Was it that time your horse ducked under a branch and you ended up with a spiderweb in the face? Or how about the first time your horse met a wild turkey on the trail? An unscheduled dismount due to tack slippage? How did you deal, and what lessons did you learn?

I've had 2 mishaps that stand out for me. The first one was when I was riding along, out in new territory, in some woods. Going along a trail like area and we sunk in a bog. Glis was up to her chest in it. I got off and had to direct her to a safer area to get out. We both remained calm and thankfully, Glis trusted me to get her out.

The 2nd mishap was while riding on the road, 2 steer in a pasture, right next to the road, started walking up to us to investigate. Glis completley lost it. We were on the road, I was trying to get her to turn around without bolting. Problem was that I was holding her back, but her feet were doing 90 mph under her, getting her no where. Her feet came out from under her and she went down. I stayed on but landed hard on my left side rear end. She got back up but was still in panic mode. So I jumped off her to see if I could lead her away without getting anyone hurt. In her panic, she plowed me over. I lost grip of her reins and off she went, 3 miles or so back home. We are still working on everything that went wrong that day.

there was the time when we were out riding at my grandpa's farm.  we sent our horses out there each winter and went to see them once or twice a month (it was 100 miles away).

it was spring and our horses were pretty happy to get out.  we went on a long trail ride (the family had several sections of land) and were in one the big, big pastures (couple hundred acres).  it was fenced though.  there was two of us riding together.  we were heading back towards home and decided to go for a canter.  after a couple minutes, i felt my horse wasn't actually under control, so, i called to colleen to stop her horse.  she said "i can't".  this became my first runaway with two horses together....yikes! (usually, i was on my own on a runaway, and i had a few)  so, while we tried to stop them now and again, mostly we just hung on.  as we raced down the wide trail beside the barb wire fence and were getting to the gate (also, barb wire), i had ugly visions in my head.  there was going to be a wreck of some kind, for sure.

but, when we got to the gate, those two horses just stopped.  with alot of nervous laughter and confirmation that yes, we were both on runaways, we replayed the whole trip.  after our legs stopped shaking, we slid off our horses, had a stretch, opened the gate and after closing the gate, we remounted and rode in the ditch beside the rode the short distance to the house with no further problems.

i guess the horses really needed to get their yayas out!!!

i didn't learn anything new.  confirmed that i can really stick on a horse when i have to though

It wasn't me but it was my horse and my future husband

Nine years ago ----- he was learning to ride ---------- he'd ridden enough times that I was dumb enough to believe his race car driving self would NOT try to re-invent the wheel behind a set of reins.

We lived in SoCal at that time.  After a hard climb in the rock hills we stopped to let the horses blow and I asked him to check his cinch.  I ride bareback --- I was in front of him enjoying the spectacular view - it was quiet behind me.

I said "did you check your cinch?"  he said "yes".  I said "are you sure, we're headed down a trail that's barely a foot wide, I don't want your saddle slipping".  He replied "YESSSS I CHECKED MY SADDLE!".

I thought, I'll bet you didn't but I'm not getting off my horse because you're 54 years old and you know better.

We started down the steep incline with a 40' - 50' drop on the left and a wall of straight up rocks on the right.  I am in front -- both horses carefully putting one hoof in front of the other.

Soon I hear Mr. WTW holler "HELPPP!".  I stop Duke turn my head around and what to do I see but Mr (who isn't Mister yet), caught between the rocks with his right foot still stuck in the stirrup.  See what happens when you're not THAT good of a rider and you lie about tightening the cinch.

God Love Rusty, he is froze to the ground not even moving a whisker.  The trail is so narrow, I have to back Duke up because we can't turn around (remember the 40' - 50' drop-off on the left).

By the time I back Duke to Rusty, Mr. has his hoof out of the stirrup and he's dis-lodged himself from between the two giant rocks (which I am surprised there wasn't a big Ole Sidewinder in there just waitin' to eat his head for lunch).

He had let go of Rusty's reins, for which Rusty was probably really relieved; Rusty was still standing stock still, looking at me as if to say "what the hayyyy is up with HIM?!?!"

I made Mr WTW push the saddle back up on Rusty, I tightened it enough to keep it on Rusty for the rest of the trek. 

We had to hand-walk both horses down because there really wasn't anyplace to stand to get back on.

That was nine years ago, we moved cross-country to Tennessee without killing each other, got married and he has never been allowed on any of my horses since that day.

Mr. WTW could've been killed if he'd been on any other horse but, Rusty stayed perfectly calm and never moved until I let him know it was ok; Rusty wasn't about listening to anyone but me at that point - lol.

Rusty saved his butt to continue on learning to mend fences and haul hay.  Something that I take sadistic delight in periodically reminding him

OMG....I hate the idea of riding on a skinny mountain side trail.  That story just gives me the shivers!!  I'm glad your husband lived to become your husband!

wtw, does he now have his own horse, or just not ride?  hehehe.  I be he never forgot to check a cinch again though... but I have trouble with my cinch too at times.  Very round backed horse until this year.

Oh, so many stories, so little time.  Old stories, new stories, which to choose...  Finally becoming an adult in the past few years (50 will do that to ya)....  As you probably know, when I got Sass I overhorsed myself.  Was going to have the perfectly mannered lil arab...   Saddle didn't fit, and she bucked constantly, knocked me over, but we both learned from our mistakes... 

One day out on the trail, I was last in line.  The other 2 gals cantered, I cantered....  they kept going, Sass saw a big cedar stump that she absolutely was sure was a grizzly bear and shied to the left...  When she felt me unbalance she tried to go to the right to pick me back up again, but (There is always a but, isn't there) There was a HUGE wall of blackberry bushes in her face, so she went left again....  I went right, end over teakettle and flat on my back.  Helmet thunked against the ground....

Reins were cemented into my fist, but she never moved a hoof to go after the happily unaware galloping friends.  I had 5 leisurely minutes to lay there, catch my breath, assess the damage (nothing) sit up, and all the while, Sass just waited for me....  Such a good girl.  Eventually the friends came back and we continued on.  LOL.... 

There was the time I was riding a spooky horse down a non existant trail, the DH said turn around, so I did, lil horse got a small fir sapling that she bent with her front end, sprang up between her back legs.  She leapt over it (she could jump 5' from a stand still) and I didn't stick the landing... ooops...  that was exciting.  the DH loved it.  rofl...

Gang,

While we were training Mystic, I had to get saddle miles. So every week or so, I'd go down to Brandywine Park in Delaware (I'm in SE PA) and get some saddle and/or trail time on a rented horse. One day we were on a trail and went under a fallen tree held up by another tree. You had to stay to one side to go under. Well, the stinker tried to go under the low side, and since there was no way I could under, we got stuck, since I was in a roping saddle, and locked firmly in place. We were walking so jit wasn't dangerous just funny, when he insisted on trying to go under, while I was insisting that he back up, so we could go under on the HIGH side. This Appy was being a butt head because it took a few minutes to convince him to back up and go under the proper side!!! Talk about stubborn!!! 

well, I was riding, and i looked around the new area I was in. Only losing focus for one second, when, I dint relize to duck a small branch, more like a twig, and got a hard poke in the eye!! LOL

Lesson: ALWAYS STAYED FOCUSED!!!

 Let's see. WTW's story reminds me of a trail ride (at a big dude ranch in upstate NY). There was only one wrangler (since our group was just walking), and I was the last rider in the line of about 7 or 8. We had all been told to yell something like "A little help here!" if anything was going wrong. The girl riding in front of me was Asian, and I don't know if she didn't speak English much, or just didn't speak.

As we crossed a creek w/ very steep banks (about 4' high), her saddle started to slip. She said nothing. In the 3 steps it took the horse to get most of the way up, the saddle slowly turned until the horn was parallel to the ground. Yes, off she came, making absolutely no sound. Luckily for her, there was nice tall grass right there (just a few feet back or forward it would have been rocks). I was the one who called out (just as she fell - I was a bit in shock that she never made a sound!), the wrangler stopped the ride and came back to us, fixed the saddle, asked her if she was OK, and got her remounted. And during the whole thing she didn't say a word.

What I learned - I will now tell anyone (even if there is someone else in charge) to put weight in (whichever) stirrup any time I see the saddle slightly off kilter. I think she helped her saddle go over by pushing against the wrong side thinking she was pushing herself back on top.

My big trail "incident" was riding a horse belonging to another forummer (momsonthe mac - not sure if she posts over here much any more). Her "goofy guy" husband horse, Gilligan was all about go-go-go (wouldn't even stop for windfall apples). First, we plowed through a sappling that had fallen over and was blocking the trail (my calf doing most of the pushing). Then, he decided that the creek must be jumped - I was told my form in the air looked good, but unfortuantely, my landing was a bit stiff. I saw a tree coming at me, as I bounced right out of my stirrups, but luckily just "sat" between the roots. I did however dislocate my ring finger at the top knuckle. Very gross - it just kind of dangled. Had to pull it back into place. She said later she was afraid I would ask her to do it. I would have if it didn't sound impolite to say "Pull my finger" to my hostess, lol.

I got back on at the next big flat rock, and at my next riding lesson worked on those stiff (knees and hips, but nostly ankles) landings, lol.

I've had more trail riding mishaps to count, but I've always been lucky and love the adventure so in my opinion it's all worth it, I've also discovered how amazing my horses are.

My first trail ride ever was on my Quarter horse pony, we were at a 4-H horse camp, and my best friend was on my cousin's Quarter horse.  We were at the back of the pack going out with just one of the adults on his HUGE (I'm talking 16.3h Quarter horse that he competed in penning, sorting, and all other kinds of events weekly).  Granted I was about 13 at the time on a 14.2 pony.  My mom was farther up in the group walking and there was another girl walking beside the adult behind me talking.  We reached the turnaround spot at the front and the entire line turned around to go back.  Next thing I know there's a huge crash and a tree comes crashing down, brushing the Quarter horse in front of me which spun and came plowing into my pony who promptly spun, stepped to the side of the path and stood nose to nose with her pasture buddy.  The girl on the ground got knocked down and rolled into the bushes.  Then about 1/2 the adults on the ground came racing through the woods to find the tree blocking the path.  It proved to be one heck of an obstacle for all the horses as this was a beginner trail ride with all of us being only walk/trot riders.

That same year with my friend and I on the same horses we went on another trail ride with our local 4-H club.  My leader had me at the back again with my mom on her extremely well mannered Percheron stud (I rode this horse in a ring full of mares when I was 9 and had no issues with him besides getting him to go forward).  Anyway about 1/2 way through the trail ride we discovered that my pony was in heat (she presented no signs the entire day).  Needless to say the stud decided he needed to cover my pony who wanted nothing to do with it, and me (being an incredibly stupid child at the time refused to get off my horse).  My mom broke the stirrups off her western saddle but managed to pull him off and with the help of two other leaders on larger perchron geldings they managed to get the stud back to the barn.

A few years later I got my Thoroughbred, Solo...

I had owned him all of two weeks when I went on a March trail ride with some friends.  On the way home on a road I was comfortable enough to drop my reins and stirrups and spin around in my saddle to talk to my friends.  (I had ridden him for a few months at my lesson barn prior to purchasing him, and had ridden him backwards a number of times; it was however our first trail ride together).  We were enjoying a nice chat about how well Solo was doing when all the horses behind me stopped dead, and then spun around and raced off.  Solo stopped and just stood still so curiousity got the best of me and I turned around.  I found Solo face to face with a black bear with his ears straight forward just looking at it.  The face off continued for about 5 minutes before the bear walked off and we turned around and trotted off to find our friends about 3 miles down the road trying to work their way back to me.  Needless to say they were all shocked that the only horse that stayed put was the Thoroughbred :D  My mother however was not so excited when she heard the news.  It's now a joke around the group that gets us all laughing.

There was another time where we were having some fun on a well maintained winter trail and a friend of mine and I decided to have a race.  We had been on the trail a week before and it wasn't sugaring season so we figured we didn't have to worry too much about sap lines plus it was a public trail and it wasn't an area that was tapped.  We came around a turn and came right into a sap line.  My friend was on a smaller horse who ducked, my friend was also lucky enough to duck, though not enough to save her helmet from receiving one heck of dent.  Solo on the other hand had other plans rather than stopping as I was trying to do, he picked a high spot and took it like a steeplechase fence and cleared it, landed, slowed to a halt, turned his head around looked at me as if to see if I was ok, looked at his buddy, then turned around and bit the sap line and pulled it out of the trees.

My final big trail riding mishap was more of a matter of inconsiderate group trail members.  I was riding clean up on a trail ride put on by my former 4-H group.  I was riding with another 4-Her and a former leader.  Our job was to make sure all the other riders got out, and take the markers down (we were on public land).  Unfortunately the people who put the markers up were on larger warmbloods and put the markers up high where they couldn't be pulled down by other users of the trail.  Being on the tallest horse (16h) I was the one taking down all of the markers.  At one particularly high marker I had to kneel on my saddle and stretch for the marker.  It was at this point, when I had both hands stretched upwards balancing precariously on the back of my Thoroughbred that the other two riders decided they wanted to gallop and took off.  Solo waited just long enough for me to get the marker and sit in my saddle with some of my reins before he raced off after them.  I finally caught up to them at the snack stop where my mom was supervising the 4-Her's working it, needless to say my mother and the head leader were not very pleased.  Being lucky enough to have cell service I called my mom and the leader right after I got Solo under control and explained the situation.  The next year I did the same thing with another lady who I quite enjoyed riding with, the only problem was her trailering was extremely terrifying.  She had a Subaru outback and a short trailer (the whole thing had been pre-arranged by the leader and my mom (I was at college) and when she pulled up I was terrified Solo wouldn't load.  Thankfully he did, but it was clear he was pretty squished as he barely fit in the stall.  When we came across the first traffic light she first decided to go through it, but at the last minute when it changed yellow she decided to stop.  You could feel the other horse who fit well in the trailer with some wiggle room, slam against the chest bar (Solo was so tight he didn't really move all that much).  Amazingly at the end of the day he happily loaded back in the trailer for the ride home.

lovmyhorses:

Next thing I know there's a huge crash and a tree comes crashing down,

Reminds me of something that happened to me. I was riding someone else's horse who could be a little ornery. We got caught in a thunderstorm and the only place to get out of the downpour was under a big bridge that the trail went under. After a bit, the rain slackened enough to continue but the mare wouldn't move. I tried every trick in the book and was about to get off and try leading her when lightning hit a tree farter down the trail and the tree fell across the path. I figure it fell right about where we would've been if she had started up when I wanted her to. Still gives me goose bumbs!

Another time, I was riding after a big spring thaw (Southeastern PA) and the creek was high. I was on my own horse and we went to cross the creek where we had crossed many times before. Didn't realize that the current had moved a huge boulder (size of a VW Bug is how I remember it) and she stepped on it and slipped. We both went in head first and for a second I was pinned under her on the bottom. I finally surfaced to see her on the other side of the creek. A jogger had caught her after she came up the bank. The jogger wrapped a handkerchief around a cut on my arm and told me that at one point all he saw sticking out of the water was 4 hooves and my butt! The horse was unhurt but I led her back to the barn just to be safe.

My last story happened while riding in the woods at night. It was late Fall, so the moon was shining through the branches. All of a sudden I heard crashing in the trees to the right and a deer came out of the trees and crashed into us. It stopped for a second then turned tail and ran back into the woods. My horse stood there trembling for a few minutes and after that was terrified of deer. When I sold her to a friend before I moved to Calif, she went to live in a pasture which was frequented by deer. After a while she got over her fear of deer.