Most embarrassing fall :-(

[AppendixQHLover]

[QUOTE=coloredhorse;8259776]

The owner of the host barn had a pet chicken who had been roosting on the rail of the arena near the mounting block, causing no issues whatsoever. As I was mounting, the chicken hopped down to the ground. My mare, understandably, darted away from the scary chicken. Assuming she’d continue to flee in that direction, I desperately flung my right leg over as fast and hard as I could.

My mare darted left.

I basically threw myself over the horse and landed in an ungainly heap in front of the well-known and well-liked clinician.[/QUOTE]

Those attack chickens…horse eating I tell you.

[NurseHorsey]

I was in a lesson and the lesson pony I was riding wasn’t picking up the canter on the way to start our course, so I promptly gave him a whack on the hindquarters and subsequently realized he was pooping. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, this particular pony did not ever pick up the canter if he was doing his, uh, business - it was just his thing. Fine, whatever - we moved on, did our course.

The lesson finishes and me and the other 3 riders are making our way out of the ring to go on a cool down hack; I’m all relaxed, in post-lesson mode, just moseying along. As we exit through the gate, pony throws a sneaky buck out of nowhere and I just come right off and plop right down on my butt, landing on a rock in the driveway. :eek: Pony is standing smugly off to the side while I clamber to my feet, rubbing my butt, while my trainer and friends are howling.

I don’t care what anyone says - that pony threw that buck in as a revenge for me cropping him. He was well-known for his sneaky pony naughtiness.

[yaya]

I played polo in college, and my parents had come up for a visit. They came with me to a practice to see what I had been doing. I went for an offside backhand shot, clocked the poor horse in the head with the mallet, so she ducked her head and spun, and off I went.

Of course the only time in my (short) polo career that I came off had to be in front of my parents!

[thatmoody]

Getting on the horse, foot slipped off the mounting block and I slid FAST under his belly, ending up staring at his gut while praying he didn’t move. I crawled out the other side and tried again, this time successfully, but darn did my back hurt from hitting the block on the way down.

[norcalammie]

Hacked a friend’s pony for her daughter when they were out of town. Of course the girth did not fit so the saddle was a bit loose on her. Rode and all was well. Went to hop off and forgot I was on a pony versus my 17 hand horse. When my feet hit the ground, they buckled and I ended up on my butt. Pony just looked at me. No one saw it but I still felt strange that I came off the pony.

[Come_Shine]

I fell off the judge’s stand and knocked myself out cold. Lol. That was pretty embarrassing!

[OveroHunter]

Oh, I have a ton!

Probably most embarrassing was when I was at a tiny podunk backyard horse show and was feeling like I was the “supreme hunter rider” riding the “supreme hunter horse” and just above this stupid show… Let’s just say the arena was tiny, the jumps were extra spooky, and my saint of a “supreme hunter horse” was not digging this one jump… I’m sitting up there is a half seat, practically winking at the judge as I flawlessly cantered by, just to have my horse do a dirty stop and send me head first over his shoulder. Of course, there was photographic evidence… https://scontent-dfw1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/148413_10100145580148060_1749576_n.jpg?oh=04c063459709d00feac133b58bb90116&oe=5636ACDC

[HenryisBlaisin]

I don’t even know where to start.

The one my former trainer never let me live down was during a lesson in the summer. Another trainer at the barn made a Dunkin’ Donuts run and had just brought my trainer a huge iced coffee, which she set on the win of one of the jumps. We were working on getting the horse to adjust on his approach as he had been allowed to rush, so she asked me to do this particular line canter in, trot out. Poor horse was totally confuzzled by this turn of events and, still cantering, slammed on the brakes right in front of the trot fence (totally my fault, I should have just let him canter on at some point), tossing me over his shoulder. I flipped and landed on my back across the jump, knocking the while thing over. Yup, the same jump with the brand-new coffee on the wing. I was fine, the coffee didn’t survive.

I fell off my blind mare while walking in the ring with a few of my 4-H kids. Another horse surprised her and she spun, and…boom! Of course one of the kids was wearing a GoPro. They set it to music…the whole Club got it in a text message. (They did ask me first, and it WAS pretty funny)

Not an actual fall, but was showing a pony at an in-barn show. The farm was all dressed up, flowers for the jumps, etc. It must have been an eq class as I was an adult at the time. Again, totally my fault. Pony sees some tasty-looking vegetation decorating one of the jumps and boom! On go the brakes. The only reason I didn’t go off was because the jump was too high for the pony to put his head down over the other side. I managed to slither back into the saddle while pony contentedly munched the plants. We did finish the class, and everyone got a good laugh. I got a ribbon because there were only six in the class, and i still have it, to remind me of how funny it was.

[wcporter]

I was jumping a course at a show one summer when I was about 16 or 17, and my horse stopped at the fence. I fell off and somehow landed on/hit the winged standard, which then flipped over, leaving me on the ground, trapped underneath. The grounds crew had to come out into the ring and physically lift it off of me so I could get up. I think I nearly died of embarrassment.

Last summer, I was riding my horse bareback in the woods with friends. He’s huge (18h draft cross) and my legs barely make it half way around his barrel. We went up a steep hill and he decided it would be an awesome idea to start crow hopping/cantering. I slid right off and fell on my ass. I was laughing before I even hit the ground. He looked horrified. Like, oops!! my bad.

[PaintPony]

[QUOTE=GrayTbred;8259620]
Years ago, a too-enthusiastic leg-up sent me right over the horse’s back and plop to the ground on the other side. Since then, I’ve been a mounting-block girl.[/QUOTE]

That happened to me during a show. My horse stopped at a jump and I fell off. The ring gate guy offered to give me a leg up and accidentally threw me right off the other side! :winkgrin:

There was another time at a HT where I fell and landed in a big juicy pile of crap. I didn’t have another pair of pants so I had to go the rest of the day with a big brown stain on my butt! A friend of mine nearly peed her pants laughing at me.

[PushersBlue]

Was taking lessons at a pretty busy barn where, often times, a horse was handed off to the next person going into the next group lesson. Everything is going fine, doing warm up, circling, until everything starts that slow but definite slide to the left and yep they entire shebang is going around. I think I started to laugh as it happened and knew it was too far to right it again and just bailed. Saintly horse just rolled his eyes.

Permanent rule #1: Don’t care who tacked them up, check your own girth.

Not really a fall, but had another lesson horse at the walk, just chatting on a cool down when a bird flew out of a bush. Instead of spooking, he just folded up and set down, so I just uh - stepped off. Way to run from the scary. lol

[demidq]

I was asked to take a bunch of junior pony clubbers on their first hack at D Camp. The only equine available was a gorgeous 14hh arab cross belonging to a friend’s daughter. I was being , you know, all parental and reassuring to the little ones as we walked around the edge of a hayfield single file, paying attention and keeping a proper distance etc etc when pony had a snack attack and stopped dead with head down at a particularly lush bit of alfalfa. Off I came (pony had no neck to speak of) in front of all those beginners and had to give a good explanation of what I did wrong. Mortifying.

[Sandy_M]

Many years ago. Going cross-country - Preliminary if IIRC - always had a slight ditch-phobia. This is the ONE time I FORGOT to tie crownpiece of bridle to first braid. Galloping up to BIG Trakhener fence- staring at treetop - “do not look into ditch, do not look into ditch…” - dropped him in front of ditch/fence, of course. Off I went over his shoulder. He was honest, but not push-button. So, having not tied bridle on - I took it with me. Okay. No different than many other falls many other people have taken at refusals…but as people ran toward fence calling, “loose horse, loose horse,” my 16.3 hand Appy looked down his nose at me contemptuously, strolled to the side of the path and started GRAZING. You could just see him saying, “When are you going to learn to RIDE???” I jumped up, shoved the bridle back on him as he stood there in boredom with a hind leg cocked, reapproached the fence, jumped it (!!!), and proceeded on to finish the course - without time faults!! Damn! He wasn’t spectacularly fast, but he had a BIG stride. I LOVED that horse. (He died in 1999, almost 28 years old).

[roseymare]

In college. Wanted to try for sale saddle. It was a Prix (showing my age here LOL) Any who I was in sweats. Popped on the Rosey mare. Rosey saw a flake of hay. Stopped on a dime as her QH ancestors were known to do. I slid down her neck over her head landing on my feet still holding the reins between my knees. I was laughing so hard I fell the rest of the way down. Of course therebwere plenty of folks watching…

[TWH_Girl]

Of course!! I took a Currier & Ives snowy trail ride after a nice December snowfall. All was going well until horsey spooked and booked it back to the barn. I fell off-PLOP!! - onto the concrete slab by the outside hitching post, while said horse was anxiously wandering around the barn parking lot…a friend saw my riderless horse fly by the barn and came to see where I was. I.couldn’t get up (broken transverse process) and laid in the cold wet snowbank for 20 minutes while I waited for the ambulance. Friend called hubby who was just about to cut down our Christmas tree and told him to meet me at the ER. Yeah, no more snowy trail rides for this girl! :lol:

Said horse was my first ever, was a lovely, sweet boy who’s since passed, but he could be a handful. I eventually did get back to trail rides with him after feeling like jello in the arena for about 6 weeks.

[Halt_Near_X]

I never even got on.

Tried to hop on mare bareback. Using a mounting block. Swung my right leg up. Left leg slipped off the block. Ended up sitting in the dirt while my mare refused to look at me. At all. She was so freaking embarrassed for us both.

[2DogsFarm]

My Dressage Blooper:
First.Test.Ever.
I am convinced I do not need a reader. I can ace this test from memory :yes:
And I did… at least the first half.
Then I went totally blank, meandered around for what seemed an eternity.
Then rode past the judge who leaned over to tell me “Wrong test.”
Ya think?

Hunter Blooper (rider):
Warming up for Medals class in casual dress (T-shirt over breeches/boots). Horse is perfect, so I put on my pristine white ratcatcher & huntcoat & return to the warmup for one last fence.
Horse stops, depositing me in wet sand.
Which can not totally be brushed off formerly pristine shirt or navy coat.
So we ride our Medals course looking like that Peanuts character in the cloud of dust.

Hunter Blooper(horse):
Warmup ring is decorated for the holidays with evergreen trees.
As we wait for our turn to school, my TB casually starts nibbling on one.
Tree starts to tilt, horse spazzes out & does his Ninja Attack Pose, snorting loudly.
We amuse all others in the ring.

[paulosey]

Oh yeah…take that said my horse!

I came off during a team penning exhibition with about 50 spectators. We had just about penned our 3 calves in 30 seconds and they went in and out of the pen, with me in hot pursuit to turn them back on my 16.2 hh Appy dressage horse. I gave him a quick jab with the spurs and then all hell broke loose. He yanked the reins through my hands hard enough to burn them (rope reins) while he put his head between his knees and bucked like the Calgary Stampede. I stayed on for 4 seconds and my last memory was of blue sky. I landed hard and had trouble sitting down for weeks. I guess Rum was more than a little put out with my inconsiderate use of spurs!

[rascalpony]

Wasn’t even on my pony for this one.

Decided to hop on my old pony for some fun. She puts up with almost everything, even if she thinks I’m stupid. I opted to hop on bareback, just because I was too lazy to saddle her. Mistake number one! This pony is a smartass. I usually mount on the stone wall I have, but hey - an empty bucket was closer. So I overturned it and used it as a mounting block. Demon Pony is only about 14 hands, so I can clamber on from that height and she doesn’t complain…too much.

First try. Demon Pony knows I am attempting to ride bareback. She crowds me and almost pushes me off of the bucket. This is her favorite trick

Second try. She stands just far enough away that, as I’m attempting to mount, my weight moves forward and the bucket topples over. I slide down her side and land on my a$$, laughing like a hyena the entire way. If anyone from the neighboring house had seen me (and they may have) they would have been laughing their little white butts off. My horse just looked at me as if to say “You idiot, why do I have to be in charge of making sure you don’t do stupid things?” I know she thought it was hilarious though.

Very red-faced, I got back on. That pony has a way of keeping me humble! She’s the kind of pony every kid needs.

[Ceylon_Star]

I wasn’t even ON a horse for my most embarrassing fall!

I was lunging for a vaulting competition, and as I was jogging the horse into the ring, she clipped my heel with her hoof, I fell, rolled rear-over-teakettle TWICE, and as I was getting back on my feet, I tripped our coach and sent her tumbling too… The judge just about fell off her chair laughing at us!