Has your horse fallen more than once? or regularly? so worried :-(

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luckyjac

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Hi, my horse fell on the road 6 weeks ago, made a real mess of her knees, she is a lovely laid back horse, probably too chilled, I was completely concentrating but it all happened so quick and she was down , so gutted about it all and of course will be wearing knee boots in future, but I am just so worried shes going to do it again, im a nervous wreck even taking her to the field, so was wondering if anyone had any experience of this? was yours a recurring thing or a one off freak accident? Thanks x
 
Yes - I was trotting along a lane about 18 years ago, and my horse suddenly tripped and fell, damaging her knee's.

She tripped coming in from the school about 6 weeks ago and fell then too, but thankfully there weren't any trips in between these.

After the first trip, I too always used knee boots for years.
 
Mine fell a few weeks ago too, he'd not done it before but like you it did worry me that it might happen again and was rather distracting the first few times out on the road.
Nothing happened though, everything is back to normal and we're just carrying on as we were before once again.

Just waiting for the last bit of hair to regrow on his knees so that he stops looking like a naughty school boy!

Hope your girl heals quickly:)
 
Maybe she just lost her footing like we do sometimes, in a world of her own and tripped! If she doesn't do it when schooling I doubt there is an underlying problem.

I agree with putting knee boots on just in case. Keep her busy to, so she doesn't wander off in her own world and is always concentrating on where her legs are!
 
My big lad tripped and went flying on a road , and managed to take most of the skin off both front knees , mainly because he tried to save himself and ended up scrabbling about on the floor . I blame myself really because had I been making hi pay attention , instead of us both bimbling along admiring the sunset , we probably wouldn't have tripped .

He was off for about six or seven weeks , and when he recovered , I bought a fabulous set of knee boots to protect his knees .

Two hacks later , he slipped on a notoriously slippery local road , and took the skin off both hocks :rolleyes::eek:

That said , that was 7 years ago , and he's not done it since !
 
Mine did it once a year or so ago with my mum on. It's the first time he'd ever done that and I did worry that maybe it was the start of a problem (he's 21 now). However, he's not done it since and had never done it over the previous 16 years. He did once slip on the road on his side as, unbeknown to me he'd lost one back road stud. That left me with a broken collar bone that one! :)

I do think some horses - the heavier ones with larger feet - can have a tendency to be a bit heavy on their forehand and trip over their own feet, especially those who may be inclined to be a bit lazy and not pick up their feet properly.
 
Check length of feet, navicular, when riding more contact get them off the forehand not washing line reins. Hope her knees heal soon.
 
Mine has gone down on his knees on the road twice in 7 years, once tripping on a very uneven surface and the second time due to something slippery that some workmen had left behind. Recovered fully both times but it does make you worry about it more.
 
I will never ride out on roads without knee boots on - the tarmac is so slippy nowadays.

Put it down to one of those things, it can sometimes happen and their is nothing sinister in it.


Also ask for road nails


Be positive and you are positive
 
horse shoes on tarmac give no purchase, so they can slip through no fault of their own. I would not worry excessively, unless it continues to be an issue, keep the knee boots on. I have had horses slip on wet grass, and the road, usually a reason. Not been a rcurring problem for me.
 
Mine fell once on a stony bridleway was very scary luckily only scuffed knees. Does small trips every now and then but think is when due for shoeing.
Always hack out in knee boots. Just invested in the Westropp combined ones as fed up of other falling down
 
My youngster falls over her feet quite a lot so I have knee boots on when hacking.

No point worrying about it, she will have knee boots and unless she does it all the time I think it's just like people, sometimes we trip.
 
Mine went a bit stumbly and fell on her knees a couple of times and also would dip her back occasionally. This coincided with a new 'fitted' (!!) saddle. Swapped back to her old saddle and she was fine again, not done it since. Needless to say the saddle was returned!
 
Thanks for being so positive everyone ;) I have just got to stop being silly (the fact that she just caught her toe on the way to the field the other day where it is uneven hasnt helped but I am watching her every footstep at the moment). We have road nails and now rolled toes, I have got my jefferies knee boots so got to get back out and enjoy her!! Does anyone have any pics of their horses in knee boots? not sure how loose the bottom strap should be, I know they need to not restrict but be so that they cant flip up??
 
unicorndreams said:
Mine went a bit stumbly and fell on her knees a couple of times and also would dip her back occasionally. This coincided with a new 'fitted' (!!) saddle. Swapped back to her old saddle and she was fine again, not done it since. Needless to say the saddle was returned!
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I did have her in her new fitted saddle?????????????????????????????? :eek: oh god it did cross my mind but she seemed completely happy!! I got her in may and was using an old saddle that the saddler said was ok for the time being, then got my new one which i was riding in that day. I hope that is just a coincidence.
Did your horse fall as a result of her dipping her back do you think?
 
Hi luckyjac, mine fell twice tripping up at the front so I tried positioning the saddle a little further back to make sure I wasn't impeding her shoulders, that's when her back dipped so badly I thought she was crippled! I jumped off real quick and swapped saddles which she was fine with. Its worth bearing in mind that brand new saddles do need rechecking after 6wks or so as the flocking settles. You could always try swapping back to your old saddle to see if that makes a difference.
 
Mine went down on Saturday on forestry track, her own fault was too busy being nosey looking around. Only a little graze. Have gone over the top and bought loads of different boots to see which seem best :o

I would get saddle checked again if I were you
 
One of ours went down on the new-style 'tarmac' they use these days. So slippery when first put down. Luckily we always use knee boots because the damage to the boots was extensive, I would never go out without them now.
 
Mine has been slipping badly at the back end and getting very close to hitting the deck, both ridden and on a lead rope. Had the vet out to thoroughly check him over and he said the horse is 100% but the roads between the fields (which have recently had the councils money saving "dressing" treatment) are way too slippy and for a shod horse it's like ice skating. I use road nails in winter but he has recommended to keep them all year round. Fingers crossed the slipping is now very small slips until the road nails dig in and do their job.
 
The bottom strap of the Jeffries knee boots should be loose and the top strap nice and tight.
Unfortunately if the new SMP road surfacing is not laid correctly then it is very slippery for horses. Contact the Highways Department of your local council as they will be well aware of the problem and will get the contractors to resurface it properly.
 
OWLIE185 said:
The bottom strap of the Jeffries knee boots should be loose and the top strap nice and tight.
Unfortunately if the new SMP road surfacing is not laid correctly then it is very slippery for horses. Contact the Highways Department of your local council as they will be well aware of the problem and will get the contractors to resurface it properly.
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yes i will do, thanks, that part of the road is bad actually, so bad that we had tar splashing up the car when we had that real hot weather. how scary!
 
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