I’m temporarily out of the saddle due to a freak accident. The initial tears I cried were not of pain, but fear as the image sank in of Knight spiraling out of control, whinnying and doing donuts then landing on the ground, hooves in the air next to a large wooden mounting block. (If you…

via Avoid This Dangerous Donut in the Saddle — Saddle Seeks Horse

To summarize the article, while she was mounted, Susan’s horse reached around to her foot and got his bit caught in her stirrup iron. Thankfully, both horse and rider were okay (other than some scrapes and bruises), but it could have ended really badly.

It’s surprisingly easy for your horse’s bit to get caught in something — Zelda once rubbed her face on her stall door with her bridle on and managed to snag her bit on a hook, which she pulled out of the wood — but getting caught in a stirrup iron is particularly dangerous as all of a sudden you are on a whirling dervish that has one thought: “Get it off!”

So, one more thing for everyone to be careful about. Keep it safe!