I got bucked off… while exercising one of the Riding For Disabled horses. Sailed right over his head, into a duck pond. It gets better – I was with a fellow volunteer, an anglican minister. As I’m flying through the air, the realization hit me half-way, and I ended up exclaiming “Fuuuuuuuuuuu…n” Oh, fun, yes!
Oh dear, I also fell while dismounting, in front of a group lesson. I’m not sure what happened, I think my foot got caught in the stirrup somehow.
I once tried out a new saddle pad. Either it didn’t fit or I didn’t tighten the girth enough because as I started to get on I felt the saddle slip. I thought “no big deal, I’ll just get on quickly and adjust when I’m on.” Nope. The saddle kept slipping, slowly, very very slowly, and by this point it was too late to get off so I just clung to the saddle as it slipped very very slowly. Finally, my back touched the mounting block, so I let go and rolled down the three steps. Quickly jumped up and fixed the saddle. No one saw it but my horse and the look on his face was priceless. I embarrassed myself in front of my horse, and he knew it.
[QUOTE=beowulf;8260813]
Mother was mortified.[/QUOTE]
Our poor mothers. 35 years after the fact, mine has expressed regret for letting me ride baby racehorses that wouldn’t load right into the trailer for my trainer :lol:
Standing stationary at the rail chatting with a friend. Horse had a good shake and I slid off! :yes:
Here is another one. I was in a show jumping a course with crossrails on a very green pony my friend owned. She launched the first jump in a line (halfway through the course) like it was a 3ft oxer and I was jumped out of the tack. I would have been able to save myself, I was already pushing back into the saddle, but she screetched to a halt and I kept going over her head. It was against the indoor wall and the heel of my foot hit the wall and made a really loud bang. No one but the judge saw the fall but they all thought I hit my head and my horse was whisked off and I was basically held captive on the ground while they tried to assess my possible concussion. It took forever to convince everyone that just my boot hit I was 100% fine and wanted to get back on thank you very much lol. I do appreciate the concern but it made a silly little fall pretty embaressing.
Years ago I took some friends from work for a short trail ride. I just took my reliable horse out with a halter and lead rope, bareback (but with a helmet) because I didn’t have enough saddles and bridles.
A thorn bush got stuck in his tail, he took off at a gallop (ex racehorse) and I emergency dismounted, he stopped immediately. I jumped up to grab my reins and my yoga/sweat type pants and underwear were down around my ankles (stuck on another thorny plant) and I was mooning everyone.
I have another funny one - there are too many to count at this point.
I was trail riding bareback one evening after work. We were walking down a part of the trail that had tall grass on either side of it when I noticed some tiny little quails crossing the path. (SO cute!) Stopped my horse to let them pass, and as I am leaning over to get a better look, the mama bird comes bursting out of the bushes like some sea monster rising from the deep. :eek:
She caught me mid-sentence and it went something like “OMG look how cuteeeeeaaaaaaaaah”. :lol: It scared the crap out of both of us, and my horse quickly spun away from the evil mama bird. As I was bareback, I didn’t stand a chance and ended up on my butt with the reins still in my hand.
There was nothing for me to mount off of so I ended up having to shamefully walk back to the barn. Stupid overprotective bird - It’s not like I was going to squash her damn babies and eat them! 
Oh man so many stories! A couple of years ago I had been rehabbing my boy after a minor foot injury. Our first day back in the saddle was smack dab in the middle of horse camp (where I was a counselor). All the children oohed and ahhed over my “beautiful and majestic” horse.
As we got down to the far end of the arena my confidence (and let’s face it, my arrogance) was at an all time high! Right until we cleared the trees and my horse got his first look at the big purple day care building that was having roofing work done.
There was no moment of tension, just an immediate spin to the left. I somehow managed to somersault in the air and land directly on my butt with my legs criss cross applesauce in front of me.
I looked first at my horse ( who was now totally content with the purple building) and then I saw the wide eye stares of the gaggle of small children who had been watching.
I just had to laugh. I raised my arms and called out “Ta da!” Thankfully, I traumatized no children.
To this day my horse hates roofers and the noise they make.
[QUOTE=LawsofMurph;8261271]
I just had to laugh. I raised my arms and called out “Ta da!” Thankfully, I traumatized no children.
To this day my horse hates roofers and the noise they make.[/QUOTE]
so the moral of the story is: stick the landing and make it look like you planned it. :lol:
(and i nearly went flying due to evil roofers once, too. :mad:)
Walking out my sweet pony mare back in March…walking back towards the barn on the buckle, feet out of the stirrups…chatting with my BO who was riding her horse next to us. Pony girl pricks her ears forward, giving attention to the black duck sunning himself on the fencepost. This pony is nearly bombproof. Hot headed, marish, yes, but not much really phases her in the world. So when she shows anticipation or interest I make it into a learning thing. I ask her to approach the duck and she quickly loses interest. I was rubbing on her withers and jokingly said “Boo!” not loud, not scary, just “boo” and at that exact moment the duck spread it’s wings out full span and pony pants went into a 360 degree spin, flinging me off in the process. I didn’t have time to even think about what was happening before my back hit a nice sized rock. Hurt like heck for quite some time…
Moral of the story? Don’t play mean jokes on your horse.
Ahh, my latest one was two weeks ago doing no stirrups on my boy. He has a bouncy trot and I lost my balance, tried to stay on by holding on with my legs instead of my hands. Apparently, he thought I gave him the canter cue. He also has a very bouncy canter… I pretty much sailed off his side and smack landed in the dirt. That was pretty embarrassing.
I think my most embarrassing has to be when I was mounting bareback on my old horse, launched myself too much off the block and just kind of flew over her onto the other side… :lol:
But my favorite is one of the first few times I rode Fancy. Laid on her back, rested my head on her bum. She didn’t expect it, went into a crow hopping fit. I stuck the landing!
Not me, but my mom, long before I was born. My parents live next to my mom’s older brother. Mom was riding along the road, her dog following. Dog went into the field and popped back out over an embankment, spooking the horse. Horse bolts and mom hauls the reins and says WHOA and horse screeches to a stop. Mom flips over horse’s head, losing both boots in the stirrups, and lands directly in front of the horse, holding the reins. Of course her brother was watching and complimented her fancy dismount, laughing his head off!
I’ve got one and a nearly one.
Nearly one: trotting along the road verge on a bareback pad that was really grippy. Youngish horse. Group of cyclists coming around the corner towards us on the opposite side of the road. Horse took one look, eyes bugged out and he did a complete spin - by which time cyclists had passed and he was looking: “Whaaaat? where they go???”. I am laughing hard enough to fall off and all the cyclists stopped to check I was all right. They were pretty impressed a horse could move that fast. As they took off again I heard them all chatting: “Did you see that? Wow that was fast. How’d she stay on?”.
Next time far more embarassing.
At a hunt a few years ago. I was a little late so just getting ready to get on as huntsman and master and the whole field came by. Huntsman stops to ask if I would whip later that day. I continue to get on my very touchy, girthy horse while answering. You can see where this is going can’t you? My seat barely touched the saddle before he began bucking. He was a very good bucker. This time I didn’t stand a chance! Landed on the ground in front of the whole field. I STILL get reminded of that!
Waaaayyyyyyyyyy back when I was trying new saddles. This is back in the 80’s. Couldn’t put stirrups on it, no problem. I was finishing my junior years so I could easily do it.
Cantered around the corner and just slid off. Poof. I was incredulous, horse was incredulous, trainer yelled “Well, not that one” (and I went back to no stirrup work).
My current horse regularly teaches me humility. Whether I get dumped for a stupid reason or he comes off the trailer like a fire breathing dragon.
I wasn’t riding him at this one show. He had been on stall rest for months and they had a 4-h show at the farm. I was like perfect he can walk around and experience the energy. He was doing awesome - actually fantastic. UNTIL someone threw a chair in the back of the truck. He jumped out of his skin and flipped. I took him down road and calmed him down.
In hindsight I should have gone back to the barn a different way but NO I had to walk past the stupid truck again to see if he handled it. He did kind of. He flipped out got all snorty and prancing like he was in the Kentucky Derby. There was a woman coming up behind us talking on her phone. I told her go around because he is feeling extra special. Lots of warning she got. Guess she didn’t believe me…he crow hopped and squealed. She moved. I put him in the round pen and let him get it out of his system.
Yeah. He makes life fun.
When my guy was new, took him out for a trail ride with another girl from the barn and coming home, he seemed relaxed, I turned to talk to the girl behind me, my hand on his rump, and there was when HE saw a big grated culvert over a ditch with <gasp> WATER running through it and this was the first time I experienced his incredicle maneuver called “wanna see if I can just step out from under you? Huh? Wanna see that?” and he did - dropped his right shoulder (I was turned to left looking behind me, almost balanced for a dismount) and side stepped right away from me, and I landed on the yellow line on my butt. By the time I got home, I had a fanny pack shaped bruise on my upper butt cheeks, and boy did the girls at the farm think that was the greatest! They could see the zipper on the bruise from the fanny pack! ANd, I was outed, because in the fannyt pack bruise was a square the shape of a pack of cigarrets, so yeah, there was alot of shaming on that one. One woman came up with her camera and begged, BEGGED me, I tell you, to let her have a snapshot for the bulletin board, it was the best bruise in a long while. I said absolutely not, no way. The were really dissapointed not to get a pic of that fanny pack bruise. So tht was my worst, most embarrassing fall.
Years ago, I had gotten on a small pony because the pony’s rider was having difficulty getting the pony to canter. Said pony’s favorite speed was stop so getting her to do more than a slow jog was not easy. I get on her, don’t bother to adjust the stirrups, because I’m young and stupid and this is an easy short stirrup pony. Pony does to me what she was doing to her small rider so I took my crop and cracked her one. WHAM, pony lets out a heels over head buck which launches me right into the dirt on my butt…and continues to walk slowly around the ring without me. If a pony could say f*** you, that’s exactly what she did. Everyone was laughing hysterically because nobody thought she had it in her to expend that much energy to buck like that. I’m pretty sure I’m the only person to have ever fallen off that pony and certainly the only person to ever have been bucked off.
I can play!
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A plastic chair is not a good substitute for a mounting block. Spazzy, new to me Arabian amazingly did not trample me when I landed under her. Luckily there were no witnesses to this.
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Bareback pads with stirrups really are not a good idea. Still new to me spazzy Arabian didn’t trample me for that either. No witnesses for this one either.
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Always make sure your girth is tightened or when spazzy Arabian mare sidesteps a puddle of water, you and your saddle will slide right off the side. Mare just sighed and stopped while I fixed things and got back on. I was riding with a friend for this and she saw the whole thing but was nice enough not to laugh.
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Riding along at a decent clip on my non spazzy gelding, we hit a small spot that looked damp but was smooth so thought it was okay. It was mud and when gelding hit that and his hooves started to sink he slammed on the brakes throwing me forward, then jumped out of it, causing me to do a back flip off the back. I was riding with a group of people but was in the back so thankfully none of them saw that, just heard the thud when I hit the ground. LOL
I can play!
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A plastic chair is not a good substitute for a mounting block. Spazzy, new to me Arabian amazingly did not trample me when I landed under her. Luckily there were no witnesses to this.
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Bareback pads with stirrups really are not a good idea. Still new to me spazzy Arabian didn’t trample me for that either. No witnesses for this one either.
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Always make sure your girth is tightened or when spazzy Arabian mare sidesteps a puddle of water, you and your saddle will slide right off the side. Mare just sighed and stopped while I fixed things and got back on. I was riding with a friend for this and she saw the whole thing but was nice enough not to laugh.
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Riding along at a decent clip on my non spazzy gelding, we came to a small spot in the trail that looked damp but other than that, looked like the rest of the trail. It was fairly thick mud, and when gelding hit that and his hooves started to sink he slammed on the brakes throwing me forward, then jumped out of it, causing me to do a back flip off the back. I was riding with a group of people but was in the back so thankfully none of them saw that, just heard the thud when I hit the ground. LOL
My most embarrassing incident happened last week and resulted in a displacement fracture of my fibula (6-8 weeks recovery time 
)
I ride quite a few young/green/hot/“exciting” horses, but for this incident, I was on just about the steadiest pony in the world. He tends to bloat a bit when the girth is first tightened, so my usual routine is to tighten as much as possible, mount, walk him a few laps and then casually reach down and tighten the girth while he’s still walking along as it is the easiest way for all involved to get the girth properly tightened. Well on this particular occasion, as I leaned over a bit to adjust the girth, a very big insect of some variety landed on him and he employed the full body shake maneuver to rid himself of it, then on his first post shake step tripped with one of his front legs. The combination of these events, plus the fact that I was girth tightening, not sitting up very straight, plus the fact that he’s a pony so has really no neck/shoulder for an adult rider to catch themselves on meant that I found myself really sliding to one side.
I decided it was better to essentially emergency dismount and did so but landed with one foot more heavily than the other. And that foot was in a hole/divot in the pasture and I managed to twist my ankle in just the right way to break my fibula. Because I typically really enjoy riding quite hot and athletic horses and as such have taken some pretty spectacular falls , a few of my friends find it pretty amusing that my first ever broken bone is the result of me basically dismounting from a very sweet and safe mount (who was a champ and allowed me to lean over him and very carefully helped me hobble back to the barn).
Super embarrassing and I’m quite angry at myself still. I’d finally made the time/money/training align to take the little Morgan I’ve done all the undersaddle training for to his first recognized event or two this fall and that is obviously postponed until next year.
