Ouch. Possibly most ridiculous horse related injury ever.

[Meredith]

Things done once, hopefully never repeated.
1. DON'T lead youngster to the field with the lead rope looped through the head collar. Metal clips connecting with scalp at high velocity is not recommended.
2. Walking past stable door, pony headbutts me, I fall and find eyebrow is split. Meanwhile pony has frightened himself, thrown his head up and split his face.
3. Sprained ankle resulting from hurdling out of control wheelbarrow as it and I descend icy plank down muck heap but at different speeds.

 

[spotty_pony]

I currently have a massive bruise on my knee from walking into a wheelbarrow handle!

 

[npage123]

Haha - some very funny albeit unfortunate stories.

- Yonks ago during one of my very first visits at a riding school, just had the lesson on how to groom a horse, and was then sent away to groom one of the (which at that stage was to me) a massively big horse. His name was Sweets and he was very sweet and laid back, blind in his left eye. He stood on my one foot and I couldn't budge him at all, so someone had to run over to push him over.

- Very recently went on a nice little hack and my horse started playing in a puddle, pawing the water and splashing it as much as he possible. I enjoyed to moment too so laughed and then squealed loudly in delight but I must have sounded like a nearby mare in season or something because it made him jump sideways and go all alert and looky, and the combination of my already tensed up stomach from the laughing and trying to stay seated really really pulled my muscles in my side.

- (not horse related) I too lost the battle with the brambles whilst doing a bit of 'jungle clearance' in the backyard, when my long, loose hair got caught up in a particularly dense bit. I tried my best to detangle it but it was sort of at the back of my head so I couldn't see what I was doing at all, i.e. I was just making it tangle up more tightly. I was eventually forced to just pull away until I was free.

 

[armchair_rider]

Good skills everyone. Did the vet treat you as well as your horse OP?

Not directly horse related but I decided to have a bath when I got home from the yard a few weeks ago. I decided to scoot forwards in the bath to add some more water. Top half of me moved, bottom half didn't. So I sprained my back taking a bath.

Spent today on a first aid course. Now have a sore knee.

 

[npage123]

Just remembered the turkey incident... Was hacking and stopped to look at a turkey at another livery yard. My horse was absolutely fine and was a good boy, just curious as to what on earth that funny looking thing could be. The turkey slowly approached us when he spotted us, and he was still far away when my horse suddenly, and I mean without any warning whatsoever, decided 'I'm outta here!!!' and spun round so fast to bolt away that he lost his balance and fell onto his side in the road. That sprained my one ankle a little - luckily my horse was fine other than an abrasion on one hock and a somewhat bruised ego.

Another non-horse related injury was a few years ago, when my younger brother explained how to skate off of a sidewalk onto the road. He explained it very well and I executed it perfectly and was so chuffed with myself, but just as I looked up to him to look for a bit of congratulations, the skateboard shot forward from underneath me and I landed on my one elbow. Ouch! I did see stars for a few seconds and felt a bit sick, but it was hilarious at the same time. Never attempted skateboarding again after this.

Also had the bright - not - idea to buy rollerskates as we loved doing this as kids, and after a few minutes decided I'll kill two birds with one stone and take my Staffie along, and got him to pull me along by holding on tightly to his lead which was attached to his harness. He picked up speed and went faster and faster and only then did I realise that I'm not going to be able to stop... Had to stop myself by skating into a lamppost and hugging it. Never attempted rollerskating again after this.

 

[Annagain]

Good skills everyone. Did the vet treat you as well as your horse OP?

Not directly horse related but I decided to have a bath when I got home from the yard a few weeks ago. I decided to scoot forwards in the bath to add some more water. Top half of me moved, bottom half didn't. So I sprained my back taking a bath.

Spent today on a first aid course. Now have a sore knee.

He told me to ice it and wrap it and suggested some vetrap but that's all! It's easing a bit after a day of resting it, thanks for all the healing wishes.
Some great stories, I do feel a bit less daft now ��

 

[Crugeran Celt]

Once had a mare who was usually a sweet heart to handle but decided one day that she didn't want to come in over night and reared up and hit me right on the top of my nose on her way back down with her knee, knocked me out cold and left me with a very swollen nose and two black eyes. I worked in a bank at the time and having to explain that I really hadn't been in a fight to customers was very embarrassing. As most of them knew I had horses they accepted the explanation.

 

[southerncomfort]

Poor you! I know how much it hurts as I did the exact same thing running across the field in a pair of wellies! Felt such a numpty afterwards. Leg swelled up like a balloon and it was so sore!

My advice would be get yourself to a really good sports physio. I made the mistake of trusting the NHS doctors who were more concerned that it might be DVT! They just kept telling me to rest it and when it still hadn't healed after 5 mths I went to see a sports physio who was able to determine the exact muscle that I'd torn, gave me a strict regime of exercises and also ultrasound therapy to aid healing and within a couple of weeks I lost the limp and started regaining strength in that leg.

Good luck, hope it heals quickly!

 

[armchair_rider]

Well the first aid course is now over and I can report that I am sufferring from: a sore knee (from CPR), sore stomach muscles (from laughing my head off for three days, it was a good course), a bruised thigh (experimenting with dummy epi pens to find out how hard you have to plunge them infor them to work) and sore back/shoulder muscles (probably sustained whilst being a casualty).

 

[Cinnamontoast]

These happened to friends of mine, not me. One was catching in and another horse decided to buck and be a pain in the icy field. The ice caked in his shoe came loose and flew through the air like a projectile, hit my friend across the bridge of her nose and broke it. She had to have an operation to fix something up the nostril!

Same horse, I think, was being turned out by his owner, many years ago now. In high spirits to be out, he bucked, caught her with both hinds and split her spleen

My own 'ridiculous' injury: I always boosted up off a grooming box onto the 16.3hh TB I loaned and over time, my Achilles stretched to near breaking point. Both parents have snapped theirs and I'm terrified at the idea! It's very weak, forever twinging, makes me limp.

Not a ridiculous injury, a very nasty one: the sister of the OH's colleague was working as a groom and was catching in or turning out, can't remember, when the horse double barrelled her in the side of her head. Her skull cracked halfway round like a chocolate Easter egg, her occipital broke. There's a very obvious ridge protruding from her temple. If you are on the horsey Facebook page for my area, her story is on there with before and after pics. Made my injury pale into insignificance.

 

[Polos]

not really horse related but I dislocated my knee brushing my teeth haha

 

[npage123]

not really horse related but I dislocated my knee brushing my teeth haha

How did that happen??

 

[Tnavas]

Poor you!

Not quite an injury but very painful. Took a job Daffodil picking, bent over for several hours, the next day my leg muscles were so sore sitting on the loo was desperately painful.

 

[dibbin]

Not my finest moments:

I once ended up with a bruise on my lady bits because I was opening the field gate when Dylan nudged me forward and the gate bolt was in a very unfortunate place.

Last year I fell off cantering on a hack and hit the back of my head on the ground. My hat wasn't done up tightly enough so it popped forward and cracked me across the bridge of the nose. Had to ride the 3 miles back to the yard (after falling off again and getting stood on while trying to remount) with a bloody nose!

 

[AppyLover]

The evening after my boy arrived i took him back into his paddock and then the other one was taken out he freaked out thinking he was loosing a friend for the second time that day and tried to bolt and I kept hold of his lead rope and made him stand which he did but my finger felt a little off. Within minutes it had swollen up but i could bend it to begin with so thought nothing of it just thought I'd pulled something, fast forward 3 days my finger so swollen it wouldn't bend or straighten i finally gave in and went to the Drs who told me it was broken and splinted it straight for a week. At my follow up appointment they refused to believe i didn't have his rope wrapped around my hand (I didn't i was just holding it in my hand) they put me in a 90 degree splint for over 2 weeks because id broken part of my ring finger vertically from my knuckle joint towards the end of my finger. Almost 6 months later I still cant bend my finger properly or straighten it because when it was straight for a week the bone started healing in the wrong place so I now have a 2 bumps either side of my knuckle which is where the bone slipped down a little, I most likely will never be able to have proper function back in it and at my last appointment they made me do one of those weight pull tests to see my strength and I pulled 48 with my good hand and 44 which she said is stronger than what some men pull and I'm a girl and most likely the cause for such a bad break my just holding on to it. My Appy and I now have a brilliant bond and he will do anything for me but I do tell him he didn't need to hurt his new mother day one for this to happen haha

 

[TeamChaser]

I took my notoriously unwilling horse xc schooling and managed to dislocate my thumb, rupturing ligaments in the process. Wouldn't mind but we were nowhere near a jump at the time, he spooked at a bird! Didn't fall off but as he ducked sideways at speed, had my hand against his whither, almighty crack very quickly followed by impressive swelling and bruising. Was in plaster for 6 weeks - grrrr!

He's now a hack and I have a 2nd, more willing partner, for xc!

 

[saltpetres]

Ahhh, you lot Horses are dreadful, gotta love 'em.

I'm currently sitting here with bruises everywhere and bright red tiger stripes up my arms from landing in the ONLY patch of gravel in the yard today Everywhere else is lovely soft grassy soil!!!! WHY IS IT ALWAYS THE GRAVEL. Landed on my head first, then shoulder and elbow...bare elbow, meet gravel! I thought I was playing it safe having mum lunge me while I worked on my position (I've had a couple of years off due to illness and I'm horrified at how riding-unfit I am!!!!!! ahhhh getting it back is not nice) had a good session, horse going round beautifully, calm and happy...knotted up my reins to work on my balance...all good - then cue him suddenly tanking off bucking and swerving side to side like a mad thing and reins riding up his giraffe neck out of my reach, my 5ft nothing mum dragged along on the end of the line, me leaning forward to catch reins, horse doing a lovely sliding stop and me skidding across a patch of gravel on my head and elbow I also have inexplicable tiny splinters all over my hands. Good job me. I shall keep my reins at all times now. What an idiot

One time I was riding a friend's old and usually absolutely angelic pony down a dirt road, popped into canter, she took a fright at the great big puddle in the middle of the road, tripped over her own feet and went down, I went over her head straight into the great deep perfectly-human-bath-sized puddle soaking wet head to toe - but that wasn't it - she kneed me in the eye socket getting up! She flipped out at that, I was up and grabbed her quick but she snapped her bridle and took off down the road :/ I had a beautiful black eye, massive egg on my browbone, and a bit of a concussion...took us ages to catch her, walking for miles with mud down my pants, then I had to go sit in the A&E (still all wet and covered in mud) for hours waiting for brain scans lovely. I miss that pony.

I've often done the fall off/I'm fine/get up super fast to make sure horse is ok/horse is fine okay relax/HOLY COW I'M VERY INJURED I DID NOT REALISE OH DEAR WHERE IS THAT BLOOD COMING FROM.

My most utterly ridiculous injury and also most painful one wasn't horse related - I snapped the tendon in my toe climbing up a net barefoot in a playground at a water park I was an adult I've had a lot of injuries but LORD that was painful. Entire front of foot swelled and went blue within ten minutes and was the most excruciating pain I've ever felt. Utterly ridiculous. Docs said "nothing can be done, wish you'd broken the bone instead!" The pain got a little better but lasted for two years, no joke, and five years later if I twist the wrong way on my toes - ahhhhhh. I also can't move that toe anymore, it just sticks up

Once I sat on a hammer (not a euphemism!) while replacing floorboards and injured my coccyx really badly...
I also took the top off my toe rollerblading with one rollerblade on and one foot bare. Don't do that.

 

[Lucyad]

Dislocated and fractured my shoulder in 2 places, slipping on the gravel in my driveway while loading horse to go to a show - had to get my good tweed jacket cut off! No one would believe I hadn't fallen off, when I arrived in hospital in full show gear...

 

[shemp]

I dislocated my knee putting a bucket on the floor with my horses feed in 👍🏼

 

[Kittykins]

One of the school horses was a weaver so they hung a heavy block of wood on a bit of rope in his doorway. I was absentmindedly scratching his neck while talking to someone. He moved his head in such a way to catch the rope and it swung back clonking me squarely on the nose.

Amazingly it didn't bruise or bleed, although I did see stars for a bit, but I do still have a small chip of bone askew.

 

[Feival]

really bruised my knee being pulled over, by the yard rottie trying to chase the Shetland. she jumped the Hesston of straw with no trouble, I went over it like a scud missile and landed with a splat!