How have you been dumped off of a horse?

I've fallen off twice... Both times thanks to dogs. The first time, my brother and I were riding (taking lessons, but not very conventional... long story, generally wasn't a good thing) and a dog came out of the cornfield we were riding by. My brother was afraid of dogs like many little kids and tried to shoo the dog away--while holding the reins! His horse bolted and thanks to the herd instinct, mine followed suit. My brother and our teacher, who was riding double with him, hit the ground in a few seconds. I managed to stay on almost until the horse stopped. I hit the ground about 10 feet from the corral where he stopped!
The second time, the dog popped out right under my horse and scared him. He took off and a kid riding with me whipped his horse around to cut him off. Smokey stopped and I went off sideways. I was set to ride it out (I'd dropped the reins) so I wasn't ready for a sudden stop. Sprained my ankle. Almost gave up riding completely because I wasn't allowed on a horse until the ankle healed and by then I'd gotten too worked up.
Haven't fallen since, but I've ridden several horses. I'll probably take my next spill soon as I'll be riding a high-strung retired barrel racer. Oh well, I'll live!
(What's your story, btw?)

Ok so my first time was a few weeks ago. I was riding with my boyfriend's mom on a horse named Max because my horse Tex had stepped on a nail and was still healing (he's completely fine now). We decided to ride down a road near her house and close to some fast and busy roads. At the end of the road there was a trail we were going to ride on. Just as we get to the entrance Rascal, Lisa's horse, saw a little bird. Now one thing you need to know about Rascal is that he loves to spook when he isn't the least bit scared of something. So he sees the bird and I know there's gonna be trouble so I brace for impact because he often runs into me in his mock terror. The problem is that Max has a very wide back and no withers which makes it nearly impossible to find a saddle that fits him well. So true to form, Rascal freaks out at the bird and bolts and Max follows causing me to crash to the ground. As soon as I am off Max starts trotting calmly down the center of the road. We soon realize he's not stopping or coming back and he's heading for the main, very busy road. So Lisa tries to take off after him but Rascal, being aptly named, starts bucking and rearing after him. He did this so the Lisa couldn't catch Max until half a mile later a few feet from the big road. I had to sprint the whole way to keep up. When she caught him I got right back on and we rode the rest of the way home. We had quite the story to tell my boyfriend and her husband when we got back :lol:

i've fallen off four times the first time i was going over trot polls and the horse in front of me knocked it out of place so my horse triped and i literaly rolled off i hit my neck the middle of my back and my tail bone my tail bone still hurts its been like 4 years. the second time i jumped a jump waaaay to high the person kept sayin go for it blah blah you can do it i knew i couldn't i lost my stirup and i fell i rolled in the dirt. the third time i was riding a horse and he bucked and i flew off and into a splintery rusty nailed fence, i have a huge scar on my chin cause of it i fell bad i couldn't hear or see for a few mins and when i finally could i couldn't get up and i looked down and started paniking more cause i was bleeding yes i couldn't even feel that i was completly like out, i almost gave up riding it i didn't ride for a few months. when i got on again i was doing ok then i fell of a running away horse o-o of course i was still scared cause of the third fall it has just been recently i started riding

I have more stories than I care to share, lol, but I will share a few of them.

One, my horse decided he was going to be a race horse for a day. I think he may have been stung/bitten by something (but we never did find out) and he took off full speed around the arena with NO control. After about 10 laps I was trying to get him into a corner to help me stop him and he started slowing as if he was going to stop - then he shot out to the side and I came tumbling off.

Another time (same horse) we were at an outdoor dressage show and it was rainy and muddy. Everyone's horses were refusing to go into the corners, bucking, etc. So we go out there and my horse is being an absolutely ANGEL, we probably would have won the class if not for what happened. I asked him to pickup him right lead canter and instead he bucked, according to spectators I flew like 6 feet in the air and then I landed on my butt in about a foot of mud.

Another time, I was jumping in a lesson and I guess I was really not paying attention. We were coming up to a little vertical and I guess I just expected him to go over it but he veered off to the side and I did a somersault down his leg and landed on my butt again. Right as I hit the dirt, a friend who was in the stands stood up and yelled "NICE DISMOUNT!" Lol.

And one more that I can remember right now - I was schooling a little pony mare over fences and she refused and I did a flip over her head and ended up on the other side of the jump.

Haha, I have more stories somewhere but I can't remember them right now.

Geez, I cannot remember all the times I have come off a horse LOL. I will just hit some of the worse or most recent ones.

I was 9 and trying out a "kid horse" that a doctor friend of my parents was looking to buy for his daughters. My brother and I were loping down a road and as we passed a vacant lot on the right. My horse saw some kind of boogeyman and sucked back to the left. I went flying off his side and when I went to break my fall with my hands, I shattered my left arm. Broke one bone in 3 places and the other in 2 before shoving all the little bone fragments through my wrist and up into my hand. It took 2 surgeries, 4 screws, 1 pin, and an external fixator just to get it back to the shape it was supposed to be. Spent all summer in a cast before going in for another surgery to remove the screws and pin. Dr's said I would probably never have use of the last 3 fingers on my hand (pinky, ring, and middle). However, I do have full use, just some limited mobility and pain.

Then when I was about 14 or 15, I was starting this huge red roan mare. I pushed her too fast and got her out in the pasture before she was ready to be out of the pen. She got spooked, jumped to the side, took a huge buck, another spin, a rear, a lunge, and another huge buck. Down I went and I hit on the right side of my head and the top of my right shoulder. I don't think it knocked me out but I layed out there in the pasture for probably 2 hours thinking that I had broken my neck because I couldn't move. After a while, I started getting that tingly pins-and-needles feeling all over and was able to crawl back to the house. I spent the next month going to the chiro like 3 times a week. I still have neck and back pain thanks to that witch.

One of the more recent ones was off of a little Arab gelding I was training. I was riding him in the country on a fairly windy day. He was going along fine until he saw the windmill. All of a sudden, he sucked back, spun, and then did this huge rear-lunge thing that just dumped me out the back of the saddle. I hit on the right side of my back. I am fairly certain I ended up with a pinched nerve because I had random shooting pains down my right leg for a while after that. As if dumping me wasn't enough, he ran off and left me to walk like 2 miles back to the gate that he was waiting at.

I hadnt fallen off for about a year until i started learning trackwork at TAFE. I have fallen off 5 times in total, including 3 out on the track. =/

The first time was when I was out on the begginers track horse called Medulla. Sometimes hes a bit naughty, btu hes just fun to ride. Anyway we were crusing along out the other side of the track and out of nowhere he did this massive buck. Head between the legs buck and I just got dumped. Good thing he stayed, but I couldnt vault back on so we pretty much walked abotu a 1000m back to the teachers. lol

The second time was Mr T and after a weekend with no work he gets quite strong. Well, we did two laps and he started to get really strong on me and then when he headed out to do his 3rd lap I lost him about half way though. He wasnt galloping, but it was a strong canter and he just wasnt responding to me trying to pull him back. He went flying past the gap (and about 98% of horses slow down cause they know they are finished) and he just started bucking, pigrooting and all that jazz. I stayed on all that UNTIL we ended at the rail and he ducked out and I just went over his shoulder and underneath the rail (very lucky I didnt hit it) and Mr T galloped off around the track in the wrong way by himself. Now that was a very amusing day.

And finally, I was riding Shorty for the third time and I hadnt quite figured him out. He spooks badly (he has pretty much dumped everyone!) and has to wear pacifers. Anyway if you go to slow on him he looks at everything and spooks, but you cant go too fast or he will grab the bit and run. Anyway we were travelling down the straight part of the track, and I didnt see anything but he just slammed on the brakes and I just came off. =/ I wasnt very happy with myself, but I managed to get a leg up back on and finished our lap. lol

lol, some very amusing times =]

Fell off just yesterday...

Yesterday I went to the barn where I ride and the instructor wanted me to ride one of the lesson horses. I had never ridden him before, he is a horse that they usually use for the less experienced riders but my instructor wanted me to ride him in the outdoor arena because she doesn't have anyone else that is really able to handle him outside (he is deathly afraid of one of the long rails and one of the corners). He also hadn't been ridden in 2 weeks and needed some exercise.

Our ride was going nicely. He was being pretty spooky (it also didn't help that 2 of the barn cats were hiding in the bushes) but becasue I made him go in the parts of the ring that he didn't like, he seemed to be doing fine at the walk and trot.

My instructor had me to pick up the canter and we were doing fine for 3/4 of the ring... until we got to the "scary" part. Out of no where, he jumped sideways 2 times, my saddle slid to the left and I fell off and landed sitting on my butt.

He immediatly stopped, I got back on, and he was fine for the rest of the ride, we even did some 2 foot jumps and he was an angel!

As a child/young teen I fell off more times that I care to remember.

The first time I fell off was when I was at a show with a friends elder horse. I got a leg up because she was too big for me but she moved forward and I went behind the saddle, started hopping and I fell off. There was a blurry video of it and all you could hear was my mother laughing her head off, and then me crying.

A fall that particularly sticks out for me was when I was on a trail. I was riding my horse and my mother was on a push bike. These trails were in a city/town sort of thing, so we came to this high fence with a small trail running down it, we were about to turn down when an emu came up to the fence, and sort of pushed its head forward, as they do, to look at my horse. He freaked out. Spun on his hindquarters to bolt but while turning got the bike stuck on his saddle/stirrup. I went flying of and he bolted, kicking out like mad until the bike came loose and run about 5kms home without stopping.

We started walking back, me bleeding and bruised, and met a guy on the trail who said he'd seen the horse and was checking if we were okay. He offered me to ride his 17hh horse back, but to an 11 year old it looked like a monster. By the time we got back people at our agistment place were about to "mount a rescue" which was sweet. They had caught my horse, untacked him and put him in a yard.

These days I don't fall off - I have a fear of it so I just flat out refuse to come off and haven't for years.