When Horses and Riders Hurt Themselves

If youve been involved with horses for even a little while you know the following statements to be true Horses hurt themselves. Riders hurt themselves. Horses hurt riders. And riders can hurt horses. 
In fact it is rare to meet a horse or a horse person who hasnt injured themselves somewhere along the line. Some horses are comically accidentprone with a cringeworthy track record for hurting themselves. If you own one of these horses you know exactly what I mean and probably have a tack trunk packed to the brim with bandages Bute and a variety of wound cleansers.

Since many of our horses have had homes and injuries before we met them it can be hard to know exactly what has occurred when we see their obvious scars or marks. We find ourselves trying to solve a mystery and asking questions like these Why does my horse react when I touch this exact part of his leg? Why is he so weird about me touching his face or ears? How did he get that big scar? 
Then there is the human side of trauma related to horses. I have rarely met a horse lover who has not experienced some sort of traumatic incident related to horses. Personally I can think back to the time I fell onto a jump the hundreds of times Ive been stepped on the time I was stepped on and then dragged down by the road by my middle finger that cast was a funny one. Im sure each of us can think back to at least one event involving horses that caused us to experience physical trauma of some kind. We can be left with scars pain lowered mobility and for some of us fear.
If an injury or trauma is purely physical with no emotional