1) “Dear Daddy: I fell off my horse at the camp show. Don’t worry, I can move my arm now.”
2) Getting assigned the schoolie who only goes bareback.
3) If a horse jumps but does not clear a large, unsecured hay roll, then the hay, the horse, and the rider will roll.
4) Jumping a fallen tree. Failing to clear a low-hanging branch of a non-fallen tree on the other side.
5) Jumping a fallen tree. Getting a toe caught on part of the tree halfway over.
6) “Sorry, I’m late for my class. My horse fell over in warm-up.”
7) When your horse says, ‘Oooh, I don’t like that jump. Very dangerous. You go first.’
8) “Having trouble with your horse? Here let me try.”
9) There appears to be a horse lying on my leg. That can’t be good.
10) Hanging on during a bucking fit. Then a stirrup leather breaks.
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Written for a contest by One K Helmet. Winner announced on their Facebook page on May 20, 2016. Didn’t win. At least I got a blog post out of it.
All of these happened to me, from my first fall off of Wind Chimes in the late ’70s to my dumping by Milton in the mid ’10s [Universe]. There have been many more, including two more horse falls. I picked the ones with the best WTF factor.
Of the 10 falls, four were jumping, six on the flat. Three involved the horse falling as well: one jumping, two on the flat.
Of the flat falls, two were horse stumbles (one horse stayed up, the other flopped over [Helmet Evangelism]), one was rider error, one was a horse wiping out on a corner, two were bucking fits.
The flat falls happened at the walk, trot, canter, and buck.
The jumping falls happened before the jump, over the jump, and after the jump.
Every ride. Every time.
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Virtual Brush Box 