Wow, that is very scary! I am glad it wasn’t any worse, but that is a lot of injury to to the rider. Recently, I was on an endurance ride with a friend and we stopped for water after the first 7 miles, and I looked at her girth which was just dangling with about two inches to spare. So I hopped off and tightened it for her. After the ride, when we pulled the saddle off, we saw that the horse was so dehydrated at the time that I tightened the girth, that her skin folded under the girth and rubber her pretty badly. So be careful about their skin when tightening the girth mid-endurance ride. It does seem to be a very delicate balance of tight enough and too tight.
