Did you see the story maybe 2 years ago where a lady’s Shetland pony broke out of his field to run part of a human half-marathon?? I think it was in England. Seems horses think we’re bad runners & need encouragement & coaching! 
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This didn’t happen to me but I saw the whole thing. This was at a one day event derby that my ponyclub hosts every year. Enter the adorable girl on an equally adorable pony, I think the girl was about 7 or 8 and pony maybe 10 or 11 hands. They do the warmup for beginner novice (2’7") and pony is behaving like a good little pony should and jumping everything.
Off they go on course. Everything is going swimmingly until they are on the back part of the course just starting to turn to head towards the finish. Pony takes off like it was shot out of a cannon and is hauling back to the people standing next to me. Girl is clinging to his back gamely trying to get him to stop but gave up and went along for the ride. They had to have been a 1/4 of a mile away at the start we were all just laughing our heads off watching this little speed demon with the pink outfitted girl hanging on. Here comes pony and did a sliding stop that would put a reiner to shame; I think the furrows are still there. Girl was laughing so hard and we all gave her kudos for staying on that little turd, but she said it was so fun and wanted to do it again!
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Did not happen to me but I was volunteering at a dressage show when something went wrong and a rider fell off in the show ring. Her loose horse went running around wild as you’d expect but never left the dressage court doing so and its one foot high railing.
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I have two pretty good ones:
The first involves my eventer when I was in high school. We were at our very first recognized event (BN) and on cross country. We were so in sync, which didn’t happen much, and everything was riding so well. We come around to the water and I was thinking, this is all going so well, we can canter through the water no problem.
Now’s the part where I mention we never actually schooled through water before, but we had gone through plenty of large puddles without issues. We’re cantering up to the water, just a corner of the complex, and a few strides out, he shortens up a little bit. He’s so good, he’s collecting to go down the dip was the last thought I had before I landed in the water. It was a hot September day and the water momentarily felt refreshing until I reminded myself that I just fell off and pony was now galloping across the field back to the trailers. Rest assured I never made that mistake again 
Second story I was warming my Morgan dressage horse up at the regional Morgan show. This pony was an absolute saint in every sense of the word. We’re trotting circles around my trainer when all of the sudden, I have no left rein anymore, as in the rein completely fell off the bit. I tried turning in a tight circle to stop, but my pony was so good that he just kept trucking.
In addition to being a champion dressage pony, we were also the reigning champions of musical grainbags, which often involved doing flying dismounts at every gait, even galloping a few times. So I neatly hopped off and pony stopped. My trainer and I started cracking up and I even got a compliment for doing it so well from another trainer. It’s a good thing I could do them well since I was all dolled up in my whites!
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Awww you had to do the wet diaper butt walk of shame! Everyone gets their turn in eventing.
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Yup. I completed that rite of passage my first time out
That was also the day I learned how to get blood out of my whites (skinned my elbow).
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Many years ago now, my coach and I each took a mare to a fall fair show. Hers was quite green at the time and got overly attached to my mare from trailering. She had to give her mare a long warm up because she was so wound up and somehow pulled her groin quite badly in process.
She made it through one class and then slowly got off, threw me the reins and said I had to ride in the next classes because her groin could not take anymore. I hop on and head into a 2’3” equitation class. Had a really nice round and came out feeling like I must’ve placed somewhere.
Announcer is calling numbers of placings and we’re not hearing mine yet. One of us makes a joke about how funny it would be if I won the class after literally hopping on 2 minutes before going into ring. We laugh and laugh.
Well sure enough, I won! The next class was a 2’6” hunter class so we head back in. Because the height had gone up, a small coop had gone in under one of the jumps. At the very last second, mare decides she needs to stop and have a look. Since I was not used to her feel and she was also more than a hand smaller than my regular horse with a short neck, I couldn’t stop myself and cartwheeled over her head. The show photographer was kind enough to catch a photo of me with legs over my head.
Went from winner to loser in a matter of minutes.
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Remembered a Photo Fail:
Taking a 3-Day Clinic, I had to borrow a vest for Cross Country.
Old-style with a strap that ran between my legs.
Black vest, beige breeches.
Photographer catches a rearview of me & horse jumping timber…
I am proudly showing non-horsy coworkers my pics & notice an Awkward Silence.
Can we say: Thong Effect? 
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So where’s the picture??? C’mon, post it!
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I recall once, leading my horse next to the school on my way down to the riding club where I was going to turn him out (he was nekkid, no tack). He was a big Appendix, my eventing horse, very talented over fences. But on this occasion, we were just moseying along the sidewalk. At the curb, we waited for the cross walk light, then stepped off, and my horse went completely sideways, fwoosh-splat, wound up lying on the road in the gutter. For a minute he just lay there, looking up at me on the end of the rope. And I’m just standing there looking down at him, and it crosses my mind, “This is the horse I trust my life to over solid fences…Huh.”
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I was around 28 years old. I had been teaching at my barn for about 5 years at the time. I got on my favorite spunky pony for a hack. She was a very hot, bucky little thing. Anyway, as I was cantering down the long side she pulled some of her antics and my saddle slid over and I fell off. Yes, I, the 28 year old trainer at the barn, had not tightened my girth and the saddle was completely on her side. Thank god no one saw me. It was the most embarrassing moment anyway. I never fixed a saddle and hopped back on faster in all my life. I was so scared that someone would see me and find out how stupid I was lol.
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Promise if I can find it, I will 
I got bucked off during a dressage test.
Horse took exception to a large, orange barn cat loitering by the ring and went into bronc mode. The judge was a pillar of our local dressage community and a friend. She asked if I was OK and noted that I was allowed to get back on and resume the test since the horse hadn’t left the arena(*). She then muttered under her breath that she’d be damned if she’d get back on that thing. I got on and finished the test, albeit with a tad less impulsion than before.
Meanwhile my trainer, over by another ring, was notified that I fell off. By the time he looked over I was back on and had resumed the test, so he shrugged his shoulders and went on with whatever he was doing.
(*) This was circa 1995. The rules about remounting and resuming the test have probably been changed.
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Well I thought about it but I just took a picture of computer screen off photographer’s website and you can see her trademark stamped on it which I think is poor etiquette to post online.
I feel my riding life is a string of mild embarassments (probably reason number 43 why I don’t show) but there is one that makes me laugh every time.
I used to own a really fun little youngster who was pretty game but sometimes/mostly lacked in the impulsion department. One day my trainer, friend, and I were finishing up a ride by fiddling around in the grass ring. Now, eventer I am not, but I decided to pop off the tiny drop, because — even by my chicken-hearted standards — “Why not?”
Well, lazy dude hesitates, peters out to a standstill. Trainer says, “It’s OK, just kick. He doesn’t even need to jump, he basically just needs to fall off.” So kick I do, horse does go forward and indeed “falls off”… with his front feet only, so now he’s sitting on the bank like dog. I sat there laughing, feet touching the ground, wondering if I should keep kicking or just step off. (I think I managed to cluck somewhere in the laughter, and he carried on with phase two of the jump, all in his own good time).
Sadly there were no pictures taken… would have made a great “Caption this” moment.
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I went to a horse show and forgot my horse.
Yup, it’s true. Got to the show, got out of the truck, and began to briskly walk to the trailer to unload; as I approached the trailer I started walking slower and slower as it dawned on me that I didn’t remember loading Shelby and then I thought “there is no way that I forgot my horse”. But I did. I had left her tied up to the fence at home all dressed up in a cooler and shipping boots.
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Many years ago, I owned a gelding who was a Big Eq horse in his previous career. Giant warmblood, but infinitely adjustable. I have always been the sort who would ride the distance into the ground if I didn’t see it right away. This was not a good combination.
We were showing locally in an outdoor that has a slight slant to it, so it was a literal uphill long run to a single on the diagonal and I could not find that distance. Kept asking him to shorten and shorten and…we wound up standing with his front feet on the back side of the jump and his back feet on the approach side. God bless him, he did exactly what I asked of him.
I looked to the rail to ask my trainer how to get out of this mess, but she was laughing too hard to answer. The jump crew wound up having to come out and disassemble the fence out from under us.
I have yet to live this down at the farm (it was at least 15 years ago–probably more).
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Whenever I need a pick me up i just visit this trend and it makes me giggle so much XD
My turn, so another funny fail. Used to ride a lovely grey owned by my trainer, a young up and coming stallion who honestly had the scope to do 1.40 but since he was started a bit late he was barely doing the 1m. So my trainer needed someone to ride him a bit to see if he was ammy friendly and i climbed on cause, what the heck I have nothing to lose and I’m a bit of a "I’ll just climb on to anything you lend me’. I had ridden this guy about three times and it was pretty fun, jumped him a couple times and everything cool, but this day I felt him a bit off. He was distracted, snorting at thin air, and I just thought maybe he was having a bit of a ‘stallion day’ so I shook it off.
Started jumping in the arena, a couple of horses in there but from what I knew no mares in heat so I wasn’t too worried when suddenly, at about our third jump, he throws a kick in the air, lands, and starts full on going bronc. I am but a small girl, I weigh 50kg, and this massive guy was about 17. 2hh of pure muscle and I was hanging on for dear life. I am literally FLYING every time he kicks and puts his head down. I end up on his neck and he starts running like a mad man (which shocked everyone considering this guy would rather drop to the ground than run on his own). We end up next to another horse and with me having zero control he starts trying to MOUNT the other horse, both of us riders screaming in fear.
Thankfully the mare was not having it and she kicked out which spooked the guy and he backed off so no one was injured but holy cow was it a scare.
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