Just thought I would post this not so short story as a warning regarding the dangers of allowing complacency to set in and the possible consequences.

My better half Sue, who has been riding for 44 years (she will belt me one if I mention her age but she had her own horse and started riding at 7) went to take “Ellie” out for an early morning ride just over 2 weeks ago. I should add that Ellie was professionally trained for riding just over 2 ½ years ago, is an absolute pleasure to ride and has never put a foot wrong until the incident below.

After checking Ellie over and then saddling her up I walked her over on her lead to a grassy area for Sue to mount up. During saddling-up Ellie was perfectly calm and co-operated flawlessly as she always has done. As Sue is only small and Ellie very large, we use a small pair of step ladders for her to mount Ellie (a process Ellie is well versed in). As I held the lead rope, Sue placed one foot into the left stirrup and swung herself up and into the saddle. However, immediately she sat down in the saddle, but before she took the rains and managed to get her right foot into the stirrup Ellie bolted going straight into a gallop. I realised that in her current position (one only on foot in the stirrup and no reigns in hand) Sue had no means of controlling Ellie and bringing her to a halt, so I kept hold of the lead reign and Ellie made a sharp 180 deg turn, at this point she was clearly still in flight mode. There was no way Sue could maintain her balance in her current position and she came off on Ellie’s right hand side. Luckily as soon as Sue started falling I managed to pull Ellie up on the end of the lead rope and she stopped dead in her tracks. Sue fell heavily onto her right hand side and lay still on the ground (I thought she had been knocked out).

I held onto Ellie who was now totally calm again and moved round to check on Sue, I realised she was still conscious as she moved and moaned. We agreed that I would lead Ellie back to the barn and tie her up then get back and help Sue. During the walk back to the barn Ellie was acting totally calm and showed no signs of agitation whatsoever.

I tied Ellie up and rushed back to Sue who was still lying on the floor. I gave her a quick check over (luckily I trained in Advanced First Aid in the RN and still remember most of it) and realised that she was shaken and in pain but not in shock or concussed and did not appear to have sustained any external damage (the bruising came out later on). I very carefully removed her riding helmet and we checked her neck and back. As everything appear to be ok I assisted her to get up, that is when she realised she had quite a bit of pain in her hip area (not surprising after freefalling off a 190cm high horse). I helped Sue into the house, laid her down on the couch and gave her another check over. She said she was ok so I then went out and gave Ellie a thorough check over and checked every piece of tack (including the bridle, bit, under the saddle and numnah, girth) and could find absolutely no problems at all. As everything appeared to be ok, I took her down the road for a short walk and she behaved perfectly at all times. When I got her back I again checked each piece of tack as I removed it and found nothing at all (I was looking for anything that may have got trapped in the tack and caused her pain when Sue mounted her).

I put Ellie back out to pasture and dashed back into Sue. After giving Sue another check over and being told by her that she was fine but in some pain (she flatly refused to see a Doctor at that time and simply took some pain killers) we started to analyse exactly what happened and why.

We are still not certain as to why Ellie simply bolted when and in the manner she did but as there is no direct evidence to suggest that something sharp trapped between or in the tack caused her pain, we think that there is a possibility that she could have been stung or bitten just at that point in being mounted, or that she saw something which startled her (although we did not see anything which we believe could have had that effect on her). We are certain that there is nothing wrong with Ellie’s back and so the act of Sue sitting down causing her pain was not the cause.

We also decided that complacency on my and Sue’s part played a large part in Sue being thrown from the saddle and being injured. As, in the past, Ellie has always been totally sound and calm when being mounted, Sue wrongly assumed that she would be this time. We agreed that she had forgotten to apply the golden rule, always expect and prepare for the unexpected, especially when during that most vulnerable of times, mounting up. Had Sue had the reigns in hand as she mounted Ellie she believes that she could almost certainly have reined her in and retained control of the situation? The reigns would also have provided Sue with additional aid to remaining in the saddle and may have prevented her from her sideways travel. Also I am at fault as I should have insisted that Sue take the reigns in hand as she mounted Ellie and not just let her do her own thing. If Sue had had the reigns in hand I would have released the lead and Ellie may not have done a sudden 180deg turn at speed and Sue would probably not have left the saddle and been injured.

Sue eventually went to see the doctor (I almost had to order her) and after x-rays has been told she has fractured her pelvis and suffered a groin strain in the fall (she really did hit the ground very hard on her side). Luckily we always wear helmets or she could possibly have sustained head injuries as well. As it is, after a second visit to a specialist today (the pain she is suffering is not going away and pain killers are not working), the damage may be worse that the first set of bone x-rays showed and Sue now has to have a second lot of Scans to allow the specialist to determine just how bad the damage to her leg muscles really is.

Sorry to have ranted on a bit but hope this short story may prevent someone else from getting injured, by falling into a false sense of security as we both did that day. A moment’s complacency could end up putting Sue out of action for up to 6 months.

I realise that it is not easy to assess a situation from afar and that sometimes “things just happened because”, but if anyone can think of anything else which may have caused “Ellie” to spook, we would be very interested in their comments, suggestions or advice. Ellie has not been ridden since as Sue is not able to assist at the moment, but I am hoping to get the farrier to give me a hand when he visits next (he is a very experienced trainer and rider and I want someone close by who understands horses) and then I will take her out for a short check ride to see if the problem (or any others) occurs again (will also be wearing my body protector just in case ).

Rgds, Mike L

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"Life is not a rehearsal"

first of all GET WELL SOON Sue, hope sue is feeling a little better if not now then very soon. I am by no means able to give any advice Mike, you are far more experienced than myself. Just curious to know how long, before the incident, was it Ellie was ridden?? Does Sue ride her regularly? Myself and eldest child (nearly 12) were putting the horses out today and we let them eat the grass verge as we normally do, and trust got incredibly irritated by a buzzy fly and when i caught a glipse of it i think it was a bot fly as its tail was curled right under ready to get those eggs on but they make quite a loud noise so we moved 3 times and it still followed us, in the end i thought i had better put Trust in the field before we have an accident and she galloped off like a lunatic then proceeded to chase the pony quite aggresively as if it was his fault. It took her a few laps around the field at quite a speed to get away from the bot fly!!! Maybe it was one of those??? Who knows, maybe you will never figure it out and hopefully Ellie won't be like it again as you said normally she is really good!! Anyway again i hope sue gets better soon xxxx P.S Mike keep uo the hard work (6am in the morning, you really are mad!!!)

ouch!! :cry: :cry: get well soon sue. agree with trust it could have been a fly she was spooking at or just 'one of THOSE things' that always seem to occur when horses are around!! who knows? you probably never will! hope you have a speedy recovery and are back to normal soon

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Hi,
I had a horse once who had been in a terrible racing accident and he used to have what I called flashbacks, and they quite often happened when he was very relaxed which made it all the more alarming. He would be half asleep being led or just being groomed his head low and not really looking like he had a care in the world and then suddenly he would take off in flight, snorting, rolling his eyes. He is now in retirement as he is thought by the vets not fit to be ridden.
I am sure yours was a freak one off, she might of been daydreaming and caught your wifes image in the back of his eye, you know her getting on and for a horse its a natural reaction to bolt (lion on my back!)
I am so glad she is ok, and tell her to get better soon. I am also recovering, its from a horse and plastic bag accident, fractured my spine and compacted it, almost all better now though and I have been given the ok to ride again, everyone thinks Im mad but I cant wait to be back on again.
Take care
Kind Regards
Arabella

Thanks ever so much for the messages for Sue, I have passed them on and she is very grateful.

It is when you have to watch the one you love suffer in so much pain that you get that sharp reminder of just how vulnerable and fragile we humans really are and how powerful and potentially dangerous horses are. Then the pain goes, we hopefully learn from our mistakes and get back to doing what we love a bit wiser.

Ellie had not been ridden for a few weeks and it was me that rode her last and I had no problems at all, mind you I do not use step ladders but a large square concrete flower pot (huge thing about 4’x 4’ wide x 4 deep) which Sue also sometimes uses as a mounting block One thing that I did wonder about today is that we did not mount up in our normal spot (using or near the large flower pot) and the place we did mount her has a lot of small trees and when I checked the place at the same time this morning, I noticed that there are loads of shadows which would be strange to her (just never known her to be spooked by shadows before – always a first time I suppose). I also realised that she would also have been facing directly into the rising sun which may also have had a part to play (big bright ball of light about to attack her), who knows! We could conjecture for ever and never come up with the answer, but I will definitely go back to using the normal mounting place next time and hope all is ok.

As for getting up at 0600, it really is so nice and refreshingly cool outside at that time in the morning, it also means that I can get down to the shops before all the old fa*ts get in there and clog up the tills (I have to do the shopping now and what a strange new and frightening experience that is, I never knew there were so many different brands and I always seem to come back with the wrong ones and loads of stuff which was not on the list!!!). I can then also have a little nap in the afternoon (benefits of all the kids having grown up and left home) when the heats gets to much as the horses and llamas are best left alone then anyway. You will probably think I am barking mad when I tell you that I also prefer washing in cold water in the morning as I find it really wakes me up and the first drink of the day is a pint of freezing cold water with loads of ice in it. I love waking up to bright sunny days and feel that as I am awake, lying in bed is wasting the day (Sue definitely does not agree with that logic…she does not do early mornings if she can help it),

Arabella, fractured and compressed spine…beaucoup beaucoup ouch.

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"Life is not a rehearsal"

Gawd, Mike, how awful for you both.
I hope they get to the source of the damage quickly, as it is a scary place to injure.
As to ideas for what caused it, it could be anything I think. It may have been a bite, or Arabella has a point too. The trouble with horses is that as their safety reaction is flight, what is not an overreaction to a situation for them, can create a whole bunch of problems for us due to the timing of the incident. She may even have heard something that you couldn't that gave her a fright.
I think that the best way forward is to carry on with her as normal and get on her, as from what you have said it sounds totally a one-off to me, you seem to have ruled every pain related possibility out.
I have also always found that the worst spooks or reactions are when the horse is relaxed and taken by surprise. The nearest I have got to being decked when working in the arena is when the horse is concentrating hard and thinking about what we are doing and something out the blue gives them a start and they get such a fright that they spin away or shoot forward and if you are not expecting it that's when it's very unseating.
Out of interest, why do you have her on a lead rope when Sue is mounting?

Hi Mike,

I second everyone else's good wishes for Sue and hope she makes a speedy recovery.

But I am wondering why you are putting this incident down to complaceny?

All Sue did was mount her horse. What is complacent about that?

It sounds like a freak incident, something has startled your mare and she has reacted instinctively. Its not nice for Sue, but it happens to us all at times.

Again, I hope she gets well soon.

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Mummy's little monkey

Get well soon Sue..... hope you get back in thesaddle soon!

I agree with LBE... freak accident.
I think that we tend to forget that horses are unpredicatable.
Bit like dog owners who say that their dog woould never bite anyone.
Always a first time....
I don't think you were being complacent Mike, as it sounds like the horse was into a regular routine.
It could just be that she suddenly got startled by something.My ponies sometimes seem to be half asleep until you mount them and they turn into mini tornadoes, spinning round while I'm trying to get my right foot in the stirrup

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"Friday's child is loving and giving"

trust is always really good when you mount her and doesn't move a muscle, i suppose what Mike is saying is just because your horse is always like this don't take it for granted, as maybe Mike and Sue did, that it will always be really good in a certain situation!!! As Mike mentioned if Sue had had hold of the reins she probably wouldn't have had such a bad accident and as Ellie has always been really good before Sue thought it was ok to mount without certain precautions?? Who knows, i do get a little annoyed when horses are advertised as bombproof as in my eyes it is impossible for a horse to be bombproof and in a new environment with new owners etc a horse is capable of doing anything, as a first time buyer when buying trust i believed she would never put a foot wrong and how wrong was i?? Put it down to inexperience on my part, and all the things she used to do the owner before couldn't believe it as she NEVER did it with her!!!! But now we are friends and she is an absolute angel, usually, but sometimes when i big polar bear creeps up on us or a car she doesn't like the colour of she may, just may turn and run to escape!!!!

speedy recovery for both injury and your nerves!!! what a shock.

good you checked the tack etc to discount that...but I agree that we must not forget how unpredictable the gees are even the most laid back.
Some time ago I had been grooming my boy and after was having a chat with him as he was relaxing/dozing, when I think it was a pheasant/partridge waddled out of the hedge.....well he is used to the chickens etc popping out of places and doesn't blink but that day, well he really freaked broke the tie up and nearly landed on his bum and would have landed on me if it had been a few minutes earlier. can't blame him, it is his survival instinct ... perhaps because he was really switched off it was a full wammy .