OK, I need hivemind help in killing off a character in a novel:

What are some believable ways a skilled rider could be killed instantly when thrown from a horse? I'd prefer to avoid the horse refusing or falling at a jump if possible because I'm not sure it's realistic for the circumstances--a cavalry troop out on patrol in countryside that wouldn't really have a lot of fences, though it would be rocky and uneven.

Could the horse stumble and throw off the rider? Step in a hole?

Could the horse stumble and throw off the rider? Step in a hole?

Definitely an option--I just wasn't sure it was a believable death for a cavalry officer who'd been riding all his life.

A sudden unexpected noise--a gunshot. a branch snapping or a small animal darting across the path--can make a horse shy.

I just wasn't sure it was a believable death for a cavalry officer who'd been riding all his life.

Sometimes everything goes wrong at once, you know? He's distracted by something else, the horse chooses just that moment to stumble or shy.

I'm not sure if this is satire signaling the decline of a trend or a sign of the apocalypse.

LOS ANGELES (Oct. 26) - The Muppets could come back to primetime television with their own reality show. ABC has ordered a script and five episode outlines for "America's Next Muppet," in which viewers may join in choosing the newest member of the puppet family that includes Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, a network spokeswoman said Tuesday.

I have to admit -- I found the WM rumour by checking my referrer logs -- perezhilton was a huge referrer to my site his month. Then I kept seeing it around, but it all seemed to have come from there.

I am beyond pissed right now. I exhort all workers to capacity plan way below their potential, so they don't hit their limit and do stupid things when overworked. Me? Never happens in the office. But, yet again, I've been invited to a non-existent meeting, one I DOUBLE-CHECKED TEN MINUTES BEFORE. Well, maybe it exists, but not at the time and place specified in the invite, so I don't really care. Ominously, the host is doublebooked anyway.

So I'm back at my desk, and growly.

I just wasn't sure it was a believable death for a cavalry officer who'd been riding all his life.

Think of it like hitting an icy patch in a car -- an experienced driver has a much better chance of steering safely through the skid, but that's just a better chance, not a certainty. Sometimes, the skid takes you into traffic no matter how good you are.

Now I'm picturing a Real World sort of Muppet show. Topless Muppet hot-tub action!

Think of it like hitting an icy patch in a car -- an experienced driver has a much better chance of steering safely through the skid, but that's just a better chance, not a certainty. Sometimes, the skid takes you into traffic no matter how good you are.

Makes sense. And the nice thing about rocky country is he can always hit his head just wrong on an inconvenient rock and be killed by something that otherwise would've been survivable.

t surveys fictional corpse with satisfaction