Holy moly!
I have witnessed falls like this- had a girl come off one summer’s night when we were all schooling over fences, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. She hit the ground, and went into a seizure. I had jumped off my horse, and was hollering for someone to call 911, and trying to remember what I knew about seizure victims. She ended up being OK, but it was a scary night, indeed.
OK, so here is last 4th of July…
I’ve done rescue for decades, and last April, a friend of mine enabled, and talked me into looking at an ASB who had fallen through the cracks, and wound up with a crazy little Amish dealer. So, the horse came home. He was five years old, and a sweetie. We got his papers, and knew his history. I knew his grand daddy, a horse named Dorian Wild Temper, and so I nicknamed the gelding Temper. He had become very ill not long after coming home, and we had spent alot of time together bonding.
He seemed to really enjoy being groomed, and particularly having his belly scratched. So, I’d do that for him. On July 4th, around 1PM, I was in his stall with him, rubbing on him, and I reached under his girth area to scratch him.
The next thing I remember clearly was opening my eyes, and not being able to see anything. I thought about the fact that I could be dead, but I thought, gee, I do not see the white light…and then came the pain. And I could not move. I could hear Temper snorting, and walking back and forth behind me. My vision was initially foggy, and then cleared. But, I still couldn’t move. And the pain was unreal. I was finally able to roll over, and get on my hands and knees. I crawled out of the stall, and reached up, and closed the door.
I never have my cell with me when I am out working around the farm, because I hate the distraction. So, I had to crawl most of the way to the stairs (I live over my barn) and I made it upstairs. I got into the house, found the phone, and called a friend. I told her what had happened, and made sure she’d come over and look after the horses and dogs. She called 911.
I walked out when I heard the ambulance come in, so that they wouldn’t disturb my dogs who are protective. There were four cop cars, and the ambulance. We have a level 1 trauma center within 20 minutes of me- so they took me there. The ride in the ambulance was agony- every bump in the road made me hurt, even though they had immobilized my neck.
The radiographed me, did MRI’s on my neck and chest. By this time, I could see a huge hoof shaped bruise on my thigh, as well. They found that I had torn a ligament in my neck, and needed five staples to close up the wound in the base of my skull, but nothing else. They sent me home with a cervical collar to wear for a couple of weeks, eight hours later.
I should be dead, when you think about it. Thank goodness for good friends and neighbors who helped my around the place until I was back together. And Temper? He’s fine. Still sweet. Who knows what set him off that day.
I came off my horse a stride after jumping a small jump, and sort of somersaulted on impact. It knocked the wind out of me, and I could tell I was hurt somewhere. Turned out I’d broken my shoulder blade. I led my horse back to his stall, let the saddle fall to the ground then pushed it out into the aisle with my foot. Drove myself home (30 minutes) and got my 15 year old son to drive me to the hospital. He was a nervous wreck because he didn’t have even a learner’s permit, but I knew I couldn’t do it.
I wore a sling for six weeks. Didn’t require surgery because the break, while a total break of the scapula, wasn’t offset at all.
I ended up sleeping in a chair for six weeks. My husband would prop pillows around my head and cover me up with a blanket. As time went on and the pain eased I could recline it more and more, so sleep came easier.
The hardest part was mental. Because I wasn’t able to get back on my horse, I had a lot of weeks to think about it and worry. I overcame it, but I can really see the wisdom in that old saying about “getting back on the horse”…even if only for five minutes, it makes a difference.
Gah, some of these stories are horrifying! My scariest was a slow-motion rotational fall at the trot that happened trying a sales horse this April: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EssUdk96UlU.
He pinned my foot and flopped around on top of me for what felt like forever but per the full video was about 30 seconds, until the seller yanked him up by the reins. His hind legs were kicking around near me and I thought I was a goner.
Thankfully I got off pretty easy injury-wise. Various soft tissue injuries to shoulder, sprained ankle, comminuted fibula fracture that was only diagnosed 5 weeks later and is therefore taking forever to heal, and deep vein thrombosis in two veins in my calf from the crushing trauma (which was by far the most physically painful part and apparently also the most medically puzzling).
This is mine too!! I stayed on a damn long time before I gave it up. Did a weird duck and roll and busted my collarbone. I’m lucky compared to some people on this thread. Yikes, I think I’m done reading…
No, I did not! The irony is that wasn’t even the horse I was interested in–it was the second one I tried “just in case” to make the drive worth my while. Never again!
I gave up riding over twenty years ago because I kept getting hurt. I had a horse that liked to bolt, and I wasn’t a good enough rider to stay on. But it always happened so suddenly, I never had time to get scared. I also had the chorus yelling at me every time I went to the ER: “Sell that stupid horse!” Problem was the stupid owner, of course.
I took up driving instead, and drove for 13 years without injury, in spite of driving a very hot Hackney pony for the first few years. After I retired him, I drove a very calm large pony of unknown breed, and we got along great.
The last time I drove, it didn’t go very well as he just would not move out. I got work calls all during that drive (I was on call but usually didn’t get that many calls on the weekend). I was just generally grumpy, and headed home. We were going up the hill on the grass next to our very long driveway, and my car started backing down the driveway. My husband had been driving it, so I figured he was going back out. My pony was used to cars, and we were quite a ways off the driveway.
When the car reach a curve in the driveway, I realized it was coming straight at us, not following the curve. No one was driving–it was rolling down the steep hill. Unfortunately it was too late to avoid it, and the car ran right into the cart and I went flying.
A neighbor saw it happen, and came over to ask if I was dead. I was lying on the ground, very disconcerted, but I was pretty sure I was still alive. Then my husband came tearing out of the house, and asked me "why did you park the car at the bottom of the driveway against that tree?
I just told him to go find the pony, who was who knows where but definitely out of sight. He was quietly grazing in the back yard, still hitched to the now crunched cart. He never did show any signs of being upset, and I could not find even a scrape on him. But I lost my nerve for driving, partly due to the crash and partly because he was developing cataracts. Turns out it was my last drive.
I was so glad the pony was OK, but I was a mess. I still have problems, six years since, as my left leg took the brunt of the impact. No bones were broken, but the soft tissue problems have been pretty miserable.
I still congratulate myself for wearing a helmet when I drove, so I had no head injuries whatsoever. I’d rather recover from just about anything else.
I told this story on the driving forum shortly after it happened, and have mentioned it here and there in other subforums, in case it sounds familiar.
Rebecca
Oh my god how awful! It looks like he was just at the start of a spook or something, and then just crumpled!
People get killed in those kinds of falls, glad you were lucky to survive that! 
Mine happened while whipping in on a horse new to fox hunting. The hounds caught a line almost as soon as they got out of the hound van and took off at top speed toward a local highway. All the whips kicked into a high gear at a dead gallop to try to beat them there, including me. I asked a lot of this fellow on that run–pushing hard through brush and taking jumps–and he was a rock star. We beat the hounds to the highway and got them turned.
As we were re-grouping, the fellow whip I was with turned one way and I went the other. I stopped to get my bearings and suddenly the horse was rearing. I still don’t know why he did it, everything had been fine for a few minutes; I thought we were both calm. He wound up going over backwards and landing on me, then kicked me in the gut on his way back to his feet. He took off galloping and left me in the woods–had to hike out to the road on foot.
Miraculously, I was not badly injured. I had some truly amazing bruising from being landed on and a massive hematoma where he kicked me. I have some lingering issues from the accident in that the hematoma calcified and I have a lump there that hurts the week before I get my period and a recurrent issue with my left SI from my pelvis being smooshed when he landed on me…but nothing broken.
I have the clearest memory of thinking I am going to be paralyzed at the moment I realized he was going over backwards on me. Not killed…paralyzed. Because, then, you know…I wouldn’t be able to ride anymore. 
I was riding a horse known for dirty stops at jumps. He tried it with me I whacked him with my crop so he jumped. However, when he landed he bolted left so fast I didn’t even know what happened. I continued straight but my right foot was caught in the stirrup momentarily so it acted kind of like a slingshot adding force to my fall. I landed on my right hip. Screaming in agony I refused to let anyone touch me and stayed in my crumpled little ball thank you very much. Got an ambulance ride…nothing was broken but apparently I landed right where all of the nerves for your leg and foot run. I wasn’t able to walk for a few weeks, couldn’t swing my leg into a car or over a horse for a few months. My ass was actually visibly flat through my jeans for like 6 months. I’ve dealt with back/hip pain ever since but thankfully have found a chiro who is able to keep it under control. I’m currently trying my hand at eventing and dressage and it’s hard to really sit up straight because of the lower back pain but I’m working on it.
OMG. That’s scary.
It also made me remember that when I was 9 weeks pregnant with my son, I rode my trainer’s horse, who had been treated for EPM. I didn’t know much about EPM back then, so I got on him and we were trotting around the ring and he dropped, very similar to what happened to you, except he didn’t land on me. He did kick me once.
My husband was there and completely freaked out. Had to go to the hospital in an ambulance but no x-rays because of the pregnancy. Luckily I was only bruised and it was so early on in the pregnancy that my son was fine. That was truly scary though.
Glad you weren’t hurt worse.
I believe this. I have come off my mare once (knock wood) and it really shook her confidence. She spooked at a sheep, and backed into a cattle-strength electric fence, and that was it. I landed on my well-padded rear and wasn’t hurt at all. She didn’t flee but she was in full dragon-snort mode – very frightened. I had to do a few rides that were very short, nothing scary, until she was convinced that I was going to stay up there.
Worst wreck I had… I am Type 1 diabetic, and in 2008 I passed out from hypoglycemia while cantering between fences in an open field during a lesson. I landed on the point of my left shoulder and broke my collarbone so it basically was two sharp, overlapping points, so every time I’d move, even slightly, I’d be stabbing myself. This included hurting to breathe, and I scared the folks in the ICU by voluntarily taking an occasional 15 second break from doing that. I also had a partially collapsed lung and 4 or 5 broken ribs, but the collarbone was the worst of it. I have hardware holding the collarbone together forever now but could not have surgery until my lung was OK, which took a couple of weeks. So ow ow ow.
That accident didn’t scare me off from riding at all – because it wasn’t anyone’s fault except mine; the poor horse ran back to the barn when I came off. I was back to riding, well, well before I probably should have been. I got a “pony ride” on a friend’s very gentle Icelandic gelding one week after surgery; three people helped me to mount and dismount, it lasted less than 10 minutes, and I was exhausted afterward. Two weeks later I started riding the horse I’d fallen from again, and then my mare, walk only to cool her off after her training rides, as she was a hot ticket back then. It took about a year to recover completely.
I now have a continuous glucose monitor that will alarm if my blood glucose goes below 70, and my mare will just stop whatever we are doing when she hears it.
This thread is HARROWING!!! When I opened it I thought I had a couple of good fall stories to tell but instead I’m just feeling incredibly lucky that all of my worst horse related injuries happened young and healed up without lasting trauma, that seems to be the worst part for a lot of people!!!
I broke my wrist pretty bad when I was 14 on a trail ride with some older girls, they were on their own horses and I was on a school pony who had a few ~quirks~. A rule in the barn was that we couldn’t do more than walk on the trails on school horses without a trainer present, and so when the two older girls were like “we’re gonna canter”, my annoying little rule following self was like “well that’s actually not allowed so y’all just go but I’m gonna remain at the walk like im supposed to”.
Needless to say when they went off at the canter and left me completely alone the pony did NOT appreciate it at all and bolted back to the barn, dumping me on a sharp turn on the way 
I guess we all forgot that horses are herd animals???
I had to get surgery on my wrist and two pins put in, and I’m literally still traumatized from when they pulled the pins out bc they just did it like in the regular exam room while I was awake?! With like some pliers?!! I’m not sure if that’s a normal practice but I hated it!!!
I also had a VERY lucky save riding my older sister’s 5 year old OTTB in a jump lesson who I had absolutely no business riding at that time bc I just wasn’t very good, and he bucked exuberantly after a jump and flipped me over his head where I landed on my face. I broke my nose and fractured something in my neck but was SO lucky it ended up being not a huge deal. I didn’t have to wear a brace or anything, just couldn’t ride for 3 months and the fact that I was 16 years old and still growing is I think basically the main thing that saved me there!!
Luckily, the smiley emojis are there to comfort you when it sounds real bad 
Stupid of me but I’d had this QH since he was 6 months old. In 2015, he was 12 and I hopped on him bareback with a halter and lead rope to run up and check the deer feeder. As we came back down the hill at a walk, he saw my TB standing in the creek bed and just took off. He is WIDE and a total tank and the sweetest guy, but with both hands and all my strength (and I’m pretty strong) I couldn’t turn him. The last thing I remembered was Oh crap—we’re going to go down the creek bank. I woke up in my bed—somehow I’d gotten myself out of the creek bank, into the house, locked the door, turned on my fan, put the phone on the nightstand, clothes in the hamper and crawled in and don’t remember ANY of it. Called a neighbor who was a nurse and then they got EMS there etc. Fractured 7 thoracic vertebrae, bruised ribs, and had a major concussion. Thank goodness the creek bank was somewhat soft from previous rain. They were “stable” fractures, so no surgery, but the neurosurgeon said I’d just survived the hardest slap on the back ever. I must have flown and landed flat against the bank on my back. No lasting side effects although if I get really tired or stressed, the muscles around those vertebrae will spasm a bit. Dang blessed for sure!
Mine are nothing relative to some of these here, mostly just involved that split second “oh shit I could be in serious trouble here” moment and luckily I didn’t end up with any serious injuries.
The first was 11 years ago, my horse slipped and fell sideways, the oh shit moment was in the odd second where time seems to slow right down and you are acutely aware of the situation you are in. I distinctly recall understanding what was happening and desperately hoping I got thrown clear and didn’t have my leg crushed. Luckily I was, I ended up with a broken elbow due to forearm ligaments yanking the inside of the bone off. Had a screw put in and 3 months of physical therapy to regain use of that arm. I have slight nerve damage, and on occasion the major nerve that runs right through there “flips” over the inside of my elbow, as I’m now missing the groove it’s supposed to run in.
Second was very recent, leading both horses in and the 4yo spooked out of nowhere at nothing. She knocked me down and I just did my best to roll out of the way of two freaked out horses as all I could think was “don’t get kicked in the head!”. Something definitely did hit my head but I"m fairly confident it wasn’t a hoof. Didn’t quite walk away from that, it gave 3 fractures in my foot. I just came out of 5 weeks in a moonboot, I was very lucky to avoid ligament damage that would have had me non weight bearing for alot longer. I expect it will be some time yet before my walking is 100%, my balance is totally shot and I’ve lost more flexibility in my foot than I expected. At the hospital last week the doctor told me no riding for at least another four weeks…naturally that lasted the 2 days before I had time to get out to the horses 
Oh and a bonus, a few months ago horse slipped going up a very very steep hill, she landed on her ass and I slid off backwards. Felt my foot stay in the stirrup, went oh shit its stuck, no, turned out the stirrup leathers just slipped right off the bars…good to know that works when it needs to!
Two, both of which werent very painful (well, at the time yes, but no major injuries that I officially know of)
First one (Which probably inadvertently/butterfly effect-ed the other one):
New mare, had done test rides. Took her out for a simple first ride on our property. It was going good until I asked her to canter, which is when she started moving sideways away from the “rail” (Its an unfenced exercise field) , spun, and took off bucking like a bronc. I was actually sitting it pretty well until I had a lapse in judgement and tried to grab her mane, forgetting that she had just had it pulled so there was barely any to grab. That attempt shifted me foreward just as she bucked again and I went right over her shoulder. I thought I’d land face down, but she knocked me as I fell and I landed on my back. just outside of the reach of her hooves as she passed me.
I wasnt hurt, but was traumatized (I’d just recently had another confidence knock).
Onto story 2:
Because that mare didnt work out, i was back to riding my should-have-been-retired paint. We were turning in from a fox hunt with a few others from our flight. They were up ahead and my brother (novice rider, riding between me and a family friend ahead of us), me and my mom were single file at the end.
We were just doing a nice canter down a trail next to a soybean feild, eveyone else in the group had already gone around a bend up ahead (mom and I were on slower horses). I guess my horse tripped, because suddenly there wasnt a horse under me (I specifically remember thinking “Where’s Rex”), and then I was in the field. I guess I must have looked over my shoulder, or twisted in the air because i remember seeing my horse on his back with all four feet in the air as he also fell.
Next thing I know i’m on the ground and this is where I laugh at myself. Before I even realized I was on the ground, before I could speak, I just screamed. It wasnt even from pain or surprise, it was specifically to A) get everyone to realize something had happened (remember, I was in the back of the group and they couldnt see me around the bend) B) Because by this point Rex had gotten to his feet and was racing after My brother’s mare and I didnt want my brotehr to get dumped (Logic was maybe if I scream he’ll look back and see Rex and wont let his horse spook) and C) I realized I was on the ground.
And then for some reason I rolled myself over (despite not being able to move my right arm), found my glasses (somehow not broken! Just a tiny scratch!). First thing i said was “Broke my shoulder” (Still convinced I at least fractured it, even though the retired doctor in our group told my parents I didnt need x-rays) And then i started sobbing because I convinced myself that Rex had broken his leg and that we were going to have to euthanize him right there (You know, even tho he went galloping off to my brother)
Rexy was fine, sore and dirty but no cuts, just a tiny limp from a previously bowed tendon that he probably strained again. My shoulder still clicks and is arthritic now…
Wow. You all make me realize just how lucky I’ve been!
The scariest almost-accident I had was when I was told by my ex-riding instructor to get on a misbehaving mare. I’d schooled her before, no problems. She was acting up that day, though, and ex-instructor had had it with her. I thought I’d school her for a bit, then hand her back to her young rider. No. I still don’t know precisely what happened - I know I got into the saddle, without my helmet, because all I was going to do was school her for a bit, and suddenly the mare was in side reins cranked up to the last hole and the ex-instructor was whipping her around the lunge circle. The mare tried to stop and square off, and ex-instructor whipped her across the chest, back and back and back across the arena, until the mare had nowhere to go but up. With me. I remember clearly thinking “God, we’re going over backwards,” and then my back hit the rail fence behind us, and I threw myself forward onto her neck and she came back down. And that’s why the ex-instructor is the ex-instructor. Neither of us was hurt, but if she hadn’t backed into the fence, it could have ended much worse.
Second-scariest - ex-instructor asked me to feed her horses for the weekend. She had a 17.1 hand warmblood with zero respect for humans. As I brought them into their stalls, he got into the wrong one - with a paddock attached. I went out to get him. I was about ten feet from him, lead rope in hand, and he looked at me and I knew. He was going to kill me.
I spun at the same moment he lunged for me. His shoulder hit me and sent me spinning the rest of the way to the ground. I dislocated my left shoulder and had to roll under the fence into the adjoining paddock to avoid being stomped to death. That shoulder still bothers me to this day. (Same horse tried to run me over a year later, in an open pasture, too. He also sent at least one rider many feet into the air when he tried to get on.)
Then there was the time I was trying to get my old mare blanketed before an ice storm hit. I was trying to get the leg straps done and wasn’t paying attention to anything else. I still don’t remember her kicking me. I remember taking one step to go behind her, and then I was ten feet away from her on my back with my knee at a funny angle. Another horse had come up behind her and she’d kicked at them, but got me instead. I had a hoof-shaped bruise on the inside of that knee, damage to the ligaments and tendons, and some bone chips and soft tissue damage.
But nothing compared to the rest of you guys, for sure.
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