Well, so far, nothing bad has happened to me. :P *knock on wood* The worst for me was when I was cantering my QH around the pasture and he stepped in a hole and both of us did a sumersault in the air. If I hadn't of been quick to think, and turned myself so I would land more on my side than straight on my head, I probobly would have broken my neck. I ended up hitting the dirt on my shoulder/head, and it knocked the wind outta me for a few minutes, but nothing broken. My horse was fine as well, but his mouth was bleeding, so in the fall, the reins either got caught on something and pulled enough to scrape his mouth, or I clung to the reins like a madwoman and scraped his mouth. He was fine within a few minutes, just a little cut.

So far for me that's about the worst. I have this fear of falling if I'm cantering and my horse stumbles. lol Obviously. :P BUt that was about 2 years ago now. :P  

Nothing broken (yet--where's that wood to knock on??) I am not even going to try to count the times i fell off or went into/over/onto/thru the jump w/o the horse!!  but I was drug about 200 yards. We went over a 3.6 oxer and she jumped with tons more power than my gelding, well caught my foot in the stirrup and she kept going at a gallop... my trainer finally caught/stopped her. I  got right back on and did that jump again and then bought her... It was not her fault at all. funny thing was that did not shake my confidence at all. (no self preservation instinct??)  the worst was a young gelding i had,,, he would decide he'd had enough and do the pro rodeo circut buck--no warning and he even fell while bucking with 2 other girls. well that sure burned thru my confindence. thank goodness for my good ole boy TB, he put my confidence back where it should be. A done that been there horse is just what you need. but I 'll always remember what a friend said... do the math horses are BIG humans are NOT it's not IF it's WHEN will something happen... be prepared!! all the comments about ground work,,, YES YES YES !!!  it's the most important thing--it will all carry over to when you are in the saddle!! good luck and keep at it!!!

I spent my mid-teens to mid-thirties bringing home Widowmakers and re-schooling them.  I have been kicked, trampled, run over, sun-fished-and-threw--her-legs-out-and-landed-on-her-side-with-me-on-her, bucked and reared up with.

I am fortunate to have never suffered even one broken bone, but I sure do have horrendous disc damage in my neck and back - lol lol.   That is why I went to riding Tennessee Walkers 17 years ago or never ride again (the handsome Fella in my avatar who was 16 in the pic, but is 20+ now.  He is my Stepford horse who has never made even one mistake a day in his life

Back then I wore a "No Fear" tee-shirt  and always got right back on - lol lol

Now that I are one year away from collecting Social Security, my t-shirt says "If you have no fear, you haven't gone fast enough or been bucked hard enough" and I stick to my own four Keeper Horses whose flaws are nothing compared to what I used to bring home to re-school to find good homes for - lol lol lol

Here's someone to keep your fingers crossed for:

A friend of mine whose horse is at a different barn knows someone at that barn who was riding in the arena alone, on a horse that had been reliable and rock-solid.  It appears that the rider was bucked off the horse.  She was found face-down on the arena floor, her horse standing beside her, unable to move.  No one knows how long she was lying there; she was found because someone heard her moaning.  The BO and person who found her had the presence of mind not to move her at all, and the paramedics had her airlifted to a nearby trauma hospital.  She wasn't wearing a helmet.  Don't know if one would've helped her.

This happened Tuesday.  She's still in intensive care with a spinal cord injury at C-5.  Apparently she can move her feet but not her toes, her hands but not her fingers. 

Very sobering.  It can happen to any of us who ride or hang around horses.  You just never know.

Mary 

Oh, how sad!  I'm sending lots of good energy in her direction. 

walkinthewalk:

 

Now that I are one year away from collecting Social Security, my t-shirt says "If you have no fear, you haven't gone fast enough or been bucked hard enough" and I stick to my own four Keeper Horses whose flaws are nothing compared to what I used to bring home to re-school to find good homes for - lol lol lol

 I want that t-shirt!!!  Where can I get one? 

JMFriedman:

 I want that t-shirt!!!  Where can I get one? 

I did a lot of drag racing in my late teens and thru my 20's.  Years later, after I gave up that expensive habit,  I was at a cruise-in and bought a t-shirt that said "if you have no fear, you haven't gone fast enough". 

I may just see about getting a new one made to add "or been bucked hard enough".

 Any t-shirt vendors on board that might want to take orders for such a t-shirt?   I'll bet you'd get a few takers

I'll take two.  An (L) and an (XL) with a bucking horse characature (sp?) somewhere in there

Haven't found that one yet, but at this site--http://www.cafepress.com/buy/horses/-/source_searchBox--there are TONS of really great new horsey t's!  I'm still looking at them and laughing.  I especially like "If there weren't any horses there would be no use for money". 

 On page 4 of that search there's a great women's shirt (that's the nice, fitted kind) with a shot of a stadium jumper and the Mario Andretti quote, "If everything seems to be under control, you're just not going fast enough."

BOTH of my ponies have gotten me.

Anke was the first. After we'd been on a long trail ride (2-3 hours), we got back to the arena, and I decided I wanted to canter. We did some, but she was getting very excited. I decided to canter one more time, and she let out an ENORMOUS buck. I FLEW through the air and landed smack on my left side. I was stupid and didn't go to the hospital. I've been having pain since then (3 years), and I've had some tests done. I have 2 fractures of L5, some pinched nerves and something is going on with my left hip, but there's nothing broken there. Once I was able to walk comfortably, I got back on her and cantered again.

 Bella got me this past September. I was really tired, but I still wanted to ride her. She spooked, spun around, and bolted. I was unseated and was caught underneath her and got stepped on. This time I was smart and went to the hospital. I had a broken finger and sprained ankle, which still bothers me. I haven't gotten back on her yet, since its taken a while for my ankle to get better, and my back and hip have been really bad.

Wow!  Are you going to have surgery or therapy (or at least a martini)?  That sounds really painful! I can definitely see being leery of getting back on a horse when you're in that much pain. 

BTW, I posted earlier about being afraid to get back on my big Paint, Zip, after chemo/surgery/long layoff/etc.  The issue was that he had developed a kicking habit that my vet said was a training issue.  I figured I'd be in the dirt in minutes if he started bouncing that back end around again. 

About a month or so ago I decided to start off by longeing him to get him back into shape, just in case the problem could be solved from the ground.  What I found was startling.  The poor guy wasn't just kicking out at random out of annoyance or attitude.  He couldn't get his back end to work properly at the canter on the right lead!  One adjustment by a vet/chiro and he's as sweet as pie.  She said the injury (which was actually to his shoulder) was old--possibly dating as far back as when he was around 5 (he's 12 now).  Duh! 

Once he stopped the fussing on the longe and I got back on him, it was like I had a new horse.  We've been working in the ring doing all sorts of fun stuff.  I'm still nervous about taking him on the trail alone b/c I haven't forgotten what that bouncing felt like and how hard it was on my body.  But I've had time to get out into the woods on my QH, so I'm in better shape and less likely to take a header if he does get cranky.