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Overall worst experience involving a horse?

8K views 35 replies 30 participants last post by  Cheshire 
#1 ·
You could've been on the horse, watching another person, on the ground with your horse, lunging your horse, ect.. but what was the worst thing you'ved watched/experience dealing with a horse?

This summer, my lesson was riding in the small ring. A friend of mine, Amelia, was riding Freddie. He was a huge appaloosa gelding, six years old, VERY clutzy, and fast as could be. She was cantering him around a corner and all of a sudden, he slipped to the side.
He came crashing down adn when Amelia stood up from her fall, she walked directly away from him! Freddie was her baby and she would've normally gone to him right away.. it wasn't like he'd gone anywhere, he stood up right next to her. Our instructor told her to lie down and almost immediatly, she collasped. I was freaking out- we were pretty close and she loved horses.. all I could think about was 1) she was hurt badly and 2) she might never want to ride again.
Amazingly, another instructor came to check out the situation and asked her if she could walk. She did, and a few minutes later mounted up on Freddie again. She even cantered and jumped the same day!
 
#2 ·
My worst experience was at a Mounted games squad training day. In mounted Games you do whats called 'changeovers', where you pass an item (ball, sock, flag, stick etc) from the incoming rider to the outgoing rider at a gallop.

I was the incoming rider and was changing over with a good friend of mine, Matt. We all swap horses at squad, and he was riding another friends little buckskin mare. Very experienced games pony but gets a bit antsy on the start line.

Well as I was riding in Bailey (the mare matt was on) started freaking out, she reared up and fell over backwars/sideways on top of Matt while I was about 1.30m away. You know how the shoulder is a ball and socket joint? Well he snapped the ball part off the bone. He had to go to hospital in the ambo and get it wired together. He had two bits of wire sticking out of his skin for about a month... Ew!

He healed ok though, and is back to riding games.

Another one; At our zone SJ comp a horse threw it's rider in the warm up area and bolted, and ran over a lady sitting on the sidelines. It stood on her face and broke a bunch of bones... Ugh.
 
#3 ·
i have had quite a few.......
I found my sister laying in our neighbors pasture with her horse standing over her. Both were covered in blood. Vanessa(sister) had a concussion and a broken leg. Chic (gelding) had a huge flap of skin hanging from his chest. No one know exactly what happened. They both recovered and kept riding.

I was riding my gelding Dandy, who was abused before we got him and is quite spooky. Normally he does ok when your on him and only acts up when you mount. Well i was riding bareback and he got spooked by a rope. i remember him bucking and me landing on my butt. i then stood up and passed out. sometime later I walked into the house covered in blood and told my mom to get the horse. i cleaned up and layed on the floor. I messed my back up really bad and couldnt sit up or down with out help for aout 3 weeks. It still bothers me sometimes

Riding Dandy once again. well I was probably about 15 mins into the ride and things were going great. We were going through a trail in the woods at my house. Suddenly he just blew up. No warning or anything. Just started bucking. I held on for about 6 bucks and tried to gain control over him but I lost my sturrip and flew off. My head was about 4 inches from slaming into a tree. Dandy had taken off and was now at the barn. i haven't ridden him since that day. I have ridden other horses but not him.
 
#4 ·
i had a horrible experience with the first horse i owned (not my gorgeous rocky i have now). he was an appendix qh and we'd been having a few issues at the canter. he wanted to just canter as fast as he possibly could and i was trying to teach him to collect. well one day, he got really really mad at my pressure and took off bucking. well i rode the bucks and was trying to calm him down so he looked back at me, put his nose in the dirt and did one of those cow kicks straight into the air sending me straight into a metal fence. the impact ruptured my liver and i have a scar on my thigh. after i fell to the ground, he then proceeded to try and run me over.....needless to say i never rode him again and sold him as soon as possible. of course, i found him a good home. he's now being ridden by a guy who does eventing. we found out he got along much better with guys. go figure.
newhoo, i dont hate him for it, but that incident scarred me. i'm still nervous at the canter because of it but my lovely arab rocky takes such good care of me. he's always conscious of whether i'm okay up there and will slow down if i start to get nervous.
 
#5 ·
Ok well my worst experience doesn't deal with falling off or getting injured. I hope it still counts though. Ok well I used to ride at this barn (we left after this happened) and I went for my afternoon lesson as I always do one day. There was this one little girl I knew there who was leasing this pony named Dotty (an appaloosa of course!). When I arrived neither me or my sister saw any sign of the cute little appy. We assumed she had to be in one of the back pastures. Well a little later the little girl walked into the barn with her grandma. She brought her grandma so she could show her her pony. Obviously they couldn't find her either. I was in the cross ties trying to tack up for my lesson but I couldn't help over hear them talking too the barn owner/instructor. They had sold the pony without saying anything to the girl's family! The girl started crying and it was all really ridiculous. I told my mom what happened and she and I agreed it was time to leave. It was hard to say goodbye to my favorite horses (especially the one I was gonna lease myself, Jazzy) but it was worth it. To make the matter worse, several weeks later i got word that another one of my favorite horses, Cherokee, got colic twice and had to be put down. It was horrible!
 
#6 ·
Mine is the current agistment arrangement Im in.

The people have no idea how to run a horse business. So far, baby has has cuts on his pastern from wire, Moe has been mauled by one of their horses, and it would have put his neck out if I hadnt been there to chase it off, poor baby was trembling like Ive never seen a horse tremble before.
And this really ****** me off. They went away and left their herd, including a stallion, running in the paddock beside my horses, one of which is a mare. I show up one day to find them in my horses pasture, their stallion running with my mare!!!!! I was so angry!! And then as I was trying to put them back into their paddock, I discovered the gate had been only held closed by BAILING TWINE, which they had broken to push the gate open. And they have the nerve to say its not a big deal!!! Havent even apologized.
And then there is the cattle that pushed over other fences, and left barbed wire trailing everywhere. They STILL havent been fixed, and its over 2 weeks now. Ive had to pull bits of wire back into place, cos there were only the two bottom strands left and my babies could just step over and escape (or be tangled in the crap on the other side). But its a shabby fix, and I dont see why I am fixing their fences for them when I am paying to have my horses there and the contract says they will be responsible for maintaining fences.

They are the worst horse people I have ever known, and my babies are being rescued very soon, and hopefully its not to late by then :mad: And once my babies are safely away, these people are going to get a reputation that will ensure they never have the opportunity to put another horses welfare at risk again :'(
 
#7 ·
i had to think a minutes...i had bad experiences...my riding accident....and another thing from the ground. Since i was all drugged up and ...i think the other is way worse.

I wanted to get my son a horse and stay competitive so he can show one day and not be laughed out with his arabian. I sold his arabian to buy this 2 yr old Trakehner. Most money i ever spent on a horse. I bought him over the internet only seeing videos and pictures...i got a lot of trouble for that from EVERYONE! I just had a good feeling tho. Turned out it was a good purchase.

He arrived about the beginning of May last year, and like all new horses was a little leary of us, but was slowly coming around. He really took to my son.

We needed the paddock to do some riding...as the paddock he uses doubles as our outdoor arena. So I went to get him and was just openeing the gate when he spooked on me. Pulled the rope outta my hands giving me rope burn. I managed to close the gate as he went BERSERK. The lead line was dragging and hitting him totally freaking him out. He made a trip around the paddock and headed straight for me and at a very obtuse angle he jumped a 4 foot gate.

He kept running...I tried to run after him...but its only so fast due to my riding accident. We have a U shapped driveway...so he ran the back of that and headed for another field which he jumped a creek to get to. He did a circle in that field. I called to him...and he made a whinny noise so pathetic.

Then he headed for the road. and the direction he was going was to HWY 11....not a major HWY but busy enough for people who dont want to use the 400. My heart dropped. I ran back in the house and called everyone. I also called 911...i can just imagine the poor people i called..i know i was very incoherent then. I had called my son's coach...and she laughs at me to this day about it.

I waited for a cruiser to pick me, and when he did show up, they had good news for me. Miracously, the horse did not go to the HWY, but turned into an open field beside it. A woman cop with horse experience who happened to be nearby, was the one who caught him. My son's coach walked the horse home for me and we got shielding from a police cruiser (so cars didnt drive too close as he was worked up) till they got off HWY 11. And then another friend took over.

He got home safely with only a few scratches and worn shoes...This was his birthday too that he did it...just turned 3.

worst day of my life with a horse.

On the bright side, the horse has changed, he is a total sweetheart and is now mindful of being handled and does not panick when a lead is dropped anymore.
 
#8 ·
Ok my worst experience involving a horse wasn't actually me riding.. thank god! So some friends of my mom have a small barn and a couple of horses and I go to there house quite often to ride their horses. A girl from up the road and her friend who had some riding experience had come down to ride as well. The people had just bought a new horse a couple weeks prior and she was still getting used to everything. We were riding this horse and a couple others in one of the paddocks. Several people got on and off the new horse, rode her all around, trotting and cantering her. Anyways, not sure what it was but something set her off, don't know if she spooked, was just extremely excited due to the new surrounding, or possibly the fact that another horse that she did not get along with had just passed her but something set her off. The girls friend was riding her at a quiet trot and suddenly she broke into a canter and took off, then she started bucking, and I don't mean little hops I mean head to the ground HUGE bucks, needless to say the girl went FLYING off, landed on the ground which wasn't exactly soft after a dry dry summer and broke her collar bone. We had to call an ambulance to come and get her and I get really nauseated in situations like that so I took all the horses in and untacked them while the others tried to keep the girl from going in shock. I was in the barn when the ambulance arrived and I have never heard such a horrible painful scream in my life. Worst thing i've seen/heard by far.
 
#9 ·
Hi

My worst experience was when i was about 12 yrs old i was riding my mare out the back of a show ground in a warm up area when all of a sudden she took off and was heading for the fence i tried to turn her but she ran straight through a wire fence and the pole split and flung up and took out her eye we both hit the ground and the next thing i remember the vet was there and he put her to sleep and operated in front of me had night mares for months

she survived and gave me a beautiful foal jet black with a big blaze and 4 white socks

but unfortunately there was a huge storm 3 weeks later and because she only had the one eye she couldn't see the foal and the faol went through a fence abd broke it's neck

sorry but you asked for my worst experience
 
#10 ·
Wow, I have so many stories from growing up with a horse trainer that are a little bit........scary.

First: My Dad, Brother, and I were trying to pen some cows for a friend. They were wild as bedbugs and started running the instant we walked into the pasture. So we take off to try to get around them. I was about 200 meters behind my Dad when I see him and his horse disappear. I immediately rein to a stop and trot slowly up to see what happened. While they were running, the horse did not see and fell into an old creek bed. It was basically a steep sided ditch about 5 feet wide and 4 feet deep. When the horse fell, he summersaulted and smushed my Dad against the side of the ditch. Cracked a couple of ribs and knocked the wind out of him. Scared the crap out of me though, I think I was only about 7 or 8 at the time.

Now for mine: I was 15 and was working on training my second horse by myself. After doing so well with the first one, I (like most teenagers) got cocky and thought I could handle anything. She was a HUGE red roan mare. I decided that she was ready to go trot some circles in the pasture instead of the round pen. We did fine for the first few circles then she spooked at something and got me off to the side. When she saw me hanging there, she blew completely up and went to bucking....HARD. I stayed with her for a couple of jumps but I was already leaning to the side and she kept jumping away from me so I couldn't get my balance back. She did this big jump with a sunfish and off I went. I landed on the right side of my head and my right shoulder. When everything kinda stopped moving and I tried to get up, I couldn't move. I laid out there in the pasture for about 3 hours thinking I had broken my neck. Finally, I started to get some feeling back (you know that really irritating tingling feeling?) and managed to crawl back to the house. I spent a long time going to the chiro every day and now I still have problems with my whole back staying out of alignment. I don't blame her, I know it was my fault for pushing her to do something that she wasn't ready for.
 
#12 ·
My "worst" was when we fist got our horses and ponies. I was riding Savannah, and my mom was on Zeph. We were trail riding and i as in the lead. But my step father was on the tractor (in the woods wtf?) and i gingerly walk 'Vannah around it, and then she started trotting, ears pinned. I leaned back, said "whoa" but she took off at a fast canter, then galloped, tuned left then, on a dime spinned right, and my saddle slid left. A tree was coming about to hit my face, so i let go, and hit the tree. Savannah galloped back to her field, stirrups pounding her sides. Mom cantered up and said "Manda did you fall?!" I was sitting on the ground laughing, horseless, so i said "Nope i just turned savannah invisable." lol. I got her back, hopped on and rode her again! it was funny lolz
 
#13 ·
My worst fall was last year.. I'd been riding my thouroughbred doing lateral work and trying to teach him passage (he LOVES to do it accidently but just doesn't get the idea normally =P) hes a bit dead in the sides so i wear spurs on him while doing lateral work to keep him awake and listening. I was asked by a good friend (who is an AWESOME dressage rider and won the national championships the previous year i think) to ride her percheron cross jumping, as she's only jumped a grand total of about 10 jumps in her whole life haha. I didnt expect her, but she came to our place that day with Rocky and asked if i could ride that day. I agreed eagarly, as i'd rode him on the flat previously and he was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!! As i unsaddled Barney and rugged him and the pony, she saddled up Rocky. Coming out of the stables she was in the arena with Rocky ready to go. I jumped on him and did a bit of flat work, and he was just as i remembered.. Fricking tear worthy!! haha.. He'd do everything perfect!! Rocky's owner asked if I'd like to jump him, and as i replied yes she warned me that he'd jumped less jumps than her, so i should be careful. I was well aware that horses that don't jump/do dressage or are introduced to something new can go flippo, but as i'd trained other successfully before, i didnt think there'd be an issue. It had started to drizzle, and it was so cold i had goosebumps under my jacket. I'd only planned to do maybe 4 jumps, but it turned out to be a lot less than that. The frst jump i pointed him to was a simple cross trail, only a foot high, which he cleared easily. I had to U-Turn for jump 2, and it was a 2 foot spread which Rocky didn't quite agree to. Rocky's owner called out that he was being lazy, and was never worried by spreads before so "give him a big kick!!".. who was i to argue with a champion rider and her own horse, so i did what i was told. Rocky soared high over the jump, and i thought we were going to make it...until his back feet scrambled and i knew it was going to end badly. It was then that i realised that i hadn't taken my spurs off. I remember a loud scream, and i was shocked to find out days later it came from my own mouth. Everything went black for a while, and i woke up with a broken pole still in a cup holding my back up, with two wings on top of my face, and a horse on top of my lower body. I kept hearing high pitched blood-curdling screams; half from me, half from Rocky. I blacked out again, and was woken by someone calling my name. The wings and horse had been removed, but i could smell the rusty stench of blood everywhere and i wasn't entirely sure whos it was. I felt pain in my right knee, and couldn't feel my right toes. I put my hand to my knee and it came back drenched in blood. I looked down, and my lower leg was twisted and at a 45 degree angle to where it should've been normally. It turns out I'd fractured a rib, dislocated and hyperextended my knee and as a result I'd snapped my inner ligament, stretched my centre ligament, and my outer ligament had healed funny (as in fused together shorter) and my cartilage had turned into poridge. I'd also suffered a concussion and a sprained wrist, plus my back was put out of place (again) when I'd landed funny on the broken pole. Rocky had a slash in his right shoulder from the broken pole, and a sliced fetlock from him thrashing on fallen jump cups. He got stitched up and recovered fully (with minimal scarring!!) and we went back to our training program after we were both ready. Now he's jumping 1* with his owners cousin at non-official events..and winning!!

I don't blame Rocky AT ALL for the accident, i blame myslef for not thinking clearly. He is a wonderful boy, and i wish him and his new owners all the best!!
 
#15 ·
My worst riding accident is when i was riding my old idiot standardbred gelding, went absoloutley nuts on me because he knew i was inexperienced and i asked him to do a 20m circle and then he did about 6 pigroots and bucks then he would just bolt forward and then on the last buck i came off then he kicked me in the back really hard. then he ran off and started grazing like he did nothing wrong LOL
 
#16 · (Edited)
Mine is a little different

I live my worst experiance every single day

This is Daisy
Horse Mammal Vertebrate Stallion Mane


She is a little welsh pony.

Dasiy has been living on my farm for four years, and I have handled Daisy a minimum of twice a day - now to explian what makes Daisy my worst experiance.

Daisy was so badly mistreated that she has completly lost all trust in people, Even though I have been handling her for 4 years now I still have difficulty in getting anywhere near her when she is loose in the field.
I have to concentrate 100% when I am around her - one worng step, one wrong tone of voice and she panicks blindly, I am totally convinced that she will never change - one other trainer told us to put her down because she was beyond all hope.

Daisy is a really sweet mare and never does anything wrong, so can you imagine how bad it is for us , who love her to bits , to have to live with a pony that is literally scared sh**less of us - even though we do her no harm, have never done her any harm, and never will do her any harm.

And I am going to have to keep living with Daisy for the rest of her days - she is only young so we have a lot of years ahead of us.
 
#17 ·
One of the worst experiences I've had was in December '04 I was waiting at the end of our Christmas Parade in my patrol car. I had my oldest daughter with me at the time she was 10. While we were waiting for the parade to start moving there was a group of people on horses mostly adults and a few older kids but there was this one little girl around 6 maybe and a little boy of about 3 riding doubles on this horse well over 14h tall in the parking lot not far from my patrol car. The horse was dancing around it showed clear signs of panic. I told my daughter disaster is fixing to happen and before I could get out of my car and make my way over to where they were to try to calm the horse it bolted into the crowd along the road, bucked, kicked and slid on the pavement throwing both the kids off. They flew up about 2 feet higher than crashed to the ground ( on the pavement) I took off at a dead run fighting the crowd to get to them another officer called for an ambulance and as the ambulance approached to get through all the people the driver hit it's siren well that freaked another horse out that had a rider of about 12 on it. It went to bucking and tossed the little girl as it came down one of it's back hooves caught her in the arm you could hear the bone crack.
The first little girl had a gash in the back of her head, bystanders were applying pressure to stop the bleeding & the little boy didn't have any visible signs of injury but you knew he was hurt. They got them loaded in the ambulance and took off for the hospital while another medic came to tend to the little girl with the broken arm. The horses took off for parts unknown. While the ambulance was enroute to the hospital I overheard them on my radio calling for lifeflight the little boy had suffered a major concussion and lost his vision he was going downhill quick, Children do not fair well with massive head trauma( mind you none of these kids were wearing protective helmets) They air flighted the kids to a larger hospital 40 miles away where they both were admitted the little boy was placed in ICU for quite some time.
All of this happened within a couple minutes, I had just told my daughter that I didn't know who those kids parents were but they obviously didn't know a thing about horses because that horse was totally freaked by all the people, noise etc and someone was going to get hurt.
After all was said and done I told her "Now THAT is what can go wrong with a horse, that horse had no business being in the parade let a lone with two very young riders"
The kids they all were eventually ok but that day stuck in our minds and still to this day seems like it was yesterday when it all happened.
Parents need to realize a horse is a powerful force, it is a flight animal and when threatened or scared it will do whatever it feels it needs to, to seperate itself from whatever is causing the fear. The horses did nothing wrong the parents however almost lost their kids because of their ignorance or stupidity whichever was the case.


Sorry it's so long!!
 
#18 ·
I have two. The first one was when my sister was 13. I had been taking lessons for years, but she had never taken any. I was leasing a horse that was usually well behaved, but could get spooky and didn't like nervous riders. I was riding him in front of my family, and my sister got jealous and demanded to ride him too. I tried to warn my parents that it wasn't safe, but they thought I was being selfish and made me get off. We were riding in an outdoor arena. She got on, and halfway through the first time around, the gelding freaked out and broke into a gallop. My sister had never even trotted...much less ran. She fell off and was dragged for two more laps around the arena before she finally came loose. Her hip was broken, and to this day, she still has pain and numbness.

My other experience involved a appy gelding that had a bad habit of rearing. I was working him in a round pen and I had a halter on him with a lead rope. As usual, as soon as he got tired of working, he reared. The first time it was no big deal and as soon as his feet hit the ground, I made him run. I tried to bring him in again, and as I did, he flew up into the air with so much force that I didn't even have time to drop the rope. My arm instantly dislocated and I felt it tear. I went to the ER and I've had to have three surgeries to help repair it. It will never be the same and it forced me to quit my job as a full time barn manager. I can only have horses as a hobby now.
 
#19 ·
Well.. I have two stories about bad experiences to share, one involving me, the other me being a witness to a shocking event..

Anyway, the first one is. When I was 9 years old. I had been riding for about 7 and a half years. I was doing cross country at pony club, but a horse had gotten free from the arena near the corse,

The horse that was free, ran out in front of my horse, my horse (Danny) did his best to keep me safe, but I came off, and the horse that had gotten free, started to buck, but as he did, he kicked me in the side of the face, just above my right ear.

I was air lifted to hospital, had to have a metal plate inserted into my skull, and was in a coma for 9 days,

My parents were told that they should expect the worst, as I might never wake up, but surely, 4 days after they were told, I woke up :)

Thank god that I am still alive today, and apart from shattering my skull, that I did not affect my brain in any shape or form. :) I am a lucky girl, and I thank the doctors and medical staff that saved my life :)

I in no way blame either horse for the accident, I blame the stupid girl who got so angry with her horse she got off and hit him, in result he took off before she could hit him again, and it was just bad timing that this poor horse got in the way. And I am greatful that neither horse was hurt when this happend :)

At least this accident had no long term effects and I was riding the next month, if anything I was brought closer to horses after this incident :)

....

My second story, (I would not wish to go into much detail with) .. but my uncle was a jockey, and one day, when he was riding and we were at the races, he fell from a horse he was riding, and was trampeled to death :( ..

I miss him greatly! .. And it was not the horses faults because they could not stop in time to avoid him, and if they could have, they would have.

... oh and sorry for such a long post :P
 
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#21 ·
Either:

I've had a horse go through a barbed-wire fence with me. He didn't even stop. Chest and shoulders all shredded and bloody, it healed fine, but I never did care too much for that horse since then. Luckily, my outer thighs were fine, and the horse is a happy camper now. He was a steer-dogging horse, turns out.

-or-

My white horse who spooks easy when tied. I was washing my other horse and the white horse spooked and set back. The rope got caught on the gate, ripped the gate open, and knocked me underneath the other horse's legs. He cut his chest and leg open pretty bad when the gate swung open. Thank heavens for that other horse standing still, or my head would've been flat as the dirt I was laying on. That was about a week ago.

Nothing too, too bad.
 
#22 ·
Or:

We were working cows, and I always was trying to be up to par like all the boys. My horse Turbo (everyone joked and called him "Bones", that's all he was, lol) was little scrawny thing but pretty tall. I'd always rope calves and all kinds of stuff off of him, and he'd do fine. We were trying to gather a few steers that had mixed in with the momma cows, and I went ahead and roped this one that was about 600 lbs, dallied off, and went to pulling him back into the pen. The steer had other ideas, ran back passed us and flipped poor Turbo and me over. Ever since then, though, Turbo always would dig his hooves into the ground and really get down when we pulled other cows. (Though we avoided the bigger ones)
 
#23 ·
Mine have not been all that traumatic so far *knock on wood*, but I will tell anyways.

Whenever my great uncle was still living, he let me ride his QH/Welsh Pony mix. She was old, fiery, and had a mind of her own, but I was 6 and didn't really understand this. We were riding out in his big pasture one day, and she took off running with me. I was young, so I thought this was cool. BUT, then she just stopped and proceded to lay on me. The saddle horn went into my stomach and bruised my diaphram(I think that is what it was called). That is mainly the reason for some of my acute fear today.

The second one happened a few years ago, didn't really affect me much, but still interesting to tell. Well, I was riding my old horse Lucy around the pasture. We were just having some fun playing around with barrels and cross rails and basically wasting time. She was infamous for bucking at the canter(nothing wrong with her health wise and the saddle fit, she was just one of them horses that always was so pissy about everything). Well, the pasture I was rding was barbedwire and electric fencing. I kicked her up into a canter(I am dumb..I know) and she did as expected, took off into a bucking rampage, and I stayed on until she started crow hopping, and with my luck, when I did go flying over her, my back hit the fence...yes, the electric part, and I must say, I have never been in so much pain in my life. It is nothing like I expected when I hit it. It is a shooting pain. It starts in one part of your body and just spreads.
Lucy was old, and died a year later, so I guess you can say she got what was coming her...
 
#24 ·
This is a touchy question to answer.
Nearly all of us being involved with horses at sometime or another will have had an accident. Sometimes you bleed, sometimes you don't. But you will learn thereby.
What never goes away is the memory of having to say good bye to a faithful steed and companion. My Father said 25 years ago, If I had not had the pleasure of the horse's company then I would not have had to pay the price of losing him. Over 35 years I have four sad memories of saying good bye and it doesn't get easier with practice. Whenever I think back on such events a tear comes to my eye and for a moment or two I can't speak because my lip is quivering. I firmly believe I am a better horseman for going through these experiences. What I do have however is lots of good memories and those are really precious.

Savour all the good experiences and learn from the bad.

B G
 
#25 ·
Last September

We were camping with the horses and friends at a lake about an hour from where I live. We try to go every year. They have a nice campground that's separate just for horses and their riders. Nice trails set in a beautiful forest...and it's very inexpensive to camp.
So anyways-it was our last day and we'd had an amazing ride that morning. We'd gotten back to the campsite and my dad was cooking lunch. The horses were all tied. One of them-the smallest we've got...a Tennessee Walker-was tied with a bungee type lead that his owner had just bought and was trying out for the first time that weekend. I noticed that he had something wrapped around his foot and was starting to back up, stretching out his lead. I walked up to him to unsnap it from the trailer. My dad saw how stretched out it had gotten and told me to move, that it was going to break. I went closer to Chance to unhook it from his halter and to calm him down. I hadn't even gotten to him yet when I saw the lead break. It flew past me and by the time I turned around it had already hit dad and he was on the ground, blood everywhere.
...skipping those details...he was taken to the local hospital then to another one an hour away where a plastic surgeon had to stitch up his face. My mom, younger sister, and Chance's owner went with. I stayed behind since the others that were there didn't know what to do to get the horses home. Fortunately the other campers whom I'd never met offered any support they could to help get things packed up.
When I took my mom back to the hospital to get him the next day to come home I could barely look at him. I'd never seen him in that kind of state and I hope to God I never have to again.
It's been nearly a year now. What scares me the most is what the emt told us. If dad had been a few inches taller, it would have hit him across the throat and killed him. The damage was that severe.
What also scares me is that if he hadn't have warned me...it would have been me. I would have been the one lying on the ground, holes in my face, scares to live with for the rest of my life, all at 20 with my life ahead of me.
"You never appreciate what you have til it's gone."
Take my advice-recognize what you have and appreciate it now. Don't wait until you almost lose it to see the value.
 
#26 ·
I was on my horse Versailles trying to move our cattle into another part of the pasture when a big bull came out of nowhere and started charging at us! Sai, being a clever Paint, dodged the bull, sending him sliding into the dirt. Well, that did it. He kept coming at us over and over again. We dodged him every time until one of his horns stabbed Sai in the chest. She reared, I slid off, then my dear little Paint galloped away in fear. The bull was pawing the ground and staring at me. When he charged for me, though, I climbed over the fence as quickly as I could.

Sai was cowering on the other side of the pasture, hoping the bull wouldn't notice her. We found out the bull had some wierd disease (not mad cow disease, not rabies) that wasn't contagious but made him aggressive. We had to shoot him because we were worried about the calves and cows and younger bulls.

Versailles' wound wasn't deep, so it healed quickly with a few weeks of care.
 
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