Your funniest fall...

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Falling off a horse is usually horrible and sometimes painful, but on the rare occasion it can also be very funny.. So share your funniest falls...

Mine was a couple of years ago on my cob, on the way back from a hack I decided to go through the yard barn without getting off (naughty!). I misjudged the height of the door and didnt quite duck enough, hit my head on the top of the door frame and somehow did a backwards roley poley down horses back and landed on my feet. Horse just looked at me like 'what the hell just happened!' Luckily only one other person saw and we had a good laugh about it afterwards!
 
Was cooling down with a friend mid winter and she insulted my honour so I smacked her with my crop on her puffer jacket, both horses shot forward a couple of metres and we both rolled of the back and landed in a heap wetting ourselves :)
 
In front of ten children, wearing shorts, vest top and trainers (no hat...I am the epitome of chav) I decided to sling my leg over the back of one of the new RS ponies, a 4yo NF, to see if I could mount its 12 hands of New Forest ponyness without my other leg leaving the ground. I could.
Pony decided to then remind me he was FOUR and I was an idiot, and promptly bucked me straight off onto a gravel drive.

Cue 10 crying children, about 50 tiny grazes and cuts all over my back, and arse, which took the brunt of the fall, and one very self satisfied little pony!
 
Little horse was pratting about before a jump so we landed quite wonkily and he veered one way then the other and back again. But each time I ended up leaning right off trying to get my balance back... failed on the last zig zag and rolled out the side door :') Bless him, he was trying to get under me atleast!
 
Was out on a hack with a mate and he held a low branch aside to get through on his horse, released it and it hit me in the chest. I tried to push it out of the way but I'd taken both hands off the reins and the horse just kept going. I landed on the very muddy track behind the horse completely starfished. My friend thought it was hilarious! I did once watch my sister fall of my horse during a show jumping competition, and she landed behind the horse on her back with her legs in the air. We were laughing so much the commentator asked if she was alright and told her she had horrible friends.
 
In one lesson we had put the instructor's paper tissue out of his pocket tied round the end of my crop as it kept the pony a bit more focussed and moving forward as he could see it out of the corner of his eye though he wasn't bothered about it. We paused and stopped in the lesson for the instructor to tell me what exercise he wanted me to do next. I tend to speak with my hands....you might be able to guess what happened. Suffice to say shortly afterwards I was sliding backwards off my pony's back end :o Pony just stood there and turned his head round to look at me on the floor behind him as if to say, "well you asked for that".
 
i was cantering my newly backed (at the time) 3yo along a sand track in the woods - she stopped - i summersaulted over her head - landed on my feet :)


or there was the time we were cantering along the beach (not so newly backed 3yo) dog chased us and got under said ponys feet. pony tripped over - i somersaulted over her head - wasnt so lucky to land on my feet this time - winded myself on the wet sand - which apparently turns to concrete upon impact still holding reins with pony looking down at me - unable to breathe and dog licking my face! not a fine moment!!
 
Not as good as some of the ones before but probably has to be when my oldie was virtually retired and in full winter wollies we'd returned from a hack on the roads (still exciting even in her 20's!) so went in the school to walk round and cool off.

The kids had left some tiny jumps up (2ft max) and we used to do a bit of BSJA, as she was sound and lived to jump I thought why not (she hadn't been jumped in many years so not sure why this particular moment resulted me having a brain fart!).

So ... approach to jump lovely, followed by big air, followed by giant bucking fit with head between legs and I end up on the floor totally winded at which point the good lady promptly stops all sillyness and returns to my side with the 'what are you doing down there?' look on her face. Would have got away with it if our next-door-stable-neighbour hadn't come into the school just a few minutes prior. :o
 
Lol. Plenty to choose from. First time my pony jumped indoors I went with a large group from the yard. After she went clear, I dropped my reins, kicked my feet free & leant forwards to give her a massive hug. Unfortunately we were just under the gallery & my posse of teenage friends chose that moment to cheer & whistle. Pony crapped it, went vertical & I slid straight backwards to end up sat on the floor directly behind her.
Also cantering bareback she shied once as we cantered bareback down the side of a field. My foot caught on a post & it felt like I was in mid air, still in riding position by all accounts, thinking where the hell did the pony vanish to from underneath me?
She also had a habit of throwing in dirty stops at one point & I got rather good at throwing in a somersault before landing on the otherside of the fence with the reins in one hand. (defensive position was counter productive). In my early teens, I did find myself rather cool for my skill in this. However I had also been working on making her still pop a small jump from a standstill if she stopped last minute, as I could keep my seat if she had a last minute change over a smaller one. All was fine until she did it last second infront of the last fence in a wh at a local show. I did my amazing showpiece as usual. Pony remembered her training & popped it from a standstill, take off was next to the fence. Result was her pulling me over as I still had the reins in one hand. Very cool to end up face down on a wet field.
She is now a lovely old schoolmistress, & I'm a sensible mother with a lot more experience now, but we did have a lot of fun together.
 
I got cramp in my right leg when i was getting off, but was past the point of no return. Cramping leg got hooked over the back of the saddle and i fell flat on my back! Couldn't move because my cramping leg was still agony. I terrified my sister until i got my breath back to explain what was going on!!!
 
Years ago, when working in a SJ yard, I was riding this little 12.2hh pony. we were popping him over jumps and he was going really well. ALL of the liveries had come round to watch this "fabby" wee pony jumping. I came around to a decent sized upright, all going well and pony on a good stride. WELL :eek:, did he not just slam the brakes on at the very last minute :eek:. I went over his head, full somersault over pony's ears and landed on my feet on the other side of the fence :o MAHOOOOOOSIVE round of applause from my audience :D
That pony went on to be a JA showjumper :cool:.

2 years ago, the livery yard I was at were holding a fun showjumping show. First class was about 1 foot to 18 inches high. I decided that I was going to have a go on my recently backed 13.2hh 4yo New Forest. Bearing in mind she had never jumped before with a rider on board, she did very well. So, I led her around first, stepping over the littlest cross poles in walk then trot. Got on her and had a wee warm up then headed towards the first jump. She did that with NO problems. Second fence, she jumped it big and the power from her back end catapulted me overboard :o.
NOW, this pony had previously jumped out of the school TWICE on her own, clearing the 4'6" post and rails. As I lay there on the rain sodden sand looking up at her pretty face, I just KNEW I couldn't let go. She started walking backwards as I lay there on my back, laughing while ploughing the school with my head, determined I was NOT letting go of the reins. She stopped reversing, I got up and was COVERED in soaking wet sand from the top of my hat to the soles of my boots. Even my knickers were wet :o. I got back on her, and completed the course with no problems. We did the next class too and she was a wee star :D. It took ages to get the sand stains out of some of my clothes. I'm so glad I always keep a spare set of dry clothes at the yard. :D:D:D
 
I used to work on a hunting yard and we were getting the horses fit before the season. Part of the process was to go twice a week to a huge field to gallop round twice.
I was on my second lap when my left stirrup leather snapped...of course I went off the side and I just remember thinking I want to see, must keep my eyes open?!!?
So after several grass, sky, hoof, grass, sky, hoof rolls I stopped with my face one inch from a huge cow pat!!!
I broke 2 ribs but my OH was more bothered that I broke his blooming watch :(
I still had the stirrup iron on my foot when I stood up!!!
 
I think my funniest have been 'nearly' falls, but for the real ones:

* Doing a gate out hacking, it had dropped on its hinges and took both hands to lift, I was at full stretch when horse decided to take a step the wrong way, I ended up sitting on the ground (still holding the gate) with a farmer in his tractor pissing himself laughing at me :rolleyes:
*In a jump off with scary huge fences (and me stupidly riding having dislocated my shoulder a few days before), came in on an impossible angle and horse stopped, I ended up somehow lying on the fence (big parallel oxer) and my feet couldn't reach the ground (I'm small/fence was big). Still holding the reins, and horse looking most embarrassed about it all :D I had to wriggle myself off the jump :o :o
*Had been jumping a big course in a friends school, horse had been absolutely foot perfect. There was a tiny (like 2') jump left in the school from when friend's kid had been jumping her 11.2, so I decided to have a canter over that. Horse stopped :mad: :eek: :o and I did a Superman right over the front. Totally my own fault, my horse is genuine but needs riding :rolleyes:
 
Out hunting, a big joint meet, naturally.

Pallets across a gateway, sticky mare toed the fence and we both went down, splat! Into about a foot of slurry.

After the initial "Oh MY GOD! Are you OK? " and much swearing and cursing from me ("Yep, she's fine ") all my charming friends practically wet themselves laughing, as I would have if it had been one of them ;)

I do miss those days :(
 
Years ago took my ex hunter for a lesson with my instructor. She was the yard manager at a local private boarding school so had some pupils in for a lesson which I joined in with.

There was me on my full up 15.2 with 5 kids on little ponies doing some grid work. Trotted in to a cross pole (all of 12" off floor) and my boy put in a stop. Cue me sumersaulting over his head, landing other side of the jump holding reins and facing him.

Oh the humiliation :o:D
 
When i was about 13 I decided I wanted to start doing games. Another livery had a shetland that i could learn to vault on. All was going so well until i missed the saddle ending up on the ponies bum. She bucked me off! The best thing was that when i was riding her my feet were virtually on the floor anyway!
 
Ages ago I was out hacking my clyde X mare with a friend who I hadn't seen in ages. We were walking up a stony track chatting away, not paying any attention to our horses when my girl tripped over a rutted bit of track. She did a massive stumble, and because I was sitting like a sack of spuds with washing line reins I tipped over her head!
Very embarrassing, but did have a good giggle about it after :D
 
Coming back from a brill hack on Hun and got to yard gate, gate was small and the clip to lock it faces inwards and my boot got caught on it hunni carried on walking and I got dragged of backwards and was just hanging there :P hunni turned around and jut plodded over to me as
If to say what ya doing there?!? Was funny though xD
 
Not to laugh at others' misfortune but these are all very funny :)

Mine was a few years back, hacking out with my uni club at our RS. I was on Winnie, also known as Hippo- about as rock-steady as they come. We'd had a lovely hack and were mooching back through the woods. I was last in line, and didn't duck low enough under a tree. A branch got hooked under my hi-viz tabard, I couldn't get it free, and as Winnie kept walking on totally oblivious, I got dragged off the back. I dangled there for a second, then the branch snapped and I landed in a prickly bush. I was laughing so much I could barely squeak as I tried to call out for the others to stop- they'd all just kept walking on, with no idea I'd fallen off.
 
While showing a horse off to potential purchaser I was demonstrating how easy the horse was to jump. Trotted in to tiny X pole on loose rein and this happened. The person viewing the horse took the pic and sent it to me.
We both laughed for quite a while over this......
fall.jpg


Week before horse was doing this....
img001.jpg
 
my favourite funny fall has to be when i was teen, turning out a 14.2hh who was in at night when all the others were still out 24/7. i used to hop on bareback and he'd fly up the hill to the gate to join the other ponies. except that day he decided that one of the closer gateways was far enough, slammed on the brakes and i went flying over his head and over the gate but somehow managed to catch the top of my boot on something and ended up hung upside down on the gate with the naughty pony clearly smiling in a smug kind of way. took me ages to get down!!!:o
 
I was having some jumping lessons at a riding school in practise for my BHS exam (needed to jump variety of horses). One was a little (about 14h) pony- very stocky. The pony didn't jump very well (once got stuck halfway over a tyre jump and had to be lifted off) but they decided it would be a good challenge, and she was the sweetest little thing.
Well, for starters my feet didn't fit in the stirrups- never mind I thought, I'll jump without stirrups. They set up a row of bounce jumps- she jumped fine until they put up 3 in a row- first two went without a hitch, she stopped at the 3rd one and no matter how much i kicked and smacked she didn't move. I had just sat up and given up when she decided to go. She did a HUGE leap over what was only a small jump, i got left behind (with loose reins) but somehow managed to fling myself forward in mid-air. She stopped dead after the jump, and I did a perfect forward roll over her head- not that funny until I sat up afterwards and realised in my attempt to grab the reins I had grabbed her bridle, and had managed to take it off the pony while I was in mid-air! I laughed so much I couldn't stand up and I was crying- audience thought I was seriously injured! :D
 
Rhino, your landing on the jump one made me LOL! had the funniest image in my head!!

When I was at an RS. I was in a group lesson. There was a new Horse to the school and the RI made a point of saying infront of the group, I was going to ride him as I had a good seat and deserved it. I felt so proud of myself. Fast forward 20 minutes later and the Horse spooking, I fell but got my foot stuck in the stirrup, so ended up dangling off the side, with my head next to his leg. I tried to wiggle my leg free, but couldn't. My RI had her back turned to me at the time as she was watching another rider, so I just quitely said "Excuse me, can you help please?" So I had to wait for my RI to come and pick me up and lift me back on the saddle. She was laughing like mad and I was too (although I was very lightheaded by this point) the Horse turned out to be a saint and just stood there chewing his reins!
 
i cant stop laughing at some of these!!

hmmm i have 2 funny ones....

my 1st one was when i was showjumping at my old yard (funday show) and my TB had never done a whole course before but i though why no....well i took the 3rd jump wrong completly qrong line tried to adjust his striding and turn him all completly wrong he stopped dead whikle i was still riding him and i did a sumersalt over his head into the jump wing completly demolished the win did a rolly polly on the floo leg go on reins and got back up ! was funniest thing !

another one was i tried my hand at our working hunter jumps (with a water tray eeeeek) well he didnt like it he jumped me out of the saddle i endded up with no stirrup no reins and on his neck while hes cantering pretty fast i decided just to let go landed on my back and had a nose bleed!!
 
Trotting across the beach in a world of my own, come up to a stream that pony thought was suspiciously shiny with the sun shining on it, stopped dead, cue me summersaulting over her head and landing in the stream still holding the reins facing her, while she looked up to me as to say 'what are you doing down there' :p me- soaking wet and covered in sand in the middle of the beach with lots of people i knew around me.. very embarrasing :o funny now that i think back though :p
 
few years ago i decided to show off my very well bred future eventing star 18 month old filly to a rather well known man in the eventing world (now rather famous lol) hes a family friend and had stopped off to see us while holidaying down here
so we walk up to her field and admire her , he says quite nice things , so i puff up with pride...at that moment the 4 horses suddenly cantered off down the field , my filly taking up the rear behind , geriatric tb , huge fat cob , dinky pony , friend comments how nice her paces are , i swell up with pride even more , then they get to a corner where she goes spectaculary splat and lay there bemused for a few seconds with legs splayed out like bambi
i am speechless with embarresment and he said i,m sure she,ll be better when she grows some stabilisers!!
 
Had one years ago during a lesson. Riding lovely horse who was competed in SJ when not giving lessons, and was going around a small course of fences which were putting said horse to sleep, so on landing after a jump, he starts bucking like he'd been a rodeo horse all his life. :eek: Sat it all, got him stopped, all good. Then he does a very very slow turn on the haunches, and I go splat out the side door. Cue him bolting back to the barn, sans me, probably thinking "I'm freeeeeeeeeeeee" :rolleyes::D
 
Some of these really should have been captured on video and uploaded to Youtube! Why is there never a camera when needed?!

My funniest fall was probably off the yellow monster. We were up on Dartmoor, generally jumping rocks, cantering the old race training gallop tracks, and practicing downhill cantering for an upcoming cross-country event. Having navigated a steep(ish) slope, we'd turned along a relatively flat stretch for a last gallop before heading home. There was, I knew, a ditch part way along, but yellow pony could jump a car (and, on one memorable occasion, did), so I wasn't worried. More fool me. I started to check him up and present him in good time. To which, after a day being a little saint, his response was to hurl his head in the air, bound forward like something jet-propelled, staring up at the stars in a blase retort of: 'blow you, I know what I'm doing!' Cue him jumping straight INTO the ditch! We both went down splat, he rolled over, and mostly landed on the grass, I land in the sog at the bottom. Pony sits up, gets up, looks down, and if he could have walked off rubbing the back of his neck and muttering, he would've done! I've never seen a horse look so embarrassed....

Needless to say, neither of us were hurt - except maybe his pride, since neither I nor the friend I was there with could stop laughing. Even her horse seemed to be snickering a bit!
 
We have so many incidents my livery yard have suggested putting money in a kitty to buy a head cam so whoever is hacking with me can wear it! Not all falling off - other general numptiness.

Just finished a lesson practicing for my first walk and trot test. About 4 people watching as well as RI. Had stopped and RI asked what my aim was, I replied 'Not to fall off.' Then took feet out of stirrups on my stock still horse, dismounted and just ended up sat on the floor. My legs just didn't seem to work. My horse turned to look at me but didn't move, everyone else just wet themselves.

Finishing a fast hack, coming out of some woods near a few houses. I needed to adjust my undies so stood in stirrups, adjusting and turned round to talk to my mate. Dog rushed out of one of the houses, horse spun, I fell off and exploded (air jacket). Once my mate realised I was okay she p*ssed herself laughing as I gathered up my horse, adjusted my knickers and got on again.

Jumping lesson at my RIs. Jumping about 2'9 and doing a course - seemingly too complicated for my tiny mind. Couldn't remember whether to turn right or left after one of the jumps. So dithered about, got to the arena fence when my horse had to make a decision as I clearly wasn't, he went left and I sort of slid off next to the fence and exploded, but I was standing. My RI laughed a lot and said 'Don't know what to say! If you forget which way, it doesn't matter but you do need to choose.'

Hacking on top of the Downs, just had a long gallop across a giant field and were walking down to the gate. My friend said 'Glad they were sensible, don't want you wasting another gas canister.' I turned round to talk to her, going past a big patch of nettles. Nettles apparently had horse eating monster in it, horse spooked, spun and I exploded into the nettles. GOt up and my horse then played catch me if you can half the way across the 20 acre field, enjoying the clover. He then got bored of that and p*ssed off up the field to the gate on the other side, much to the amusement of my friend and about 20 ramblers. I walked up to the gate slowly deflating.
 
Coming back from a nice long fast hack on my own, wonderfully realxed, gentle walk riding on the buckle of the reins, a flock of birds flew out of a tree and my horse jumped 3 feet sideways, I had that wonderful moment where you look down and see air and not horse between your legs, then gently rolled off over his neck and lay on the ground laughing. I swear my horse tutted at me!

My second spectacular failure was riding with a friend down to the park on her horse who wears a western saddle, we decided to stop for a coffee and I kicked my feet out of the stirrups and jumped off only for the underwiring of my bra to catch over the saddle horn! there I was suspened by my bra not able to get up and un-hook myself with my feet swinging about 10 inches from the ground. My friend had to get off come round and undo my bra so I could land on the ground, she was wetting herself as were the audience of coffee shop customers!
 
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