Horrific Accident

[gokartbandit]

Went out with the Badsworth & Bramham Moor yesterday (only our 2nd time). Had a real blast, but saw an horiffic accident. Poor pony was about to go over a jump next to a cattle grid. Pony refused and attempted the cattle grid instead and didn't make it. He was stuck in the grid screaming . When he finally made it out there was blood everywhere, he looked to have deep cuts down to the bone and someone said they saw his tendon hanging out.

It really made me stop and think........

Do you see things like this often out hunting?

 

[RLF]

OMG how awful, poor pony

 

[tw1nn1ejo]

My that is awful. Unfortunatly things like this do happen. I've never seen somthing like that and hope I never will but not too long ago, very sadly, someone died.

 

[rcm_73]

There are some horror stories usually due to rider error rather than horse...someone I knew hit a horse full force on the head with a hunting crop because it reared up out hunting. The horse dropped to the floor and let's just say it never reared up again. I hoped the git involved had a long walk home.

 

[Fairynuff]

OMG I feel sick just thinking about it. How must his rider feel! I didnt see anything near as bad as that, just the usual cuts and bangs. Normally it was the riders who were breaking things and not their horses. Anyway of finding out what happened to the pony? Mairi.

 

[gokartbandit]

I'm not a regular member of the hunt, so not sure if they will give any info out, but am planning on e-mailing the hunt secretary to pass on my good wishes and to enquire how they are.

 

[Ereiam_jh]

They are so strong yet so fragile. My daughter's pony broke her leg and it broke our hearts having to put her down. The tragedy is that apart from the shattered leg she was perfectly healthy but you know that the only way from there will be downhill. At the end of the day if they aren't going to be able to walk/.trot etc then they have to go.

So sad.

 

[Blizzard]

how awful, that poor pony

 

[Acolyte]

Never been hunting, but went to see the Ledbury Hunt Golden Button ride on New Years Eve - the ground was knee-deep water, there was an absolute pile-up at the second fence (option of either a hedge or a ditch) and one horse just wouldn't get up. Thought he might be winded, then saw him try and get up - needless to say he went straight back down again, report in H&H said he had broken his back. The awful thing for me was that they were calling for the vet about half an hour later - just hope it was for a different horse, and that the faller had been put out of his misery.

What you saw sounds completely horrific, poor pony

 

[KatB]

I saw a horse go down a cattle grid, absolutely horrendous, it went down, then tried and tried to get up, eventually it did, slipped again, and its leg snapped. Still haunts me. I wont take a horse hunting without 100% control now, as the image of that horse trying to stop, and skidding straight into it has stayed with me. Brings tears to my eyes now.

 

[Ereiam_jh]

What broke our hearts was having an animal that we loved so dearly with just it's leg broken and still having to put it down.

When you think of the injuries people go through and we still keep them alive.

It totally broke my heart thet our pony had to go, but I know it was for the best.

 

[buckybee]

Arr thats so horrid. hope he/she is ok!!!

I've seen a couple of horses have heart atacks hunting and 1 person die, and also 1 that got cought up in wire and later had to be PTS. but thats in about 15 seasons.

Unfortunatly I've also seen my best horsey ever and my mates horse die in even more horrific situations on the road.

Hunting is dangerous, but so is everything else, especially roads IMO. As long as you konw what your doing it's ok, but hunting can be very dangerous for newbies, and they don't seem to know it! x

 

[Breezesbenefactor]

There are some horror stories usually due to rider error rather than horse...someone I knew hit a horse full force on the head with a hunting crop because it reared up out hunting. The horse dropped to the floor and let's just say it never reared up again. I hoped the git involved had a long walk home.

It makes me so mad when I hear about people hitting their horses, don't they get it it requires patients and understanding everything you do is a partnership and it has to be a bit of give and take. Very sad tale about pony I trust its pain was short lived.

 

[WelshRareBit]

What a terrible shame. A horse i used to know and adored was lost out hunting last week. Broke his leg. Ive never been hunting but I can imagine it must be terrible to see. RIP

 

[lisamarshall]

I've just joined the forum because I saw this topic.

I went to that hunt yesterday & although did not see the accident I overheard somebody talking and wasn't sure if a horse had gone down one or not.

My horse went down a cattlegrid on a pleasure ride in April just gone & it is the worst thing in the world!!! She ripped open her front leg below her knee right down her leg, right to the bone and severed an artery. They thought she had 2 hairline fractures when she was x-rayed but luckily somehow she managed not to & they were gas lines. She also cut open her back leg and was pumping blood everywhere. She actually fell down it 3 times before she managed to get all the way across it, was in the vets for 2 weeks & bandaged on box rest for months.

I can honestly say that i know how they feel & am glad i didn't see it happen again.

However my point is that hopefully the pony will be ok & it is amazing what they can get through, but my heart goes out to them!!!

I can honestly say when I went to that hunt last year I never really noticed the cattlegrids, so it didn't cross my mind before we went, this time i did nothing but notice them & my friend planted her horse between us & the grids.

 

[Ereiam_jh]

Hitting a horse in the head is a totally ignorant thing to do. Hittiing one on the rump is a different matter.

Hitting people in the head is bad enough but doing that to a horse is just wrong.

 

[dunc_n_toby]

OMG, how awful! I was going to go to the same meet but my horse has a cold. my head girl used to groom for BBM so I'll see if I can find out how the pony is.
Such a terrbile accident

 

[gokartbandit]

OMG, how awful! I was going to go to the same meet but my horse has a cold. my head girl used to groom for BBM so I'll see if I can find out how the pony is.
Such a terrbile accident

If you could get any news that would be good. The hunt secretary has replied to my e-mail and said that the horse is receiving the best possible care...... but that could mean anything.

 

[Clodagh]

How horrible, hope pony recovers.
I have seen some horrible accidents out hunting, both horse and rider, but not many in relation to the numbers taking part. It could happen anywhere, but is so sad whenever it does.

 

[ali985]

OMG thats terrible poor pony, hope it makes a full recovery, all I have seen out hunting is a horse slipping on mud and only slicing his leg slightly nothing like any of the stories above.

 

[smilincow21]

I was out one day when a horse had a heart attack. All we could do was to take its tack off and let it pass away! I was in tears for hours afterwards! It was a 27yo horse and the owner had kept this horse for 20 years, it had never missed a seasons hunt, and later the owner told us that it was the best possible way for the horse to pass away, doing something it totally enjoyed!
Afew seasons back, I also witnessed a horse that got stuck in a bog upto the neck! If it wasn't for the teamwork of the whole hunting feild I don't know if it would be alive today!

 

[gokartbandit]

I really have mixed feelings about hunting after this incident. Not sure if it is worth the risk. We did have a fantastic day other than seeing this accident.

We saw 2 loose horses so that's at least 2 people that fell off somewhere along the way! My horse fell over whilst galloping (my first fall from her) and someone told me there was a horse that got entangled in a wire fence and cut it's leg.....but then you have to remind yourself that there were well over 100 horses out on the hunt, and if these same horses had been out hacking locally instead that day, the very same accidents could have occurred wherever they were?

 

[walker1234]

I read somewhere a long time ago that cows were so stupid that you actually only needed to paint lines on the road and they wouldnt go over it. I wonder if this is true and if so why cant we get rid of cattle grids altogether?

 

[polyphonic]

ive seen one accident involving a horse & a trailer. the owner was heping my friends hose load into my trailer, when her horse panicked for some reason, came over the breastbar and somehow managed to get hes front nearside leg over the top of the front unload with his head and his neck and his right leg when through the window in the front. after about 10 mins of trying to get the poor man back in we succeeded only for him to get over again. it was heartbreaking to watch and many men were upset by it, the vet was called immedialty and i phoned the vets the next day, and they advised me that he hadnt made it through the night but thats all they could tell me. also a lady on our yard had a hunting accident 4 years ago, where here horse jumped a fence but ended up rotating and landing on her, needless to say people thought we had lost her and she was taken to hospital where she was in a coma. 4 years later, her and her horse and still around and enjoy hacking everyday and some occassional hunting

 

[polyphonic]

i dont think after seeing all of that i would like to go hunting again, it put a black cloud over my feelings for it, but then i have seen many an accident team chasing, hacking, at local shows so accident are going to happen aslong as we continue the sport! its just enivatble and lets hope its none of of us!

 

[k9h]

Seen many an accident every where. From hacking to hunting & competing.
Loaned my ex Grade B mare out for this chap to ride out with his daughter & he rode her into a cattle grid. She stopped at it as only walking (would of jumped it if she had been trotting or more) Stupid man kicked her into it & as she was such a willing horse she walked over it. Trashed her legs struggling through it then collapsed when she got out the other side. Luckily a field away was my friends place who had stables. So we left her there till she was fit to travel. Weakened her legs like anything. Could never jump her again.
Hunting have seen 2 horses with nasty over reaches 1 smashing his pedal bone so had to be PTS. Another one jumping a fence slipped & managed to stake itself through its chest.. Was PTS by Huntsman asap.
Horse tangled in wire as been cut up before fences by others.
Out hacking horse falling down on roads.
Horse gashed its forehead in lorry whilst waiting to compete. (Peter Charles did say if it was a 15K grand prix then to jump!) But as it wasn't I took her home & got her stitched up.

Accidents happen everywhere. If you see a car crash it doesn't stop us driving. People trip up & break limbs on pavements but we still walk on them. Horses can & do, do themselves injury in the field but we still turn them out (Jack aka Stanwick Ghost broke his leg in the field)
If you do anything there is a chance it may go wrong. Hopefully it wont & will go great but we never truley know.
All we can do is take care & try our best.

 

[magic104]

Our vet is still recovering from brain injury from hunting late last year. His horse slammed into the fence, suffered some injury, but Mike had to be air lifted to hospital.

 

[Gingernags]

I used to hunt a fair bit as a kid but never saw anything bad at all. Though one local hunt, a photographer who always used to go to the main meets, fell backwards off a bridge into a stream and died. Not long after the huntsman was killed trying to get hounds off a railway line, the train hit him and several hounds, though he saved most. I hadn't gone those times...

And one of the whippers in lost his favourite mare last year - staked herself on a fence. He had to put her down himself I believe.

But others are right, I've known horses be put down after field accidents - if its going to happen - it can happen anywhere.

I do hate cattle grids though. Nasty things. There aren't many here except on the moor top where the sheep etc aren't fenced into fields.

Cannot believe the man who rode one posters mare over a cattle grid and wrecked her legs even at walk - what on earth did he do that for? I'd have killed him!!!

 

[smilincow21]

Accidents happen all the time, and it is only one in a hundred thousand chance of it happening to you! Hacking accidents are far more common, especially on roads. Even competitions have their dangers! I once went to a local show when this man was competing on his horse. The horse fell whilst jumping a fence and as it stoodup it stood on the mans stomach! It was really messy and as you can guess he didnt survive. It just shows you should wear a body protector!
Also turning out horses into feilds has its risks. You hear all the time of horses escaping from their fields and running onto main roads, or getting impaled on fences. What ever you seem to do withhorses their is always an element of risk, so I wouldn't worry too much about it!

 

[ru-fi-do]

OMG poor pony and family. Unfortunatley i think accidents like this do occasionally happen. My friends dad hunts but takes it very slow as he is nearly 70 so he tends to open gates, he was trotting along once and his horse went down a hidden grate that wasn't visble by the riders as it had overgrowth over it. His horses back legs went straight down. He was very very lucky and got away with some nasty gash's and grazes but the vet said had he been going any faster he almost certainly would've broken a leg.