Day Nine: Any injuries you’ve gotten from riding

I'm doing Day 9 today because I know I won't have time to write about it later :)

Day Nine: Any injuries you’ve gotten from riding


I have been riding for over a decade, but I've been very fortunate to never be seriously injured. This fact is surprising to me because the majority of my experience is riding green horses that no one else wanted to deal with. I've fallen off a handful of times. I wasn't hurt beyond a scrape and some bruises for most of them.


My first fall off of Cruizer was very painful and in all honesty made me kind of nervous to ride him again. I am generally fearless but I didn't see it coming at all on him. He was the first horse to ever successfully buck me off. Cruizer could have a career as a bucking horse if he wanted it. He would be hard to beat.


The scariest fall I've ever had was when I went off of an Arab mare named Brasi. I was riding her while my first horse recovered from colic surgery. She was gorgeous and I loved her dearly. She was giving me the best ride I ever had on her when she suddenly fell during a trot circle, she twisted her neck to the right and landed with her head and neck under her body. It happened so fast I didn't even realize I'd come off. I heard my trainer yelling at me to get up, and I did. Turns out the mare was about to roll over my way. Rather than get out of the way when I saw what was happening, I tried to lift her neck so she could get her head out. That was by far the scariest thing I've ever seen a horse do (in person). As soon as she was up we took off the saddle and bridle. She just walked around the arena dragging her nose on the ground. We decided to put her out in her pasture (where she spent all of her time when I wasn't riding her) and just watch her, she was in shock. She laid down for awhile, which she never did, but then got up and started grazing. I had no idea that it was such a serious accident. During the night she got really bad and had to be euthanized. The final verdict is that she had a stroke during our ride, and fractured her neck when she fell. I miss her so much. Since then, I have had the opportunity to ride her filly a few times. She's lovely and reminds me so much of her mother. I was also able to see her birth from start to finish.


My last fall was off of Cruizer. It resulted in a trip to the ER and CAT scans of my head, neck, and upper back. I lost sensation along my back and am just now starting to get it back. My upper back is constantly tingling. The doctors told me that "the feeling will probably come back eventually." Great, thanks for the help.


The first fall off of Cruizer also involved my head hitting the rail. Luckily I was wearing a helmet that saved me. The helmet was dented and replaced. I've replaced my helmet after every fall regardless of if there is any obvious damage to it. I also hit my head pretty hard on the ground the last time I fell off Cruizer, and that helmet was demolished.