Your accounts of 'why the hell did I do that' falls!

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Elvis

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Today I had one of those falls where you think 'why the blooming heck did I do that?'

Jumping a grid of three fences all with a long one stride distance, between the second and third fences I apparently lost any inclination to kick and then leaned forward?!? Horse ended up popping in an extra stride and I just tumbled out the side, again not even attempting to stay on. No idea what came over me, I'm certainly at a level where stupid falls like that shouldn't be happening! It was just a complete brain malfunction and all I could think while lying on the ground was 'that was stupid'

So go on, what ridiculous falls have you had?
 
Out xc schooling over v small fences with my daughter & friend. daughter says her horse feels funny and she doesnt want to ride him. Mum (recently recovered from ACL reconstruction surgery & with a v weak leg) says 'hand him over here then' gets on, doesnt warm up, puts him at a log which he refuses, makes him cat leap over, gets unseated and he not unreasonably bucks Mum off. Cue concussion and very dreary rest of day!

Hopefully I learned my lesson - why I thought it was a good idea not to warm up and also to go for the cat leap I will never know!! Just arrogance I guess, which isnt usually me at all! Rather lucky I didnt come off worse.
 
Was at an ODE and completely forgot to kick at a fence and I leant forward?! Horse refused and I felt rather embarrassed! I seem to do this a lot on thought! :D
 
I presented my 4 y/old at a double for the first time - just a pole for the first jump and then a small cross pole. He picked up canter, I cruised along going "la la la", ignoring any ideas about contact, steering, or indeed... leg. He jumped the first, I careered up his neck like a rat up a drain pipe and he casually engaged evasive action pattern alpha and I... Well there was definitely damage to the shields on impact ;)

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Casually walking around the school, I ask for trot, then BAM! On the floor.
Stupid beasty had spooked at a filler that he'd jumped several times before...it was such a pathetic spook and a pathetic fall! I've managed to stay on him when he's been flat out, then slammed on the breaks! D'oh!
 
1. At a sponsored ride. We pop the bonus fence beautifully (I am a jumping wuss so this is a.big.deal). My mum didn't get the photo so told me to come around again. Pony hesitated, I hesitated and we went through the fence, destroying it for anyone who came after us. I came off, but somehow almost did a textbook dismount.

2. Riding bareback on a stubble field. Jumped the line of six piles of straw (land belonged to yard, so we had permission!). Took it beautifully, but my mum missed it so said come round and do it again. Pony thought ****** this, did a sharp turn after line 3 and I slid off the side, landed on a flint, gave myself concussion and still bear the scar where the stubble cut my shoulder deep!
 
Taught my pony to leap into a canter after holding her at a standstill for a few seconds on a bridlepath when I was a kid, because it was exciting. Turned onto it, decided I'd better check girth, paused then leaned forward to do so, pony took this as the go signal. To add insult to injury the girth was loose, the saddle slipped, and I fell in a nettle patch.
 
I'm ashamed to admit it but.....I fell off in stand. My 16.3 mare was stood square in the school, I leant forward to dismount and right at that very moment I forgot I had legs and sailed head first to the ground!!!!! Wtf!!!
 
On a youngster I was schooling, I was slowly cooling down and didn't have enough weight in my heels (lesson learnt!) pony put in a very unexpected buck, I went flying while daydreaming and snapped out of it as I watched the horse gallop back to the stable yard. I was so in my own little world I had no idea what was going on !
 
Got on using mounting block. Realised arena gate had swung open so pottered over, got "close enough" (really too far away to reach properly), hooked my reins under my knee and leant over to push the gate closed and secure the latch. Pony shifted weight to accommodate... Saddle slipped and I found myself dismounting much sooner than planned!
 
tangoharvey said:
I'm ashamed to admit it but.....I fell off in stand. My 16.3 mare was stood square in the school, I leant forward to dismount and right at that very moment I forgot I had legs and sailed head first to the ground!!!!! Wtf!!!
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That`s no mean achievement! ;)
 
My little mare is a chronic shyer, but has never bucked. Howeve the grass this spring has been toxic plus - we were out on a hack, on our way home, she wanted to go faster, I said "no". She then bucked, and I was half way through "WTF was that?" when I hit the dirt.

Pony went home at the speed she wanted, and I had a 5 km walk.
 
Ever seen a pony stop dead from a canter and turn 90 degrees, in one single action?

No me neither, but the friends who had come up to see H and I working in the school said it was very impressive, and one of them said to my wife "oh isn't Neil relaxed when he falls off "... which I took as a bit of a compliment.
 
Many years go I was exercising my daughters loan horse (ex-racehorse) with a friend in the fields around the yard, I had never ridden him before. So we happily walk, then decide to try trot which was wonderful, we then decided to try a little canter.... (well my natural stance with canter is off the back -racing style) the horse took off at full gallop towards a three strand wire fence. I didn't know if the horse would stop, jump the fence or what - so I made the decision to exit out of the side door - (it was one of those moments when your life doesn't flash before you - it goes in slow motion - I had a vision of us going through the fence and coming out the other side in three slices - cartoon style), the horse turned and came to a gentle halt. I remembered after I hit the deck that if I had just dropped the reins the horse would have stopped.... lesson learned
 
tangoharvey said:
I'm ashamed to admit it but.....I fell off in stand. My 16.3 mare was stood square in the school, I leant forward to dismount and right at that very moment I forgot I had legs and sailed head first to the ground!!!!! Wtf!!!
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This has absolutely made my day. :D :D


Once at a hunter trial pony stopped, and I fell off, landing on my feet holding the reins. Anyway, came again, exactly the same happened, right down to how I was standing....
 
Dizzy socks said:
This has absolutely made my day. :D :D


Once at a hunter trial pony stopped, and I fell off, landing on my feet holding the reins. Anyway, came again, exactly the same happened, right down to how I was standing....
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I've done that one before, pony landed after fence and went one way while I went the other, I fell off in exactly the same way twice, luckily by the third attempt I'd learnt my lesson and actually steered the pony on landing.
 
Went off road in the woods and there was a very low over hanging branch approaching with no way round and I just sat there wondering what to do, then accepted the inevitable as I slid backwards off my pony whilst holding onto a big branch.
 
These are classic!

My own one - I decided to school my horse in a spare paddock. The gate was closed, so I leaned forward and swung it open and we started to walk through. The gate then swung back towards us, so I stuck my foot out to push it back - my foot and stirrup got caught on the bolt. Horse kept walking, my foot stayed put on the bolt. After a considerable splits-type stretch, I eventually came off over the horse's backside - thank God she didn't bolt or buck!! I thought I must be the only numpty to do such an idiotic thing, but no, the BHS magazine has had letters from several people who have done exactly the same thing!! :lol:
 
Teaching a group of teenagers. One of the horses kept landing, dropping his shoulder and clearing off back to the others, leaving his rider on the floor. I decided to get on and sort him out. Bad mistake. Very bad mistake...

Yep - he did exactly the same to me, and I ended up face down in the school. In front of the group I was supposed to be teaching. They laughed. A lot.
 
Was riding in Egypt, and the saddles had a little habit of slipping. Was racing the guys up a sand dune, and on the gallop back I just felt myself sliding very far sideways - crossed back to the 'line' just as I had to jump off from canter as his saddle slid right under!

*I still won though >:) *
 
Auslander said:
Teaching a group of teenagers. One of the horses kept landing, dropping his shoulder and clearing off back to the others, leaving his rider on the floor. I decided to get on and sort him out. Bad mistake. Very bad mistake...

Yep - he did exactly the same to me, and I ended up face down in the school. In front of the group I was supposed to be teaching. They laughed. A lot.
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Did you, by any chance, wobble and flop?
 
Sooo many.

There's the time I hopped on Kal after he had some time off after his first navicular diagnosis - probably should have lunged him first, but didn't . . . he was happy enough in walk, so pushed him up into trot and looked over my shoulder to ask my daughter (who was sitting in the gallery watching) how he looked and BAM, I'm still not sure exactly what he did - he didn't buck, he didn't bronc, he just exploded and I ended up in a heap on the floor and unable to move for several minutes . . . fractured my pelvis. I really, really should have lunged him first.

Here's another . . . when we first bought him there was loads of snow and ice on the ground and all the horses at the yard were kept in. So . . . the first time we rode him (I bought him for my (then 13-year-old) daughter and I to share) I lunged him for a little while, then I got on him and then I put Em on him . . . she walked, trotted and cantered him on the right rein - all good - and then popped him onto the left rein - walk and trot were fine but she said she didn't want to canter . . . bossy Mum (me) says "no, you must work him the same on both reins or he'll get one sided . . . just have a little canter on the left rein" . . . she asked for canter on the left rein and he just took off . . . proper wall of death . . . after the third circuit of the school - 20 x 60 (and me yelling "sit up and turn a tight circle") he jinked left in the top left corner and deposited her on the floor - she hasn't really trusted him since :(.

P
 
Following bad fall out hunting where I had really hurt my hip ( I thought it might be fractured) I got on to save face.... Cantered around corner.... Well Chester did... I just kept going straight... Mind was willing but body wasn't.... To add insult to injury, I had to walk all the way across the field to retrieve him!
 
Took the Appy mare on a friends birthday ride, my mare was put in front for the canter 'cos she's a bit ahem *fast* for the first half dozen strides, she was settling nicely, the rest were catching us up, when a wild strand of haylage wrap waved at her from the surface of the track! :0 I thought she would jump it, so folded ready for it, she stopped, canter to halt in a nanosecond, I came off, landed with my shoulder on a stone, through the reins but still holding the reins! She looked embarassed about me and ate grass! :D
 
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At a show I thought I would take my freshly backed, first time out Shetland pony over a wee cross pole in the warm up. Canter, canter, canter ... stooooop, head down ... slide slowly down neck and do a very slow motion forward role over his head ... Whoops!

The rest luckily no one has seen so I am not admitting to them!!!
 
Went draghunting with my daughter. As a treat (for pony) she rode a friend's 12.2, daughter was about 15. As we went through a very muddy gateway, pony stepped in a water filled rut and practically submerged. Poor daughter did a spectacular somersault over his shoulder and ended flat on her back in said rut. As it was only the start of the day she spent it all mud soaked, right down to her knickers:)
 
Decided one evening to ride the horse down to the field in her headcollar, she wasn't very convinced as I lined her up to clamber on (should have taken that as a warning), I had just got my leg over and she shot forward. I stayed on for about three metres and then went crashing down into the mud. My leg is still faintly bruised and I also have a small hematoma to remind me how stupid I was. One of those falls where you definitely think "I should have known/I had that coming!"
 
NeilM said:
Ever seen a pony stop dead from a canter and turn 90 degrees, in one single action?

No me neither, but the friends who had come up to see H and I working in the school said it was very impressive, and one of them said to my wife "oh isn't Neil relaxed when he falls off "... which I took as a bit of a compliment.
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Haven't seen it, but been on one. Ended up chewing her ears. Lovely canter along a track, "Stuff this, I'm going home."
 
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