Falls, injuries & prevention

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Morton90

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Hi
(I am a beginner rider from a non-horsey background with non-horsey friends & family, I have sooooo many questions)

I am enjoying this new journey, I am mindful about the strength, power and danger of horse riding. I know it’s a matter of when I will come off rather than if.

Questions I have avoided asking are how common are bad falls/ injuries? and what do you do to keep safe and reduce injury aside from what you wear?
I read most accidents happen at home/ yard, is that accurate?

Thank you : )
 
If you are riding at RS, they should be providing you with a mount which will look after you and respond in a predictable way. As for accidents when you are on the ground, practise reading the horses' body language, follow the RI/YO instructions at all times and stay alert.

Eta, learning how to fall to minimise injury could be a good idea, you might be able to find local classes online.

I have ridden for about 60 yrs, owned horses for 50 and my most serious injury (broken leg) was incurred while dog-walking, rather than riding.
 
I used to teach adults to ride on a crash course type situation. Within 16 weeks they would go from never having sat on a horse to being secure in walk, trot and canter both with and without stirrups. They would be able to jump a course to 75cm. To ride XC over banks and ditches, through water and cantering up and down hills. They would road work in busy conditions.

I averaged less than 2 falls per rider, and never had a serious injury. If you are learning and having multiple falls, I would change riding school. I have seen trainers who have a huge number of falls, and can see why: they tend to just push on with their own agenda, or are blind to what is actually happening on the lesson.

If you ride, then at some point you will fall. At some point the whole horse will fall too! It is all about mitigation and accepting that there is some risk.

I observe that for every 10 falls someone has, one of them will likely end in an injury that isn't just of the 'a bit stiff the next day' type. If I fall, I look at why, to try to avoid replication it!

When I was competing at a good level, I seemed to fall once every 2 years from my own horses. I had a few falls from clients' horses too, where I was addressing a problem (obviously not well enough LOL). I had to accept that. I was jumping bloomin' big fences on very spirited and fit/athletic animals.

When mum was ill, I was her only Power Of Attorney holder. My head was elsewhere and I had 2 falls in 3 weeks. I could not take the risk, even though I wasn't hurt on either occasion, because I needed to be fit and well for mum. Because I no longer accepted the risk, I sold my horse and bought a cob that was sick and not even rideable at the time! Once life was more on an even keel, I bought a riding horse again.

So, there is a balance between avoiding falls whilst accepting that the risk cannot be eliminated.
 
Red-1 said:
If you ride, then at some point you will fall. At some point the whole horse will fall too!
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I agree about falling off. In my first 10 years of riding, i fell off once a year. Since then my falls have been rare.

But I have ridden and hacked for 24 years and have never had my horse fall. Nor seen another horse fall.
Please dont frighten me.
 
Gloi said:
If you are riding at a reputable riding school with well trained horses and not being pushed beyond your limits you would be very unlucky to have a bad fall unless you have health issues like osteoporosis.
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This is what worries me - I'm wanting to go back to riding after a 10 year gap but I'm now not only older (almost 58) but have osteoporosis in my lower back and one hip (osteopenia in the other hip) and Long Covid which comes with a whole host of its own issues, I'm planning on having a couple of sessions on a mechanical horse to see how my body copes and, if all goes well, would then have lessons to get me back into it, nothing too energetic, not looking to jump, maybe just gentle hacks, I just worry what will happen if I fall and damage my back even further 🙁
 
I watch a lot of horse riding videos on you tube (& have seen a lot of falls) which made me think they happen all the time. I have seen people fall off at my previous riding school, if the horse has suddenly stopped or a loss of balance. The accident on the movie horse whisperer was slightly traumatic to watch.

But it’s reassuring from your responses that it’s not too common for your every day rider x
 
Skib said:
I agree about falling off. In my first 10 years of riding, i fell off once a year. Since then my falls have been rare.

But I have ridden and hacked for 24 years and have never had my horse fall. Nor seen another horse fall.
Please dont frighten me.
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I have been riding for 60 yrs and can only recall 1 incident that could have been called a horse fall. I was walking, on my own gelding, when he caught his hind foot in a pothole and sat down. I slid gently off backwards. He had been trained as a driving cob to stay down until told otherwise, so he waited for me to get hold of the bridle and urge him.up. He was fine, I was fine.
I have had 2 falls in all those years that caused a bit more than a bruise. In my very early 30s, I was riding my young Welsh DxTB, cantering in a group, the group swung left, I dropped my weight to ask her to turn, mare wasn't balanced enough to cope with the hilly ground and carried straight on, while I turned and came off. I tore a muscle in my back, which still does cause trouble occasionally.
Then many years later in my 50s, I was bucked off my IDx, who turned out to have a back muscle problem and a headache, that caused a whiplash type injury which only manifested itself about 3 months later.
In between times, I may have had the odd tumble at a low speed or even a standstill (!) but they caused me no injury. I have never been much of a jumper though, a log in the wood has always been plenty high enough for me.
 
Maxine67 said:
This is what worries me - I'm wanting to go back to riding after a 10 year gap but I'm now not only older (almost 58) but have osteoporosis in my lower back and one hip (osteopenia in the other hip) and Long Covid which comes with a whole host of its own issues, I'm planning on having a couple of sessions on a mechanical horse to see how my body copes and, if all goes well, would then have lessons to get me back into it, nothing too energetic, not looking to jump, maybe just gentle hacks, I just worry what will happen if I fall and damage my back even further 🙁
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Make sure that you are taking the osteoporosis meds and have been doing so for long enough for them to be effective. My GP just told me to avoid jumping but my osteoporosis caused broken lower legs, not back problems.
 
Morton90 said:
I watch a lot of horse riding videos on you tube (& have seen a lot of falls) which made me think they happen all the time. I have seen people fall off at my previous riding school, if the horse has suddenly stopped or a loss of balance. The accident on the movie horse whisperer was slightly traumatic to watch.

But it’s reassuring from your responses that it’s not too common for your every day rider x
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It depends what you're watching though. If you're watching some of the higher risk horse sports, for example. There are also just a lot of people on the internet doing incredibly stupid things with horses which fairly unsurprisingly end up with accidents.

I am/have been quite a nervous rider so things I do to reduce risk are: ride at a decent riding school, on horses matched for my ability level, with a properly qualified instructor I trust will supervise me to progress at a suitable pace/not set me up to fail.

Also since returning to riding after/while having Long Covid. I am increasingly an advocate for off-horse exercise to improve my balance, suppleness, and strength. The difference this has made to my confidence because I am more secure in the saddle (and hopefully less likely to come off!) is huge.
 
Horse riding is a dangerous sport. Even the most steady horse can have a spook or a slip.

I'm a riding school rider. I've had falls over the years. Mostly when a horse has stopped at fence. Unfortunately, last November I had a bad fall when the horse I was riding bucked. I fractured my collar bone, and haven't got back to riding yet. I've had a few mechanical horse lessons and am hoping to be back on the real thing soon.

My advice would be to get good PPE. Get a good hat (MIPS if possible) and a body protector. I would also consider getting shoulder pads for the body protector. I have them now but didn't at the time of my accident. They might have helped limit the damage to my collar bone.

My other advice is stand up for yourself. Don't do anything you're not comfortable with. If you don't want to jump, tell your instructor. If you don't feel comfortable on a certain horse, ask for another one. Horses can pick up on tension, so don't risk transferring your stress to the horse.

There are a few places that run rider confidence courses. The Knights of Middle England and The Centre for Horseback Combat are 2 of them. They cover falls on these courses. I'm going to do one later in the year.
 
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I've been pretty lucky so far, in 28 years. I've had one concussion and assorted minor injuries - although I always think with horses you're only ever one bad decision, or one bit of bad luck away from something more serious so that could change at any time. Most of my falls were when I was younger and doing dumb things with ponies - back when I was young and bounced back on. I don't do so many wild things, and my horses are all older and established, rather than backing youngsters.

I've had a number of horse falls and seen more - I think you will inevitably see horses fall if you're doing a lot of jumping, or riding a lot of youngsters. Two of mine have fallen with me - one, in hindsight, has limited vision and couldn't read the jump (I had no way of knowing that at the time), the other was in a dog attack, and the horse slipped - pretty unavoidable.

Most other horse falls I've experienced / witnessed have been due to something undiagnosed and physical in the horse, or jumping (and to be fair, I'm talking about high end eventing type falls, which are way outside of my personal experience!).
 
Morton90 said:
I watch a lot of horse riding videos on you tube (& have seen a lot of falls) which made me think they happen all the time. I have seen people fall off at my previous riding school, if the horse has suddenly stopped or a loss of balance. The accident on the movie horse whisperer was slightly traumatic to watch.

But it’s reassuring from your responses that it’s not too common for your every day rider x
Click to expand...
Spectacular falls make good viewing so you'll get a false idea of how common they are from on-line feeds.

I've been riding more than 60 years & have mostly had the 'slide to the floor roll over & stand up again; nothing but the ego bruised' type falls. They're reasonably common but won't end up on YouTube. The vast majority took place during some kind of jumping scenario (but to be fair I'm rubbish at jumping).

Edited- I've never once had the horse itself fall under me, but then I've never pushed to the absolute limit round a xc course either.

In my experience serious falls that require an ambulance have resulted from someone full of adrenaline pushing a bit too fast, too high, trying to win a competition, or just plain showing off .
Even talking about the minor falls, a lot of mine were with hindsight, caused by adrenaline or peer pressure & could probably have been avoided.

Exercise a bit of common sense and be assertive. If you don't trust a certain horse, or don't think you're ready to do something, say so. There's no shame in "I don't canter this particular horse in company, I'll take the back road & meet you on the way home".

Everything is risky but if you miss out professional horse sports, riding would be less risky than sitting on the sofa getting fat.
 
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Thank you everyone, these forums are really invaluable for all my random questions.

My instructor recently asked if I was nervous at the start of a lesson, I think I get both nervous and excited, it’s a really strange combination.

I had to think about what I was nervous about and it is of the unknown/ doing the wrong thing/ falling and I am very conscious about hurting the horse- landing heavy on its back/ pulling too hard on the reins at a halt- do these things mean I am a nervous rider or normal for someone learning from scratch?
 
Pearlsasinger said:
Make sure that you are taking the osteoporosis meds and have been doing so for long enough for them to be effective. My GP just told me to avoid jumping but my osteoporosis caused broken lower legs, not back problems.
Click to expand...
I'm only on calcium tablets from GP, my last dexa scan scores were quite low so meds weren't offered, I'm hoping that the extra calcium and, trying, to do yoga and gentle walks is helping to keep the scores low 🤞
 
Red-1 said:
I used to teach adults to ride on a crash course type situation. Within 16 weeks they would go from never having sat on a horse to being secure in walk, trot and canter both with and without stirrups. They would be able to jump a course to 75cm. To ride XC over banks and ditches, through water and cantering up and down hills. They would road work in busy conditions.

I averaged less than 2 falls per rider, and never had a serious injury. If you are learning and having multiple falls, I would change riding school. I have seen trainers who have a huge number of falls, and can see why: they tend to just push on with their own agenda, or are blind to what is actually happening on the lesson.

If you ride, then at some point you will fall. At some point the whole horse will fall too! It is all about mitigation and accepting that there is some risk.

I observe that for every 10 falls someone has, one of them will likely end in an injury that isn't just of the 'a bit stiff the next day' type. If I fall, I look at why, to try to avoid replication it!

When I was competing at a good level, I seemed to fall once every 2 years from my own horses. I had a few falls from clients' horses too, where I was addressing a problem (obviously not well enough LOL). I had to accept that. I was jumping bloomin' big fences on very spirited and fit/athletic animals.

When mum was ill, I was her only Power Of Attorney holder. My head was elsewhere and I had 2 falls in 3 weeks. I could not take the risk, even though I wasn't hurt on either occasion, because I needed to be fit and well for mum. Because I no longer accepted the risk, I sold my horse and bought a cob that was sick and not even rideable at the time! Once life was more on an even keel, I bought a riding horse again.

So, there is a balance between avoiding falls whilst accepting that the risk cannot be eliminated.
Click to expand...
May I ask in your intensive course, how many hours is that in total in the 16 weeks?
 
I, unfortunately, learnt the hard way how to reduce my falling off. I do not recommend, and as @Red-1 said, if you are falling off too often, change riding school.
In my experience, minor falling off is relatively common (I own my own but ride at a riding school so see a lot of riders of different abilities that ride various horses, I also compete showjumping at the lower levels, this is for context, as a person riding a single well known horse will probably fall off less often). I now fall off roughly 3 times a year, mostly towards Christmas time when I'm more tired, less alert.
My recommendations to reduce injuries apart from the equipment, would be to reduce the falling off. For that, make sure you take into account your own fitness on the day when deciding whether to ride. If you're under the weather, maybe downgrade your plans that day. Also, make sure you work on your position and balance, these are what keep you on the horse. Lunge lessons and eventually no stirrup work are good for this. I would also recommend keeping a certain level of fitness and suppleness of the horse: it's harder to stay on if you are gasping for breath and I think being more supple reduces the impact of falls when they happen.
Horses falling under you can happen even without being reckless, but in my case it has normally been down to terrain- a hidden man hole cover in the grass on a dressage warm up, horse spooking off path into the snow, animal burrow under the bridle path that pony's foot went through though the surface looked solid, spooking of the path and falling over a bank concealed in the tall grass...
If it helps, I'm still in one piece after about 30 years of riding.
 
HelenMac said:
May I ask in your intensive course, how many hours is that in total in the 16 weeks?
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It was 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Adults. However, I also had to teach them to groom, lead, do first aid, travel, clip, pull a shoe, feed, muck out, do tack and know what tack to use, field maintenance, and ride in town centre traffic, so it wasn't all on the arena.

For riding, the first week was from half an hour to an hour a day, mostly on the lunge and we worked it up from there. By the end of the 16 weeks, it could be 3 hours training actively in the saddle a day, or up to 4 hours road riding. We also did horse chores for many horses, for a start, if training 3 hours actively, we'd have ridden 2, so groomed 2, done 2 stables, tack cleaned 2 - each. It used to include practical work and a whole load of theory. I'd include lungeing and long reining too, they were useful to understand more of how the horse thinks and moves, and how we relate to them.
 
Skib said:
I agree about falling off. In my first 10 years of riding, i fell off once a year. Since then my falls have been rare.

But I have ridden and hacked for 24 years and have never had my horse fall. Nor seen another horse fall.
Please dont frighten me.
Click to expand...
I don't really know what to say to this. They are horses, living beings. Sometimes they trip or slip, just like humans. Usually they just slip onto their asses, or trip and recover with just a scuff, but they are not like cars and planted on 4 wheels.

If walking on a good surface, with well fitted tack, good foot balance, good eyesight and the horse is attentive and not inclined to shy, buck, scoot or spin, of course the risk is reduced greatly.

I don't often fall over either, but have done several times in my adult life. I would risk assess that I am safe enough to carry a baby though.
 
Red-1 said:
It was 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Adults. However, I also had to teach them to groom, lead, do first aid, travel, clip, pull a shoe, feed, muck out, do tack and know what tack to use, field maintenance, and ride in town centre traffic, so it wasn't all on the arena.

For riding, the first week was from half an hour to an hour a day, mostly on the lunge and we worked it up from there. By the end of the 16 weeks, it could be 3 hours training actively in the saddle a day, or up to 4 hours road riding. We also did horse chores for many horses, for a start, if training 3 hours actively, we'd have ridden 2, so groomed 2, done 2 stables, tack cleaned 2 - each. It used to include practical work and a whole load of theory. I'd include lungeing and long reining too, they were useful to understand more of how the horse thinks and moves, and how we relate to them.
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Sounds amazing! I want to do this!
 
I’m also a beginner I guess, been riding about 9 months at a riding school and also recently started sharing a lovely (mostly) calm and steady cob at a local yard.
I’ve yet to have a fall but have had a few close shaves, mainly on the cob when he’s bucked, and once when spooked out on a hack.
I did nearly come off in an early lesson when I lost my balance in canter.
I’ve stopped worrying about when I’m going to have my first fall, and concentrate more on improving my balance and positioning.
I’d add though that I’m pushing 50 now and have no interest in all the high adrenaline stuff like jumping!
 
Back when I was a child learning to ride at a RS in the 60s/70s, falling off was considered part and parcel of learning to ride. In fact we played games that actively encouraged it. (Touching various points on your pony, culminating in 'touch your pony's fetlock' was a regular). Health and safety wouldnt allow these days, but it still feels odd to me to read threads where people expect not to fall off their RS mounts. I feel so old.

I have no desire to fall off these days though, although I'm sure it will happen again.

I've had a pony slip and go down with me once, many years ago. My older horse spooked and fell into a deep ditch with me on board, and my young horse threw himself on the ground in a paddy during a lesson (tbf we think he tripped over his own feet rather than deliberately going down). I've also come off over the inevitable spooks when I haven't been paying attention. Luckily never seriously hurt (touch wood).

I would recommend having the what3words app on your phone if you're out hacking. A friend came off and hurt herself when I was with her and although we were quite close to home we were in the middle of a stubble field and I didn't know the name of the road we'd been riding on. It occurred to me that I would have no idea how to direct the emergency services to us if I'd needed to.
 
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