‘Oh Crap’ Moment of the Day: Reader Showcase

When the going gets tough, the tough make hilarious faces. Enjoy this latest batch of photos sent in by HN readers.

From Sophie Maheo: “I still need to work on my jumping face… this picture was taken during the stadium of our 2nd event. Cappuccino cleared all the jumps of stadium and this was the last one… I’m not terrorized, I think I was just urging him on… in a bit of a dramatic fashion… he cleared it too:)”

We’re going to need a close-up of that one:

And one more:

Oh yeah, that’s the stuff! Moving on, our next submission is from Ellen Davis: “Here is a sequence of my first fall off my new horse. She is young so probably misjudged the distance of the jump but took off too early and ended rolling over me. I have a broken foot but the horse is fine:)”

Broken foot, no big deal. This one is from Meghan V.: “I thought I’d send in a picture of one of my worst moments. It was my first time jumping that height at a competition and I wasn’t quite ready for the jump to be there… It makes for a good laugh now and an even better picture for before and after comparisons!”

Our final two aired on Eventing Nation earlier this week. From Cynthia Bayless, taken at Whidbey Island Horse Trials last weekend: “Thanks to (picture-taker) Susie Rowand Thompson, here is the winning OMG moment ride of this year. I can hear Jonathan Elliott saying, ‘I told you so.’ (Yes, you did, and I finally enjoyed my long-awaited lawn-dart moment)… There was zero forewarning; I think (Accolade) was so focused on the crowd on the mound that she was shocked to see the drop to water. I’ve never had a horse stop so fast in its tracks! I thought I jumped it quite nicely however and the landing was cool and soft. Welcome to the Wet Knickers Club.”

Photo by Susie Rowand Thompson

From Pearl Macgregor, taken at the Virginia CCI1* this spring: “I then should have deviated from my plan of riding fence two to fence three in a forward four strides and sat quiet for the five instead. I put my heart and soul into that four-stride line. Too bad we made it down there in 4.5! My horse rarely stops and didn’t consider that an option for a second. In true Freddy form, he kept on truckin’ as though nothing was going wrong at all — just look at those ears!” In true eventer fashion, they brushed off the awkward jump and finished their course with just one rail down.

Photos by Brant Gamma Photography

Thanks to all who shared their photos and Go Riding!

Horse Nation loves to honor its fallen soldiers. Have an “Oh Crap” video or photo that’s just TOO GOOD to keep to yourself? Email it to [email protected].