Originally Posted by
Bostondevil
I had a rather spectacular fall from a horse in high school. I had some but not a lot of experience riding horses at the time. I was with a group and wasn't paying close attention to my horse, chatting with the friends who were on the ride with me when my horse decided it was time to race with the horse my brother was on. She ran me into a low hanging tree branch which, thank goodness, was dead, otherwise I might have broken my neck, but that part of the incident caused me to lose my grip on the reins. After that it was hang on to the saddle horn for all I was worth. If she had merely slowed instead of coming to an abrupt stop (with a slight turn sideways), I probably would have stayed on. But that was not to be. Because of the sideways turn, I did not go headfirst over the top but instead slide off the side which probably saved me from serious injury. I didn't even have a minor injury. When I found myself flat on the ground though, I realized I had exactly one course of action, get back on that horse immediately. I told her, "Ok, that was fun, but I'm getting right back on you and you are going to WALK me back to the stable, right now." She did. I will still ride horses, but I'm not much for going fast on one.