Stupid Rider Stories?

If you have any stupid rider stories, I want to hear them!

And while you're at it, here's mine!

I had this friend who was my best friend in middle school, and one day, I took her and let her ride one of my horses with me. We did this a couple of times and she started becoming a "better" rider, and along the way, she started telling me all these ridiculous stories from "when she had a horse a long time ago" and how they would go for rides in the countryside (who words it that way anymore?) and how she would have him lay down and he would get up and they would go galloping off. Now, don't get me wrong, I know that stuff is possible, but the first time I put her on my horse, she couldn't tell me the difference between a hoof and a vertebrae.
So time goes on, and we convince her mother to buy her a horse, and the first thing she does is buys a 4 year old Thoroughbred. For a first horse. After ignoring all the warnings of everyone at our barn. The horse caused her so many problems, and even I had trouble with it. And then, time goes by and the horse just stays in his stall all the time, and he goes lame. They had to sell him because they had apparently overlooked a fence incident at his old home.

So time goes by, and they go to an auction and "rescue" a mare, a Missouri Fox Trotter, and while they're at it, they buy an UGLY Tennessee Walker, who is just about the STUPIDEST mount I've ever seen. And the girl gets on her horse and doesn't ride it, just hangs on. The thing galloped around the arena until he gets tired, stops for a few minutes, then goes the other way.

One time, a man brought an Arabian to our barn as a guest, and she's a young, hyper thing, and this man WORE THAT HORSE DOWN. And the girl gets on the mare and just GALLOPS her around, and my friend and I were sitting on our horses talking to some people in the arena, and the girl, on the Arabian, comes barreling into the arena at full speed, heading straight for our butts. Spooks the bajesus out of our horses. The horse swerved and the girl naturally fell off. And then she started talking about how she rode such a young horse and there wasn't anyone at the barn who could've handled that horse except her. Except she didn't handle that horse. She FELL OFF that horse.

Then, a couple MORE months go by and it turns out her "rescue" mare is pregnant. And the IDIOT KEPT IT. No, I don't mean she didn't abort. I meant, once the foal was born, she didn't try to sell it because she wasn't able to handle it. Despite everyone saying that that horse was going to cause he injury, she kept the foal. My horse and her horses' pastures were adjacent (foal separated, I guess), and her foal ran RIGHT through the electric fence. My horse came up and investigated naturally, and the girl is just CHASING the foal, screaming at it. I had to pull Rocket out of the pasture, and I ended up catching the foal. Her mother broke her ankle trying to stop the horse. And in the end, the girl blamed it on me.

A lot of people lost respect for her after that, and a man was so angry at the girl that he gave me a free saddle. And it was a nice saddle, too. The girl ended up moving because everyone was pressuring her to sell her mare and foal.

why? Doesnt make sense to me.



A don't really have any 'stupid' rider stories. I've seen a girl put a saddle on back to front, it was her first time tacking up a horse and I think her first time riding as well actually. But surely she'd seen a horse wearing a saddle before?

When I was younger we got new neighbours and they're daughter (we both would have been about 14..15 maybe?) liked horses and wanted to go for a ride. Really exaggerated her skill level but I put her on our quietest horse anyway. So on she gets, rides around a bit, she can steer, stop etc. But wants to "ride the pretty one"
The "pretty one" was an arab mare I had at the time. Could be a little fizzy at times but she was pretty good that day and I thought, hey why not let her have a walk around on her (i know.. I learnt my lesson lol!) and so we swap horses and every is going well until Misty starts to trot. No big deal right? Well apparently it was because this girl bailed. Jumped off into gravel. The girl turns to me and goes "when they take off I just jump off its safer"

Yeah, the whole saddle-giving logic makes no sense to me either, but... he was kind of a drunk, so nothing he did really made sense. I just accepted the nice saddle because the stirrup leather on my old Western had broken at the time and I was in need of a new one.
I can kind of understand the new rider saddle thing, but the, "When they take off I just jump off it's safer" makes NO sense!

So many to chose from. Let's see......

A few years back, on a trail ride with the club, a young rider who is known for not paying attention to where she is putting her horse, demonstrated this to the max.

The trail was wide enough to have two horses ride side by side. Up ahead was a tree that had partially come down. It was too low at one end to go under, but the other side had plenty of clearance even for the draft that was with the group.

This girl, about 11 in age, actually put her horse on the lower side and bless that horse , he obeyed. He was able to lower his head enough to clear it, but the horn of the saddle caught and actually ripped the entire front of the saddle off. The girl fell, and cried and momma was all concerned about her. The rest of the group was more concerned about that poor horse, image the pressure it took to rip off the front of the saddle.

The girl was just scraped from her landing (it was a gravel based trail), and as far as we could assess, the horse was okay. Probably sore here and there, but was fine.

They promptly sold this wonderful horse (he always obeyed, even when his rider put him into fence post holes, another story), because he was the problem of course!

The lady I'm getting Samson from could barely ride. I already told you what happened, but I'll go ahead and say it again...

She rode him with a bridal that was twisted inside-out, with a bit that was half backwards, tugging back all the way with the reins while frantically kicking his sides, and wondered why he wasn't responding/kept side stepping. The ride ended when she literally slid off him, grabbing onto the reins as she did such.

Of course, she decided he was unbroke and dangerous.

A lady at my old barn put both of her little kids up on a green broke Arab without helmets, and in a saddle that was way too wide for the horse.

The same lady also bought her daughter a young, unbroke pony and put her up on the thing without a helmet. The pony reared and scared the poor kid half to death.

Several years ago I was on a trail ride up in Wisconsin and this lady (not a horse person) starts freaking out because her horse was backing up. The guide explained that that's what happens when you keep pulling on the reins, and the lady went, "Oh, I didn't know horses went backwards!" *facepalm*

I have a friend who's not a bad rider, but just illogically scared. We have only one horse she'll ride and she's afraid of all the others. One day, I put her on Missy, a 17-year-old Walker who, though hyper, couldn't do a thing in the world to hurt someone. We were planning to go on a long trail ride, but the moment Missy started trying to gait a little, my friend FREAKED and we had to go back to the barn. I was pretty irritated, to say the least!

Oooo, I want a free saddle, too!

A little girl who takes lessons here has her own horse. Not that that's a bad thing in itself, but she's 4 and her horse is a 4yo stud. O_o ??? The mom said they are looking for another horse for her to ride until 'her' horse 'grows up a bit'. Sugar, that horse is going to get older in it's stall but it's not going to be any better then it is unless you take some serious time and money (and maybe a pair of snippers....) to it.

There is only one that pops out in my head right now. Quite a few years ago, my Dad took a couple of horses to train for a guy up in Kansas. He got them going really nice and sent them home. Next thing, Dad is hearing about how this guy is bad-mouthing his training and saying he is the biggest gyp and he will spread the word to never send your horses to him. So Dad calls the guy up to find out what exactly he didn't like about the horses. These are the guys exact words: "Well, they ride okay but if you're loping across the pasture and you pick your hand up, the damn things just stop."

Haha, I thought that was what they were supposed to do.

We were on a club trail ride, approx 20 riders. This one girl had decided, for the first time ever, that day, to try her horse in a bitless bridle. Horse was 20 yrs old, had a bit his entire life, and she decides to test this new thing on a trail ride! So the horse was acting like he was just in a halter, no brakes and little steering. I'm all for new ideas, but not on a ride off property with 20 others having to put up with your horse 'testing' it!
She was going to get off and lead her horse back to the trailer, but I had a soft cotton lead in my saddle bags. We ran it through the bridle and in his mouth like a bit. He instantly calmed down, and she was able to stay on the ride.
Tip #1 Try out drastically new tack at home first.
Tip #2 Always carry an exta lead and folding knife with you on trail... I have used both many times!