I have a friend with a horse who trips all the time when he’s being lazy or stupid. It’s a very good motivator for keeping him forward and not something I’d retire a horse over and nothing I’d assume was a physical issue since he doesn’t do it when he’s got his head in the right direction.
My mare has tripped and fallen twice with me. Once she spooked at something and slipped in a puddle left by the arena waterer and went down. Second we were trotting under a tree and she tripped on a root.
My TB mare will stick her toe in the footing if her toes are too long but she immediately remedies it and doesn’t trip again aka tries harder. I don’t like a horse that won’t try to right itself. Some seem too dull to care that they are tripping… these horses make me very nervous and I wouldn’t have one. On the other hand one of my jumpers who never tripped, somersaulted with me cantering out in the field. I assume he got his foot in a gopher hole or something but I don’t actually know. Scariest thing when your horse disappears and you can hear them coming behind you.
Just to share, had them fall under me four times in 40+ years and 3 disciplines/breeds. By “Fall” I mean down on the ground off all 4 feet, not catching themselves with knees and nose staying upright, which you will see more and is less of an issue (unless they have perpetually skinned knees).
A 6 year old King bred QH, stout type, cantering across a hill got distracted by a pack of loose dogs chasing something. Took a misstep off the downhill side of the trail, legs followed downhill and he ended up on his side on the uphill side. Unfortunately he managed to land on an old telephone pole bordering the uphill side of the trail pinning my leg between his body and the pole. Some guy had to pull him around so he could scramble to his feet. I still have a dent in the side of my thigh.
4 year old Ayrab ( very fashionably bred) I was assigned to finish breaking at college. He’d just fall. Went flat twice in a couple of months in a sand ring. I asked some of the other students and was told ( yeah, he’s by XXXXX and they tend to do that more then the others). Never got hurt but asked to be reassigned and was told I was lucky to have a colt by XXXXX to work, if you don’t want him, you are out of the program. So I left. Had my own and any extra rides I had time for, all of whom could stay upright.
Last one was a 24 year old appendix, my third lease Hunter after I switched to Hunt Seat. Messing around in a lesson doing Jumper stuff. A 3 to a 3 to a 3 all verticals to an inside turn to a Swedish. Object was to balance after the 3s for the inside turn and find the center of that Swedish. Ground was wet, carried a goid bit of pace coming off that 3 , throttled back and swung into the turn, old guys back end just flew out from under him and down we went. Ended up driving self to ER but it was just a bad sprained ankle.
So…2 were freakish accidents but the other 2 with that colt by the sire du jour at the time? And they all hurt me so, no, I won’t deal with anything that has a history of falling for no reason, and even with reason if it happens more then once.
My horse’s falls I described above were just quick slips down and right back up. I was totally fine, just a bit of mud on my half chaps. Neither of us were sore in the least. Slip and falls on mud have the benefit of squishy softness and I don’t even think he’s clumsy, in fact he’s a pretty catty TB. Just wet grass + baby antics + shoes with no studs = sometimes falls happen. My fault really, for deciding to ride a frisky baby on footing I knew wasn’t the best because that’s the time I had at my disposal. I took the risk, can’t blame the horse.
We did have a wobbler go through the barn once. Now THAT kind of fall = too dangerous to ride. Trotting along, out of nowhere a$$ over teakettle. No thanks. That’s frankly to dangerous to even keep around as a pasture pet. Very sad to watch a horse do that.
I’ve only had one horse fall down to her knees with me in all my years of riding and we were completely unbalanced and on a slippery surface…completley avoidable and completely MY fault!
My current horse, whom is in a slow rehab (of hand walking only) is a bit trippy in deeper footing but he’s currently learning to use a hind leg that now has no extensor tendon so it’s quite understandable…still no falling down though THAT would be a huge warning sign that things are not healing well! Falling down is not normal and would be a huge red flag to me. I’ve also seen horses become a bit trippy if their feet even become the slightest bit long, but this stops as soon as the farrier trims them.
The things is, when a horse falls because of unbalance, footing etc. its usually very obvious that this is the reason. If they fall and you start looking for a reason, thats when you need to double check IMO.
I was on a greenie one time. We’d been doing changes through a figure 8 and then started down a diagonal line. In the corner I tried to bring her back for the simple change, but she decided to try her luck at a flying change, got super unbalanced and I didn’t get her back in time. Slipped up and fell. It was a soft landing for both of us, she was up pretty quickly. We walked her out and she was fine, not shaken in the slightest.
Had another drop when we were just standing in the middle. That’s when we brought a vet in. Found an issue with his feet. Neuro tests were all clean. Vet decided he probably went down in order to relieve the pain and because he hadn’t been out (he was at an away clinic).
Star tripped a bit as a baby and had two where he did go down to his knees, but we attributed that to baby stuff, especially when it went away. Then, it started again when he was about eight, but I kind of remembered the baby stuff and had it in my head that he’d always been a bit klutzy. But it was pretty much stuff you could, at least with a stretch, attribute to footing, or playing in a turn, or lack of attention and they were pretty much just trips. Then it got worse–going down to his knees, feeling like the horse was dropping out from under you. We still thought he was a klutz and, since my eventing background gave me the tools to sit back and slip the reins, nothing horrible ever happened, except for a few skinned knees. The trainer did comment that it was a good thing I wasn’t a typical amateur with respect to this.
Other symptoms appeared, the horse went in for a (second) bone scan and we found arthritis in the facets. Injected. Back to work, but never back to jumping. Reinjected the neck a year later. Then, this year opted for retirement since it seemed fairer.
After all this I definitely get the OP’s concerns. I didn’t realize how much I was bothered by the bad tripping until we were rehabbing the neck and I was riding other horses and realized that I was no longer worried about having the horse fall down. I also overreact in my brain to a normal trip, but apparently still have the good instincts from going down down banks so I don’t curl up into the fetal position when it happens.
A lot of good advice and experience here.
In summation, tripping while at speed, in poor footing, in changing footing, with an unbalanced rider, a young unbalanced horse, a horse with poor conformation, or after a fence or poles is not cause for alarm if it happens within these circumstances
Tripping and falling on flat, good footing repeatedly is when I’d call the vet.
I’ve also been worried about trippers. We had a nice TB at the barn I worked at that tripped constantly. A tripper is different than a stumbler. A stumbler it happens, they go on. A tripper trips or falls and doesn’t regain balance as well. The TB in question ended up with some crippling neuro defects and was put down. He was never really diagnosed despite constantly “slipping” behind until one an outside eye pressured the owner to do something. At that same barn, another horse with a similar issue had shivers.
It’s within reason to be cautious, but I equate to this: I trip often too, and I don’t think I have any neuro issues!
You did everything right by your horse, OP
[QUOTE=SSacky;7205255]
The things is, when a horse falls because of unbalance, footing etc. its usually very obvious that this is the reason. If they fall and you start looking for a reason, thats when you need to double check IMO.[/QUOTE]
This is excellent advice.
I’ve been riding other horses since I retired mine and a couple have been trippy for no apparent reason. I find myself searching for excuses…I leaned, the footing wasn’t perfect, they weren’t paying attention, the horse isn’t terribly fit, etc. But those seem like, well, excuses. Not reasons.
I wondered if I was being too quick to assume the worst given my recent experience with my own horse.
I’ve also heard other people (amateurs and professionals) mention various horses occasionally falling. And I’ve noticed the stark comparison of the casualness of their comments vs the dire concern voiced by my vet.
Basically, I hear this:
Horseperson: Oh, so-and-so fell down today. He wasn’t paying attention. No biggie.
vs
Vet: Horses NEVER fall down and if they do something is terribly wrong.
Thanks for all the responses. You’re helping me clarify my thoughts.
I asked my gelding to canter while riding out and he fell down. It never happened again. Poor guy looked so puzzled. I would have been very concerned if it had happened again, but he was not lame and it never did happen again.
I am of the “once, perhaps but more than once, no way” opinion.
Only had two in 27 years. One was way back - mare and I were crossing a street and it had just rained. Her shoes hit the asphalt and she went down on the road. Neither of us was hurt.
Second time - mustang mare trotting in the outdoor ring in winter, footing like concrete. She tripped on a frozen hole and went down on her knees and catapulted me onto the ground. As I mentioned, footing was like concrete. I was sore for weeks. Thankfully, she was fine.
I can remember both of those falls because they were so rare.
OP, I hope you find out what’s wrong - hopefully nothing. 
I feel for you! I had a wonderful TB gelding when I was a teenager who tripped and fell continually and since we were all new to horses back then, we just thought he was a klutz until we learned that he did have a neurological condition. Can’t tell you how may times we went tail of tea kettle and to this day, I still catch my breath when a horse trips with me and we are talking some 40 years ago! Horses do trip from time to time-usually our fault or footing, and occasionally will fall but when it is a habit, something is wrong and it needs to b e checked out. You did the right thing by your horse b ut you may have the breath catching for quite a while!
If a horse falls once I would be concerned but if I felt him grab heels something like that or we landed wrong or very slick footing and he slipped that I could understand. A random fall would seriously seriously concern me. I would be suspicious of wobblers which is what your horse was diagnosed with. I’m glad to hear you retired him as it is never safe to ride a wobbler. I’m incredibly sorry that was the diagnosis you were handed. However if surgery is a feasible option some horses come back to the point of being rideable if done early enough. There is a form of it that can develop post injury most commonly they rear and flip over. It is not a death sentence per se and I would be curious as to what grade he is. It runs from 1 being minor to five barely able to walk. Don’t beat yourself up a lot of people dismiss the early signs. I had concerns one of mine was a wobbler but fortunately is just a stifle issue we think. Let us know how your guy does. Tb , qh, and warmbloods are most prone as big growth horses.
So sorry OP. And thank goodness you finally found a vet that knew enough to be concerned! I have seen so many vets dismiss neurological symptoms, or simply have NO IDEA how to see them. Vets that told owners of clearly neurological horses that they were “fine”. I spent nearly 4 years owning a neurological horse that was called “fine” by a dozen vets over those years. Once she was diagnosed it was so obvious!
The only horses i ever have had fall on me all had neck issues. one that we had who actually was diagnosed with wobblers (hah missed in the pre ourchase at a fancy clinic in Wellington…) never tripped, but started making me think i was beginning to suck as a rider; couldn’t steer, get off the ground, missed changes, etc, all problems that started cropping up many months after we bought him and got him into training. at first i thought it was because he was 17+hh and a baby green, then i thought it was me. when i got the diagnoses, all kinds of light bulbs started flashing in my brain. apparently the stress of real work made the condition much worse. insurance company insisted we do basket surgery or they wouldn’t pay the claim. poor horse ended up needing to be euthenized, as he was never right again. horrible, horrible horrible. didn’t want to eat, turn his head go forward, etc. i would never recommend that to anyone.
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