Top 10 Most Dangerous Horse Riding Events

The reason it's more dangerous than Show Jumping is because the jumps are solid. Yes, Show Jumping is dangerous, yet cross country is the same thing, except the jumps aren't dismantled when you crash into one. Thus, rotational falls are very common, and riders crashing headfirst into fences. Many horses and riders break their necks or backs on Cross Country most simply because the jumps are solid.

Ok ok. Cross country. You are going 45 miles per hour, jumping the same height as show jumping BUT you have wider, solid fences! I event, so obviously I know they are both hard and dangerous, but cross country doesn't even begin to compare to show jumping! You don't even have a little area to jump for Xc, you have HUGE fields! Cross country should definitely be most dangerous!

It's so the most dangerous. The jumps are solid and you are galloping at them.
Also the jumps are designed in courses by paid jump course professional designers in tricky patterns that make it really hard to jump!

I did barrel racing when I was 4-8 and I'm starting again in a couple weeks. But this is extremely dangerous. I have almost fallen off multiple times and I would always do a full out gallop. People would always say that's super easy but let me tell you galloping while doing sharp turns us extremely difficult. I don't even know how many times I came this close to breaking a bone. I would also do barrels bareback and use nothing but my legs to turn and that is something hard but luckily I never fell off

Western riding/rodeo sports in general are pretty dangerous, once you think about it. I am a rookie rider from the Hudson Valley area of New York, which is far away from cowboy country, if you ask me. I visited a few fairs, such as the Chatham county fair in Columbia County and to my own surprise, they have rodeo events there. Black cowboy hats and deep fried foods aside, I have witnessed a few riders get bucked off or almost trampled underfoot after they got bucked off. Think about it. You think that's safe? You are urging your horse on just to make him/her gallop faster, swerving around barrels, then you break multiple bones and they think that's safe? As someone who is still learning to ride Western, I don't think I even want to do it. I always have to hold on to the horn after trotting or cantering to take breaks and drink water. Still, it's an incredibly dangerous event, all right.

These horses that are being raced are wild. They have hardly been handled bypeople, never had a saddle on them, never been trained. They have been taken from their homes put in a strange environment only to be tacked up and raced around by some cowboy. One of the most important things about horseback riding is trust and these horses have no trust for these guys and there instinct is to run. They are going to do everything in there power to make sure they don't get put anywhere new they don't get a saddle or bridle or person on them. Just getting them that far is highly dangerous. Then they actuly must be ridden. They will but they will rear they will take off running as fast as they can to get this over with and to get the rider off. It takes a lot to stay on the horse and it would be extremely easy to fall off and get hurt or trampled. When it comes to danger this event has no end. There is not a single second where you are safe and can relax unlike the other events which are all dangerous but this one is a little more dangerous on my opinion. That being said I honestly hate this event and think it's cruel but I do respect the strength and skill it takes to be successful in it.

This may be the most brutal horse riding sport there is. Not only is it cruel, but it's also a way to get badly injured or trampled to death. Hell, even when you're wearing helmets or body protective gear, you will still get hurt. I used to ride horses competitively after a bad fall from a high jump, now I just ride on trails and find somewhere to jump over obstacles or canter/gallop long distances. I happen to own a few horses on a farm with sheep, goats and cattle, including a rescued Thoroughbred racehorse named Ranger. Sometimes he spooks at small things or he just acts stubborn for no reason, so I just jump off, click my tongue and say "come on!" in a sweet, high-pitched voice, similar to Judy Hopps from Zootopia. It works... sometimes. It just saddens me how racehorses get treated badly, plus racing costs so many lives yearly.

I don't to horse riding but two years ago I did a report on horse racing and it was straight up brutal. The first time I went to watch a race a horse collapsed and they shot the horse right in front of me. Everyday many 2 or 3 year old horses die from horse racing. We saw this only a couple years ago with the Kentucky Derby winner. The horses get treated brutally and one race can leave them dead, severely injured, or to the slaughterhouse.

THIS is by far the most dangerous horse sport. Have you ever watched it? It combines the high strung horses runing un full speed that we see in thoroughbred racing with jumping almost cross country like obstacles. In the event a horse stumbles at an obstacle the others are almost surely stepping on him and also falling. Horses and riders get badly hurt and die. This is the discipline I think should be banned for the wellbeing of horses.

It is super dangerous!

" I think this pretty much says it all. Located in North Central Washington in the small arid town of Omak, the race was developed in 1935 as a money making ploy. Beginning on a hill 210 feet above the finish line, the 15 riders run over the hill at a 62 degree angle. (Yes, 62 degrees! ) If they manage not to get tangled up with another horse or trip down the hill, they must cross the Okanogan River. If the rider and horse make across successfully, (ie. not drown) they climb up the side dike and into the arena where the finish line lies. All this in less than a minute!

Absolutely awe-inspiring. The only event in the world where the 12,000 spectators also receive an adrenaline rush too...

I can't believe that today's society lets something like that actually happen! Typical.

I have recently started lessons a few years ago and I am currently learning how to jump at a gallop. I am basically someone who is just trying to ride horses for a living and I don't have any interest in many equestrian sports, so it's a good thing that I have such a strong, ironwilled and loyal horse (his name is Steele, and he is a brown lesson pony that's about my size). Learning to jump is pretty difficult, as you have to steer with the reins and stay balanced (on an English saddle, by the way) at the same time. Even when I started lessons, I had to hold on to the pommel when I was trotting to stay balanced. The upside? It's the least intense out of most equestrian sports. If you're thinking of fox hunting and cross country, that's something else.

Showjumping is definitely the most dangerous. Not only do we have to keep our balance and the horse's balance through tight turns but also keep our balance while being thrown five feet in the air and then be able to sit up at just the right time to not throw off the horse's balance. There is also the risk of there being a partially scary jump and having your horse refuse it and having your being completely thrown off and forward. Then you have to include that the majority of horses in the show jumping world are very hot headed. They have to have a ton a energy to complete the longer courses at the speed needed to place.

I did pole bending when I was little and being a little kid I galloped and I almost fell off the horse multiple times from the sharp turns.

Pole bending is very dangerous, you are typically going very fast and the horse is doing 12+ lead changes which can cause them to trip, with the addition of speed that can be pretty dangerous.

Not a danger? Explain to me then how your horse can slip and fall on u? Pole bending should be treated the same as barrel racing because it has the same exact risks!

Cross country is one of the most dangerous sports in horse riding, but it is also part of Eventing - along with Dressage and Show Jumping. I think Evening should be closer to the top. (This coming from an actual Eventer - I have almost fractured my nose, thrown/fell into jumps, and almost got a concussion)

Cross country is the most dangerous, but Eventing has Cross Country, Show Jumping, and Dressage. I think Eventing is the most dangerous and life threatening discipline.

Think about riding a horse over tons of jumps not just any jumps eventing jumps, with logs, water, tree brantches, trucks, brick walls, etc. Lots of fun! I love it, but everybody has there opinion and what they think, definitely check out horse eventing on youtube. :P

Doing Archery on Horse-back with no hands on the reins, having to steer only with your feet and shooting a deadly weapon. It can be very difficult to get a horse trained well enough to steer without reins and with special mouth queues, and to teach them not to spook when you sit on them sideways and shoot an arrow at full speed.

My friend did vaulting and she's broken many bones from it. And it was so unsafe her barn shut down because of all the accidents.

Though vaulting does seem dangerous it is one of the most safest equine sports. Yes you might be standing in the back of a cantering horse the danger is severely reduced if your horse is calm and trained well, your lunger knows what they're doing and if the vaulter is experience and careful. I have been vaulting for many years and not once have I injured myself whilst performing.
The worst and most common injury is swollen and bad knees, this is caused by improper landing.

Vaulting is condisdered to be one of the safest horse related sport. The horses used are normally calm, controlled horses, not a hot arabian or anything. And there's always the trainer in the middle controlling the horse.

Obviously the most dangerous. Imagine this: You are crouched over a two pound saddle that must feel like a postage stamp. And your postage stamp is moving at 40 miles an hour on top of an unpredictable 1000 pound animal. You are surrounded by 15 other riders on tiny saddles and horses. Any moment, another horse could pull up in front of you, knock your horse off balance and off you go. For the horse, who thanks to horrible breeding has delicate legs that can easily be injured, interference can knock them over, broken leg, and do I really need to explain what happens next?

I think this one should be at the top! Its definitely the most dangerouse, its got the highest injury count for riders!

No doubt it is #!

I ride saddle bronc and I think that you can die or break something if you land the wrong way or if you get stepped on. this should definitely be at the top of the list because it is way worse than all of these events except the suicide race. I've been riding in the high school and amateur level for 3 years now and I've been in the ER 2 times for breaking bones and 3 times for a concussion. You can get hung up and get drug around the arena, you can get kicked, you can get trampled or stepped on, you can get kicked or stepped on the head, you can land wrong and die or end your life. But none the less it deserves a higher rank

Bronc riding should be higher in the list as your sitting on the back of a unwilling 1500lb that was bred to have strong bucks and rears, a lot of the time even after you hit the ground that horse doesn't stop bucking you have the risk on not only breaking your neck, back or really nay bone in your body you have the HUGE risk of being trampled or kicked by a horse that was bred to be extra strong.

Although I don't do trick riding all the time it is still an incredibly difficult and dangerous sport, you are literally hanging of the side of an 1000kg animal upside down while it is galloping at 45kmph!

I do trick riding and in my opinion this it definitely the most dangerous type of riding, imagine hanging of a galloping horse!

Why is this at lest not in the top tens! I get that jumping, racing, and barrel racing are up higher but still! I do reining and it is awesome but challenging! You have to fast and slow circles, lead changes, spins, and of course sliding stops!

I do jumping! I think it should be at the top of the list!

If you fall off the horse in polo you will most likely be trampled by the horses following you because polo is all about working in lines on either sides of the ball. I know multiple people who have passed because of accidents in polo and many more people injured. I should know I play it myself. This sport should be listed as number one on the most dangerous scale but isn't because the person who created this didn't do their research. The one thing they got right is that this is a fast game, but they forgot to include the mallets and hard balls used that could both cause concussions or other sort of damage.

This is true. I play Polocrosse and have had so many accidents. A man I know is now in a wheel chair for the rest of his life. Though this sport is dangerous, I still love it.

I am a barrel racer, pole bender, and goat tier. Barrel racing is very dangerous and I have personally been fell on. Although barrel racing is dangerous, I have been more seriously injured in goat tying. This is when you run your horse full speed and step off to tie a goat. I have gotten a concussion, broken and bruised rib along with serious knee problems just from the get off. Also the tying part is dangerous. I have broke a finger by tying it in the rope and tore ligaments in my shoulder just flipping the goat.

I've have seen many many people break there ankle trying to goat tie.

As someone who still rides recreationally, I still participate in some events, such as endurance racing. I mainly do hunter pace events and I find them so fun to do, as you feel like you are flowing naturally with your horse. The course itself runs through small towns (no time to stop at a nearby bar/pub) and woodland areas, plus open fields for cantering/galloping. The main problem with hunter pace events is that you have to set a fast pace all throughout, I always have to trot through wooded areas at a faster pace, plus, one time, I was riding my pony through one and I got a nice face full of spiderwebs. Lovely. English saddles are highly recommended, as you must be good with balance. There are stops along the way, but you are constantly in a hurry, so you have to dash through to the finish. Love this event to bits, but it is pretty dangerous if you don't know trails very well and get lost as a result.

Calf roping, steer roping, break away, and team roping are all super dangerous. I have witnessed arms torn out of the socket by not getting the dally in team roping or getting a bad loop and tearing something. Also you are running a horse like 6 times your weight while spinning a rope, holding on, aiming, and controlling the horse. Many fingers and arms have been broken