’t manage to get my right foot into stirrup, another HUGE buck. Back on the ground.
Trainer arrived just as I was getting up. I told her what happened. She was like “OMGosh, she hasn’t been out of her stall for a week. Go get a lunge line.” (The farm’s pastures were closed that week in preparation for Horse Trials). I proceeded to lunge her, basically 5 minutes of non-stop running and bucking. Big sun-fishing types of bucks. I got back on and had a wonderful ride.
I went to work the next day, rather sore, and a non-horsey office mate, Ken, asked what happened. I explained. The day after that, I arrived at the office with the great news that I had bought a horse. He looked at me and asked “Not that one who dumped you. Twice. From a halt.” I happily affirmed the good news. To this day, 30 years later, Ken thinks that all horse people are nuts.
P.S. That mare was my heart horse. Feisty as the day is long and more full of life than any horse I’ve ever known. But we had a bond from the very beginning. Her name was Fiesta and her nickname on especially “enthusiastic” days was Feisty Fiesta. Tragically, I lost her as a 5 year old from complications after colic surgery. (Broke her right femur coming out of anesthesia). I can still cry thinking of her and all the years we didn’t have together.
9 Likes
Sorry, guys. Didn’t mean to throw a wet blanket on a very funny thread.
2 Likes
No worries! Sorry for you loss, she sounded like a very special mare. 
2 Likes
Three embarassing ones come to mind.
-
This was years ago and I was learning to canter off the lunge on a super obedient mare. I was given the task to canter a circle, but my trainer was giving me many instructions and I was concentrating on them super hard, so my gaze was fixated on the trainer. That little mare obediently went where my gaze told her to…so we cantered straight at the trainer and I felt unable to stop - that is, until the mare did a sliding stop and I shamefully tumbled over her ears to the ground. Trainer was super amused.
-
The main outdoor was reserved for a clinic, so I was told to ride my lesson mare in a small pasture nearby. It didn’t have a mounting block, obviously, and I’m short, so I got a small bench from the barn and tried mounting from it. If only I had put it on level ground… As soon as I attempted to mount, the bench slid away and I landed on my back, bruising my left leg in the process. But I didn’t give up and tried to repeat the process…putting the bench back in the same spot! Cue me hitting the ground once again, getting a gash on my right leg this time… To add insult to injury, several teenagers had gathered along the fenceline and were openly laughing at my unfortunes. Horrible.
-
On a lovely winter trail ride with another boarder, we found a huge, snowy field. Our horses (both young geldings) were behaving perfectly, the day was lovely and we were taking silly selfies, totally relaxed and without a care in the world. Suddenly, some deer leaped out of the forest… The horses spun and we were ar the mercy of gravity. Gravity was NOT merciful that day, and we had an 8 mile walk of shame back home through extremely deep snow. The horses were okay, our pride was not.
9 Likes
Was in a riding lesson and as my very baaad, but oh so cute!, little ponymule inched sideways away from the mounting block i stretched…and he leaned out further and my split in the air became a SPLAT! Right on my butt. Twas so indelicate…and Coach had a good chuckle.
5 Likes
Countless. But one of my funniest was when I was going for a short trail ride on my property without a bra. Due to that, when I asked for a little trot, I was posting slowly and gently when on the “up”, my horse stepped aside of a suddenly spooky log, and I came “down” into nothing. Honestly, he gave me the funniest look as I lay on the ground next to him. 
1 Like
The only problem with that is Rule #1: I am always at fault. If I didn’t check it, and it slipped, that would have been my fault for not checking. There is no winning at this.
Rebecca
1 Like
When I bought my first cutter, I bought him from a man who was getting out of horses, so I got everything with the horse- saddle, bridle, grooming equipment, blankets, sheets, the whole nine yards. The saddle was a great quality cutting saddle, but not my favorite. It did fit the horse and was almost new, so I used it without cleaning it or conditioning it, as it didn’t need it.
We were at the trainers to work cattle, getting ready for a show. The trainer had a tiny indoor, something like 42’ X 60’, just big enough for a group of us to work cattle or goats one at a time, and lope circles. We would cut across the short 42’ wall.
I went into the herd, pushed out a goat, put my hand down in the middle of the pen and the goat took my horse to my right. We stopped hard with the goat along the right wall, and I heard a very audible “POP” as we stopped, but thought nothing of it.
We moved to the left with the goat, the horse stopped with the goat. The next thing I knew I was looking up from the dirt at my horse’s belly, the saddle hanging by the rear cinch underneath the horse, with the goat standing in front of the horse and me. My horse looked down at me like “What do I do now??? I am holding this goat, and you are not supposed to be on the ground. One of us has an issue here, and it is not me!”
The latigo had ripped all the way through when I had stopped hard on the right side. That was what the “POP” was.
The horse proved to be an absolute saint, and has always been one of my all time favorites. I lost him in 2008 to a strangulating lipoma, and when I am really, really lucky he visits me in my dreams.
13 Likes
When I was just a pup I had a full leg cast, upper thigh through ankle (plaster), as the doctor wanted to try complete immobilization before resorting to knee surgery. It was not an injury but a very longstanding knee issue. The cast was a form of hell for my very active child self.
When I couldn’t take it anymore I got on my pony, casted leg sticking out, and brilliantly attempted to ride through a small gap in a fence not wide enough for my stiff casted leg to clear. The predictable result was my hitting the ground in an uncontrolled manner.
The cast cracked, and at the ensuing appointment with the doctor he asked me how I broke the cast. My honest 8-9 year old self told him exactly what had happened and his response counts as the only time I’ve ever been shouted at by a physician. “YOU DID WHAT???”.
Immobilization didn’t work anyway and he ended up having to treat it surgically .
5 Likes
The horses never think anything is their fault.
Why do people say that so often to horse people? 
7 Likes
So sorry for your loss.
Wishing you a long, peaceful night with dreams of your special boy. 
5 Likes
Oh, this reminds me of another one involving a mounting block. Last year I was starting my horse back yet again after an injury, so we were walking about 15 minutes under saddle. He’s generally very level-headed, and we’d already done one ride in the ring, so I took him into the grass ring as it was a beautiful sunny day. Lined him up at the mounting block and had my left leg up about to put it in the stirrup, so I’m standing like a stork, when the horses in the paddock next door came running up to the fence beside us. My horse didn’t do anything bad, just took one single step sideways away from the mounting block and the approaching horses…which pulled me right over from my precarious position, and took the mounting block with us. I landed smack on the mounting block and my poor horse, clearly being attacked by both me and the mounting block, decided this was too much and took off, galloping around the grass field (remember, we’re just supposed to be walking under saddle 
).
He ended up stepping on the reins and breaking them, then wouldn’t let me catch him (because I had just “attacked” him), then when I finally caught him he thought I might attack again so pulled backwards and hauled me off my feet so I faceplanted onto the grass. I finally convinced him I was not going to eat him, put a spare pair of reins on the bridle, and decided to actually do our walk in the sand ring and try the grass ring another day!
6 Likes
I think my stupidest was trying to mount bareback and launching myself into the dirt on the other side 
. I had the horse standing in a small irrigation ditch (8-12 inches deep). Apparently I didn’t adjust my effort for that.
Horse just stared at me like I was daft.
Susan
8 Likes
My stupid/embarrassing fall, 2 years ago on a hunter pace. My 24 yo ottb decided for some reason to leave out a stride and really over jump a really small jump (as in probably lower than BN height jump) and launching me right out of the tack. As I was sailing over his shoulder I thought “well crap, I can’t save this” landed on my back and held onto the reins. He kept going for several strides and then figured he should stop…can’t imagine my weight hanging on his mouth while dragging me was pleasant on his end! 
I did get back on and jumped it again and I don’t what he saw but he did the same thing again. At least this time I was prepared for it! He had been jumping fine before that and even after that. Clearly something about that jump he was wary of.
4 Likes
It was the day before a show, and horse and I were schooling in the show arena. We were cantering a 20-meter circle at C. This was at a show facility with one main ring, and a person cut me off mid circle. I was trying to quickly bring my horse back down to trot and accidentally brought him very close to the rail. Horse did not appreciate where we were in relation to the five-inch dressage fence and did not want to jump it, so he abruptly stopped. I don’t know why, but it put me off balance so much that I came off and he just stood there. Luckily, the footing was very soft, so I was fine, but it was pretty funny.
3 Likes
Hand grazing my new OTTB, I was tired of standing. I thought, I’ll stand on this tree stump here and swing a leg over and sit instead of stand. I forgot my horse was new and that I wasn’t 12 years old anymore. With no warning, I swing a leg over, scare crap out of horse. Horse bolts. I am wearing shorts and horse had been doused with Ultra Shield X, so he is slick. The lead rope is snapped on the bottom of the halter, so I can’t steer, though I am trying to steer him anyway from running through the tomato patch as I am sliding off his right side. I landed on my tailbone on hard baked ground and got a concussion from the jolt. Although, he spooked when I fell and that set him off the tomato patch path.
2 Likes
