Who here rides horses?

1, Western for me. I am a trail rider and ride long distance. I want the comfort of the western saddle which was made to spend all day in.

2. Broken wrist, broken shoulder blade, broken nose, broken toe from a horse stepping on it, and too many bruises, abrasions, etc. to count....several of which have left permanent scars.

3. NA as I have never ridden english. I do my jumping bareback since I do not at this time have an english saddle

your in the horse section i bet everyone here rides horses or has once

1) When you FIRST STARTED RIDING, which did you prefer: English (or related styles; dressage, huntseat, etc) or Western? i started riding western but liked english much more i found i had better balance

2) Have you ever been hurt while riding Western? yes i have fallen off numerous times but never got seriously hurt yet thank god but i did get a pretty bad bashed up shin from barrel racing

3) Have you ever been hurt while riding English (or some related style)? yes fallen off hundreds of times got thrown into jumps had a horse run me over had a horse fall on me i ride and break out a lot of greenie and problem horses though so i have had my share of falls and little injuries

*First of all - the 'related styles' are called disciplines. Jumper, Dressage, etc are all disciplines of English, the same way Barrel Racing, Wester Pleasure, etc are disciplines of Western. English and Western are styles*

1) When you FIRST STARTED RIDING, which did you prefer: English (or related styles; dressage, huntseat, etc) or Western?

English, its whats popular in my area.

2) Have you ever been hurt while riding Western?

Never ridden Western

3) Have you ever been hurt while riding English (or some related style)?

A million times! I fondly remember my foot got caught in the stirrup, and my head and shoulders ended up on one side of the fence, my horse on the other. Bam, bam, bam, was my face smacking off of the fence posts.

1) When you FIRST STARTED RIDING, which did you prefer? English; what was then called "forward seat (most similar to hunters)

2) Have you ever been hurt while riding Western? No; I don't even recall falling off -- but then I don't ride Western very often.

3) Have you ever been hurt while riding English? Hurt -- yes; actually injured -- no. I've never experienced anything worse than bruises that took weeks to heal. But again, I've been riding English for nearly 38 years, and have only been in a Western saddle a couple dozen times.

To give your survey greater validity, you might want to add a question about how LONG people have ridden at all, and how OFTEN they pursued their particular discipline.

I started riding when I was 12 and rode basic english but always wanted to get in to dressage which is what I'm doing now. I've never ridden in a western saddle but I have ridden in a stock saddle a few times- I hate them!

2. Never ridden western but came off riding in a stock saddle about a fortnight ago. I had a few cuts and bruises but nothing major.

3. Never really been hurt, I've come off jumping, been bucked off a few times (which has nothing to do with the type of riding) and have fallen off bareback quite a few times. There was one time I was swimming a horse and a dog tried to get on my horse and pulled me off! It was pretty annoying as my horse ran back to the shore and I had to swim back! My friends thought it was hilarious.That's not really english or western though- probably more english because I ride in an english style regardless of what saddle if any I am in.

1. I first started riding when I was 7; I prefer and have done western

2. NO

3. Havent tryed english

1. I rode in an Australian Saddle, with a western mentality, with English head gear

2. The first two months I was riding with that set up, I was buck of twenty four times, half was on soft deep sand, the other half was in scratchy bushes. I never broke anything. When walking along side of a Perserian Friesian mix I was knocked over and my ankle was stepped on. I couldn't walk for about two days.

3. While riding in an English saddle, I have been thrown over my horses neck, somersaulted through the air and landed on to deep sand, nothing even hurt.

1) I preferred english, because once I switched to english after riding western for 1.5 years, I loved riding so much more!

2) Yes, When my stupid trainer (who I got away from and now have the best trainer EVER) had me jump western on a crazy pony because she was crazy, I fell off about 5 times in the same night. I didn't seriously hurt myself, but I was sore for a while.

3) Yes! I have fallen off jumping about 3 or 4 times! Nothing severe though...

1) Well when i first started riding (4yrs old) i didnt care as long as i was on a horse. But i only ride western

2) I've been hurt riding western. My horse threw me at the wall in the indoor

3) My horse reared and kinda fell sideways into a ditch with me then stood up and trampled me while trying to get away,

1. I started riding english but now I prefer western.

2. not really. I've fallen off but nothing I couldn't walk away from and get back on

3. yes. I was riding my horse and I ride her western and I had lost what I learned from English (posture, leg position, heels down and all that good stuff) and I forgot how much you had to hold on with your legs and I asked her to canter and she did and then I lost my balance so I said woah and she didn't go down to a trot, she did a complete halt and I flew over her head. I had a hairline fracture on my left elbow but that was it. I don't even consider it breaking or fracturing a bone because I didn't need a cast. I just tuffed it out.