Safety around large animals

Originally Posted by LARHAGE

I've been around horses for 30 years and have broken ribs, wrists and received multiple scrapes and abrasions, not to mention bites too numerous to count. The worst injury though was during a horse show, I was riding my Saddlebred gelding who only knows one way...GO! We were called to walk one way around the ring and he was fretting and tossing his head badly, just as they called for the trot he flung his head back hitting me full-on in the face, I had blood running down my shirt but continued to show, we even placed rather well considering. I always tell novices who are around me to watch their heads, they are one of the most deadly aspects of the horse, as they like to swing them around and fling them back under saddle.

Very true that big hard skull cracking up against yours. Been there done that along with the bites and of course the none to pleasant step on your foot when I was an idiot and wearing running shoes. Its the dying part when internal organs get crushed or a head smash that worries me the most.