Why did my horse fall?

Most times when someone falls off of a horse, it is because the horse bucked or bolted and the rider lost his or her balance. Not in my case. After years of trail and trick riding as a kid, then for 14 years of my adult life, I have to say that getting bucked off has never been an issue. Falling with a horse has, however. It started when I was in college, when my mom's buckskin did a nose dive on the side of the road in Rancho Santa Fe, CA. We both got up, shocked and amazed to see the culprit was an unforeseen gopher hole. Luckily, we weren't injured. I learned from that not to let my horse drag its head too low. It makes it easier for them to trip.

Now as to my recent fall and the crazy reason as to why. After getting back to the ranch, my friend Erica and I were checking out the gash that Fashion had inflicted above her eye. Then I checked her hooves for stones or any explanation as to the reason for her fall. As I said, the footing was quite good, and I had my horse's head in place at the time. Erica took a look at her front shoes and, lo and behold, her right shoe (the one she tripped over) extended about 1/3 inch over the wall of her hoof! Her left hoof and shoe met at the front perfectly, but the farrier missed the mark on the other hoof. It would be like wearing one flip flop that hung over your foot too far. I can imagine how much tripping I would do in that case. It made perfect sense that that caused her to fall. After the vet came out and stitched her up, and I got my stomach back together (I hate needles!) my next call was to the farrier, who rushed over to fix the problem. And then I thought... should I be required to pay for the original shoeing? Maybe he should pay my $300 vet bill instead!

Well, the most important thing is that my horse is fine now, and so am I. Stay tuned for updates and how we are going to weather this pre-Christmas rainstorm. Can't wait to muck it out to the barn for more trail riding adventures!