Just curious! I managed to have a couple of interesting incidents last year, and that got me thinking about others!
My mare fell down at the canter and I didnāt get clear in time. Fractured every bone in my right foot, ankle, and tibia. A ācrushā injury with comminuted fractures in every foot bone. It was a little under a week before the surgeons were confident blood flow would be enough not to amputate the foot 
Bodies are amazing though - I didnāt have surgery because there wasnāt really enough to rod back together. They left it to heal on its own and see what we were working with after bones had fused again. I was non-weight bearing for three months, partial for three more, and a boot three past that. My foot looks pretty wonky now (my right toes nearly point right if Iām standing straight) but Iām back to riding and pretty much normal life. I donāt run anymore and was discouraged from any impact activities because of arthritis.
Honestly, I feel super lucky and itās a wild story. The x-ray report printed funny for some reason and so my list of fractures has smiley faces as bullet points. Itās the highlight of the whole thing.
Edit: hereās a clip of page 1 to show what it came out looking like
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Not sure if this entirely counts, because I donāt know what happened, but itās easily the worst Iāve experienced. I do remember getting in the car the weekend after 4th of July and planning to ride the horse Iād been hacking for about a year bareback. I had confirmed with owner that the horse was use it it, and was looking forward to a casual ride on a giant QH couch.
Woke up in the hospital with metal rods in my hips and a bracer across. Horse had somehow either reared and landed on me or sent me into something, and broke all the bones in the front of my pelvis and torn the ligament at the front. Surgeon had to realign all the bones and then use tension to hold everything in alignment, along with what looks like a chain with four pins along the ligament to stabilize everything internally. My right SI joint was loose (got a pin put in there) and everything from my lady bits to butt was torn - doctor said it was like having a very traumatic birth. Ended up having to have an addition surgery to close all that up, which included the need for an ostomy bag.
Was in the ICU for two weeks, where all the training nurses came to see my fixation unit bc apparently itās very rare to see them on pelvises. So I was a fun training exercise in that regard. Then a month and a half in a long term care unit. No weight bearing until September, so got to ride in a human crane in and out of a wheelchair before they let me do the transition myself.
That was almost two years ago now, had a fabulous ortho who cleared me for riding just in time for COVID. He asked if I did all that ārunning and jumpingā stuff so I had to wait longer. Ended up getting on just under a year later. Itās absolutely changed me mentally (much more cautious/aware of what Iāll ride) but Iām very grateful that the majority of the time Iām physically capable of getting back to where I was.
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Just WOW! Guys. Glad everyone is OK!
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That sounds so painful. Glad youāre back at it and doing well!
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Mine was not terribly painful but certainly scary. The horse I just bought reared up in th raod lost his balance and flipped I got shifted slighty off to the side as he pivoted slightly on the way over but he landed on his back/side on my leg. People think Iām crazy but I believe he waited for me to shimmy out from under him and get out of the way before he started thrashing in his many attempts to get up as he was caught in the resins/draw reins/or breastplate. As for most painful for sure was hitting the back of my other horses head and shattering my lower jaw and snapping both hinges. All the pain aside having your jaw wired shut is the best diet ever!
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Broke L5 and S1 bones in an unplanned dismount. I was bareback going up a steep gravel fire road and a bulldozer came up over the top quite suddenly. I didnāt even know they were working on the road. No signs, nothing. My horse reared, slipped, and in a split second, I could feel her weight going over backwards (I was holding on really high up on her mane) I opted to push off and roll in the grass by the road. Didnāt see the big rock in the grass that I landed on. She recovered her balance and stood there, shaking, and waiting for me, despite the fact that the very scary giant machine was right in front of us. The coward driving it retreated back over the hill without even seeing if I was okay. I stood up slowly, talked to my horse, jumped back on, rode her past the bulldozer a couple of times (sheād seen them before, just not out of the blue) and then turned her for home. It was a painful ride home. I didnāt know anything was broken for over 18 months (idiot doctor). Kept trying to ride and run and the pain wouldnāt go away. By the time it was determined to be broken, I had to have surgery to do a bone fusion of the joint. Luckily, I was in my twenties and healed up well.
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Well, my āworstā wasnāt scary at all: I took a bad jump side saddle, I didnāt even come out of the tack. Unbeknownst to me I did permanent disc/sciatic nerve damage that I am still dealing with nearly 20 years later.
But I walked away from my scariest. I was jumping XC and my horse lost his footing and fell on me. It happened so quickly I didnāt even see it coming. One moment I was cantering and jumping, the next minute it was pain and darkness, then the sight of my horse getting up off me.
A few other scary ones that thankfully didnāt lead to any serious injury:
A different time XC, I couldnāt hang on after a bad jump. As I was slipping off, I realized my foot was stuck in the stirrup. It ultimately came free, but it was one of those scary slow motion falls and I was certain I was going to be drug.
I had a TB resale horse who had a serious buck. I learned the hard way when he unexpectedly launched me. As I parted ways with the horse, I looked to my left and realized I was hovering in the air higher than the basketball hoop next to the riding ring. That was a long way down. 
I have several scary moments on the ground, but Iāve already written a novel.
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Bought this four year old from a neighboring ranch.
He was watchy and snorty and just not handled much, but had a year of riding and seemed far enough to bring along.
Had him for a month and where I could brush his tail, trim his feet, gave him baths and he was getting comfortable, to the point of being a bit of a brat at times.
We were gathering a brushy pasture one afternoon into the shipping trap, had them all lined up nicely, getting to a windmill, only half a mile more to the trap.
As we reached the windmill, walking along behind the cattle, reins long, my horse took a huge bucking jump.
I was still using my English saddle, didnāt trust him quite yet and he launched me so high, I lost my left stirrup but my foot was still in the right one and that kept me from going any higher, before it too slipped off.
I remember a cactus in front of me was zooming away and getting smaller, first notice I was not still riding along, before realizing I was airborne.
As I was coming down, horse gave second jump and kicked out behind, barely missing my head by a few inches, I could feel the hoof flying by it.
I finally landed on the left side on my behind.
The other rider came over and then kept yelling at me to get up, I was scaring itās colt just laying there. I responded, I will, as soon as my leg works again!
Finally got up and my horse was just by me, grazing along, like nothing happened.
I had a burn on my fingers from the reins slipping thru so fast and was super sore on my behind and hip, but got on and we finished getting the cattle in the trap and rode to headquarters.
That evening I was so sore and stiff, I could hardly walk, had to call help to ship next morning, not sure I would still be alive by then.
A week later, in misery and with a huge bruise on my behind, finally went to the Dr.
He x-rayed and came in laughing, saying I broke my tail bone and sorry, we canāt cast that.
I didnāt think it was that funny.
Later found out, horse had been a practice bucking horse as a yearling for high school rodeo kids, a 4H boy started their two year olds and never did get this one to quit bucking, they turned him out to grow some more and at three a cowboy finally had him going.
They laughed about it and said, he had bucked off everyone that rode him.
When I asked the seller why he had not at least warned me, he said he thought horse was over his bucking. 
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The scariest experience was not at all painful - no injuries to horse or rider. I was riding up our neighborās sloping dirt/gravel driveway when the horse slipped in the mud and went down on his belly, legs tucked under him, with me still sitting on his back, both of my feet flat on the ground.
Every time I tried to get off, he would feel my weight come off his back, then try to scramble to his feet, picking me back up as he raised up. Then, as soon as he had my weight back on him, his feet would slide out from under him again and he would go back down. Wash-rinse-repeat. I finally rolled/dived off to the side and the horse managed to get back up without stepping on or kicking me. He was fine, I was fine, but I had several moments of āIām going to die.ā
All the times Iāve really gotten hurt happened so quickly that there wasnāt time to be scared.
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Worst accident was when my horse slipped and fell while I was trotting in a slightly snow covered ring. Her back end went down and she fell on her side. I was thrown clear but ended up with a broken left collarbone, broken left ankle and a fractured right knee. I could feel the collarbone break and knew I was in real trouble when I tried to stand up. As I was non-weight bearing on both legs and my left collarbone, spent about 2 months in a wheel chair. Being allowed to use a walker, finally, and then crutches, felt like freedom. Was riding again after about 4 months, but the soft tissue recovery has been a long haul. Even 2 years later my left ankle is still weak and complains after long rides.
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Jeez. Yāall are making me feel lucky! Incident in my 20ās while I was riding other peopleās horses. Guy I was riding for had just bought āa quiet oneā for his kids. I rode the spicier one. The quiet one kicked me in the head when I approached her from the front, breaking upper and lower jaw, some teeth and giving me a major TBI. Found out later she was a known kicker. Thanks so much for letting me know!
Incident in my 50s riding a homebred 3yo Iād backed and ridden for several months. Hacking 1/4 mile up the hill to meet a barn mate, at the walk. No recollection even now almost 9 years later of what happened. I became aware several days later of being in the hospital with another TBI, dislocated and fractured left femur (partial hip replacement) knees that looked like hamburger. The barn mate told me much later that a) she found me when she saw the 3yo running loose, b) the EMTs considered Medivacking me and c) I was swearing like a sailor at everyone. The first day I remember afterward, I was lecturing the nurses not to give pain meds to someone with a head injury. It took me months to remember how to read, understand numbers, manage to keep a thought in my head. But I was so lucky because I was able to. So many canāt and donāt. I developed a new respect for speech pathologists who have stepped into neuro rehab for the āborderlineā patient. And also the PT who taught me how to reorder the crystals in my inner ears to fix the overwhelming vertigo I had for weeks. Neurologist was no help with that!
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@ASB_Stars, thank you for starting this topic. I needed to decant my experiences, and seemingly others do too. I hope that you are asking from a good place, and I hope youāll share your story.
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Not as bad of a horror story accident as some have, thankfully, but hereās the worst Iāve had:
Fell off a horse when I was 20 - total human error on my part, I shouldāve probably lunged him as it was a random 50 degree morning in June after what had been a streak of several warm days. Horse was feeling fresh and frisky as they tend to when itās cooler out and wouldnāt stand still at the mounting block. I finally got him lined up with the mounting block and standing still after multiple tries. Mount up. My left foot is in the stirrup, right leg halfway over his back and he just bolts.
Heās headed right to the arena fence, this was back when I was riding at a kinda dumpy backyard place, so the arena was seldom dragged (meaning packed down dirt), and I did not want to get close to that fence as it was like, this metal rod type fence (I can describe what it looks like but I donāt know that thereās a name - it wasnāt wire and it wasnāt chain link, think like those box-shaped grids of metal) supported with t-posts.
Iām practically being dragged by the horse as again, only had one foot in the stirrup. I think I mightāve somehow hung onto the reins and was yanking on those as best as I could given the circumstances trying to gain whatever control I could. Then I fell off, landed mostly on my left shoulder. Rolled onto my back somehow, think I was laying on my left arm but this was about 8 years ago so I really donāt remember it exactly. Tried to stand up, couldnāt manage it as I was trying to push up with my arms since my feet obviously werenāt under me. I am still to this day grateful the younger lesson kid in the arena was the one it was as she was probably the only one at that barn who wouldāve been in the midst of all that and kept her cool (my horse was headed right towards hers and she got her horse hauling butt to get out of the way).
My then-instructor now long since ex-instructor, comes out of the house where she apparently had to use the restroom and wasnāt around supervising much of anything (think the lesson kid had the sense to text instructor on her own phone, I wasnāt in much shape to, think I got my phone out of my pocket somehow and threw it toward kid telling kid to text my mom and the instructor or something as I was attempting to stand). Instructor comes out, helps me get back on my feet. Horse is standing on the other side of the arena looking majorly freaked, because, well, he rarely lost his rider and here I was on the dirt and pretty banged up.
My mother pulls in right then - irony for ya, Iād just gotten a brand new saddle pad for the horse and my mom wanted to see it so she decided after Iād gone to the barn that sheād pop by for a few. Horse sure did look nice in that brand new saddle pad, alright, lol, unfortunately I was not on him. Anyhow, Iām on my feet, mom and instructor and I are all assessing damage to me. I try to move my left arm. Left arm didnāt move, just flopped and hurt majorly. I was up to walking back to the car.
Start walking back to car - had to walk through one small dirt lot, out toward the hitching rail at the barn, and the driveway was on the other side of another gate (I donāt recall having to open gates). So I start heading toward the barn and the gate to the driveway, make it as far as right outside the barn, had to stop and sit on a big plastic chest of grooming tools to regroup for a sec as my vision was going dark. Regrouped. Mom caught up to me. I got back up and we made our way to her car, mine remained parked wherever the heck Iād parked it.
Decide emergency room is closer and definitely the better course of action over urgent care. Get arm checked out. Get x-rays, evidently while standing up for them to get the x-ray I was getting worryingly pale. Doctor/nurse/xray tech whoever wanted to know if I wanted to sit for a minute - I grit my teeth and said no, I could stand, Iād sit once this was done. Stayed standing, x-ray was done. Not real clear b/c swelling. Ultimately had a broken arm requiring a plate and seven screws that laid me up most of that summer.
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Iāve got a few that are definitely near-misses.
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Was on a trail ride at a state park when I was 14. This was on a trail string, typical slow, nose-to-tail ride where people would pay maybe $10 and ārideā for an hour. This was in a hilly state park in SE Indiana. My mom was also riding and weād met with some (non-horsey - and my mom herself really isnāt horsey beyond being able to hold one on the ground when needed - she likes horses but didnāt get into riding or anything) friend of my momās and friendās kid. Weāre on the ride, my mom was maybe one or two horses behind me. Pretty busy trail ride, several people on horses. Well, the horse in front of mine decides my horse was too close and kicks out as weāre going up a fairly large hill. Iād only been riding at all for maybe 4 years at the time, but in the moment was calm which I think is what saved everything (this was around the time when I was riding a mare at home whoād survived a tornado and once spooked at a funny looking dirt clod). My horse, per my mom, reared up (how high, I donāt know, my mom swears it reared high but we were also going uphill). It put its feet back down on firm earth, I think I backed it up a half step once we were on all fours again and then got him walking again and everything went fine.
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The one and only time Iāve barrel raced: I was 17. 4-H county fair show nothing fancy. Riding my first horse, an OTTB who really didnāt care about going fast, wasnāt really suited to western, was generally a gentle soul and again this was pure human stupidity on my part. OTTBās hooves were giving him issues a bit and the farrier we usually used was out of state for I wanna say some continuing education farrier stuff, so we didnāt do a whole lot at anything faster than a trot and I rarely had cantered in general let alone on him - just the way things shook out I was usually riding either the dead head lesson horses or something kinda green throughout my teens and didnāt generally get into showing then, so didnāt do a lot of anything. OTTB was probably a year and a half or so off the track, gentle, laid back but kinda green. I, despite not having gone faster than a trot the whole summer, despite everyone telling me to TROT the barrel pattern, decide that nope, I was gonna canter that thing. I canter the barrel pattern. OTTB had a nice, rocking-horse like canter but steering was dubious as he was a lot of horse and didnāt bend well (my mom said watching him turn until he started getting the hang of bending was like watching a bendable bus turn). We get through the barrel pattern and are cantering for home. I try to slow him down then for some crazed reason I basically panic, realizing weāre getting close to the fence and I wasnāt slowing him down. I haul him into a turn to try to get him going away from that fence and slow him down before we get to the other side. Iām stupid panicking now, yanking on the reins to the point theyāre practically at my ears even though I frigginā KNEW better it was one of those moments where your brain just takes a vacation and youāre in total dumb panic mode. I fall off, hit the (vinyl) fence hard enough to pop a rail out, but am uninjured beyond my own ego and generally being stiff and sore and not able to march in the fair parade with my high school marching band later that day b/c I was laid up at home with ice packs on me. OTTB from that point onward, if he even thought I was tipped a bit too far forward, would stop. He did not want to lose his person again, I guess. (I donāt know how likely it was anyone had really fallen off of him before as he was really laid back and I canāt even picture him ever being a challenge in his racing days and when I hit the dirt that day he seemed a bit rattled.) Before this incident, I was the typical western rider whoād grown up not wearing helmets and didnāt care for them, only had one on that day b/c it was a 4-H show and rules said I had to. After that, I wore a helmet every ride.
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I was in my early 20s, riding at a nicer, better barn, unlearning all the bad habits from the old place. Iām cantering along the indoor arena doing a circle or serpentine or something on the reliable steady 23-25 year old lesson horse who was a lower level eventer in his younger days. Horse hits a deep spot in the arena footing and skids slightly. I start flying forward over the horseās neck. Horse catches himself and flings his head up catching me with his neck before I even had a chance to fall. I had my mom around that day to video the lesson (I started doing that at one point in my 20s to analyze - lessons were usually on the weekend so Iād just drag her along to video vs set a camera on the rail or something) and of course she didnāt catch that on camera.
We kind of catch our breath, Iām petting the horse, settling him and me both down and telling him what a good boy he was.
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My SCARIEST accidents did NOT result in injury.
Back in the 80s I was riding Moo at Training level a the Difficult Run Horse Trials (at Frying Pan Park). Because he had recently rehabbed from a suspensory injury, he was wearing full bar shoes. There was a water jump known as āNewsomās Gapā which involved jumping off a small bank into the water, a few strides in the water, about 6 feet of ādryā land, then out over a vertical consisting of a couple of 2" x 6" boards. As he attempted to take off for the jump out, his feet stuck in the mud of the supposed ādryā land and we both summersaulted (aka rotational fall). Luckily the 2x6s broke, and neither of us were injured beyond having the wind knocked out of me. but it was very scary.
The other scary fall was in the mid 2000s on Belle, at the Region III Connemara show. I had been competing Belle in the Adult Jumper classes (3ā3"and 3ā6") at USEF shows, and working on lengthening her stride to make the distances (she is only 15h1"). At the Connemara show, I forgot that the distances were set for ponies rather than horses. On a related distance we ended up way to close to the āoutā jump, and she stopped. At least, I THOUGHT she stopped. But after a long hesitation, she jumped from a halt. and catapulted me into the air. I was floating in the air above her, but I came back down next to her, instead of on top of her. The whole sequence was captured by the show photographer. Again, neither of us was hurt, but it was scary.
The accidents where I was actually hurt were not very scary.
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One Sunday afternoon I was hurt not even being on a horse.
This cowboy had a horse he wanted to sell and brought him by.
Supposedly a super quiet kidās horse, about 15 hands 10 year old quarter horse.
Fellow had his ten year old with him, picked him up and plopped him on the horse bareback, with him holding the lead rope.
Horse was not happy camper with kid up there clamping legs around his middle, tried to take a few steps, dad backed him kid unbalanced forward and stuck heels in horseās flank and horse started bucking.
i was watching and seeing it all in slow motion as kid started falling off horse on the off side where I was, so ran over and caught kid before it hit the ground.
Kid was fine, trouble was, my left elbow was dislocated, arm stuck out funny to the side.
Trip to the ER first hospital said, dislocation so strange, they didnāt want to touch it, go to another hospital where orthopedic specialist was that would have a better chance to get it back together.
Once there, I had to wait over two hours, specialist was, with several others, in surgery.
Cowboy had been bucked off, hung on the horse, that dragged him thru the brush.
He had several injuries, including a stick in his brain.
I didnāt mind at all waiting to get my elbow back in place, sadly he needed a doctor way more than I did.
Months later I met the cowboy, in therapy in our horse therapy group.
He never completely recovered.
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Holy crapā¦that was like reading another language! And I work in the medical field and can - I thought - translate from the medical to English. Apparently, orthopedic radiologist is yet another language.
Iāve had a few. You know youāre on the wrong horse when you get brought into the ER and the doc on duty takes one look at you and screams āGet another horse.ā Because heās seen you 4 times. This month.
The worst accident I ever had was on a friendās horse. He knew nothing about horses and had been sold a bill of goods on two horses, the second one being the worst. Although neither of us knew it at the time.
I take Mr Arab-former-endurance horse out for a ride because the owner would only run him around a small round pen. As I am riding this horse through the field across the street, he starts tossing and flipping his head. I figure he wants more rein so I keep letting the rein out. We get about halfway across the field and he sees and smells the deer carcass at the same time I do. Without a shred of hesitation he wheels and bolts for home. At top speed. Like full out running. First he headed for the road then leaped left and headed for the blackberry hedge. I only have one rein and am pulling for all I worth on it to no avail. He shies right and is now headed for the large propane tank belonging to the house on the property. All I can think now is that I am going to go out in a blaze of glory and I guess that is better than the street or the blackberries. I became unseated and though I tried to stay on wound up coming off with my right foot stuck in the stirrup and am now being dragged at top speed. Towards the other road we have to cross to get to the barn. Fortunately my foot came loose and I was free before we hit the pavement. I managed to get up and drag my bleeding filthy sorry ass to the barn and put this shit away and drive myself to the hospital. I had buffed off all the skin on my right ear and was scrapes, small lacerations and road rash all down my right side. And a concussion and a huge internal hematoma in my hip area. Later we, find out this horse is a complete loony tune who could not be stopped on the trail at the competitions he was entered in. He was always ridden with no rein at all and with his chin on his chest because he was out of control. People on his former ownerās crew would have to run out and drag him to a halt. The former owner had sold him to my friend as a gentle child safe horse and he was neither. In fact the former owner came out and tried to BS me and tell me that It wasnāt the horse, the horse was fine blah blah and thank goodness my concussion did the talking and I gave him a right ticking off. Horse was never ridden again as far as I know and went off to be a pasture puff somewhere. But man, Mr Toadās Wild Ride had nothing on me that day!
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I think my scariest for both me, my fiance, and my mare happened a few years ago.
I was doing a practice ride, popping over a few small jumps with my then bf watching. I had my stirrups one hole longer then my usual as my coach tasked me with lengthening my leg. After one jump, my mare let out a buck, as she was known to do, and bolted heading into the corner. But, since my stirrups were a little long, i did not have a good base of support, and when the horse went around the corner, i did not.
I remember feeling off balance, knowing i was going to fall, then i saw the fence around the ring coming, and knew āiām going to hit the fenceā. I hit the fence and just kept saying to myself, āi am hurtā this was the first major injury i had had.
The fencing around the ring at this barn was regular wood posts, with 6" like webbed strapping (what transports use to hold down their loads). My fiance told me, that when i hit the strapping, it rubber banded me back into the ground, and i ended up flipping and facing the ring. Fiance had nightmares about this for months.
My mare is usually a very good girl, and will stop the second i fall off. This time, she was so scared and panicked, she bolted around the ring, would come to me when i called her, then would bolt again. I was scared she would step on her reins and yank her face off, i made fiance leave me on the ground to get her first. I ended up getting up and calling her over and she thankfully stopped panicking and came. had fiance cool her out, then untack her, only then, once she was OK would i allow him to take me to the hospital. Broke my back in 2 places, 1 rib broken and 2 cracked.
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