If you were badly injured....

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mickey

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in a riding accident (or by a horse on the ground) - Would you blame the horse? Would you resent that horse?

I broke my back severely a couple of yrs ago. I have metal in it now and some lovely long scars to prove it. People ask me how I can still ride the horse I had the accident on (my horse). My answer is that in no way do I blame my horse. It was rider error if anything. He put a HUGE jump in over a simple SJ fence, twisted in the air to make a left turn. I got left behind and fell out the side door. In my mind I couldn't blame him for being enthusiastic. It wasn't like he was being naughty or trying to get me off.

If on the other hand a horse was being naughty or nappy and I had been hurt, I really do feel again that if you aren't prepared to take on the risk of serious injury you shouldn't get on (or handle) horses. No one is forcing you to ride. Certainly not the horse. It's a risk we all take.....

What does everyone else think? Any experiences?
 

I've had a couple of nasty accidents that required a hospital visit/stay. The last one, I was kicked (by my yearling) and she split my kidney. when the consultant came to visit me he said "ah, another riding accident - and I suppose you don't blame the horse either?", apparently he had never yet treated a riding accident patient who did blame their horse lol
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Daft lot aren't we??

Both accidents were my fault completely I have never blamed either of my horses ..... now, if one of the daft nags stands on my toe, thats a different matter
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Difficult one but usually these things tend to be rider error or not staying on well enough! I think it is more a confidence issue rather than blame as to whether you still ride the horse that you came off once healed. It can be hard getting back on a horse that 'had you off' in some way.
I would not blame the horse as such because there is always a logical reason for them doing things or just being a horse...it's just you could not stay on as a rider!
My horse had a real strop in the early days of owning him which resulted in him bronking and diving around a field until I came off...I was lucky not to have injured myself badly and people were shocked at his behaviour and that I got straight back on and took him for a good hack as already planned. These things happen...it was naughty in my horses case but what can you do? There is no point having a go at him or smacking him because by the time you have swore and cursed, got back on your feet and brushed yourself down...it is too late...they don't know what they are being yelled at or smacked for!
If something serious happened and I hurt myself badly I could never sell my horse and know I would miss riding so would just take my time and get back on with it eventually...once the wounds had healed and my guts were strong enough!
 
Nobody forces us to get on their backs and ride around! If we choose to do so and fall off and land on our arses it is our own fault - whether the horse was being naughty or not! It's like walking into a lion enclosure and being mad at the lion for eating you!

When dealing with animals accidents are bound to happen as they are live animals and have minds of their own. People who don't accept this are the ones who are leading to this litigation society we seem to be evolving into
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where someone is always to blame
 
I fell off my pony in April & broke my ankle really badly, needed an op pins & plates. No I don't blame her, I don't really know what happened, we were cantering in the field in a straight line, maybe she slipped, spooked, I really don't know. I fell off left, but my right foot was caught in the stirrup over her back, luckily for me she stopped & I detached myself. I was back riding 10 days after the plaster came off, & jumping small fences 3 weeks later. It still doesn't work properly, but last night we jumped & I could definately sit better, with more weight in my right heel, & it felt the best jumping so far. I am not as confident as I was, but this is more because it doesn't work properly & is painful, don't want to be doing that again, so I am doing what I feel happy with for the moment & hopefully we will be soon back where we were.
 
I have had some horrific falls. One resulting in a slipped disc in my neck that was sitting on my spinal cord...Couldn't move/walk for months. But a very wise person told me, if you dont want to come off a horse dont get on one.

However, I do minimise the risks by riding horses with good brains. Gone are the days where I take un necessary risks.
 
[ QUOTE ]
if you dont want to come off a horse dont get on one.


[/ QUOTE ]

Thats exactly why i can't get my OH to sit on Blue!!
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I don't think my accident is classed as being badly injured (broke collar bone in two places, had it plated) but it came about through the horse I was riding being green and taking the opportunity to be naughty. Got back on her as soon as I was able to (feb) and she has since chucked me 3 more times as she learnt it was a fun thing to do
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She's a quick learner, and seemingly I'm just not!
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I don't blame her and don't resent her - in our case it was my lack of preparation and the circumstances. The fall that caused my break occured just after she'd come back into work after having months off, I was riding in the school in the half-light and someone started up a chainsaw next door. Had I done more ground work and desensitisation then she wouldn't have panicked.
Now, everything is going swimmingly
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She'll be worth all of the pain and heartache!
 
I used to think I would resent or be frightened of a horse that injured me, but a few years ago I watched a friend of mine get crushed by her horse after playing up at a jump. She died a few days later and I rode the horse until her partner arranged to sell it.

Seeing the accident showed me that whatever the horse did wrong it had no intention of causing that much harm - I was never afraid of him and I hope I would feel the same way if my horse every did something awful with me.
 
I've had 3 bad accidents on horses, one was a black cobx mare who went down forwards with me and then rolled onto me
second was a black TB that went over sideways on a very bad surface after rain - totally not his fault or mine - just grease and in a riding school situation so no studs and no posh arena surface (this was years ago)
3rd one was a very bad fall SJ whilst at Uni - horse got pole between it's legs and went down

if you've read this far you might just guess the next bit

the horse was black

so no - I don't blame any of the horses involved - but now I just do not ever ever ever get on or go near any black horses
 
not colourist - just very badly pranged on all 3 occasions - last one was the worst - that was a long hospital stay

now I stick to chestnut mares :-)
 
my 12 yr old nephew fell off my friends 16.2 and broke his arm its had to be pinned but the firsts words out of his mouth when he hit the deck was 'its not cara's fault!' he got back on another friends pony 2 days after plaster came off and was cantering round like a loon! and he wants to ride cara again!
 
I had a bad accident with my (black) pony two years ago. Despite surgery I am still in pain and have little use of my arm. Never, at any time, did I blame my pony and I still own him and love him to bits.
 
My ex was so badly injured coming off a horse that he actually flatlined and the hospital brought him back, about three times
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It wasn't the horses fault, she was attacked by a dog, that was let loose by a child...
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He didn't blame the horse - bred a stunning foal from her in fact.
 
Not if it was accident/rider error. If i was injured by Rock I would never ever resent him as he would never intentionally hurt me.

However when I was badly injured by my last horse, he kicked me in the head and also went over backwards with me rearing. I was lucky on both occasions not to have been killed or seriously injured - though my injuries were bad enough - and yes i resented him and disliked him but also feel sorry for him as he clearly had a problem with people, i just couldn't fix it at that age and inexperience
 
Depends how the accident happened, if it was a freak thing then no. But if the horse did it deliberatly then yes I would probably get scared and not want to ride it anymore and I probably wuoldn't be that fond of it either.
 
I don't think you can really answer this. I would say that 99% of the time a fall is one or more of
> rider inexperience
> rider error
> bad luck (like a slip or a bad jump)

but when I was thrown off (and i say THROWN rather than fell), I was riding a 4 yr old horse I was backing. We knew other people had had trouble with him before I got him and my boss told me he was likely to be 'difficult' but together we had a go anyway. We took a lot of precautions, took his education very slowly but even so, the first time I got on him in the school (with my boss there) he bolted and threw me off, I ended up in hospital with a spinal fracture. Sitting on him when he bolted, there was no question that he wanted me OFF HIS BACK in the way a wild horse would try to shift a wolf or some other predator. He was swinging wildly left and right to try to get rid of me. And he took off before I had even settled into the saddle. It wasn't as if I had actually *done* anything that he hadn't experienced before (I'd sat on him in the stable lots of times to get him used to the feeling).

So I guess in that situation would say that it was his fault I came off. But I don't blame the horse 100% because it isn't his fault he was a bit crazy... but he was one of those horses that is always waiting for something to go wrong and when it did he would flip straight back into primal survival mode. I don't know his history before I got him or whether this was a 'Nature' or 'Nuture' issue but it has made me wary that there are some horses out there who really will try to deck you, not because of something you did but because they have some deep rooted fears and issues.

I acknowledge these horses are rare and that I was unlucky to come across one however.
 
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