Worst injury from horses?

Never been in hospital *touch wood* but I've had some pretty nasty falls and several incidents that could have been a lot worse!
As a 12 year old my horse fell on top of me. Same thing happened several years later. I was fine both times, aside from whip lash and lots of bruises. The second time I hit my head and blacked out (only for a few seconds) but still got back on and rode home. Then when I was 17 I was bucked off while galloping up a steep hill (bareback and hatless...no excuse other than the fact that I was a daredevil/ idiot at 17), landed flat on my back (by the grace of god didn't hit my head!!) and bruised my lower back/ coccyx so badly that I couldn't walk properly for a week. I really should have gone to hospital then, but I wouldn't admit to my mum how badly I was hurt because (for obvious reasons!) I didn't want to tell her exactly what I'd been doing at the time!
Then recently I was kicked in the head by my one of my boss's horses! Really difficult mare who always seems to be out to get you! She is so funny about having her feet picked out, she has all kinds of tricks which make it pretty dangerous. A new one she tried that day was kicking forward with her back leg while I was trying to get her to pick up her front one. She caught me just about my eye but luckily she doesn't have back shoes on and it was a proper glancing blow, she only just caught me. That is one that does make me shudder a bit about what could have happened!!
 
Like a lot of people I think I've got off pretty lightly compared to some, however:

Cracked nose and rib (cue panda eyes - aged 7!)
Concussion (a few times, but only out cold once and you could squash my hat in half after so it did a good job)
Cuts and bruises (on one occasion I matched the purple tableware at a wedding day after the fall!)
Broken rib (silly me got between him, the fence and the breakfast bucket)
Broken toe (bl**dy thunderstorms)

Oh, and I got totally run over one day when he doubled back through an open gate and I was facing the other way!!! Result more cuts and bruises, face looked like I'd been in the ring with Amir Khan :(

As to tempting fate . . . just off to do the horses now, oh dear . . .
 
Chipped shin bone from being stood on a bit.

Broken nose/forehead area from being kicked in head.

Minor knock outs from falls.

*touch wood* Nothing too awful! Still have the scars from first two however and enough daily aches.
 
Broken Ulna (forearm bone) have got it plated n pinned 4" scar from my wrist upwards.
Broken right foot.
Snapped tendon on middle finger so now have a crooked witch finger.
Compound fracture to both bones in leg 2" above ankle (Bones suck out n bleeding) had pins, plates, muscle transplant, vein transplant and skin graft to keep leg.
 
I don't know what mine is.
Broken foot
Ruptured ITB at insertion
Fractured spinous processes at thoracic spine and a couple on lumbar spine
Knocked unconscious
Broken nose
Broken jaw
I've also broken a rib (which now hasn't healed properly, if at all, and cracks and clicks on command!)
Countless neck injuries
Broken fingers and toes

Can't think of anymore, but my most severe fall? Definitely the one over summer which trumped the lot on recovery - a 750kg horse stood on my elbow. Now have damage to my ulnar and radial nerve in my arm, weak wrist and elbow muscles, and a lovely horseshoe shaped hole in my elbow! I still have moments where I'm in agony, almost a year later.
 
WombatStew said:
Worst fall involved landing on my feet from a gallop and breaking both legs, an ankle and a dislocation of the other ankle. Several weeks in hospital and numerous surgeries and I was riding again with knee high casts on both legs! Probably not the best idea as nine years on they still give me massive problems. Dread to think what would have happened if I'd have landed on my back or head!
Click to expand...

oo - snap!!! Came off at a gallop and ended up with bilateral fracture-dislocations of my ankles. Wasn't allowed on a horse again until I got all my casts off but am now 6 years post surgery and still have issues with the most recent surgery just over a year ago mainly due to pretty severe arthritis developing in both ankles so they are now both fused which definately helps
 
I've been riding for 60 years now - and still alive - although quite a few years were on other people's horses, breakers, racehorses, etc etc. Not riding much now - no time - and I have young folk to do it for me.

Worst injuries: a concussion and cracked cervical vertebra (horse threw himself down because I refused to fall off!) Two dislocated knuckles and broken bones in the right hand (due to a kick) - a few minor cases of concussion, bruises and strains. And last week I was mown down by 4 very pregnant mares who decided to bolt through me - that's caused a knee to play up. Not bad!
 
cracked coccyx coming off an ex racer

Squished discs in my neck when my tank of a friesian got her foot caught in some rope and took off, it hit the back of my knees, flipped me upside down to land on my head - OW. The neck still causes me problems :(

My mum did a lateral tibial plateau last september, is only just off crutches :/
 
Been riding 12 years
No server injuries but I know several broken vertebra and pelvises. Mine are:
-Bad muscle damage (unable to walk (without being in sever pain) for a week and physically couldn't run for 3.
- minor toe fractures/nail being partly pulled off
-teeth through front lip
-broken wrist + dislocated knee
-dislocated knee another 3 times
-concoction
-ankle and wrist sprains
- head being hit against the wall (yes there was blood)

I think that's it. There not too bad though, I've had falls where the horse has fallen over jumps and crashed into fences and I've never had more than bruising with them. I count myself pretty lucky.

I want to be a jockey though so I'm sure I'll have a longer list than that in 10 years, assuming I'm still alive haha.
 
I have bruised/crushed vertebrae between my shoulder blade and all the muscles around the area are kind of solid and regularly go into spasm.

I fell off a big warmblood at a riding school about 7 years ago now and managed to land flat on my back, I was badly winded and although I got back on I couldn't do more than walk a bit. I couldn't walk far for a while and couldn't run for a couple of months.

I'm doing physio/pilates at the moment to try and help it but it's just a constant ache all over my back almost all the time. Sometimes around my right shoulder blade goes 'fizzy' and numb so I think there must be some nerve damage too.

Doesn't help that a year or so later I fell off again and managed to somersault over a jump and land on my back again!

And then when I was at college I was trotting up the most sane horse on the yard, suddenly he jumped sideways away from me and I caught my ring finger in the end of the reins and it snapped across the joint nearest the nail. As soon I could just about move it I was riding again but quite often in a fist as it still hurt and does to this day when it's cold and damp.

I'm probably due a fall.. I haven't fallen off for a long time..! I've had a couple of near misses but my boy is pretty good in general, it'll be my own fault when I fall!
 
Slum dog I am very sorry for your loss I also fell off whilst 6 weeks pregnant the horse was normally very safe but she apparently (I don't remember) but in a massive jump YO recons it was well over the top of the 5ft jump wings (the fence was about 1ft 9) and I came off I was so lucky to not do any damage to baby but refused to have anything to do with horses through the rest of my pregnacy
 
I dislocated my ankle and broke it in three places last year. Had a week in hospital and an operation to plate it back together the a long road to recovery. Still gives me some grief now and I'm sure it will for a while yet.
 
Worst injury was a broken back that went undiagnosed, purely because of this reason. If it had been treated appropriately, may well be a different story. Spinal Canal Stenosis set in and it took nearly a decade for it to be diagnosed and treated via major surgery. Permanent nerve damage of course but I can walk, run (lol, rarely through choice!) and ride so all good. :)

List of injuries over the years:

Two severe concussions
One (very short) coma, leading to significant long term memory loss
Two times # cervical vertebrae
One # cheekbone
One dislocated jaw
One # collar bone
Too many times dislocated both shoulders to count really
Four # and displaced ribs
Two dislocated fingers
One # hand
Two # to same hip
One # lumbar vertebrae
One ruptured disc

Ironically most of the injuries were caused by staying on, not falling off!

It doesn't put me off horses at all. When you 'play' with the average 500kg animal, well, injuries come as part and parcel.

Horses are a passion for me and as long as I am able I will work with them. The reward and hard work makes everything else pale in comparison!
 
Some pretty serious stuff on here.
My two more serious falls, touch wood nothing too awful, caused a minor injury to my lower back, and more trivial but equally more painful, a finger nail got ripped off.
 
Anna* said:
Christ, I'm just getting my confidence back after a fall and reading these isn't helping!! I'm starting a 'who has never broken bones while riding" thread!
Click to expand...

Me, amazingly!

My worst was being chucked through a post and rail fence from a 15.1 TB. Luckily I had my racesafe on so 'only' ruptured a disc although the doctor taking 6 months to send me for an MRI meant that it has taken well over 2 years to heal, and ended up requiring surgery. It's also resulted in my left leg being a lot weaker than my right and I've damaged the collateral ligaments in my left knee after my leg collapsed from underneath me.
I have permanent numbness in my head from numerous concussions, the worst one being when I was driven to A&E with a head injury and they let me go to sleep in the waiting room... wasn't right for weeks after that one.
ETA: I have a shocking short term memory now, and forget words/get them muddled up as a result of the concussions!
 
Last edited:
Give me a dislocated shoulder over a ripped off fingernail anyway....they bloomin well hurt like a *insert blue air here*!

Hope your back is ok now though, I really appreciate how awful bad backs are.

Sorry, this was to Spottyappy, mustn't have done my reply thingy right!
 
Last edited:
Seriously, where is CinnamonToast?

Anyhoo....I went just over 30 years with nothing more than the odd bump and bruise until last May when Molly reared over backwards and landed on me on the tarmac.

Nothing broken but almost a year on and I still can't sit in a saddle. Any cold in the air and my lower back tightens up and gets very stiff and painful.

I did apparently break my pelvis really seriously, as in, broke the bone in half, it shifted and fused back together in a funny shape at some time between the ages of 5 and 12 according to the MRI, but I have no recollection of this???
 
I cant quite believe this post. I guess those who have had seriously life changing falls dont particularly wish to participate.
 
I have three knackered discs in my back, more general wear and tear and the odd fall all adding together really. Several broken or dislocated fingers over the years too. But the worst and most stupid I did trying to squeeze 3 sections of hay into a plastic dustbin to soak it. It was pretty well wedged so I was pushing it hard when it suddenly gave way my hand shot down the side of the dustbin ripping the skin off my middle finger from knuckle to the back of my hand. It bled ridiculously, but under that you could clearly see my tendon and veins in my hand- gross. The girl I was working with was sick twice dressing it to get me to hospital. One skin graft and a lot of treatment, and 20 years later the scar isn't too bad!
 
I have had lots of little injuries, broken thumb, broken rib, and a few lovely coloured bruises, but obviously my worst one was breaking my back when we were hit by a car. 4 months after the accident they also found I had broken my leg, but they didnt pick that up at the time, and as I was laying flat on my back for many weeks, it healed itself,
 
Mike007 said:
I cant quite believe this post. I guess those who have had seriously life changing falls dont particularly wish to participate.
Click to expand...

That's an odd post. Define seriously life changing! It doesn't matter who you are or how bad the injury, there really is probably someone out there that has suffered worse and that should never take anything away from what anyone has individually been through. I don't see the point in surmising what others do or don't wish to do.
 
Mike007 said:
I cant quite believe this post. I guess those who have had seriously life changing falls dont particularly wish to participate.
Click to expand...

Oh believe me, mine was life changing!!! we were in the middle of the fostering process, which we had to put off until now, I am on morphine and tramodol twice a day. I have had to cut my hours at work to part time as I cant physically do full time because of the medication I am on. i will also never ride again. my choice, not the docs. But my lifw will never be the same again.
 
Toffee44 said:
Cinnamon toast needs to post in here! !
Click to expand...

_GG_ said:
Seriously, where is Cinnamontoast?
Click to expand...

Am here, been mad busy supervising plastering of bathroom and clearing 11 years of crap out of the study/wardrobes. Teaching GCSE revision classes at 10!

Reading these threads makes me feel like I wasn't so badly injured, actually. I did have a cracking fall out hacking on very hard ground when the cow decided she waned to gallop and I didn't-major bronc, lots of time to consider why I was flying through the air. I did something odd to both wrists, couldn't pick up a glass for a week!

The biggie, of course, was being trampled by a 17.2 Irish draft mare who doesn't like other horses being near me and went through me to get to another horse nearby. Sheared off part of my calf, loads of blood and gore pouring out so I strode up the lane to the yard for the ambulance :rolleyes3:

Lots of skin died, there's a very obvious 'shark bite' chunk missing. The scar above the knee keeps threatening to tear currently. I was thinking of getting back on board, leaned over the boy yesterday but this thread is not helping! It was a year ago last month and the injury is never going to look much better than it does now.

Link to pic (very graphic! The black bit underneath is dead skin that had to be removed) http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj239/marieclairedawson/leg revisited/IMAG0916_zps646a066d.jpg

Others pics in that album show the vacuum pump attached and the almost healed skin graft.

Whilst it wasn't a fall, it has definitely been life changing. I won't go near the mares' field and I have zero confidence.
 
Last edited:
cinnamontoast said:
Am here, been mad busy supervising plastering of bathroom and clearing 11 years of crap out of the study/wardrobes. Teaching GCSE revision classes at 10!

Reading these threads makes me feel like I wasn't so badly injured, actually. I did have a cracking fall out hacking on very hard ground when the cow decided she waned to gallop and I didn't-major bronc, lots of time to consider why I was flying through the air. I did something odd to both wrists, couldn't pick up a glass for a week!

The biggie, of course, was being trampled by a 17.2 Irish draft mare who doesn't like other horses being near me and went through me to get to another horse nearby. Sheared off part of my calf, loads of blood and gore pouring out so I strode up the lane to the yard for the ambulance :rolleyes3:

Lots of skin died, there's a very obvious 'shark bite' chunk missing. The scar above the knee keeps threatening to tear currently. I was thinking of getting back on board, leaned over the boy yesterday but this thread is not helping! It was a year ago last month and the injury is never going to look much better than it does now.

Link to pic (very graphic! The black bit underneath is dead skin that had to be removed) http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj239/marieclairedawson/leg revisited/IMAG0916_zps646a066d.jpg

Others pics in that album show the vacuum pump attached and the almost healed skin graft.

Whilst it wasn't a fall, it has definitely been life changing. I won't go near the mares' field and I have zero confidence.
Click to expand...

Ah, there you are. I've been a tad on the busy side myself lately too so not been around much so good to "see" you :)

As for your incident, it's what I would call one of the more serious of those I have seen in recent years and through all of your updates, all I could think was how amazingly well you were coping with it all.

What have the docs said about the scar feeling like it's going to open? That sounds horrible!
 
Mike007 said:
I cant quite believe this post. I guess those who have had seriously life changing falls dont particularly wish to participate.
Click to expand...

I find this rather offensive! One persons slight tumble maybe be another persons confidence shattering fall, no mine wasn't physically life changing like some of the other posts but not too long ago I was actually vomiting with nerves before jumping a 2ft6 local riding club class. It was certainly life changing for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top